Food Blog Lust

Image is from Seattle's 'Food Lust' coming up June 6th! *click* to see!
The food blog list below I first saw via the 'BaltimoreSnacker', thanks John!

Figured since I'm so slow plodding thru all these, I'd better keep the list just in case the TimesOnline takes down the link. Its from their Top 50 Food Blogs page. Well worth checking out!

"This list comprises 50 of our favourite food blogs..."
And they weren't kidding - what a list!

1. Orangette The ultimate food lovers' blog. "I cooked for almost 12 hours straight after discovering this blog" She loved the cabbage gratin.

2. Cannelle et Vanille 'stunning' via Spanish pastry chef Aran Goyoaga.

3. The Wednesday Chef NY-based Luisa Weiss trawls thru NY and LA Times recipes and humorous anecdotes - charming.

4. Delicious Days easy to navigate, has German author’s own recipes, and adapted ones plus offers tips for food bloggers.

5. David Lebovitz by ex-pastry chef/author in France - has FAQ page on Paris culinary secrets.

6. Chez Pim daily doses of her recipes, reviews and authoritative food comments.

7. Matt Bites pro photos, it really shows – charming and humorous, has a recent Martha Stewart link to boot.

8. Serious Eats Practically everything you need to know about food, focus is on American.

9. 101 Cookbooks 5-year blog of buying and reading cookbooks, w/ i-Phone-able recipes, plus index of recipes by ingredient, by category.

10. Smitten Kitchen excellence in this recipe blog, w/ Facebook links, Flickr photos, and Twitter following – slick.

11. Chubby Hubby Aun Koh (& wife) - all you need to know about Asian food, street food, and recipes.

12. Chocolate & Zucchini multi-lingual, Paris-based recipes, French food idioms, w/book 'Edible Adventures in Paris'.

13. Rambling Spoon travelling food journalist recently in Thailand, Paris, and Edinburgh.

14. Pioneer Woman Cooks real-life, frontier-living w/passion for the hearth to match, Pioneer Woman has garnered a huge following. Impressive.

15. Dorie Greenspan NY cookbook author, passions are pastry and Paris, authority on all things baked.

16. Artisan Sweets
A sweet-toothed beautifully-photographed blog, w/useful video demos.

17. Eating Asia colourful - street markets from all over Asia - inspiring.

18. Nordljus bilingual food journal, Eng/Japanese, delectable images, sharing recipes and her musings on an English culinary life.

19. The Kitchn Part of popular interiors blog Apartment Therapy, this satisfies all manner of kitchen cravings; kitchen tours, recipes and answers to Q's like 'How to clean a toaster' & " Diff btwn non-stick and cast iron?"

20. Becks & Posh Celebrity pun name aside, its really about nosh-ing, by English ex-pat in California, eating regional and seasonal w/ 'English humour'.

