AMERICA IS NOT BROKE!

Is the Food Network Destroying the Art of Cooking?

"Cooking is an art and patience a virtue... Careful shopping, fresh ingredients and an unhurried approach are nearly all you need. There is one more thing - love. Love for food and love for those you invite to your table. With a combination of these things you can be an artist - not perhaps in the representational style of a Dutch master, but rather more like Gauguin, the naïve, or Van Gogh, the impressionist. Plates or pictures of sunshine taste of happiness and love." Keith Floyd

The whole concept of the art of cooking being turned into a circus side show with whiny cook wanna-bees (I so hesitate to use the term "chef" in deference to all the real chefs out there) and unknown and quite frankly, unqualified judges, is just deplorable to me. 

This does not apply to Iron Chef America and a show like Bobby Flay's Throwdown both of which do offer enough light entertainment and demonstration of some unique skill and artistry for me that make them tolerable and fun to watch while trying to relax and go to sleep. 

But, new Food Network shows like Chopped are destroying the art of cooking. 

And, I might add. the host, Ted Allen, formerly of the show Queer Eye, is simply terrible. I watched Queer Eye and his contribution to the show was minimal if not unnoticeable. He was transparent. And now to hire him a Food Network "hour" passing him off as some "expert" in cooking is insane. Maybe I could accept him as a judge, as is his part-time gig on Iron Chef America, but I barely can tolerate him in that role. His education is in psychology and journalism and he has experience as a freelance food critic and magazine editor. He gained exposure working in the shadow of Queer Eye's real star, Carson Cressley. I think of him as a fat-free potato chip with no taste and no character for anyone to take him seriously.


The Food Network is after ratings. Nothing else matters to them. What else in new in television. But I do not enjoy watching any show about food and cooking where their is stress, anxiety and disappointment as the primary focus of the production. That is not what cooking and eating are all about. Everything does not have to be about a competition or a car chase or vampires or tears or whatever other nonsense is presented to us as "quality" entertainment. It is not and never will be. The Food Network belittles their desired demographic with what essentially is crap television. Chopped is the perfect example of that. 


A favorite of mine, Anthony Bourdain writes in Michael Ruhlman's excellent blog at: http://ruhlman.com/ - "I actually watch Food Network now and again, more often than not drawn in by the progressive horrors on screen. I find myself riveted by its awfulness, like watching a multi-car accident in slow motion. Mesmerized at the ascent of the ready-made bobble head personalities, and the not-so-subtle shunting aside of the old school chefs, I find myself de-constructing the not-terrible shows, imagining behind the scenes struggles and frustrations, and obsessing unhealthily on the truly awful ones."

So I'm obviously not alone in my feelings toward the Food Network. Enough with the cheesy competitions of amateurs. I don't care if a cook-chef too-be will be the only African-American in his family to ever do whatever this contestant was whining about. Or the short fat and sweaty chef with the middle-class Neew Yorka accent believing he should prevail because he is older than the others and has switched careers and seems to thing he deserves some success for this efforts. Who cares? I cannot muster enough emotion for any of these people to pass them the salt let alone to consider them for some sort of prize after the old guy screwed up a plain hot dog by schmering it with too much molasses and then burning it.


So, what are these people thinking? Do "they" not realize they're taking the art of cooking right into the toilet? Is a show like Chopped supposed to be fun, or entertaining, educational perhaps, or maybe culinary reality television? Does the Food Network think it is something "we" should not take too seriously and consider it some type of light entertainment? I can't be sure. But, they've missed the mark. It accomplishes nothing. It is a waste of our time.

Hey, hey, hey - no Coco Cay...

I just don't get it. Maybe it's because I've been to so many great beaches from those off the China Sea to California to Florida. Royal Caribbean pushes their "private" island beach called Coco Cay - big time. And so we went.

It was my wife's second time there, although the first time she was with a group of Q-tips that were afraid to wear their flowered swim suits and didn't go in the water. It had nothing to do with what I discovered.

