S10.E09: Rachael Ray Show

[cooksdelight]

I would gladly trade this Rachael Ray show episode for one in which they are doing camera presentations and every one of them is thrown a curve. Remember those? They truly showed who can handle it and who can't.

Having kids in the mix is only asking for trouble, as we've seen.

[RealityGal]

I would gladly trade this Rachael Ray show episode for one in which they are doing camera presentations and every one of them is thrown a curve. Remember those? They truly showed who can handle it and who can't.

Having kids in the mix is only asking for trouble, as we've seen.

 

Kids are such jerks.  I enjoyed the curve episode, except some people got a horrible curve (a helicopter is landing and is going to blow away the entire set!  what are you going to do, you only have 2:00 for this segment!!!!) and others got a laughable curve (we gave you a spoon with a strange handle, or a slotted spoon)

[leighdear]

You can take 1/2 a package of frozen cauliflower, steam it til it's extremely soft, puree it and add it to almost any soup.  it adds a little creaminess and body to a thin broth, adds some nutrition and you seriously can't taste it.  I do this to my homemade seafood chowder instead of adding cream, and it makes a fantastic lighter version.  I've even added it to my own pasta sauces to cut the acidity of the tomatoes.   

 

But I also think Luca should have used spaghetti squash, but called it microwave spaghetti  You can cook it in the microwave & never have to say the dreaded word "Vegetable"....*LOL*

[Aquarius]

He was Canadian and served in WWII. He lost a finger when he was wounded on D-Day after landing at Juno Beach.

 

Scotty was most certainly Scottish.

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montgomery_Scott

 

James Doohan was Canadian.  ;-)

 

 

That just doesn't sound or look like the same guy we're seeing now.

 

Yeah, cuz it ain't.  The Lenny we're seeing now is the Rhinestone Cowboy persona.  "Little lady" and tip-yer-hat indeed.  What an utter asshole.  I've not liked his shtick since the beginning but that video just proved it's even faker than I thought.

 

On the cauliflower risotto subject, I've made cauliflower "rice" and served it with meatballs and tomato sauce.  It was quite tasty.  I know it doesn't sound like it would be, but when the cauliflower is all chopped fine like that, it loses a lot of the pungency.  I don't think anyone would be fooled into thinking it was rice, but it is quite mild prepared that way, more like a rice or pasta.

 

And spaghetti squash . . . mmmmmmm.   That is delicious with Bolognese!

[Day2Day]

Just think, if Luca got each kid to help scoop out the spaghetti squash, and throw in some butter ... or whatever ... he would have had a home run !!!  Bob & Suzie would have gotten up and done a David Venable "Happy Dance" .

[HyeChaps]

As the contestants were going down the Food Network hallway, it was obvious that Sarah was envisioning herself there.  IMO she considers herself the next Rachael Ray.

[Day2Day]

Yes..... and all dogs dream of tasty bones, socks, and squeaky toys. Sarah is delusional!

[RealityGal]

Just think, if Luca got each kid to help scoop out the spaghetti squash, and throw in some butter ... or whatever ... he would have had a home run !!!  Bob & Suzie would have gotten up and done a David Venable "Happy Dance" .

something tells me those special little snowflakes are just the sort that love to say "no" and be begged and pleaded with only to continue to say "no."  I'm not sure how he would have even gotten through all the initial "no's" and all the begging and pleading in under 10 minutes.  But spaghetti squash is good, and with non finicky children I think the experience could most certainly be fun.  I know the first time I had a spaghetti squash (in my early 30's) the experience of using the fork to get it "spaghetti like" was super amusing for me!

As the contestants were going down the Food Network hallway, it was obvious that Sarah was envisioning herself there.  IMO she considers herself the next Rachael Ray.

 

 

Yes..... and all dogs dream of tasty bones, socks, and squeaky toys. Sarah is delusional!

 

Sarah is so oogy.  Her eyes get so wide and bright, I think her delusions may be the result of some "mommies little helpers"

 

This has truly been the season of the crazy eyes!

Edited July 29, 2014 by RealityGal

[chessiegal]

Re Rachel Ray's voice: She's been having trouble with her vocal cords for years. I believe she's even had one operation on them if not more. Not good for someone who makes a living talking.

[Aquarius]

Sarah is so oogy.  Her eyes get so wide and bright, I think her delusions may be the result of some "mommies little helpers"

 

This has truly been the season of the crazy eyes!

 

No kidding!  I'm glad it doesn't air immediately before bedtime for me on Sunday . . . I'd be sure to have nightmares.