21. Simply Recipes - superb range of personal recipes

22. Sticky Rice - exotic street-food docu-drama in Hanoi

23. Souvlaki for the Soul - summery Byzantine bites from Sydney

24. Bitten: New York Times - news, views and recipes from the Big Apple's kitchens

25. Baking Bites - homemade cookies, muffins and much more

26. La Tartine Gourmande - gorgeous photos, scrummy food

27. Gluten Free Girl - wheat-free wonders and tips for celiacs

28. Steamy Kitchen - modern Asian cuisine by media savvy blogger

29. What's for Lunch Honey - global menu from Germany

30. Cream Puffs in Venice - Italian influenced mainly sweet-toothed posts

31. Egg Beater - insightful look at the life of a London-based chef

32. Homesick Texan - a NYorker recreates the much-missed cuisine of her Southern childhood

33. The Traveler's Lunchbox -great writing served up with recipes

34. Joy the Baker - home-baked goodies from an LA-based twentysomething

35. Cook and Eat - striking photography and a smooth to move-about layout

36. Lucullian Delights - appetising Italian recipes from a Tuscan-based Swede

37. Café Fernando - Turkish delights from Istanbul

38. The Food Section - read all about food news

39. Use Real Butter - tales from an Asian foodie’s life in the Colorado Rockies

40. Tea and Cookies - charming stories accompany yummy recipes

41. Amateur Gourmet - funny writing with a useful "how to" section

42. Wild Yeast - all about bread

43. Tartelette - stunning photography and styling define this popular dessert blog

44. NYC Nosh - reviews of favourite old-school restaurants in New York

45. Not Eating Out in NY - rare pursuit of home-cooking in the city

46. Cooksister - South African via London-based expat

47. Artichoke: Best of British Food - well written seasonal posts and events

48. Grab Your Fork - Sydney reviews and recipes including a useful restaurant finder

49. A Slice of Cherry Pie - home cooking from the Home Counties

50. The Bitten Word - charming duo tackle recipes from a stack of food mags.

Plus, the TO Writer, Lynne Robinson, has her own design blog at www.teaforjoy.blogspot.com which features tea shop reviews and a tea of the week.

*When does she find the time?!?

How Tweet

* texts sent via Twitter are called 'tweets' ;-)
Just how 'tweet' are those Twitter-ers?

Tempted by this fad? Believe it or not, website tweetvalue.com will gauge the value of your Twitter account. I'm guessing its based on # of followers - so by that score I'm afraid Kathy Griffin is still a 'D-List' celebrity. Compare:

http://twitter.com/aplusk (Ashton) 600,000 followers
http://twitter.com/mrskutcher (Demi) 300,000 follow
http://twitter.com/marthastewart 250,000 followers
http://twitter.com/margaretcho 16,000 followers
http://twitter.com/kathygriffin 8000 followers

*If you're still considering it, also consider Twitturly.com, which tracks the most popular URLs (or Web links) being shared across Twitter, and Tweetdeck or Twhirl, both of which help you manage/organize your tweets. Good Luck.

p.s. 'Too old' to Tweet? Queen Elizabeth joined 2 weeks ago. Her account is still 'parked' but that hasn't detered the fakers:

http://twitter.com/qeII - fake Queen Elizabeth, 1 follower
http://twitter.com/QueenLizzzie - fake also, 262 followers
http://twitter.com/QueenLizII - fake again, 736 followers
not to mention...
http://twitter.com/PrinceCharles - 800 followers...?

Naughty Padma

She's leading us astray... Earlier there was this chocolate-y pose (above) and now she's on tv fondling Carl jr's sloppy burger... Has it done her reputation any damage? - Perhaps, if you use this scientific NY Daily News poll as evidence:

Who would you buy a burger from?

Padma.... 72%
Paris........ 3%
Neither.. 25%

Also: Padma without food or, ahem, much of anything else.

(See? I told you she was leading us astray!)

p.s. Will be downloading TC pics tomorrow, hopefully!

Chopping Block Axed

...according to the latest edition of Variety:

NBC has chopped "The Chopping Block" off its schedule
'will instead run repeats of "Law & Order: Criminal' Intent.

Sounds like Justice will be served on Wednesdays, vs. diners!
Sorry, couldn't resist the puns. But I'm not exactly broken up about the demise of this 'tool' show... meaning the host. He may have been able to cook, but his personality totally overshadowed his skills.

The link: Variety.com

Laurel Holloman, A-list!

You can sit in the front rows to see her (and everyone else) at Bravo's A-list award show if you:

Are free on April 5th, 2009*
Can get to The Orpheum in L.A., Calif
Are over 18 years old
Own a formal outfit (list of LA thrift stores)
Agree -not- to bring a camera
Willing to sign up to be a 'seatfiller'

A 'seatfiller' is someone who sits in the seats of celebrities at televised events, while the celebrity is in the loo or out having a smoke. You can be that person if you meet the above requirements and go to LA's SeatFillers.com to sign up (bottom half of page) by April 1st. Good Luck!

* The show airs on the 15th, but they film it April 5th, apparently.

p.s... Can't make it to Los Angeles? Me neither.
But at least we can vote for her elevator scene (often)!

