channels 62 and 63, i love you.

...it made me say wow

06.09.05

As you may know, I really like to watch Food Network and HGTV.

Right now I'm totally addicted to Crafters Coast to Coast and Debbie Travis' Painted House.
I also enjoy Sensible Chic. Debbie Travis' Facelift is also another love, but it also on at irregular times, and I think I may have already seen all the episodes. CCtC & DTPH are on every weekday, back to back, so I can tape them and enjoy them later.

And it isn't like I don't like pretty much everything HGTV has to offer, but there are a few exceptions. I hate House Detective, House Hunters, Designing for the Sexes, Decorating Cents, and Room by Room. Out of 50 or so shows available, that isn't really a lot of things to dislike.

On the Food Network, I like to watch about anything that Tyler Florence gets his hands into -- Food 911, Tyler's Ultimate, How to Boil Water, etc., and I'm a big fan of Everyday Italian, Chocolate with Jacques Torres, Paula's Home Cooking, Molto Mario, & Sweet Dreams*.

I'm a little more selective about Food Network programming, because a great deal of the 60+ shows they offer are crap, and a lot of the chefs hosting the shows just plain bug me.

I'm sure that Bobby Flay's a super dude, but he is so smug that I wanna smack him most of the time. Wolfgang Puck is just so tired -- he's become a classic chef cliche. Alton Brown is too nerdy -- he cares a little bit too much more about the whys and wherefores of food, and how it's made on a chemical and physical level, than I do. The physics and chemistry behind baking cookies just doesn't thrill me enough, I guess. And Emeril just plain bothers the crap out of me. Bam this, weenis.

But what I 'm mostly into now is the Food Challenge shows. Like Challenge: Wedding Cake Classic, Food Network's Wedding Cake Challenge, Challenge: Vegas Pastry Battle, Challenge: Chocolate Competition, Challenge: World Pastry Championship, National Pastry Team Championship, Extreme Pastry, World's Best Pastry, etc.

I don't know why, but I really like the pastry and cake challenges the best. Especially the wedding cakes, because people can do some pretty fucking amazing stuff with icing, fondant, marzipan, moldable chocolate and a cake.

My favorite cake designer is Colette Peters, who does amazingly fantastical work. Not all of her work is surreal and fantastical, but I like that kind best.

Oh, and if I ever manage to get myself married, this is totally the kind of cake that I want. Gerber daisies and a fairy topper? Couldn't be better. True, it isn't Colette's Cake, but I'll probably never be able to afford that kind, anyway.

P.S. What do you have to do to deserve a cake like this? Wow.
..........

*Sweet Dreams is hosted by Gale Gand, the pastry chef from Tru, here in Chicago. She made my birthday cake last year, and it tasted damned fantastic. And Tif got me this cookbook for Christmas, which I plan to delve into this summer.