Yes, I’ve been absent.  It’s been a bit busy on my side of the world, actually.  I gave notice at my job last week and, for the week of September 15th, I will be unemployed.  Yes, what a way to start out your 1st anniversary.  It gets better, on September 22nd–which is my birthday–I’ll be a full-time student.  Er, full-time-ish.  My schedule is still up in the air right now and I can’t finalize my volunteer work until I know my schedule.

In the meantime, I’ve been staying busy.  I’ve been helping my Studmuffin paint our garage–a mission I still think is a bit futile, but oh well.  Tonight, however, he’ll be painting the garage floor with some nasty, chemical-laden paint, so he’s on his own for that one.  I, on the other hand, will be going through as-of-yet-unpacked boxes and deciding what to keep and what to schlep to the church’s rummage sale. 

I have, unfortunately, run into a TV viewing conundrum.  I have posted in the past about my love for the show Jon and Kate plus 8.  However, lately I have read a number of things, some by credible sources, about Jon and Kate themselves and I can’t say that I continue to consider Kate Gosselin my hero.  I won’t go into it here, but you can google it or go to my new guilty pleasure site to find out more.  I still watch the show because the kids are just so darn cute and Mady Gosselin may become my new hero, but I don’t exactly consider it a warm-fuzzy show anymore.

I have, however, been watching quite a bit of the Food Network.  This all started with The Next Food Network Star, of course.  The thing is, I love to cook–even if I haven’t really been feeling like eating lately.  And, Food Network gives me the best and worst of food shows around.

Part of my problem is that TNFNS set my standards too high.  I think any of the five finalists (Shane Lyons, Kelsey Nixon, Lisa Garza, Adam Gertler and Aaron McCargo, Jr.) make or would make better Food Network hosts than the Food Network already has.  I have made a point to watch a number of different shows over the past couple of weeks and was a little surprised that their superstars may be anything but.  I’ve already said my opinion of Bobby Flay (the anti-Christ), but in the same boat are Rachel Ray and Emeril–not enough hosting talent to back up their inflated egos.  Paula Dean is HORRIBLE in front of the camera–plus I get a little closer to a heart attack every time I watch her (in the last episode of hers that I watched, she admitted to making her bacon in a deep fryer!).  Sandra Lee is just dull, as is the Barefoot Contessa.  However, my mother informs me that the guberif has developed quite a crush on Ina Garten–enough to turn off his never-ending Bonanza and Gunsmoke episodes to tune into The Barefoot Contessa.  Go figure.  I don’t get the Nealy’s, I really don’t.  And Aida Mollenkamp?  What is up with her?  First off, she’s basically doing Adam Gertler’s pilot and she has absolutely NO SCREEN PRESENCE and NO FOOD AUTHORITY.  Multiple times during her show, I had to switch over to the Discovery Health Channel’s I Didn’t Know I was Pregnant.  Trust me, if anything even slightly less disturbing had been on, I wouldn’t have switched back to Aida.

On the plus side, though, they do have Giada diLaurentis and Alton Brown.  My absolutely favorite new show over there is Food Detectives with Ted Allen (most notable past credit was Queer Eye for the Straight Guy).  And, next month, Adam Gertler is back!

Yes, this brings me to his new show Will Work for Food.  I’ve read some comments on other blogs that this sounds just like Discovery’s Dirty Jobs.  True, but Food Detectives is just like Mythbusters and it works wonderfully.  The other thing, Adam got a better deal by losing TNFNS than by winning it.  Aaron, who won the show, has a cooking show on a borrowed set on Sunday mornings or early afternoons, depending on where you are in the country.  Judging by the other Food Network shows around, this isn’t exactly prime real estate.  Adam’s show, on the other hand, will be on during Prime Time–I believe his show will air right after Food Detectives.  Also, I read somewhere–although not from an official source, so this could be wrong–that Adam was signed to a longer contract than Aaron’s 6 episode contract.  Go figure!

Also, in my post below, I am looking for a link to another article on Adam’s show.  It is because of this quote in the article:

Interesting that the network gave shows to Aaron who essentially can cook but is a lame TV personality, and Adam, who’s a great TV personality but has lame cooking.

I do have to call foul on this.  Adam did not have “lame cooking.”  Yes, he was inconsistent in the kitchen but, when he was in his comfort zone, he was the best there was.  Remember, he’s the one the transvestites, contortionists, magicians, and coconut-clopping knights said was the best in Vegas!  And, Aaron wasn’t exactly a food encyclopedia either.  Remember in the Vegas throw-down competition, he didn’t know what a chipotle was.  True, Adam hadn’t ever had a cassoulet but, let’s face it, Jack in the Box doesn’t make a cassoulet burger.

So, yes, I’ve been watching Food Network and I’ve been cooking, sometimes at the same time.  Don’t worry, though, you won’t see me on the next The Next Food Network Star.