Tour Chef NYC

I saw (and touched) the Top Chef Tour set! We were going through NYC Friday afternoon, and saw the Top Chef tour truck - they were closing up for the day. In fact I waved at Hosea as he was leaving the set, and he smiled and waved back. (Sorry it wasn't Fabio but beggars can't be choosers...)

But anyway, my scoop is that the brunette selling Top Chef gear (books, T's, oven mitts), to the last stragglers said that even though all the tickets for Saturday were reserved, that you can show up in the morning and get put on the waiting list, and there's a good chance you could get into the first seating! So go to south corner of 23rd and Broadway (via N, W, or R lines) right below Madison Sq Park for Saturday's shows:

Sat, Mar 28 @ 10:30 am
Sat, Mar 28 @ 12:00 pm
Sat, Mar 28 @ 01:30 pm

Heck, even if you can't get in, you can still purchase TC stuff including the 'Culinary Boner' or 'I love Fabio' T-shirts. Enjoy!

*will post my pics of the TC Tour truck later this weekend.

Kathy Goes Mad

KG hosts tonight's MadTV salute to Michael McDonald.

Got a 'Google Alert' about it. I've never sat through an ep of MadTV, but it could be funny - I think I'll TiVo it. * Of course that's what Mr. Google Alert wanted... I must be a sheep! (Fox, 10 pm)

Deleted scenes from their Iraq trip:

Think Spring

_{image: jemorris.blogspot.com}

Thinking...

that I'll keep adding art & oddity links, even tho this blog was originally intended to be a window into the (mercifully small) TV-part of my brain. (Hey, a gal needs a place for a snarkfest when her local pals won't watch your guilty pleasure shows.)

Hopping Block

_{image credit to www.tinafrugoli.com}Found during Google search for 'C' hopping Block
*Must learn to close gaps in search terms, but did make me smile.

And lets hope tonight's 'Chopping Block' ep really is 'hopping'...
Now that 'Top Chef' is over, I need more humor in my reality chefs.

fyi: more 'C Block' articles at:

Chopping Block, on tv.pressdem

VV blog of Chopping Block

Going Green

'Jetting to Green'... Wait, what?'

Go Green with an -airline-? Its a nice thought, but it struck me funny that JetBlue is advising you to reduce your impact.
* Note their list does -not- include 'stay home' :

Plant shade trees to protect from summer sun.
Explore installing a solar water heater for your home.
Encourage recycling efforts.
Re-use envelopes, jars, paper bags, scrap paper, etc.
Join a car pool or use public transport.
Reduce your use of air-conditioning.
Rent or borrow items that you don't use often.
Start a garden; plant a garden instead of a lawn
Compost kitchen waste, or give it to a friend who can.

*gotta love that last one...
I can just hear it... "Happy St. Patrick's Day!... I wanted to give you something that would turn green (eventually) so here's my kitchen trash!?"

Brit Diva

TLW's Rachel Shelley is officially a diva. Or at least she must write like one since she's now a guest columnist for UK's Diva Magazine. Her debut is in the April issue.

Quick U.S. fans, make that plane reservation! ;-)

RS quotes in older issues: article #1 , article #2.

Old Coot = A Hoot

_{image credit TimeOutChicago}
Jeffrey Steingarten is on NBC's new food show 'Chopping Block' this week. {Wed, 8pm} Remember, this is the old curmudgeon that proclaimed that 'most vegetables are bad for you'. {video below} A Harvard educated lawyer who apparently assumes all those ancient humans must've died out because there were no stoves?... I sense a snark attack coming on - can't wait!

*psst JS? Humans adapted too; we can handle plant enzymes.

Just Say Bleep

Equality for the deaf; they get censorship too!
Deaf actress Marlee Matlin, when told about the PBS censorship policy requiring additional visual pixelization (for the deaf) of recognizable lip movements of sworn words:

"I've been reading the lips of bleeped-out words of angry baseball players and stoned rock stars on awards shows for years and it's been hilarious. Everyone is always asking me what the bleeped parts are... Just say no to pixelization!"

That made me LOL. - 'Go Marlee!'

*Know what else makes MM unique? 'Jodi' is the only character on TLW not suspected of killing Jenny - so of course she totally did it.

