The Barefoot Contessa is my new gay icon

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:38am

I have watched Ina Garten for several years now on the Food network, and I've decided to make her my offical new gay icon. I love this woman! I mean, does she have any friends who aren't "friends of Dorothy"? From the flower guy to the decorator guy, to to the dozens of other gay guys that are constantly dropping by her fabulous Hampton's home, it's rare to see any episode that doesn't include at least one gay man, and sometimes a happy couple!
Totally. Love. her.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:42am

LOL, Sheldon!

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:44am

Don't forget her gay husband Jeffrey.

While I like some of the food she makes, I don't like to watch her. She gives off this feeling like "If I cook all this mess, everyone will love me and then I'll be able to love myself." I think she stashes a can of chocolate shavings behind the toilet.

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:49am

Goth,
ha ha forgot about him. I think part of the reason I like her is the faint air of "please love me" that comes from her. I also think she is much more obsessed with dessert than the meal itself, and sometimes cooks the main course just to get the dessert. But her pathos just endears her more to me. And she's far easier to take than Rachel Ray or many of the others on that network.

[SonofMammaMiaSam]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:56am

Ina hosts a lot of Daughters of Bilitis meetings also.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:02pm

"And she's far easier to take than Rachel Ray"

Sometimes I want to slap Rachel Ray and say "Calm down!" Al Gore should suggest her as a new source of energy. Hook her mouth up to a generator and she could power the entire Eastern seaboard.

Her evoo and sammies talk gets a bit old. The last time I had a sammie was when I was 5.

[Reginald Tresilian]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:05pm

It also seems as though each time she says "evoo," she follows it with "that's extra virgin olive oil."

What's the point of an acronym if you have to explain it every time.

(BTW, Goth, the specificity of your "chocolate shavings behind the toilet" line cracked me up.)

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:10pm

Rachel Ray is in many ways, the Anti-Julia Child. Child revolutionized American cooking by showing regular folks that by following the recipe and learning basic techniques you could become an excellent cook. Ray teaches to just toss stuff in and it'll all be OK. It drives me nuts to see her say things like "Pour the EVOO twice around the pan" or "just eyeball it."

Plus is it me or does everything have "Grill seasoning" and hot sauce in it?

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:24pm

"(BTW, Goth, the specificity of your "chocolate shavings behind the toilet" line cracked me up.)"

One time I was watching her and she took a can of chocolate out of her pantry and whacks off a hunk and starts eating it while she's talking. I thought "This woman probably has chocolate stashed all over the house. Pull off the doll's head on her bed and inside is a chocolate stash. Check the chandelier in the dining room and there's a baggie full of chocolate shavings."

Updated On: 1/6/09 at 12:24 PM

[D2]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:26pm

Her Roast Chicken recipe, though, is foolproof. As witnessed last night when I made it.

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:30pm

I NEVER buy the fact that she is invited anywhere unless she brings the entire meal.

"I'm having lunch with friends, so I offered to make some food" ...right!

It's called catering.

I did watch one over vacation and she had some hot guy with silver hair shopping for her...

[blondebaby589]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:39pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYqBxIhajPs

[StockardFan]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 12:54pm

Reg, I was going to say the exact same thing about Rachel Ray and the evoo - that's extra virgin olive oil thing. She drives me nuts.

Posted: 1/6/09 at 1:06pm

I can't help but think the Food Network coaches their chefs (and I use that term VERY loosely) to find distinctive phrases to use in every show- Ray has her Evoo, Yummo, Sammies. Even a milquetoast like Alton Brown makes a point to always refer to the "chill Chest" instead of a refrigerator. I think FN thinks it makes them more distinctive.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:32pm

Goth, OMG I've never laughed so much at your posts, "chocolate shavings," genius!!!

Ina Garten just looks like the kind of woman who "eats her feelings" on the regular, but I did love the episode when she had Mel Brooks over for dinner. Who does that? Just any old body can invite Mel Brooks over for some brisket and call it a day? Hmmm...

Rachel Ray? I think we're all in agreement that she's more annoying than poison ivy and mosquito bites on your ASS!!! She just strikes me as fake and overbearing while still giving that patented Rachel Ray "smile".

As a side note, does anyone else find Giada De Laurentiis' cleavage to be a bit too much for prepping a frittata over an open flame? I'm just sayin'.

Updated On: 1/6/09 at 02:32 PM

[1937]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:37pm

I can't decide how I feel about Giada. She can be cute, but her big head kind of throws me. And I don't mean big head as in ego, but as in a literal big head on her tiny body.

[killertofu333]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:39pm

I know whatcha mean...it's bigger than any one person's head rightfully should be. It's a whopper!!!

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:40pm

I dont know who's coaching these people to be so icky cutesy (Ray being the worst) but it ruins the shows. I was ready to like the new "Secrets of a Restaurant Chef" woman, but she is freakin' annoying! She growls every other word for emphasis like a child...it's just odd...not cute, not funny, just odd.
I was watching her this weekend with a friend who wondered if she was posessed.

[madbrian]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 2:42pm

I've had success with recipes from Rachel Ray, Giada, even Paula Deen. However, I find the Barefoot Contessa to be unwatchable, so I've never seen enough to find anything I'd want to copy.

[TheatreDiva90016]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 4:10pm

Chocolate shavings!

LOL

[JustAGuy]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 4:14pm

My least favorite Rachel Rayism....STOUP. I just want to stomp on her every time she says it. It makes me want to bark up my sammie into her evoo.

Updated On: 1/6/09 at 04:14 PM

[DottieD'Luscia]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 4:15pm

Ina had Susan Stroman and the cast from the "smash hit" (and I use the term very loosely) Young Frankenstein on a couple of weeks ago.

[Princeton78]

Posted: 1/6/09 at 11:45pm

She's been an icon for this gay man for some time.
Her formula is simple....make delicious food with ingredients you can't afford, dump in a gallon of heavy cream, and invite a fabulous homo over to eat it....or at least decorate the table before the VIPs get there.

[Gothampc]

Posted: 1/7/09 at 11:03am

"and invite a fabulous homo over to eat it....or at least decorate the table before the VIPs get there."

I think that's the way the Food Network operates. Paula Deen had that same thing on her Christmas show. A guy was showing her how to make containers for her cookies.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 1/7/09 at 11:59am

Just any old body can invite Mel Brooks over for some brisket and call it a day?

Actually, she invited Susan Stroman, who said she was bringing a guest. Mel Brooks was the surprise guest.

I loved this show, but since they screwed with the late afternoon line-up, I can never catch it. I loved watching Sandra Lee massacre food at 4:30, then Ina make it all better at 5.