Monday, December 05, 2005

Do Your Thumbprints Look Like this?

No, mine neither

photograph picture of some Thumbprints at Boulettes Larder at the Ferry Building in San Francisco
click to enlarge

Fred took this picture a while ago. He was tagging along behind me with the camera on one of my visits to the Ferry Building Market place. I always really liked this photograph but, until today, didn't get around to publishing it. At only 75 cents, it's not too much of a hardship to divert through Boulette's Larder and pop one in your mouth before heading off to the farmers market stalls again.

Sandra Lee Sucks
From something simple and beautiful to something fussy, complicated and as unappealing as anyone who cares about food could find: At the weekend I turned on Food Network for the first time in about 6 months. The train wreck of a cooking teacher that transpired before my eyes left me rigid with fear. Who is this woman who is teaching the country to make such a hideous collection of ugly, unhealthy, outrageously decadent, obscene christmas foods? Sandra Lee. Ugh. This kind of thing should be banned. Semi-homemade, my arse.



PS - Sorry if you already knew this about Ms Lee. I imagine I am a bit slow off the mark. It's one of those things in life that I now wish had completely passed me by. Ignorance was bliss.

Archive Alert! On this date in 2004 I took part in the very first ever Paper Chef. Check over with Owen to see how his event is going one year down the line.

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Do Your Thumbprints Look Like this?

7:24 AM  

32 Comments:

  • At 5/12/05 08:28, Blogger Monkey Gland said…

    Hahahaha, I love that, semi-homemade is registered trade mark!

     

  • At 5/12/05 09:41, Blogger Guy said…

    Jeez, you really put your foot in it this time. Barrett from Too Many Chefs mentioned how bad it was, so I had to go see a few weeks ago.
    THAT is some seriously nasty food that has no business being on anyone's table, let alone on a tv show.
    I can't imagine how that got on the air. I COULD HAVE DONE BETTER !!!

     

  • At 5/12/05 10:44, Blogger Amy Sherman said…

    Sandra Lee is satan, either that or she is the scariest stepford wife passing for human. Her "recipes" feature the most disgusting packaged foods and usually emphasize style over substance. Be afraid, be ver afraid!

     

  • At 5/12/05 10:47, Blogger Stephanie said…

    Andrew, you can read over some of her recipes here.

    Sam, the woman makes me want to hurt myself.

    I do like to watch Ina Garten, but I when I do, I have to be sure to turn off the television immediately afterwards, for fearing of seeing Sandra Lee and her canned soups, seasoning packets, and store-bought crap.

    When I do find myself watching her show (where's the darn remote??!), I spend the half-hour saying rude things to the set. And you ever notice how excited she gets when she makes a cocktail??? Methinks the woman has a drinking problem...

     

  • At 5/12/05 10:48, Blogger Sam said…

    MG - no please, don't fall for her charms

    Dr B - couldn't find that over at Barrets but doesnt surpprise me that all the sane people would agree with me on this one.

    Andrew - a hideous collection of ugly, unhealthy, outrageously decadent, obscene christmas foods!
    OK - the start of the show she said "I am going to show your how to make the best dinner rolls you have ever tasted, and then watched flabbergasted as she opened a pack of frozen rolls and cooked them in a wreath shape topped with mixed herbs and ceasar dressing powder mix or something. (Maybe that was a different recipe but you get the idea). SHe was making hot chocolate drinks with white chocolate cream and red and white peppermint candy canes. She made all these things covered in food colouring and coloured sugar. It was just a candy fest of colour.aargh. And on top pf that there is no one who can get more words into a minute or more "recipes into a show. I am scared I am going to run away now. Bye.

     

  • At 5/12/05 10:52, Blogger Sam said…

    Amy - afraid? I was petrified.

    stephanie - thanks for the link to the reicpoos. I think I could be come fast obsessed with my disdain for this woman. I hear you.

     

  • At 5/12/05 10:53, Blogger Anne said…

    Don't even get me started on Sandra Lee! I can't take the way she talks- she mentions how much "my girlfriends LOVE this idea!" about 10 times a show. I know- you're probably asking why I would watch such an atrocity of a "cooking show." You know sometimes something is so bad that you just HAVE to watch? I got over that real quick but not before catching a few episodes. You can't dump ketchup and tomato paste on pasta and call it marina!! And who needs to decorate their entire KITCHEN to fit the theme of what they are cooking?

    Sorry- looks like I did get started on the topic after all. I vote to start a monthly blogging event called The Anti-Semi-Homemade-Dish-Of-The-Month.

    I know all of MY girlfriends would love it.