RRay of Light

How did I miss this? KG putting 'Today' show to shame:

'Turns out she would do this New York press only if she could include a wounded serviceman and a service dog to represent her favorite charity - Vet Dogs - but, she says, the fourth hour of "Today" and People magazine complained it was "too depressing" a concept.'

Meanwhile, 'Rachael Ray said 'yes'. And apparently the bit was a hit. I'm sorry I missed it - I only linked to the part of the RRay show where she & KG played 'Would You Rather..' (I'll link to any extra video I find...)

More good news: Next June on the D-List We'll be seeing Bette Midler, Lily Tomlin, Paula Deen, Suzanne Somers, Gloria Estefan, Rosie O'Donnell, & even Don Rickles himself.

_{original article on the: KG Forum}

House Payment

_{pic credit to www.whitemountainwheels.com}Beals (left) on 'The Book of Eli' set, Carrizozo, NM.*
Jennifer Beals once said she took some acting jobs 'to pay the mortgage'. Well, this post-apocalyptic movie where she plays a mom who's btw also a blind sex-slave?... smells like another 'house payment' movie to me. But then again, the script can't be worse than her last one, Sunday's TLW finale, can it?

Wait, maybe it could be worse. The script was by a rookie, who reviews video games & comics for a living. It got greenlit just because comic book movies are 'in' right now.

The rewrite? By A.Peckham, who's never had a successful film.
The directors? Have a rep for lousy female roles, ala 'American Pimp'
The premiere? Jan 2010, a January release = no faith in the movie
The verdict?... Only Denzel as the lead gives it a chance.


*near 'futuristic' old lava in Valley of Fires{4-min} park.

Swan Song

The finale wasn't music to anyone's ears, unfortunately.

"L" Is for Lousy - The series finale of The L Word set lesbianism and the art of storytelling back about fifty years. It couldn't have dribbled to a more feeble, unfulfilling letdown ...

James Wolcott, of Vanity Fair
That was a typical review. How sad. No show deserves to die like that. Its the one time they should have called Weho's seemingly only lawyer Joyce Wishnia, and of course they didn't. Bet they could've gotten a group rate, too.

Prolong the death throes: Go here Mondays for clips.

backstage clips during last week of filming.

Top Comic

'Top Chef' Tom's Nightmare... (click to embiggin'*)

'Wendy','Ronald','B.King' & Padma say: 'Tom, PYK&G' - Ha!.

So Tom C has really hit the bigtime - today's Sunday comic page.
Opened up the funnies and there he was, but with a banana-nose.
Then again it must be catching since Padma has one too. ;-)

*_{credit to comic page of: Argyle Sweater}

L = Last Items

The last show of TLW is tonight, and yet I'm actually more interested in hearing the details of yesterday's auction of the last items off the set. Isn't that sad (and odd) that after five years of watching this show I'm still not invested in the finale?. Granted I'm a big spoiler ho, so I'm already annoyed that the producer... *unspoiled? don't read the tiny print* ... _{refused to actually wrap up the final storylines!} ... MoronIC, yes?

So, while waiting for the auction results, I did a 'Wordle' by taking a TWoP page, and letting the program form the words into a label-cloud. Naturally B&T are big - popular words are the largest - but this (click image on left) shape was unusual. The smaller ones randomly clustered around Bette, leaving Tina an island? - how odd.

You'd think one of Bette's army of minions programmed it.
(other samples on other topics looked nothing like this)

Try your own: Wordle.net, - _{( orig link via The Claw, thanks! )}

Juicy Chefs

More TC reunion from this week's TVguide.

TVguide (paper version) had unseen bits from the reunion. Good little article - wish it was longer. And, just because I'm the sharing type, here's my scan of the (2/3 page) article for y'all - just click it. ;-)

Loved Stefan's reply when asked if he cared that he lost: "Don't give a rosy rat's ass!" - And he also quotes a website that compared his face to a cross between that guy on 'The Shield' and Brad Pitt(?)