 

I loved when Sarah said, "I can't believe they let ME in here!"  I was like, "Yeah, you and me both!"

Edited July 29, 2014 by Aquarius

[RealityGal]

No kidding!  I'm glad it doesn't air immediately before bedtime for me on Sunday . . . I'd be sure to have nightmares.

 

I loved when Sarah said, "I can't believe they let ME in here!"  I was like, "Yeah, you and me both!"

LMAO!  I get a visual of someone tossing and turning in bed mumbling "no crazy eyes, I don't want your Taco Soup", "no crazy eyes, I don't want to see your crotch torn pants!"

 

but don't you just love Sarah's faux humble tone when she says things like that?  Thats whats going to make me smile when she gets eliminated (and if she wins I'm going pah stahl on everyone's ass at FN! just kidding!)

[Intuition]

My friend from Survivor tells me they do background checks, after the first season when it came out that Kelly Wigglesworth had a warrant out for her. I don't know about this show, however I think it's something they should consider. Or just Google the people's names and look for them on YouTube before putting them on such a wholesome network like FN. *cough*

 

One would think they would have learned from the whole JAG affair back in 2007 (for the uninformed, he was a contestant on FNS who had to back down after it was revealed that his military background was not as extensive as he made it out to be on the show, and he never actually served active duty in Afghanistan, amongst other fudges and lies).  Perhaps they did do standard background checks this season but didn't get thorough enough to poke around YouTube that much.  There is another possibility that would lend credence to my own pet theory, and that's that Lenny was never hired to make it to the finale but for entertainment purposes on FNS only.  If that's the case they could have known about it but it didn't matter since he wasn't a real contender anyway.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Intuition

[RealityGal]

One would think they would have learned from the whole JAG affair back in 2007 (for the uninformed, he was a contestant on FNS who had to back down after it was revealed that his military background was not as extensive as he made it out to be on the show, and he never actually served active duty in Afghanistan, amongst other fudges and lies).  Perhaps they did do standard background checks this season but didn't get thorough enough to poke around YouTube that much.  There is another possibility that would lend credence to my own pet theory, and that's that Lenny was never hired to make it to the finale but for entertainment purposes on FNS only.  If that's the case they could have known about it but it didn't matter since he wasn't a real contender anyway.

 

Geez, how many fudges and lies did he need to get on the show?  Could he even cook?  Boil water?

[howmanywords]

OMG that Lenny video. I'm speechless.  I have no issue with the occasional vile language but he used one word I despise and just ugh. And when he starts shouting at the camera talking as if he's the authority on grilling I felt like yelling back "bitch please, Flay would smoke your crazy ass!".

Re Rachel Ray's voice: She's been having trouble with her vocal cords for years. I believe she's even had one operation on them if not more. Not good for someone who makes a living talking.

Yeah she had cysts removed. For a while she was sounding pretty good again once she fully healed from the surgery so the rasp makes me wonder if she has a problem with cysts again.

[Totale]

For a while she was sounding pretty good again once she fully healed from the surgery so the rasp makes me wonder if she has a problem with cysts again.

I thought when she went in to see the contestants she was just whispering to save her voice for the Big Show.  She probably whispers 23 hours out of the day now.

[Shibori]

Wow.  That Lenny video is definitely NSFW- I was alone in my office but instinctively jumped for the mouse to shut it off.  What a misogynist!  I hated him before, but I hate him so much more after watching that.  I hope it goes viral before voting starts.

[SusannahTaylor3]

*scratching head* ...... Skip the cauliflower. Why didn't Luca use spaghetti squash????  Less stinky, and kids hear the word spaghetti and don't usually cringe, and go into automatic shut-down/"I won't-eat-it-you-can't-make-me" mode. Tons of tasty ways to prepare it.

That actually looks fun and it might pass by the picky tastes of kids. Kids love spaghetti or at least mine did. That might have even gone past my kids' picky palates.

[Aquarius]

What a misogynist!

 

Not possible.  He calls us little ladies and ma'am and tips his big ole cowboy hat to us.  Prolly didn't realize us wommin folk could get on YouTube and see that, otherwise he never would've been so disrespectful. 

[RealityGal]

Not possible.  He calls us little ladies and ma'am and tips his big ole cowboy hat to us.  Prolly didn't realize us wommin folk could get on YouTube and see that, otherwise he never would've been so disrespectful. 

he also makes us dainty salads so as not to offend our gastronomic sensibilities, and he lets us arrange ourselves at the door while we're waiting, because us little ladies like to look powerful good for our manfolk!  That 'ol cowpoke is rootin' tootin' and as respectful as stallion courtin' a mare!