     

  • At 5/12/05 12:53, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    what ever happend to the good shows on food network like Jamie Oliver and... i can't even remember what the good shows were on the food network. they no longer exist. but if you can't sleep, i have noticed the naked chef airs at about 3am on the weekends. ???? or if you have Tivo.

     

  • At 5/12/05 13:05, Blogger Guy said…

    Yeah, Tivo catches the Naked Chef for me, love the tivo. I watch less tv now that Tivo is doing the driving, it cares for me.

    Biggles

     

  • At 6/12/05 01:53, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sam - what is the biscuit rolled in pine nuts at the back of the photo?

     

  • At 6/12/05 08:13, Blogger Sam said…

    tokyoastrogirl:
    it would have to be an "anti" event cos I can't imagine many food bloggers mimicing her methods, not even for a joke, it just seems so unfunny!

    Kara and Biggles - you are right - when I switched it on i was hoping Jamie or someone cooler might be around. I watch tv once in a blue moon but next time I am going to get our tivo to pick up some good stuff and have it waiting for me.

    Barbara - it looks like something I made and blogged about last year, a Panellets de Pinyons. They are really delicious and easy to make. the recipe I used but didnt feel it was fair to publish,contained sweet potato and ground almonds and egg and sugar as I recall, before being rolled in the pine nuts. If you like I can see if I still have the magazine (I might not ) and email it to you if you like. Let me know.

     

  • At 6/12/05 12:42, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Urgh, Sandra Lee. She's bad bad bad. And her obsession with lacy, pink doilies is verging on nasty.

     

  • At 6/12/05 16:12, Blogger Sam said…

    Luisa - but i thought Sandra Lee was a lacy pink dolly????!!!!

    Melissa - oh I totally blame Food Network for their bad programming. I just can't equate to the fact that there are people in the world who a) behave like that and b) eat like that and c)aren't embarrassed that they live their lives that way.
    Oh well - i am sure many people would think I was stupid too, if they saw me on tv, and anyway I can't talk that fast.

     

  • At 6/12/05 18:34, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Thanks Sam - I'll see if I can find a recipe on google first.dwy

     

  • At 6/12/05 20:16, Blogger MizD said…

    Oh, my god, so this was the chick with those awful candy cane cookies! Dave turned on the TV to catch a Tivo'd episode of Good Eats and there she was. I just about lost my lunch.

    (What biggles said about tivo -- we never catch any crap now, save for those brief WTF moments before we hit play! Saves us so much time and grief!)

     

  • At 6/12/05 20:51, Blogger Charlotte said…

    I don't have cable, so am not "up" on the latest TV chefs. I did, however, browse through the titles at the Borders recently and was rather put off by the big "Nothing in this book is from scratch" print on the cover. I mean, what the fuck?! It doesn't seem brag-worthy to me.

    I have recently begun reading Usenet's rec.food.cooking again, however (I've been hanging out with them off and on since '94) and one of the regulars does a regular series of posts where he does a savage and usually quite funny deconstruction of each of her "shows". You could find them in google groups quite easily by title (they all start "Semi-Homemade with Sandra Lee") in the rec.food.cooking group.

    Even second hand it sounds pretty seriously scary to me. Mind you, I'm more interested in showing someone how to make good food fast from scratch, taking judicious advantage of quality pre-prepped items.

     

  • At 6/12/05 23:06, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Semi-homemade sounds like a rerun of the 1950's Poppy Cannon "Can Opener Gourmet" cookbook and television apperances.

    I am glad I don't watch television.

     

  • At 7/12/05 12:49, Blogger Farmgirl Susan said…

    We don't get television down here in our little valley, so I've never seen Ms. Lee on TV. I have, however, heard of her. All I can say (with regret) to you, my foodie comrades, is this:

    People, she is the future. Actually, she is the present. Pick up any national woman's magazine (Woman's Day, etc.) and look at the recipe section. If they actually do make things from scratch, take a look at all the big glossy ads surrounding the recipes. They are for premade fake foodstuffs! An ad for banana bread cereal may very well be opposite a recipe for banana bread.

    Go to a "regular" supermarket in a "regular" neighborhood (you may have to leave California to do this) and spend an hour watching just what people put into their shopping carts. Talk about scary.

    There is NO FOOD IN THEIR FOOD!