Meanwhile the others joked with Ariane about being on Bravo's future version of Desperate Housewives: New Jersey. And the chefs also kidded Padma for details about her love life, but she clammed up. Speaking of Padma, a favorite moment of Stefan's? - smoking outside with Padma after the finale.
Enjoy.

Out of Step

Mediocre editing, yet another bugaboo of TLW.
If you saw Ep 607 you know what I mean...

That's why its interesting to see unpaid fans remix the scenes that IC's clumsy yet paid editors & director have chopped apart. Here a fan restored some flow to a dance sequence that had been roughly intercut with 2 other storylines in the aired version of the ep.

* credit for this 607 remix goes to beakerJT
{1 min}

Makes quite a difference. Too bad the amateur editors employed by TLW didn't know the golden rule of editing video - if your audience has never seen it before, don't cut away. Put another way, if its something unique, you need to let your audience have a chance to savor it. If it was a cola ad? - feel free to do as many cuts as you like, but the only choreographed dances in TLW deserved better.
(Direct youtube link to the same video)

Chop Shop

aka The Top Chef Reunion Show
Tonight on Bravo, The chefs return! chop-chop!...

j/k - But am looking forward to hearing what S5's crew says about NY & New Orleans. Fan favorite?... I'm placing my bet on Fabio, since he had better menus than Carla right at the time Bravo was pushing for votes.

eta: Congrats to Fabio, but that was slooowww

Tidbits from the TC Reunion:

The Stefan & women montage, followed by his stare at Padma when she walked in, priceless!

Toby asking if Fabio & Stefan 'hold hands' walking in Santa Monica and Fabio replies 'No', that he uses a leash.

The chefs made Glad-toys in the stew room! -LOL- I wish we'd seen that -during- the show. (Did Glad wonder why they had to re-stock so often?)

Don't care for host Andy C. But at least I'm not alone - 'Pepper M' (of TWoP) has something to say about him:
'Shut up, you charmless, unintelligent twatwaffle'- I LOL'd.

Sequestered for 6 weeks? H. must've included the finale time, because no way were they in Brooklyn for 6 weeks!

The 'birthday curse'...
Amazed that didn't leak earlier: 'Happy B-day, pack'm'up!'
Loved Leah dismissing the curse just before it bit her.

Dead Ahead

How I think Season Six really happened:

Once upon a time, back in June 2008...

Voila! - TLW turns into an 8-part mystery tour.

But lets not dwell on that. Having seen the first seven episodes, we're all afraid of what will happen next, but instead of worrying, please enjoy a fun Alice-Jenny scene - Jenny begs for a kiss!

SuperSonic Me

Or Ms. Fearless Supersonic Angel if you're nasty...
Yup, its silly. But hey, since I'm now a Superhero, I've decided my Super Quest is going to be to fight to give comic books back to kids. All the recent 'comic book' movies are inappropriate for kids -and- not any fun. And that's beyond silly. Link to do: Your very own SuperHero Makeover.
*hero link rec'd by Lisa, thanks!

eta: Oh No, not more no-fun 'kid' movies?!:

Ant-Man (2010), Avengers (2011), Black Hole (2010), Button Man (in production), Deathlok (2011), Doom Patrol (soon), The Flash (2010), Hack/Slash (2009), Iron Man 2 (2010), Madman (2009), Nick Fury (2010), Red Sonja (2009), Ronin (in production), Spider-Man 4 (2011), Thor (2009), Watchmen (2009), Whiteout (2009), The Witchblade (2009), X-Men: Wolverine (2009)

Anyone else think these 'comic' flicks sound depressing?

Fabio > Toby > TomC

TomC makes me like Toby...

... As for the decision to name Rosenberg the winner, Colicchio says he’s "not positive" if it was completely unanimous.

“It may have been three out of four [judges],” he says. “I don’t remember one hundred percent. I think Toby may have wanted to give it to Stefan if I remember correctly.”

And I hope this comes to pass:

Adds Colicchio, “At the end of the day, I would say Fabio will end up doing more than the winner only because of his personality. That’s where the personality comes in. This season, most people are going to remember Fabio.”

*Hopefully Hootie Hoo too. ;-)

MSNBC link: TC finale interview