That being rocks. And rocks. And more rocks. Gazillions of them. Not little rocks - big ones. And unless you wear your Wal-Mart steel toe work boots, you will spend the next two days dealing with your very sore feet. So bad in fact that it can and will ruin your cruise.

Cove Cay is not a beach like Clearwater Beach, FL. Clearwater has soft hot white sand and you can walk out into the Gulf never touching anything but the passing or floating sea weed. There are little shells, no rocks, and they will not hurt your feet. And the water is clearer than Coco Cay.

I recommend you get off the ship and take the "tender" to Coco Cay - have a light lunch - which is free - and then go back to the ship. It's an enjoyable short trip and the water is amazingly blue. Give you and your partner about an hour for the "excursion."

Spend the rest of your day, which is usually the last day of the cruise, poolside sampling one or two of the excellent Royal Caribbean specialty drinks. That's exactly what my wife and I did - then went back to our 6th floor stateroom and then went to an outstanding dinner.

For the record, I do have my own photos of Coco Cay and will post them in a day or so.

FYI - Three Blogs

Acourtesyflush was my original blog which I started back in 2006. I've written 760 posts and just recently have reactivated it with a new focus on lifestyle, travel, tech and food - all of which are passions of mine. I also continue my writing for http://lifeontheroad.com/ which reflects my ongoing role as an commentator on the trucking industry. At some point, hopefully sooner than later, I plan a transition to the technical writing field, and so I've created a new blog called http://techwriterone.blogspot.com/. I hope you will check all three out. On the drawing board is a blog geared toward folks 50+ changing careers and lifestyles. I'll let you know when it's up and running. Enjoy.

Royal Caribbean - Monarch of the Seas

Simply the best cruise ever. It was our 30th wedding anniversary and we could not have chosen a better venue to celebrate it. More details on this later.

Working on a new design...

to get the site back up and running. I'll be concentrating on travel, health and lifestyle topics. As usual, you can find me posting almost daily over at  http://lifeontheroad.com/ on trucking issues. Chris and I will be leaving the end of this week for Nassau and I'll report on our trip there. We're always asked why if you live in Florida do you need to travel to the Bahamas or Mexico. The reason is this - twenty years ago we moved down here from the New York - New Jersey area to escape the 'rat race.' Unfortunately 'it' followed up down here. Once and in a while it is necessary for us to go to a place, albeit for only a few day,s that has 'less' rat race. To us, that is on a Carnival or Royal Caribbean cruise to the Caribbean or Mexico. This time, we'll also be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary.

No Military Tribunals...

Just how stupid can the media be? And what about you -  the American people? I almost ripped my satellite radio out of the dash for God sakes. Now I know why Elvis shot his television set. Military tribunals to try the 9/11 murderers? Absolutely not.

Who do you think we are - the Japanese or Nazi's in World War 2? For years now I have demanded these Muslim terrorists should be brought to the WTC site for trial and then executed when they are found guilty. And they will be found guilty - in our civilian Federal court system - not some kangaroo court type "military tribunal."

And the world will be watching. Using military tribunals would be the worst idea possible way to achieve justice for the American people. Because the military seems to have a slight problem connecting dots these days. They spend more time throwing battle tested gay officers and trained specialists out while ignoring Muslim terrorists who are officers in our own Army.

The military seems to believe that water-boarding a suspect 180 times does well to enhance our image in the hearts and minds of the people we’re trying to protect. Gitmo is a disgusting Bush 2 disgrace. The military and its West Point trained generals quite obviously have a problem making decisions and what is right and wrong. Look at Afghanistan, where we have no business being. The US Ambassador, a former General, says no more troops right now. The Commander of US Forces there seems to think we need to send 40,000 of our kids to fight the Taliban for the Afghans, who don’t give a rats ass about America. The Army did a pathetic job at Abu Ghraib. And you think a military tribunal can judge Khalid Shaikh Mohammed and Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri (the USS Cole bombing) – no way. President Obama made the right call here.

