Giada's expression when she taste's cranberry granita

For those of you that missed Giada's show that featured a Cranberry Granita, and the look on her face, when she sampled it, it is being shown again.

At 4:30 PM on August First, on the food channel, toward the end of the show. Do not miss seeing her take one for the show.

For a preview check: http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/food_network/001570.php

My Tivo's listings don't show a 4:30 PM episode -- assuming that's Eastern time, however, I see that there's a listing for an episode of her show featuring "Garlic chicken; pasta with a spinach sauce; fruit drink," which the extra info screen says aired originally on Jan. 2 of this year. Does that sound right to those who saw this first time around? I'd love to watch.

Thank you, Bob. When I looked at Food TV's web site, I forgot about the listings being shown in Eastern time.

So, indeed, the show will be on at 3:30 PM on August 1st.

And of course with a long power outage last night and two brief outages this morning, I didn't have a chance to ask my Tivo to grab it for me. But I'm sure it'll be back -- FoodTV serves up reruns like a college student with a fridge full of leftovers.

Bob S. wrote:And of course with a long power outage last night and two brief outages this morning, I didn't have a chance to ask my Tivo to grab it for me. But I'm sure it'll be back -- FoodTV serves up reruns like a college student with a fridge full of leftovers.

I swear the only Alton Brown episode they show anymore is the "barley" one.

Hmmm....I've "barley" seen that episode!

The bonus about TiVo is you can search for upcoming episodes. If the Everyday Italian that's on the listing today is *really* the episode, you should be able to see if it will be shown within the next few days. I'll have to do that when I get home tonight....

I've not seen the episode but the stills on the link are killer! I have to see it in real time.

dees_1 wrote:Hmmm....I've "barley" seen that episode!

The bonus about TiVo is you can search for upcoming episodes. If the Everyday Italian that's on the listing today is *really* the episode, you should be able to see if it will be shown within the next few days. I'll have to do that when I get home tonight....

I've not seen the episode but the stills on the link are killer! I have to see it in real time.

you punster you!

oh...so, so bad

One does what one can! *grin* There are others who just find me annoying!

For those with TiVo, the episode is repeated 8/8 12:30 PM Central time. Locked and loaded, baby! *wringing hands* I can't wait!!!!

Tonight's Good Eats is/was Squid Quo Pro. No barley tonight!

It's interesting -- when the episode first ran, I clearly remember, the Tivo summary specifically mentioned the cranberry granita. As a result, I created an advanced wishlist on my Tivo that looked for mentions of "cranberry" in the summaries of her show, and none ever turned up. If they've changed the summary to read "fruit drink" (and how much more misleading could they be...), they must be pretty eager to foil people who are keeping an eye out for that episode.

Bob S. wrote:If they've changed the summary to read "fruit drink" (and how much more misleading could they be...), they must be pretty eager to foil people who are keeping an eye out for that episode.

Interesting about the possible change in the summary...

*

I saw the show and, I have to say, it is pretty funny... One could, were one so inclined, make a case for the scrunched face to be in reaction to the intense cold of a mouthful of shaved ice and not to any possible repulsive flavour contour of her creation, but nonetheless, she looks both pained and disgusted...

I hadn't put myself through a Giada episode in a while and seeing this one, I remembered many of the past episodes. I wonder to what degree she has input in the recipes. Is she just in effect an actress who presents recipes concocted by some group of FN behind-the-scene chefs? I know she is alleged to have gone to cooking school and such but that doesn't mean anything with regard to how the show is put together.

In any event, there is something decidedly fake about the whole shtick. The conceit is she's Italian and teaching people simple Italian cooking but in fact, beyond her name, there doesn't seem much Italian about her (yes -- I know her family background). Her pronunciation of Italian is atrocious, which leads me to believe she just grew up speaking English in her Southern California home, and her cooking aesthetics, at least as revealed through the recipes and commentary on the show, are purely Ameri-Cali-Yuppie. Her secret insights and confidential advice regarding Italian cooking that she shares with the audience are banalities of the first order, at least when they're not in fact wrong.

I'm not saying the recipes are all 'bad' -- and certainly, if people like them, that's good and no skin off my back -- but she is most certainly not teaching anybody very much -- if anything -- about actual Italian cooking. Pure Americana, with Yuppie/cooking school takes on French frippery tacked on.

Am I a curmudgeon? Yes, but that's not relevant here. This show is different packaging of the same product sold by Raychil Reh -- quick and easy cooking that is born of and caters to somewhat enlightened mainstream American tastes. There's nothing inherently wrong with that, nothing whatsoever, since the audience is American. But, whereas with RR, the advertising is honest, with Giada la Testaccia, the advertising and packaging is completely false.

- Camera slowly pan across piazza in Rome; pigeons take off; zoom in on Giada seated at outdoor café, with pensive smile, stirring cup of coffee. Cut to kitchen set where Giada makes cinnamon breakfast rolls alla Pillsbury.

You too can eat cinnamon rolls for breakfast and pretend you're being oh-so-Italian... But some of us might prefer a dose of prune Danish.

Dopo o lampo ven o tron.

Antonius

I'm no advocate of Giada, but I did see an episode in Rome where she went from place to place with her mother, a native of the Eternal City. Giada suggested, or maybe said, that she grew up there too. Her taped conversations with the locals did make it look as if her Italian, while fully conversational, was stiff. Having lost what facility I once had with the language, I'm probably not the best judge, though.

PS, a quick search reveals Giada moved to the US from Rome when she was 7, which makes sense.

