I do not watch PW or RR, except if it's on at the nail salon while I am there. But in defense of the somewhat ordinary type cooking, I usually come away with an inspiration. That's why I come here, why I subscribe to Serious Eats, read cookbooks, why I read the food pages in the paper and why I watch FN. I'm old enough so that I tend to slip into a rut when it comes to meal planning or ideas for appetizers or whatever. Just an inspiration is all I ask. Sometimes PW prepares a dish that I have made in the past (or something similar), and the idea just clicks. Sometimes the TV recipe might be a nice variation of what I already prepare, so I can tweak my recipe. Sometimes I learn a nice presentation. Just because the cooking itself is pedestrian doesn't mean that I (not exactly harried, not a true "enthusiast", either, at least not every day) don't pick up inspiration. When I'm wandering around the grocery store and some clerk asks what I am looking for, I just say "Inspiration." Gets a laugh and they leave me alone.

I love PW's website/blog! I have made many of her recipes and ALL of them have been really good. I am also a fellow Okie, and have enjoyed learning how to make classic okie food with a Ree boost of goodness! She knows how to take those few extra steps and make a dish that much better... Like making your own cream of chicken instead of canned. I'm in my late 20's and have been married for only a couple of years, so I enjoy being able to learn different techniques that my mother really didn't teach me... Her being in the generation of everything being convenient and canned for the working woman. Hopefully PW loosens up in the next few episodes, though. She seemed nervous and a bit too scripted. Punkinhead, I also consider myself somewhat sophisticated and not gullible.... And I also know that Obama really is the president. I don't think I've ever met anyone in the last 3 years that thought he wasn't??? Not sure where you live in Oklahoma... Maybe a rural area? PS- Pawhuska, OK (Where PW lives) is only 52 miles from Tulsa. You can definitely find pancetta and wild mushrooms in Tulsa!

Ree Drummond, The Pioneer Woman, has a one-half hour cooking show on the Food Network. It airs on Saturday mornings, so if saw it tonight you saw a re-run. This is her second season doing it, and it looks like there will be a "next season," too. I think it's fun how she includes her family and friends, and that it isn't just "another chef spending the entire time in the kitchen."

Oh, way different Liira!!! We don't get a lot of the shows that they do! You have to go to foodnetwork.ca to see our scheduled shows. A number of people on the cooking forum commented they don't like her voice. Wonder what it's like....high, low, strong accent? It's funny how you imagine someone to sound and when they talk, it's a turn-off.