Technorati Tags: military tribunals,9/11,Afghanistan,Abu Ghraib,Kalid Shaikh Mohammed,Abd al-Rahim as-Nashiri,USS Cole,World Trade Center

Supreme Court Says NO…

to a last minute appeal. Barring clemency by the outgoing Gov. Kaine, the action by the court clears the way for John Allen Muhammad’s execution tomorrow, Tuesday, at 9 PM. The New York Times reports:  “The court did not comment in refusing to hear Muhammad’s appeal, but three justices objected to the relative haste accompanying the execution. Justice John Paul Stevens complained that “under our normal practice, Muhammad’s petition for the court to take his case would have been discussed at the justices’ conference scheduled for Nov. 24. But because Virginia scheduled the execution for Tuesday, the judicial process was rushed. The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, in Richmond VA, upheld the death sentence three months ago. In rejecting Muhammad’s appeal, that federal panel said it was “unable to find reversible error in the conclusions of the state and district courts.”

Under Virginia law, an inmate is allowed to choose the method by which he will be put to death -- either lethal injection or the electric chair. Because Muhammad declined to select a method, by law he will receive a lethal injection. Along with his partner, Lee Boyd Malvo, he was the Beltway Sniper – murdering 10 people in 2002. According to The New York Times: “The governor has said that he is personally opposed to the death penalty, but he has allowed a number of executions to take place since he took office in 2006. Virginia has the nation’s second-busiest death chamber, behind Texas.”

Looking him up in Wikipedia, we learn that -

Born John Allen Williams in New Orleans, Louisiana, Muhammad enlisted in the Louisiana Army National Guard in 1978 and, after seven years of service, volunteered for active duty in 1985. In 1987 he joined the Nation of Islam While in the Army, Muhammad was trained as a mechanic, truck driver and specialist metalworker. He qualified with the Army's standard infantry rifle the M16, earning the Expert Rifleman's Badge. This rating is the Army's highest of three levels of marksmanship for a basic soldier. He was discharged from military service following the Gulf War, as a sergeant, in 1994.

As a member of the Nation of Islam, Muhammad helped provide security for the "Million Man March" in 1995, but Nation of Islam leader, Louis Farrakhanhas publicly distanced himself and his organization from Muhammad's crimes.Muhammad moved out of the country and spent time with his children in Antigua around 1999, apparently engaging in credit card and immigration document fraud activities. It was during this time that he became close with Lee Boyd Malvo, who later acted as his partner in the killings. John Allen Williams changed his name to John Allen Muhammad in October 2001. After his arrest, authorities also claimed that Muhammad admitted that he admired and modeled himself after Osama bin Laden and Al Qaeda and approved of the September 11, 2001, attacks.

I don’t believe in the death penalty. Strapping a man or woman down to inject them with a lethal dose of anything serves no purpose. It seems too easy, too clean, too easy. Will this really serve justice. Will it make the victim survivors feel better. Would not a firing squad be more effective. Until that is resolved and it never will be – then a life sentence without parole would be the proper course of action to take in this and any other death penalty case. What will you be doing at 9 PM tomorrow evening?

Technorati Tags: trucker blogs on the death penality,trucker comments on death penality,john allen muhammad,virginia death penality,supreme court says no,truck driver blogs

Techno-Headache…

First some old business. Congrats to the NY Yankees on winning the World Series. I watched two of the games while I was home and wished I could have watched the rest of the games, but I had to get back on the road. Bill Engvall tells a great baseball joke. “A guy comes up to him in a bar and says if Jesus was a baseball player, he would be the greatest baseball player of all time. Engvall replies: “if Babe Ruth were the Messiah, there would be hot dogs and beer at Communion.”

So I’m cruis’n along the highways and byways headed down to Dallas today. I’ve listened to Stern’s shows three times already, the news and the same old music over and over. I wish my Sirius/XM radio was on top of the dash – not in the dash as it would be a heck of a lot easier to find stuff. The stupid truck manufacturers are going having to start moving this shit up in front of the driver so we’re not bending and leaning all over the place getting distracted trying to find things, like something decent to listen to on the 500 satellite radio channels – or is it 200 – whatever.

