Friday, September 22, 2006

TV Observations

Has anyone noticed that Paula Deen has jumped into the sea of Sandra Leeish trashiness? I feel like ever since she moved the show to Savannah, the stuff she's making is steering into the land of prepackaged garbage.

For example, her eclair cake calls for:

1 (1-pound) box graham crackers
2 (3 1/4-ounce) boxes instant French vanilla pudding
3 1/2 cups milk
1 (8-ounce) container frozen whipped topping, thawed

Whipped topping? What happened to the days she gleefully whipped her own cream?

And what are the first two ingredients in her spicy cinnamon pecan cake?

1 (18-ounce) package spice cake mix
1 (4 serving) package instant vanilla pudding mix

And her quick crab stew?

1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of potato soup
1 (10 3/4-ounce) can condensed cream of celery soup

It's not all that much more time-consuming to just saute some diced potatoes with the onions, make a roux, and add some whole milk instead of using the condensed cream of sodium.

Finally, I might propose that not only could the change in scenery be the cause of such trashiness but also the presence of her two boys. How do Jaime and Bobby make doughnuts? Deep fry canned biscuits and toss them in sugar and cinnamon. Case closed.

In earlier shows there have been the ocassional uses of prepackaged good with liberal uses of frozen pie crust. But it seems like two of the three dishes she makes in each episode are just advertisements for Kraft crap in a box. I myself have three boxes of Kraft mac 'n cheese in my cupboards but no way will I pass adding some peas and chopped salami to a box of Kraft mac 'n cheese as a recipe.

On a non-food-tv note, how much am I loving the new season of Grey's Anatomy? A whole effing lot. Great character development, great acting. They just need to tone down the over the top plotlines. Bubonic plague? What is this, ER?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

So not food related - but I LOVED the Grey's premiere too. wow, it's just a great show. The plague was a bit much, but I liked that it wasn't the focus of the show. But c'mon, if there is a plague outbreak - you best believe all of that other emotional relationship stuff would take a back burner to the black death, for crying out loud!

ScottE. said...

I hear ya about my dear Paula. I've actually kind of stopped watching her recently because my nerves are getting prickly...same reason I've had to mute Rachel. It's freaky, but for me, I've cut back SOOO much on my Food TV lately. Usually it's Alton and a few other shows that tivo might catch. Maybe it's on Saturday mornings as I'm doing other things.

Grey's...LOVE! LOVE! Damn George for not saying the "I Love You" Callie needed.

And I have to admit...Dr. Bailey gave me misty eyes when she talking to Denny's body...she's awesome!

Stef said...

As long as Paula never utters the word "tablescape" she's okay in my book. And did you see the one with Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter? LOVE LOVE LOVE!

Speaking of love... Addie, George, Bailey, and now even Callie are totally rocking my world on Grey's. I can't wait to find out what Izzy's going to do - will she come back to the hospital? Will Alex be nice to her? Will we have to deal with yet another damn season of McDreamy-or-Not-McDreamy?

Brunette said...

I just ranted about Sandra Lee on my blog. It's so disappointing that these people who we non-professionals look to for inspiration seem to have stopped caring.