    Well, I couldn't let everybody rant without joining in with my little yelp from the Midwest, where people live on Mountain Dew and Little Debbie cakes and there are ENTIRE supermarket aisles devoted to frozen pizza. : )

    P.S. This is also the Land of The Litterbugs. Yesterday the dogs and I were walking on the ridge above the farm and there were, not surprisingly, two pieces of litter on the ground. My beagle, Robin, walked right over to the Little Debbie Fried Apple Pie box and peed on it. Good dog. : )

     

  • At 7/12/05 12:51, Blogger Farmgirl Susan said…

    P.P.S. Speaking of glossy magazine ads, I'm sure you've seen her pitching products for such giant brands as Campbell's soup over the past few years. . .

     

  • At 8/12/05 11:08, Blogger Sam said…

    Barbara - well I don't normally, and I think I should remain that way.

    Farmgirl - Don't get a television!!!!!!

     

  • At 9/12/05 23:38, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sometimes I'm just too lazy to turn the food channel off when SL comes on, but I have to make myself. She is absolutely the WORST! I honestly would love to go on for an hour, but I know you all feel about her the way I do. So, let me just say thank you for providing the outlet to complain about that terrible woman.

     

  • At 10/12/05 11:38, Blogger Sam said…

    Lauren - my pleasure. Should I admit I have more of show set to record. I aim to watch it when we have run out of new episodes of Friday 13th & The texas Chainsaw Massacre.

     

  • At 17/12/05 16:56, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Heh...Sam, I couldn't agree more. Be thankful you've managed to avoid the train wreck for this long. :)

     

  • At 15/1/06 08:00, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    She might not be the best cook ever, but she is one sexy blonde.

     

  • At 29/1/06 08:26, Blogger TomD. said…

    I hate that Food Network, near and dear to me, fills up their weekend schedule with this scrawny, pool-stained blonde who over-annunciates the simplest of terms. Looking at those overly long crane-like arms extend out across the table while those oversized tits lay on her scrawny rib cage just grosses me out. Semi-homemade? She doesn't do anything homemade. I'm shocked that the show isn't underwritten by Pillsbury or Kraft. Food Network would be MUCH better off replacing this hideous show with Canada's "Chef At Home". I caught that gem while in Toronto. Too bad they don't show it here in the States!

     

  • At 23/2/06 12:26, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    Sandra Lee is a golddigger. She has no culinary training; was a two bit actress before. She is now divorcing her old rich husband and is dating Andrew Cuomo. First she went for the money and now she wants to get into politics. Ugh!

     

  • At 27/3/06 16:21, Blogger That's MIZZ Gypsy To You! said…

    Ah, another warrior against Semi Homemade crap. Pleased to meetcha!

     

  • At 18/12/06 17:10, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    She's such a milf. I love a woman who would take anniversary shots with me... the way her face lights up when she says "It's cocktail time!" turns me on.

     

  • At 2/4/07 20:42, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    lol i know how u fell i tried 1 of her recipies and.... YUCKO!!!!!!

    My mouth would rather taste soap and vinager.

     

  • At 16/2/08 18:38, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    "not a place for personal attacks" these comments are all attacking Sandra Lee. I respectfully disagree and I dont mind watching Sandra Lee. Some people like her recipes, I do, but it doesn't mean I don't know what quality food tastes like. I'd say Giada looks a bit too thin and showing cleavage is not necessary in a cooking show. Giada needs to cook like a real person would with limited time, stop posing so much and cook.

     

  • At 1/9/08 18:58, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I love Sandra Lee! Sure, she gets a little fru-fru and detailed with presentation but if you had planned healthy (nutritionally balanced), colorful, attractive meals for 44 years...you'd like her too. Or if you were not in good health, you'd appreciate her tips.
    Funny how all the negative posters want to sound so high and mighty & hoity-toity! Can you honestly say you've never eaten a potato chip or candy bar because it's not organic enough? Or eggs that were not from free range hens? Lighten up and let us people with BUSY LIVES enjoy the shortcuts! Most life partners cannot tell the difference anyway! (And don't tell me how quick a nutritious green salad is to prepare since I do know already.)
    For those who don't know, at 9 years of age, Sandra Lee became the surrogate mom to 4 younger siblings. She's entitled to enjoy her wealth, fame, personal relationships as she wishes...and remember: NO ONE FORCES YOU TO WATCH HER.

     

  • At 8/6/09 09:38, Anonymous Anonymous said…

    I have to say i've watched her and for busy moms some of her recipes are dead on. I've watched all the shows and there isn't one chef whose gotten every recipe down pat to me - - some are so complicated and time consuming and some are just boring - - at least she is focused on preparing things that even kids could do if they HAD too - - so lighten up ya'll - sounds like some of you need to just turn the channel and move on -hate sandra lee? isn't that a bit childish?

     

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