Before I get stuck in St. Louis bumper to bumper traffic for no apparent reason – I’ve spent so many hours sitting next to that damn silver arch in downtown St. Louis in traffic, it’s pathetic. St. Louis, like Newark, Detroit and Dallas are miserable cities with roads that are falling apart. Instead of having I70, I55, and I44 and whatever else joins in downtown St. Louis – route those damn highways around and away from the city and certainly my life will be a hell of lot easier. What was I saying? Oh yeah, before I got to St. Louis, I start listening to this guy on XM America’s Talk channel 158. Leo somebody -
“the tech guy.” I never heard him before. In fact, I never heard of him period. But he’s good – really good. I can actually understand what he is saying. And he’s nothing like these geeks that get 3 credits at ITT Tech and become these arrogant pain in the ass know it all’s that can’t communicate with a stick. Yeah, they know HTML, but can’t get laid.

The only problem is that after trying to absorb what he is talking about – as interesting as it is – I’m getting a techno-ache. Things are changing so damn fast now that there is no possible way I can keep up with all the latest “gear” that is coming out. And I can’t afford it. And, and – see I’m stuttering from the stress - the other problem I have is that I usually have to go through the Mrs. to get some of this stuff and she doesn’t understand why any of this is necessary. I’ve been trying to get her to upgrade her laptop from Vista to Windows 7, get rid of the cable company as her IP and try Dish TV instead of the rip off service we now use. But no way Jose. No CD in the car, no GPS, no radar detector – it’s all empty pea cans and strings. And it’s frustrating.

So here comes this guy Leo Laporte, who in a matter of 30 minutes shakes up my comfortable techno world. Why am I not podcasting? Why don’t I know what More’s Law is? Or is it Moore’s Law. I never heard of it. What about more microprocessor speeds? Skype? What – who? Save the internet.com? What the heck is an Android – droid phone? DSL Extreme for $14.95? ACTA? EFF.org/action? XBox vs. PS something. Is he referring to Play Station? Why am I not using My Fi? Cradlepoint.com. Who? EVDO signal acquisition? I should know that a PS3 has a Blue Ray player. Blue Ray? Did I know that the new Call To Duty anti-terrorist game comes out Nov 12th? No I didn’t. Halo? Never played it. Should I have?

Ok, this is all too much for me. I’m having a whole boat load of trouble just being the tech guy on my own blog, let alone knowing what else is out there. I’m sure if this Laporte guy saw my laptop he would laugh. He’s constantly pushing a backup service called Carbonite – if that’s how you spell it. I though it was some kind of precious stone or jewelry company. Hell, I never back up anything! This tech-guy is giving me a techno-headache!

But I got to have more. I need to find to find out when he’s on again. Because despite the headache, I have the need to know what else is out there. I hate having a cell phone or PDA that is not 3G. I’d love a X Box to race cars instead of writing stupid blog posts. And I’m tired of having a $200 a month phone bill for what I know is duplicate overlapping cell and internet services. Geez, I need a Prozac. This Laporte guy is going to kill me. I’m so sorry I ever found him on the damn radio. Deep breaths. Deep breathes. Ok I’m Ok. Can’t let all this techno stuff get to me. So when did I say he’s on again?

Technorati Tags: techno guy,leo laporte,xm radio,sirius radio,sirius/xm,techno trucker,truck driver blogs,American Talk Channnel,trucking,trucking technology,St. Louis MO,Bill Engvall

Back in Schaumberg IL…

to pick up a load of steel headed to Dallas TX for delivery Monday. Frankly, I don’t feel like getting out of the truck in damn cold, which is only made worse by the wind, to do anything. The shipper I’m at doesn’t know what a clock is and tells drivers to be here at a certain time then makes them sit as long as 24 hours waiting on a preloaded trailer. At least I have food in the truck. The cold makes me hungry as a bear.