 

 

ETA:  I still think he either had sex with, or was going to have sex with that corn.

Edited July 29, 2014 by RealityGal

[jackjill89]

Oh, that Lenny video is beyond creepy. Beyond. Ick. Yuck. What a tool.

[Padma]

Thanks (I think!) to Uncle Benzene for posting the video here. (Just when I was coming in to say I thought Sarah's purpose was to make me like Lenny. Now who's left to root for in this train wreck? I guess it's Nicole who seems able to cook, is beautiful, and seems well suited to FN of old, if not the new "hyped" up one. She'd be a decent successor to Giada, not Paula--all to the good imo.)

 

But back to Lenny. Wow. Creepy. But part of me is (1) amazed and (2) impressed at his mastery of marketing himself for FN and of complete self-re-invention. He doesn't even seem like the same man we've been seeing here every week. That may look easy, but is incredibly hard to do (except for sociopaths. Hmm.) He seems to have kept "the crazy" under wraps and made this "character" seem like the real guy--amazing self discipline from that jerk in the video (who no way, no how, could have gotten on FNS if they'd ever seen that. Great find! I hope it will send him the way of Payh Styahl.)

[mlp]

 

Judging from the year it was uploaded (2009), that video of Lenny is only about 5 years old, so he wasn't THAT much younger.

 

That makes it even worse in my book.  He looked a lot younger and fatter and I thought he was maybe mid 20s and still juvenile when he made it.  I shut it down rather briskly so I didn't think to look at the date.

 

I thought those kids who refused to eat Luca's dish looked like they're probably brats who have their parents bamboozled in real life.  I think that parents these days cater far too much to their little darlings rather than being the adults in charge.  My younger daughter decided at age 2 that she hated pretty much everything.  I put whatever the family was having in front of her.  If she ate it, fine.  If she didn't, she went hungry until breakfast.  I knew she wasn't going to starve overnight and I never made any fuss about her eating so it didn't become a contest or an attention-seeking thing.  She grew up perfectly healthy and is now 6' tall and 45 y/o and she still won't eat anything except, oddly, fish, bread and vegetables (as long as they're not red).  Shrug.

[Padma]

What an appealing group. I'm probably alone, but I'm completely tired of Luca and the idea he's "charming". Definitely impressed that he has improved so much on camera (I'm convinced FN worked with him and brought him back to make the competition more visually appealing, even though his cooking seems mediocre at best.)

 

But this isn't "charm school", it's cooking. His "charm" consists of being handsome and smiling (about nothing) when he speaks. Every time I see him it reminds me of Sarah Moulton's advice when RR started at FN, "Smile often for no reason at all."  He seems nice enough, and the camera loves him, but I don't find him charming. I find him boring and as annoying as if he were a beautiful woman who kept advancing for her looks more than her cooking skills.

 

I realize a "FNS" is more about "personality" (which Bob et al think can't be taught) than it is about "cooking" (which they think can be learned--or faked--well enough with a good script and director). But I'm still naïve enough to hope it'll be 70% "cooking/teaching skills" and 30% "personality" in the end--eliminating, I guess, everyone but Nicole.

[JTMacc99]

I had a plan in place to deal with any picky eaters when we had our first child.  What I hadn't considered is that there could be multiple reasons for why a child refuses to eat something.

 

The plan worked fine for child #1, who now tries whatever I assure him he might like. He doesn't care for a few things, such as cheese on his sandwiches or burgers (he'll come around on that some day, because cheese rules) and he doesn't like peanut butter.  Works for me.

 

The second child, however, came with her own set of rules that have been more challenging. She refuses to eat things sometimes for no other reason than she wants to say no to me, and she wants to win the ensuing confrontation.

 

There is no logic ("you ate an entire plate of this last week and loved it!), no bribe/threat ("if you don't at least try one bite, you won't get [something] later." no deal whatsoever that can be deployed in this scenario.  It is a pure battle of wills, and regardless of who comes out on top, it was never about the food. If she ends up trying the food, I didn't move her a little closer to becoming an adventurous eater, because the battle was never about the food.  The simple request of asking her to try something new was just a good opportunity for her to draw a line in the sand and see if she can get her own way.

[RealityGal]

What an appealing group. I'm probably alone, but I'm completely tired of Luca and the idea he's "charming". Definitely impressed that he has improved so much on camera (I'm convinced FN worked with him and brought him back to make the competition more visually appealing, even though his cooking seems mediocre at best.)

