Is anyone watching Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares? I saw a few episodes of this in England this past summer, and now he is doing an American version. I know he has a foul mouth and a violent temper. I've never watched Hell's Kitchen cause watching a grown man yell at and demean people and throw pots and pans isn't my idea of entertainment. But so far he has been absolutely spot on with his observations and criticisms of some of the American eating establishments he has visited and turned around. He seems very perceptive about the weak spots at each restaurant and knows exactly who to point the finger at!

I happened on this site and enjoyed reading the comments about the direction of the food network. I too used to be a real fan of the network, but do not watch it on a regular basis. I chalked it up to m y life getting busier and TiVO, but that knew those weren't the only reasons b/c when I catch Julia or Jaques or Lidia on TV, I find myself sitting there and watching. Can't say that about the shows on the FN. I do like Giada, Ina (think b/c onf the calming nature of their shows, Giada's style and the fact that I actually do learn something and have tried and like their recipes). I also like Nigella b/c of the naughtly, yet subltle "not obvious" sensual way she has with preparing food. These 3 are my fav's b/c I actually learn something and have tried their recipes. I even like ole' martha b/c of the same reason. I am a black woman who grew up in a fairyly "boustrius" family in the bronx during the 60's and 70's. I and my family used to LOVE watching Julia Child (I commonly referred to her as "the cooking lady") on the "ups" channel 13 in NY, on a black and white t.v., grainy picture and all. How is it that "the cooking lady" could command the attention of my family and I is beyond me, but I think it had to do with her voice, precesne and the fact that we actually LEARNED something. Juslia also had a dry sense of humor and thought nothing of bringing out a blow torch, goggles and all, in a couple of the earlier episodes. I thankfully have most of her videos and watch them as my life permits. I am glad FN is reconizing the need for diversity, but the Neely's, sorry to say, are not the answer. I confess tat I only watch the episodes that feature one or more Neely men. Gina's over the top, swinging of the fake hair, need for attention attitude/behavior and screechy/baby voice drives me nuts. I don't need a FN "personality" telling me how/what to do w/my man in the kitchen...I have that covered just fine, thank you. PLEASE FOOD NETWORK, if you are reading this, LET THE NEELY MEN HAVE THEIR OWN SHOW WITH OUT GINA NEELY!!! P.S. Thanks to the "Eric08" that forwarded the link to the Tony Bourdain commentary. It cracked my up. Tony is another of my favorite chefs. Unapologetically real.

cynic do a google search on it and palladium virus... everyone is complaining about it, you get it just from visiting the site, just like cruise critic. my dh warned me about the palladium over the weeknd, since i do go there, or did, i should say. i did not go to cruisecritic.com directly from FB and do not go on FB at work because i am a puter security snob and know the security at work is pathetic. i suspect the network because while scanning my wk puter i found infected internet temps files from our other location w/ that employees profile id. they know it's not me since there is a log & puter record of all activity. it was the same malware and viruses on all other puters these 2 kids used over the last 6 months. we all have the same passwords so everyone can jump on any puter :-/ i also completely cleaned mine up last friday but on monday some things were back... this business is owned by 4 brothers who just learned how to txt and email, isn't that the most pathetic?! they do not understand anything about computers and believe the computer guy is too expensive and always trying to sell them something. they are plant growers not business people. our server is 5+ yrs old, often needs to be taken down, has 2 many users and too many users surfing the net w/o protection. we are also using a Great Plains (Pains) version from 2002 LOL and slowly loosing data over time, they just think someone is deleting it but no one is, our system is too old and corrupt. my puter which is from 1999 has been going bad slowly, i'm the one responsible for shipping $10 mil of plants which is about 85% of our income and i was told by the office manager (daughter of an owner) to figure out how to back up my email and contacts for when it does go bad LOL. it does not have a dvd drive and i'm not sticking a jump drive of mine on it LOL! it sooo sad all i can do is laugh about it... and thank gawd i'm only there thru the rest of the yr hopefully ~ liz

Here's how they came out - I baked them for 45 mins. in a quarter sheet pan and they were perfectly done (some reviewers said they'd cut the baking time to 25 mins.,don't know how they could have baked through..) I ended up with 12 very generously sized rolls. Recipe notes that it serves 6. I don't know how anyone could eat 2 of these in one serving, and I can't imagine making each roll twice as large as mine were and having them bake through to the center without overcooking the outside. I skipped breakfast and had one of the rolls w/ cafe au lait as my lunch and I was more than satisfied. The brioche is very rich, yet light and flaky. It was my favorite part, which surprised me, as I am a big caramel/pecan fan. The point is, the "goo" really is the icing on the cake in this recipe. Many sticky buns I've had are only good for the goo, and the bread part is just a means of transport - you would as soon toss it away once the sweet stuff is gone. This recipe was time and labor intensive. If I make it again I will probably try one reviewer's method of boiling the goo a bit before pouring it in the pan. I'd like to add a deeper caramel flavor. This was a humungous diet splurge for me. So as soon as I finished mine I packaged up all but one and brought them to my sister's for her family (w/ strapping teenage boys) to enjoy. One bonus from this baking adventure was coming back home to a house that smells like heaven!!