I have a new post over on Wayne Weisser’s blog LIFE ON THE ROAD. I urge you to head over there and post your comments on what I had to say about the Ft. Hood tragedy. I call it “Could it happen in trucking?” Just as I got to Schaumberg – see the photo – a little friend of mine came over to visit. He kept looking at me and gave me a kind of Roman Army salute. “He” made a little fist and put his “arm” with the clenched fist over his “chest.” Like I said I have food in the truck but no nuts. I don’t “he” would have wanted a roast beef and cheese sub. It’s funny – earlier today when I was in a Menard’s, I was looking right at a can of cheap cashews. I don’t know why I looked at it, but I decided not to buy it. Then my friend shows up. There is a reason for everything. 

Speaking of Menard’s – have you ever been in one? Amazing. I had a blast. I have never seen so many work gloves in extra large sizes. This place is so much better than Lowe’s or Home Depot. When I got there last night – I had a load of roofing for them – I parked across the street at the Target – my appointment was for the next morning at 0600. A young woman came up to the truck – I thought she was a you know what – and said: “Sir, if you like, we can unload you know so you don’t have to wait until the morning.” They had the load off in 10 minutes, the paperwork processed and I was in and out of there in a 1/2 hour. So damn efficient. I love it! I need a Menard’s to open up in the Tampa Bay area.

Technorati Tags: life on the road trucking news blog,live on the road,menard's,home depot,lowe's,truck driver blogs,trucking

Cobra in UPS box…

I'm sitting here somewhere in Minnesota. I forget where. I'm cold. Yeah, yeah - waaaaa - poor me. I just had a can of chili, an "everything" bagel and a Yoo-Hoo. Since I've been here since last night - they off loaded me around 5:30 AM while I was asleep - I'm sure the folks on Wall St. have made billions of dollars. Last week, Ford reported that they had made a billion last quarter. And that billionaire - what's his name - is buying up the rest of that big railroad. Well, while the rich get richer, I'm sitting and freezing in Minnesota trying to insert "gadgets" on this blog. Some work and most don't. Share This certainly doesn't. I've only told you a thousand times how I hate HTML and Blogger. If you're not a blogger, you probably don't know what the hell I'm talking about and trust me, you're better. In this case, ignorance is definitely bliss.

When folks ask me where I live and I say Florida, almost guaranteed three things come up. That would be sharks, alligators and snakes. People react as though I live in Jurassic Park. I tell them that I don't think I've ever seen a gator or a shark. I see snakes all the time. In fact, my wife saw one the other day - a "friendly" - black fella which we leave alone cause he eats mice and other delicious critters we don't want in the house. I mention this because the news reported that someone shipped via UPS a baby Cobra from Virginia to a school in Vero Beach FL. Somehow the box ended up at a local sort center in Pinellas Park FL. It was not marked with a "live animal" sticker. Not that it would have mattered since UPS does not ship snakes. The guy who ordered the Cobra called UPS to ask where the box was. Luckily someone at the school in Vero Beach did not open to box and get bitten.

A word to my Republican friends. You folks won two races for governor yesterday. Congrats. But tread cautiously. Tone down the Obama and health care bashing. The less you say the better. The more Obama does nothing - the better your chances will be in the mid-term elections. While Wall St. gets richer, Americans are "quietly" furious over the lack of jobs and rising prices. Use that to your advantage. 

A word to my gay friends. Maine yesterday became the 31st state to reject same-sex marriage  It is still legal in Massachusetts, Connecticut, Iowa, New Hampshire and Vermont. Whatever you're doing to try and gain your rights to marry, I recommend you stop and regroup. If African-Americans and Jews relied on the national vote to give them the rights guaranteed to them in the Constitution, then we would still have separate schools, rest rooms and restaurants. Your right to marry and gain equal rights must be won in the courts, not at the ballot box. Gov. Corzine, a Democrat, who was your supporter in NJ, was voted out of office.  Meanwhile, light up a joint as voters in Maine approved a ballot to expand their 10 year old medical marijuana law. Shows you where the voters priorities are.