 

But this isn't "charm school", it's cooking. His "charm" consists of being handsome and smiling (about nothing) when he speaks. Every time I see him it reminds me of Sarah Moulton's advice when RR started at FN, "Smile often for no reason at all."  He seems nice enough, and the camera loves him, but I don't find him charming. I find him boring and as annoying as if he were a beautiful woman who kept advancing for her looks more than her cooking skills.

 

I realize a "FNS" is more about "personality" (which Bob et al think can't be taught) than it is about "cooking" (which they think can be learned--or faked--well enough with a good script and director). But I'm still naïve enough to hope it'll be 70% "cooking/teaching skills" and 30% "personality" in the end--eliminating, I guess, everyone but Nicole.

 

I'm okay with male eye candy, and I do think he is good looking and charming.  I also like the accent, and I've never not been able to understand him.  But it is a total MV thing, and I'm certainly not in the FN target demographic.  I thought they always said Luca's food was good, but he wasn't on very long, but I thought they always said the problem wasn't his food, it was his ability to connect with the camera and the speech thing.

I had a plan in place to deal with any picky eaters when we had our first child.  What I hadn't considered is that there could be multiple reasons for why a child refuses to eat something.

 

The plan worked fine for child #1, who now tries whatever I assure him he might like. He doesn't care for a few things, such as cheese on his sandwiches or burgers (he'll come around on that some day, because cheese rules) and he doesn't like peanut butter.  Works for me.

 

The second child, however, came with her own set of rules that have been more challenging. She refuses to eat things sometimes for no other reason than she wants to say no to me, and she wants to win the ensuing confrontation.

 

There is no logic ("you ate an entire plate of this last week and loved it!), no bribe/threat ("if you don't at least try one bite, you won't get [something] later." no deal whatsoever that can be deployed in this scenario.  It is a pure battle of wills, and regardless of who comes out on top, it was never about the food. If she ends up trying the food, I didn't move her a little closer to becoming an adventurous eater, because the battle was never about the food.  The simple request of asking her to try something new was just a good opportunity for her to draw a line in the sand and see if she can get her own way.

 

so what do you end up doing with the youngest?

[SusannahTaylor3]

I had a plan in place to deal with any picky eaters when we had our first child. What I hadn't considered is that there could be multiple reasons for why a child refuses to eat something.

The plan worked fine for child #1, who now tries whatever I assure him he might like. He doesn't care for a few things, such as cheese on his sandwiches or burgers (he'll come around on that some day, because cheese rules) and he doesn't like peanut butter. Works for me.

The second child, however, came with her own set of rules that have been more challenging. She refuses to eat things sometimes for no other reason than she wants to say no to me, and she wants to win the ensuing confrontation.

There is no logic ("you ate an entire plate of this last week and loved it!), no bribe/threat ("if you don't at least try one bite, you won't get [something] later." no deal whatsoever that can be deployed in this scenario. It is a pure battle of wills, and regardless of who comes out on top, it was never about the food. If she ends up trying the food, I didn't move her a little closer to becoming an adventurous eater, because the battle was never about the food. The simple request of asking her to try something new was just a good opportunity for her to draw a line in the sand and see if she can get her own way.

Don't you wish sometimes that there was a users guide? No sibling is the same. I have 3 and they are all so different from one another. What worked for one didn't mean it would work with the others. It can be frustrating. Edited July 29, 2014 by cooksdelight

[JTMacc99]

Well @RealityGal, it depends on the circumstances. She's still very young, so we're still working it out. (And by the way, if we had been one of the families on R.R., both of my kids would have given all of those foods a shot. They're young enough to still get away with stuff but old enough to be aware of their surroundings and do what is expected of them.)

 

Generally speaking she trusts me and eats what I give her and tries new stuff if I tell her I think she will like it. She even tries things when I tell her I think she might NOT like it. (Note: Reverse psychology works well on this personality type if used with enough subtlety.)

 

If she picks a fight over food and I am aware that she's exhausted from a long day, sick, or otherwise in a place that requires a little compassion, I don't let her completely get away with it, but I do give her some outs like maybe telling her that she doesn't have to eat it, but she needs to come into the kitchen and participate in making whatever it is she does want to eat. 

 

Other times, when she's clearly fine and just decided to loudly declare that no carrots will be eaten that night, she gets no slack and gets an escalating range of responses until she gives in or goes without any food for that meal. Since this just happened the other day, the progression went, 1. I reminded her that if she doesn't eat carrots, she will get glaucoma. (I love that one. Glaucoma is a scary sounding word.)  2. Since that didn't move her too much, although it did make her consider it for a second, the second move was to let her know that she would not be getting the scoop of ice cream she had been expecting to get after dinner that night.

