It all started with a BAM!

Happy Friday everyone!  Last night when I came home from work I did my usual Thursday routine of sitting on the couch and watching my Top Chef recording.   This episode featured alot of heavy hitters in the chef world both new and old.  David Chang was there as well as Wolfgang Puck and Emeril.  While I was watching, I thought man I love Emeril and boy do I miss Emeril Live.  This then led me to think about when I got so involved in food television.  When did I stop racing home to watch General Hospital?  Instead, my dvr is now full of cooking shows, Top Chef, Mind of a Chef, and No Reservations.

Kick it up a notch! 

I blame my love of food television and chefs on Emeril Lagasse.  Food Network should thank this man for putting them on the map.  To this day I still use he's expressions in the kitchen.  Throwing around a lot of "oh yeah babe" and "food for love" cooking experience.  On a trip to New Orleans, I made a point to go to his NoLa restaurant.  Give me some more fried oysters and crawfish etouffee anyday, oh yeah babe...  This is one of Emeril's recipes I use very frequently, especially in the cold.  Its called Chuck Wagon Chili   .  **Spoiler Alert: You may be seeing this recipe come Superbowl Sunday!  I want to try one of his gumbos soon and master the art of a two beer rue. 

  

  

One chef I also greatly admire is Mario Batali.   I respect his great admiration of good quality food.  He is a traditionalist  and shows respect to the old family recipes of Italy.  I have dined at many of his restaurants but not all unfortunately. One place that I loved and I have even featured one of the recipes (the pasta bolognese) is Babbo.  At Babbo I had one of my favorite dishes.  It was a seared rabbit with a carrot puree. It was even recreated at my engagement party as a special surprise.  If you're ever in New York, I'd highly recommend dining in one his restaurants.  He is not very commercial as some may think and it will be one of the best meals you've had.  If you need suggestions I've been to every one of his in New York!

A post about my love of chefs wouldn't be complete without a mention of my girl crush, Giada.  Her looks alone should make both men and women alike tune into the Food Network.  She can cook too!!

To all of you out there in the twitter world I would highly suggest following some chefs.  Mario Batali is a great guy to follow.  He answers a lot of questions with the hash tag #HeyMB.  Giada has even answered a few of my questions.  Also, if you want someone else to follow.. follow us!  We are quite funny and post a lot of helpful articles from time to time.


Happy Eating!!
Jen