As far as trucking today, I said I’ve been sitting here all day. In the past, I would dead-head down to Minneapolis and pick up a load of steel piping to Laredo. I don’t know where that business went to. What I did just get over the QUALCOMM was an open 0400 – 1600 pickup of roofing headed 328 miles to a Menard’s retail outlet in Moline IL. Shit freight. Delivery the next day, where I’ll sit another day waiting for another lousy load.

 

Technorati Tags: UPS,cobra,snake,gay marriage,republicans,marijuana,florida,sharks,truck driver blogs,trucking

No Steel Toe Crocs…

Reporting tonight from Little Falls MN. Guess what? Yup, it’s cold, rainy and dark. I’m sure everyone is very nice up here, but this is no place for humans to live. Their two weeks of summer are nice but the rest of the year sucks. This is a great place if you want a cold. 36 hours in this damp creepy weather and you’ll start to sneeze and need some really hot chicken soup. Don’t forget the Nyquil. Soon after I arrived, some guy comes out from the dark and says he’ll be back at 5 AM to unload me. Really, I said. My “appointment” was for 630 AM. which is very unusual for me, and I’ll take the securement off, but I’ll be up about 7 AM. I don’t wake up at 5 AM for anybody, especially in Minnesota. Back in the good times, I’d get a trip from Minneapolis down to Laredo. Fat chance that’ll happen tomorrow for ever again for that matter.

The Mrs. is off on a Royal Caribbean “craft” cruise somewhere in the Bahamas with her scrapbooking mafia. I’m never worried about pirates taking over the ship since all the women that she’s with are well equipped with the sharpest scissors, needles and pins and they’re not afraid to use them. What does bother me is that I have nobody to talk to. My best friend is out of cell phone range. She gets back this Friday. I can’t wait. Next cruise we do together.

I did pick up a copy of The Trucker, written by a small staff of Scientologists, who are all members of the Truck Writers of North America. The TWNA is a “restricted” association and doesn’t allow bloggers in their little group. What it seems they do best is give themselves awards every year at their annual gathering. This year Wayne Weisser, the creator and editor of Life On The Road and I will send each other something “award-like” – perhaps a box of chocolates or something for our outstanding work covering the trucking industry and being ignored by the TWNA. Hey Wayne, maybe they’ll let us in the Truck Writers of South America! LOL

The Trucker is covering the confirmation hearing of Anne S. Ferro to head the FMCSA. That’s the group that doesn’t know anything about me, but sent me an e-mail saying they chose someone else to be a public affairs specialist for them. Quite frankly, I don’t give a shit who heads the FMCSA. The government will never be happy until they can shove a tracking device up my ass so they monitor me (and ever other truck driver) 24/7. And you know I’ll have to pay for the damn thing!

Lastly, and I’m sure I’ve mentioned this before – more and more drivers are wearing a shoe called Crocs. I can’t wear them because I’m too fat. They have little bump like things supposedly to make your walking experience more pleasurable. Well, my 300+ lbs. press the bottom of my feet down on those little bumps and hurt my feet. Mario Batali, the fat Italian Iron Chef has worn a version of Crocs for years. He’s heavier than me, but the bumps apparently don’t bother him. I think his shoes make him look stupid, but them he’s a millionaire and what does he care what he look like. I did find a pair of very white trash red-neck cammo fake crocs for $12 at Wal-Mart – no bumps. The real bumpy Crocs go for about $45.

Anyway, I was picking up a load at some steel place the other day. Despite the fact that the driver is loading slinkies (coils) outdoors – far from any OSHA type danger – he/she has to wear a hart hat, long pants, long sleeve shirt and steel toe shoes. It was 85 degrees that day and in this stupid “safe” get up, I almost fainted of heat stroke. One driver tried to get past the security dude with his crocs. The rent a cop asked: “steel toe?” The driver said absolutely. Good for him unless something heavy or sharp falls on his foot. Sorry, drivers, there are no steel toe crocs.

Technorati Tags: FMCSA,DOT,Crocs,OSHA,Anne S. Ferro,The Trucker,Wayne Weisser,Life On The Road,Mario Batali,TWNA,Truck Writers of North America