 

We didn't have to go any further than that. After some more noise, I got a "How many do I need to eat? I'm going to eat two." Since I know for a fact that she doesn't dislike the carrots, and this was a power struggle, I looked her in the eye and said all of them. Of course, she ate all of them.  It doesn't always go so well, but I'm trying to stay one step ahead of her for as long as I can.

Don't you wish sometimes that there was a users guide? No sibling is the same. I have 3 and they are all so different from one another. What worked for one didn't mean it would work with the others. It can be frustrating.

Heh. I do wish they came with a guide, but being a man, I'd probably throw it out and assume I know what I was doing anyway.

[RealityGal]

Well @RealityGal, it depends on the circumstances. She's still very young, so we're still working it out. (And by the way, if we had been one of the families on R.R., both of my kids would have given all of those foods a shot. They're young enough to still get away with stuff but old enough to be aware of their surroundings and do what is expected of them.)

 

Generally speaking she trusts me and eats what I give her and tries new stuff if I tell her I think she will like it. She even tries things when I tell her I think she might NOT like it. (Note: Reverse psychology works well on this personality type if used with enough subtlety.)

 

If she picks a fight over food and I am aware that she's exhausted from a long day, sick, or otherwise in a place that requires a little compassion, I don't let her completely get away with it, but I do give her some outs like maybe telling her that she doesn't have to eat it, but she needs to come into the kitchen and participate in making whatever it is she does want to eat. 

 

Other times, when she's clearly fine and just decided to loudly declare that no carrots will be eaten that night, she gets no slack and gets an escalating range of responses until she gives in or goes without any food for that meal. Since this just happened the other day, the progression went, 1. I reminded her that if she doesn't eat carrots, she will get glaucoma. (I love that one. Glaucoma is a scary sounding word.)  2. Since that didn't move her too much, although it did make her consider it for a second, the second move was to let her know that she would not be getting the scoop of ice cream she had been expecting to get after dinner that night.

 

We didn't have to go any further than that. After some more noise, I got a "How many do I need to eat? I'm going to eat two." Since I know for a fact that she doesn't dislike the carrots, and this was a power struggle, I looked her in the eye and said all of them. Of course, she ate all of them.  It doesn't always go so well, but I'm trying to stay one step ahead of her for as long as I can.

This makes sense, you sound like a great mom.  My mom was pretty firm on having to eat vegetables, no matter how much I hated them, but I don't think she pushed anything when I was sick other than chicken noodle soup (which I love, so we were good).

 

And I tell you what, I was not put off by the kid that spit the food out, because at least he tried it and then decided he didn't like it.  He gave it a shot, and it was probably spicy as hell so I'm down with that.

[JTMacc99]

This makes sense, you sound like a great mom.  My mom was pretty firm on having to eat vegetables, no matter how much I hated them, but I don't think she pushed anything when I was sick other than chicken noodle soup (which I love, so we were good).

 

And I tell you what, I was not put off by the kid that spit the food out, because at least he tried it and then decided he didn't like it.  He gave it a shot, and it was probably spicy as hell so I'm down with that.

I agree. At least that little guy gave it a shot.

 

And, heh, I appreciate your very nice compliment of my mom skills. Especially since I'm their dad.

[RealityGal]

I agree. At least that little guy gave it a shot.

 

And, heh, I appreciate your very nice compliment of my mom skills. Especially since I'm their dad.

Oh burn on me!  Sorry about that, what a sexist asshole assumption I made.  My dad would have never thought that much about the intricacies of child rearing.  You sound like an amazing father!

[Gardencrown]

 

OMG that Lenny video. I'm speechless.  I have no issue with the occasional vile language but he used one word I despise and just ugh. And when he starts shouting at the camera talking as if he's the authority on grilling I felt like yelling back "bitch please, Flay would smoke your crazy ass!".

I hereby take back my reserved and frankly, resigned support of the effin' cowboy. That is some scary shit, (and I'm with ya on that word -- if that slips out in "conversation,it's pretty revealing of one's view of women.) Nope. No second chances from me for that one. And you would think someone would have vetted for just such assholery. Plus I thought Lenny was way older than 42 - the man has not aged well.

