Been housesitting a menagerie for some friends this week, and not having cable at home, it's been interesting (and frightening) to see what's on. Last night I bumped into popular Chef Emeril Lagasse. The show was taped in 2001, and it was showcasing the results of a contest he'd had in which children from around the country vied to have Emeril come to their school and "kick up the meals a notch." Aside from the word "notch" being used at a rate of about 10 per minute by everyone on camera, I managed to stomach about 15 minutes of the show before looking for "SpongeBob." These days Emeril's catch word is "Bam!" after adding an excessive amount of some "new" ingredient to a dish.
Emeril was in Podunk, North Dakota, and he was showing this unbelievably nerdish young teen and her sister how to make breakfast. And what a fine meal it was! Twisted bacon ("Ummm, that bacon fat tastes sooo good," intoned Emeril). French Toast made with eggs... by itself almost reasonable for non-vegans, but Emeril "kicked it up a notch" by slathering cream cheese between two slices before frying the killer caloric mess in butter. I could live with that, remembering how I used to eat decades ago, but it was Emeril's answer to one of the little girls asking him why he loves Pig Fat so much that did me in.
"Well," Emeril said (a bit out of breath - when you're overweight, cooking is exhausting), "it tastes good. And... I think it's good for your skin!" he winked. Well, there you have it.... another reason to eat an animal smarter than most dogs (and possibly some Chefs).
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