JeffB wrote:I'm no advocate of Giada, but I did see an episode in Rome where she went from place to place with her mother, a native of the Eternal City. Giada suggested, or maybe said, that she grew up there too. Her taped conversations with the locals did make it look as if her Italian, while fully conversational, was stiff. Having lost what facility I once had with the language, I'm probably not the best judge, though.

PS, a quick search reveals Giada moved to the US from Rome when she was 7, which makes sense.

A curmudgeon is not moved by such stuff...

I hope she understands more of Italian food than her show indicates and, indeed, that's why I wonder aloud above whether it's all just written for her. Perhaps she too cringes at what the FN people have her say -- I don't know. Her Neapolitan family background certainly does not come through in the show (her mother -- don't know whence she hails but Rome sounds reasonable -- was a model, I believe, and claims not to know how to cook anything)...

Anyway, God bless her and Tiny Tim. I still think it's pathetic that they try to pawn off the recipes on that show as being 'real Italian'. They should be honest and bill it as Giada's cucina fantasia in Amerika or some such thing. My objection is first and foremost to the disinformation.

And again, I don't intend this as a condemnation (necessarily) of what she cooks. Some of it strikes me as ill-conceived or worse, but some of it looks fine and maybe better. But rarely is anything of note especially 'Italian' and very often -- regularly -- she makes things that really clash with Italian cooking traditions, but by adding a sprinkle of crushed amaretti or grated parmesan she transforms almost anything from carrot cake to beanie weanie into "an Italian classic."



I know, I know, I should just shut up... But Foodnetwork is so depressingly disappointing, especially if one thinks back to its early days...

A

A--

No disagreement here. You might want to avoid Pairings With Andrea, also. Yesterday I saw "Master Sommelier Andrea Robinson" mangle a paella on Fine Living (a captive audience, I was at the gym). The ingredients were, basically*, fine, but the cooking was really wrong. For instance, she never had the pan hot when sauteeing, and she kept stirring the rice with a wooden spoon as if she were making a very chunky risotto. The Muga she opened is nice, though I'm not sure I agree with the pairing, which is the theme of the show.

Andrea

* From the recipe on the site under the "Spain" episode: "Sprinkle chicken thighs on all sides with liquid smoke ..." Also, saffron is listed as an optional ingredient. I suppose the same is true of rice.

JeffB wrote:Andrea

* From the recipe on the site under the "Spain" episode: "Sprinkle chicken thighs on all sides with liquid smoke ..." Also, saffron is listed as an optional ingredient. I suppose the same is true of rice.

Jeff,

I blame Andrea for my one foray into the wilds of PF Chang's. I'm clicking through the channels, wondering how there can't be anything I want to watch on when there's, at least, 9-million channels, and spot a guy in chef's whites talking to a pretty woman. OK, may as well check this out.

Turns out it was was Andrea and the Executive/Corporate chef from PF Chang's. There was a really good looking plate of orange peel chicken and the chef had that look, a certain glint in his eye coupled with well fleshed out frame, of someone who took old school Chinese seriously.

Both Andrea and he were waxing poetic about the upsettingly wonderful paring of, hell I forget what, with orange peel chicken. Which, coincidentally, PF Chang's offers by the glass. So, with sucker etched into my forehead, the next night I went.

The orange peel chicken was good, in a same in Boca, same in Burbank, same in Boston kind of way, but they did not have the wine, by glass or bottle, Andrea said was Magical with orange chicken. No great loss, I finally got to try PF C's lettuce wraps and updated my North Suburban visa.

Enjoy,
Gary

Seems as good a place to share this as any, though it is not exactly on topic. But wait, I know how to segue this - while I find Giada a fairly attractive woman, I have never been able to watch her for more than 5 minutes. Something about her seems always a bit pinched, almost in pain, to me. Wonder what primal issue that is plugged into.

On the other hand, I worship Alton, and Lord knows they show more episodes than barley now. In fact, between his new show, the Good Food marathon, the Good Food Behind the Scenes special and the rest, I think the Food Channel is bordering on being the Alton channel. Which is good for me, but I expect I will also tire of him soon.

The scene in the road show with the biscuit-making lady who had no clue who he was and seemed to be bemused as to why he was there, followed by the owner mowing the field, was pretty great TV even if Alton needs to calm down a bit.

In more FoodTV news, I am starting to think Rachael Ray's career is developing a certain Janet Daley arc to it. Hopefully it will land in some city other than Chicago. God that voice is annoying.

Giadia does not develop all of her recipes; she has "people." (A friend of mine used to be one of those "people.")

dicksond wrote:Seems as good a place to share this as any, though it is not exactly on topic. But wait, I know how to segue this - while I find Giada a fairly attractive woman, I have never been able to watch her for more than 5 minutes.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that, with her Lilliputian arms and colossus of a head, it is somewhat akin to watching a T-rex bang about the kitchen in prepraring a faux-Roma meal of velociraptor parm.

Perhaps it is due to the fact that, with her Lilliputian arms and colossus of a head, it is somewhat akin to watching a T-rex bang about the kitchen in prepraring a faux-Roma meal of velociraptor parm.

Well, her grandfather did make the first remake of King Kong, so it kind of runs in the family.

"When Chaws die, nobody cry. When Konk die, everybody gonna cry." --Dino DeLaurentiis, as quoted in Newsweek circa 1976, and stuck in my head ever since

Back to the original topic, I've not yet seen this episode, but in lieu of that, this series of photographs will have to do:

http://www.tvgasm.com/archives/food_network/001570.php

Worth a peek, if only for the priceless caption, "It's as if Lucifer himself has served me a slushy!"