 

As for the picky eating, I don't want to be that poster who derails things because of my personal experience. But I will take one teensy-ish moment to share that in some cases there really is other stuff at play. http://www.dukemedicine.org/treatments/psychiatry/eating-disorders Selective eating disorder is a real thing, and take it from this mom who tried every possible method (including ones recommended by a particularly loathsome psychologist) to get my kid to eat like her siblings, and I felt shitty-guilty for years and years because of all she wouldn't eat, and I received copious criticism of my parenting from other parents...and I finally learned that for her it was all about anxiety...we had to help remove those barriers for her, and it's still tough, but she and I both feel a whole lot less alone...knowledge, in this case, was indeed powerful and life-changing. That and un-loathsome professionals:)

 

Not to say that was necessarily the case in these demos. I thought a fair amount of the food looked unappetizing!

 

As for unappetizing, after watching the Lenny video, it will be a fair while before I consider brisket. Don't get me started about corn.

[JTMacc99]

Hee! No worries. I'm definitely more proud of those skills than of the ones I'm just assumed to have.

[WickedTuna]

Do some parents really believe hiding vegetables is setting kids up for a lifetime of pulling off Ponzi schemes and stealing other's identities?

 

I had a look at that video of Lenny and WOW.  I'm no prude but why the need to talk like that on a cooking video?  It was so extreme.  That's about his third personality isn't it?  

 

Since I'm not going to be watching any of their shows anyway, I'm going to just throw my vote to Luca.  He seems to know alot about cooking and I'm sure there's tons of women who would like the eye candy.  

[cooksdelight]

You know, I could deal with a Luca show if he came in all breezy with his shirt flowing around him. They'd have to put big fans in his kitchen. :)

[Aquarius]

You know, I could deal with a Luca show if he came in all breezy with his shirt flowing around him. They'd have to put big fans in his kitchen. :)

 

Hee.  Maybe it could be called "Zesty!" ala those Kraft Salad Dressing commercials.

 

 

I hereby take back my reserved and frankly, resigned support of the effin' cowboy. That is some scary shit, (and I'm with ya on that word -- if that slips out in "conversation,it's pretty revealing of one's view of women.) Nope. No second chances from me for that one. And you would think someone would have vetted for just such assholery. Plus I thought Lenny was way older than 42 - the man has not aged well.

 

I hate that word to begin with.  And it should never ever be spoken in reference to food.  I mean, seriously?  How inappropriate is that?

 

But what really pisses me off is the contrast between that and Lenny's aw-shucks, down-home, polite "sir and ma'am" demeanor on the show.  Personally, I HATE the whole "little lady" treatment - it comes off as patronizing to me but I do understand that some men mean no harm by it.  But then to hear someone who acts like that use that word so casually and inappropriately, and over a brisket for heaven's sake . . . that tells me it IS patronizing and demeaning and Lenny is as fake an asshole as he seems.

[backformore]

On the topic of picky-eating.  I've raised two kids. I raised them the same way.  I put food in front of them, I never insist that they eat.  I never catered to them, but always had enough food offered that they wouldn't go hungry.   I myself have lifelong aversions to food I was forced to eat as  a child, and decided early on not to power struggle with my kids about food. If they didn't like what was for dinner, they could eat bread, a bowl of oatmeal, or some  salad. 

 

One kid was picky from age 2 on.  He never liked anything that had a fat or oily mouth feel.  Butter, gravy, sauce, ice cream,  salad dressing,  all were things he hated.  he was underweight, always.  kid #2 ate anything and everything - the more exotic, the more he liked it.  They are adults now, and still, one is picky (less so than he used to be, and no longer skinny)  and the other  will eat anything.  Nothing to do with how they were raised, they came out of the womb that way.

 

I'm not crazy about the idea of "hiding"  veggies or tricking kids into eating them.  Serve the veggies, eat dinner with your kids, and eventually they will acquire a taste for some of them.  The less of a big deal you make of it, the more relaxed you can be, the better off the kids will be.

 

On this show, the contestants didn't really pay attention to the families.  if a family is "mostly meat and potatoes" - teach them to make a hearty chicken or fish dish, with rice or noodles.  Don't go too far in the other direction - only a couple of steps away from their comfort level is what is needed.   a couple that wants  something EASY -  anything with a few ingredients, or few steps.  like a stir-fry dish, or a dish where you bake fish and veggies in foil in the oven.   It seemed like these contestants were just doing a dish they liked to prepare, not really listening to what the families wanted.  

[smiley13]

 

A few other people have said that cauliflower mashed or riced doesn't smell or taste as awful as cauliflower as a vegetable (which I hate).

