Ubiquitous wrote:
> It's pretty easy to harp on New York's Semi-First Lady, Sandra Lee,
> and her "Semi-Homemade" cooking. Even Governor Cuomo's mom is on
> board! But Sandra Lee says everyone needs to shut up about her
> recipes, like "Bat Wings with Goblin Dip." "I think everyone needs to
> lighten up," she told the Daily News. "Our job is to serve the
> overextended homemakers, our job is to make their life better." She
> also says, "My recipes are created from what people are buying at the
> grocery stores," which apparently involves acorns. Behold, the
> Kwanzaa Cake (video below)!
>
> Sandra Lee started her career selling home decorating kits on
> infomercials before transitioning into the "semi-homemade" food
> business. And she's never made any apologies for not making things
> from scratch. She once told Gourmet magazine, "We go to the grocery
> store and we all feel guilty because we're not doing it from scratch.
> Can I tell you something? These big kitchens buy the exact same
> product with a different flavor and they call it a commercial line.
> They're not making bouillabaisse, either. They're not. None of these
> guys are doing it. Not the most recognized chefs in the world." But
> where do you draw the line between cooking from scratch and stuffing
> marshmallows into a store-bought angel food cake and calling it
> cooking?
>
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=we2iW...layer_embedded

I've never seen this woman before, but I don't get why what she does in
that video is a big deal. She has an idea of how to put a few things
together, and if you wanted to make your own angel food cake, your own
vanilla butter cream icing, and your own cooked apples, you could - no
one's stopping you. She comes across as Suzie Home Maker, not a chef -
nothing wrong with that. Her whole thing seems rather Ozzie and Harriet
to me and, again, there's nothing wrong with that. Nothing very
interesting, either, at least to me.

-S-