Normally I don’t like to go dragging other people into the muck that is my blog life, but the following e-mail correspondence was just too good not to share. When I received the first message from my boy B-Dubbs in LA, I knew it was going to be a special day:
From: B-Dubbs
Subject: culinary psycho
i have become frighteningly obsessed with ina garten.
to the point that i want to murder that fucker jeffrey in his sleep and take ina back to my apartment to live with me and my girlfriend. in his fucking sleep. the smug fuck.
From: willcwhite
Subject: re: culinary psycho
I know — what IS it about her???
The food, to be sure, but then it’s so much more. It’s her attitude towards the food and towards life in general I think. It’s the fact that she keeps a full stable of gay men to decorate her dining room table. It’s the fact that she invariably calls the most complicated dishes simple, and breezily mentions that you could use a good canned chicken stock, but homemade is so much better.
She’s the only one on that whole Food Network that’s worth a damn! I actually kind of like Jeffrey… actually, on second thought, what I really like is when Ina talks about Jeffrey… about how much he’ll like a particular dish, ingredient or piece of silverware. You know she’s really just using him as an alter ego to amplify her own opinions.
Have you seen any of the episodes with her friend “TR”? Major hottie.
Is TR the graying one who buys desert and worked in her restaurant as a young lad?
Yeah, maybe that’s what bugs me about Jeffrey. He’s neither one of her gay mob, nor one of her uncomfortable female friends who are watching their weight. He’s just away during the weeks on business. When he should be at home with his genius fucking wife. He should be chopping shit for her. He should be giving her never-ending backrubs. He should be bringing her bushells of red fresh cut roses every fucking time he walks through that door.
Because, as I said, if he’s not, a psychotic fan like myself is liable to do something highly illegal.
And yeah, her vibe is certainly about much more than food. It’s about dark collared untucked oxfords that look best on the beach in the hamptons during the off season. It’s about 5 sticks of butter when a dollop of olive oil would probably do the trick. It’s about all the fish merchants and wine store clerks who may or may not actually know her name.
She’s just a fantastic human being. And she deserves better.
And, yes, for sure the only one on that network worth a damn (although The Neelys for sure have something special going, even if they probably secretly hate each other)
the very one: http://trpescod.com/
good stuff.
let’s admit though, that Mr. Pescod is a bit of an outlier among the usual Barefoot guest crowd looks-wise…not that there’s anything wrong with that. Concern with looks is really kinda below Ina’s socioeconomic/intellectual strata, wouldn’t ya say?
Oh I definitely would say. Yes, you’re right about the looks and also, he is a pretty rare visitor (although increasingly featured). The real old school ugly gay men are the core of the program — how many florists can there possibly be in the East Hamptons?
Quiz: what’s Ina’s favorite flower?
fuck, now you’re testing the limits of my ability to actually pay attention to what the hell she’s saying rather than sort of just zoning out to her general lilt.
um….the big white ones with a shitload of petals?
all i know is that there are definitely arranged by her friend Michael. how bad can THAT be?
did you watch the clips from Barefoot on TR’s website? Look under the “host” tab
Answer: orange roses. Just a tip in case you’re ever invited to the same party as her…
You turn up that volume, Ina! God, I really can’t get enough.
who wouldn’t want that?