Well, I was duped into eating it mashed and it still smelled bad to me.  I thought that something looked wrong with the so-called potatoes, but decided to be a polite guest and taste it anyway.  I was also polite enough not to spit it out like the kid did with Nicole's food.

 

And a big no to spaghetti squash too.  I guess I am just not a fan of lying about what stuff is.  It amazes me that there are whole cookbooks devoted to it.

 

After watching him prep it, I can fully understand why the kid's did not want to eat Luca's food.

[Padma]

As for unappetizing, after watching the Lenny video, it will be a fair while before I consider brisket. Don't get me started about corn.

 

I love creamed corn but the way he was talking about it and stirring it...ew, so gross. And I had the whole "get children to eat vegetables" task in mind at the time. The only good thing was to imagine him breaking out the "real" Lenny and making his creamed corn recipe for the children. I would love to have seen those judges' faces when all that fake "shucks, m'am" Lenny was replaced by "crude slob with inappropriate 'descriptive language' when trying to get us interested in food."

 

(Of course, the children will have to be out of the room if Lenny ever gets his own FN show.  Hopefully, Bob et al will see this video because for now "Lenny" seems the frontrunner. Surely someone will flag this video to Alton on Twitter, though, and that should do the trick.)

 

I'm not as surprised that he made it as I am that he hasn't taken it down yet. Why? It doesn't make any sense, not even at the stage when he was just applying for the show. Weird.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Padma

[howmanywords]

You know, I could deal with a Luca show if he came in all breezy with his shirt flowing around him. They'd have to put big fans in his kitchen. :)

I'm with ya on that! I'm all for a Luca show if he a) comes up with interesting recipes and b) has a wardrobe malfunction every week. Remember how when Giada started out her shirts got more and more low cut? They can go that route with Luca..come to think of it Suzie may already have that in mind

Edited July 29, 2014 by howmanywords

[dahling]

I'm not watching the Lenny video. I want to still like him. You can't make me. Lalalalalalalalalalalala. *runs away*

[xaxat]

I think Lenny's a big fan of pro wrestling. Because that's the same kind of vocal progression and cadence (minus the vulgar part) they use for promos.

[Psychobunny]

After looking at that video I hate Lenny just a little.  I was sort of rooting for him since he was the best cook left.  I guess I've have to root for Luca who is now the best of the worst.  What's funny is that when I watched Loreal's video linked above (http://www.indystar.com/story/entertainment/dining/2014/07/27/food-network-star-loreal-gavin/13174989/) I thought she came across as much more genuine and knowledgeable.  She also lost about 15 years and several pounds of makeup and hairspray.  I might actually watch a show by that person.  I could see myself making that sandwich.

Edited July 29, 2014 by Psychobunny

[Day2Day]

  With no disrespect to the donkeys on the planet.... Kenny is an ASS !!!!  

[cooksdelight]

Hey everyone, please post videos and off-topic items in this thread, where you can talk all about the contestants or other aspects of their lives....not the episodes. Recipes that coincide with what you think the cooks shoulda/woulda/coulda made can also go in here. It keeps this thread on point with discussion of the actual episode.

 

http://forums.previously.tv/topic/5627-small-talk-lettuce-turnip-on-thyme-for-chat/#entry141925

 

Also, as I stated earlier when the first video was posted, anything with vulgar or questionable language which may not be appropriate or appreciated by all viewers, needs the NSFW (not suitable for work....or your granny....or your kids) warning with your post. If you have any questions, feel free to PM me.

[backformore]

Wow, i'm at work and don't' DARE  look at the video - can't wait to get home to see what the fuss is about. 

 

ETA;  Oops - sorry cooksdelight, I didn't see your post until I had posted.   

(I really should try to  do more WORK at work) 

Edited July 30, 2014 by backformore

[Calamity Jane]

Wow, Lenny bombed that piece at the yogurt shop.  Not gonna watch that video - I'll take everyone's word that it's awful, and be grateful that Nicole did so well and hope, hope, hope she pulls out a win now.  

[Intuition]

 

Thanks (I think!) to Uncle Benzene for posting the video here. (Just when I was coming in to say I thought Sarah's purpose was to make me like Lenny. Now who's left to root for in this train wreck? I guess it's Nicole who seems able to cook, is beautiful, and seems well suited to FN of old, if not the new "hyped" up one. She'd be a decent successor to Giada, not Paula--all to the good imo.)

 

Thanks, actually I posted it after mlp mentioned it in a post.

