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| Pardon these awful pictures, I took these weeks ago and I was probably really really hungry. Because I'm always hungry. And that's the sucky part about food blogging--delayed gratification for the sake of pictures. Besides, I'm scheduled to get my new camera in 3 weeks, hurrah! |
I have a love/hate relationship with Giada de Laurentiis. There's just something about her that just grinds my gears. Perhaps it's that fact that her head is a skosh too big for her teen little body. Or that she appears to have ten too many teeth, which are all fully displayed every time she opens her mouth. I don't know about you, but every time she smiles, I always think of the shark exhibit you would see in a museum, where you're shown the multiple rows of teeth inside the shark's mouth [I'm just sayin'...]. If it's not her absurdly toothy smile, then it's definitely the subtle, but undeniable element of sex appeal that is ever present in shows--largely via the gratuitous use of pastel colored v-neck tops to display her disproportionately bountiful cleavage. I can't fault her for capitalizing on her looks, however, I am a firm believer that in this great nation of ours--the fattest in the world*, I might add--that when it comes to food, you don't need to sex it up to sell it. But in spite of all of my issues with her, I can't seem to pull myself away from the TV when she's on. She makes the type of food that I want to eat--simple, unfussy, and delicious, and at the end of the day, what matters most to my inner fat bastard is the food! Besides, my sources tell me that she's very wrinkly in person, and if the opportunity presented itself, I would totally dine at one of her contrived dinner parties at her beach side home in California. Because I'm sure she really is nice and not at all as condescending as she sometimes seems on TV.
Because I'm all about the food, it should come as no surprise that I own Giada's Everyday Italian Cookbook. One of my favorites recipes to make is Risotto, it's creamy, delicious, and one of the few times where I can cook with butter with zero guilt. With its simplistic virtue, risotto lends itself to countless interpretations, and is the gift that keeps on giving. Supposedly, you can't reheat left over risotto because it loses it looses its creamy texture. In some regards this is true, but that hasn't stopped me from eating risotto for 4 days in a row before. But I finally decided to try my hand at risotto cakes, which uses left overs, just to switch things up, and follow the rules for once in my life.