 

 

But back to Lenny. Wow. Creepy. But part of me is (1) amazed and (2) impressed at his mastery of marketing himself for FN and of complete self-re-invention. He doesn't even seem like the same man we've been seeing here every week. That may look easy, but is incredibly hard to do (except for sociopaths. Hmm.) He seems to have kept "the crazy" under wraps and made this "character" seem like the real guy--amazing self discipline from that jerk in the video (who no way, no how, could have gotten on FNS if they'd ever seen that. Great find! I hope it will send him the way of Payh Styahl.)

 

The funny thing is I don't see any difference between what we've been seeing every week and what's in the video in that I totally could see there was something majorly creepy about this dude lurking just under the surface of which the video is only the tip of the iceberg.  The video didn't surprise me at all.  He's a good actor, I think.

 

So now who to root for?  I still like Nicole and can see her and Luca in the finale.  And thanks to cooksdelight I now will never be able to get out of my head the vision of Luca with longer hair and a white gauzy shirt open and flowing in the breeze, kind of like the original Fabio (not the Top Chef one), LOL.  Yeah, Luca is eye candy and not really much else, I suppose.  Oh yeah, he can cook but I have to say I have not been over-impressed with his cooking so far.  Too bad about Lenny as he actually seems to have some cooking talent.  Nicole really seems to know her stuff too in spite of the gaff she made with the sriracha for kids this week.  She mentioned new studies about cholesterol on her Facebook page that I only just read about recently myself.  I love it that she understands the new trends in nutrition and health without slapping it in your face about being the "healthy" chef.  Perhaps TPTB told her not to push the healthy angle up front, but instead go for the "Jersey Girl/Coastal Cuisine" angle.  I don't think Coastal Cuisine necessarily means fish or seafood either.  I just think they had to think up an angle for her and "Northeastern Cuisine" is not as catchy.  I like it that a Northeasterner might win this season as we have had our share of Southern, Country, Western, Californian, and Midwestern (aka Jeff M.) cooks win this show, all bringing their own special regionally influenced styles of cooking with them.  Note that I know that Aaron McCargo is from New Jersey, but as he openly called his style of cooking "soul food", I would consider that a style unto itself.

Edited July 30, 2014 by Intuition

[Accidental Martyr]

Wow, Lenny bombed that piece at the yogurt shop.  

"Oh, it's so creamy...mmm, the way it lays on my tongue."

[SusannahTaylor3]

On the topic of picky-eating.  I've raised two kids. I raised them the same way.  I put food in front of them, I never insist that they eat.  I never catered to them, but always had enough food offered that they wouldn't go hungry.   I myself have lifelong aversions to food I was forced to eat as  a child, and decided early on not to power struggle with my kids about food. If they didn't like what was for dinner, they could eat bread, a bowl of oatmeal, or some  salad. 

 

One kid was picky from age 2 on.  He never liked anything that had a fat or oily mouth feel.  Butter, gravy, sauce, ice cream,  salad dressing,  all were things he hated.  he was underweight, always.  kid #2 ate anything and everything - the more exotic, the more he liked it.  They are adults now, and still, one is picky (less so than he used to be, and no longer skinny)  and the other  will eat anything.  Nothing to do with how they were raised, they came out of the womb that way.

 

I'm not crazy about the idea of "hiding"  veggies or tricking kids into eating them.  Serve the veggies, eat dinner with your kids, and eventually they will acquire a taste for some of them.  The less of a big deal you make of it, the more relaxed you can be, the better off the kids will be.

 

On this show, the contestants didn't really pay attention to the families.  if a family is "mostly meat and potatoes" - teach them to make a hearty chicken or fish dish, with rice or noodles.  Don't go too far in the other direction - only a couple of steps away from their comfort level is what is needed.   a couple that wants  something EASY -  anything with a few ingredients, or few steps.  like a stir-fry dish, or a dish where you bake fish and veggies in foil in the oven.   It seemed like these contestants were just doing a dish they liked to prepare, not really listening to what the families wanted.

I was the same.... If they didn't like what was on the menu they could make peanut butter and jelly sandwich for themselves. They knew I wasn't running a restaurant. After a few times of having that they would decide to eat what the rest of us ate. I also noticed that if I had a negative attitude to a certain food and my kids observed it then that same attitude rubbed off on them. I at least expected them to try the food before they said they didn't like it. I also learned not to say its good for you because that will surely make them not want to eat it. I found if I didn't say anything about what was on their plates there was a better chance of their eating the food.

[Rick Kitchen]

Y'know, it occurred to me that it's odd that those kids would refuse to try cauliflower.  If they're so special that they only eat a few things, how do they even know what cauliflower is?