Food, Folks and Fun

The lovely editors at Blogcritics have chosen my piece, "Oprah Rips Frey a New One," as an Editor's Pick of the Week. Thanks, guys!

Even though this whole Frey case has been covered to death, there was always one bit of information that I could never work into either of my pieces, nor did I see it included anywhere else. I know it's not exactly relevant to the issues his case raises, but it still bothers me. When A Million Little Pieces first came out in 2003, he did an interview at Salon.com. This is what he had to say about some of his well-known fellow authors:

I don't give a fuck what Jonathan Safran whatever-his-name does or what David Foster Wallace does. I don't give a fuck what any of those people do. I don't hang out with them, I'm not friends with them, I'm not part of the literati." Don't even get him started on Dave Eggers. "A book that I thought was mediocre was being hailed as the best book written by the best writer of my generation. Fuck that. And fuck him and fuck anybody who says that. I don't give a fuck what they think about me. I'm going to try to write the best book of my generation and I'm going to try to be the best writer.

What a classy guy. That would be Jonanthan Safran Foer, author of best-sellers Everything Is Illuminated and Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, David Foster Wallace, author of Infinite Jest, Brief Interviews With Hideous Men, and Consider the Lobster, and Dave Eggars, author of the hugely popular A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius. Even though Frey tries to make it sound like he's rejecting them as part of the snobby "literati," it sounds more like the bitter rantings of an insecure writer jealous of the attention his talented peers received. And I wonder, does he think AMLP is the best book of his generation?

I just had to share that, even though it doesn't reveal anything new about Frey since we all now he likes to see himself as some kind of tough gangsta, but seriously, who talks like that in an interview?

Now that I got that out of my system, I can move on. You can also read my two other Blogcritics Picks of the Week, the first on my favorite Food Network show, Everyday Italian, and the second on the ridiculous Barbara Walters special, The Ten Most Fascinating People of 2005.

At the end of the Everyday Italian piece, I asked (ok, begged) for a copy of host Giada De Laurentiis's cookbook so I could actually try some of her recipes. I was curious to see if her food could stand alone and not just look pretty on TV. Since then, I have gotten the book (thanks, Eric!) and have tried some recipes.

First, I tried her Chocolate Amaretti Cake, a flourless chocolate cake batter made with crushed amaretti cookies (dry, airy Italian almond cookies) and orange zest. It came out moist and almost fudgy, with the cookies adding a perfectly mild crunch to the batter. Italians aren't known for desserts beyond cannoli and tiramisu, but I think this cake definitely has the potential to become just as popular. I will definitely make this one again.

Then, I made a simple pasta dish, Orecchiette with Sausage and Broccoli Rabe. I love pasta recipes that include veggies and protein all in one dish and this one is so easy to make. I substituted farfalle because I couldn't find orecchiette noodles and regular broccoli for the broccoli rabe. But the simple coating of olive oil, garlic and red pepper flakes was perfect, adding a little kick without overpowering the fresh broccoli or spicy sausage.

Finally, yesterday I made Panino di Proscuitto e Fontina. I love panini, and this grilled sandwich with fontina cheese, spinach, red onion and proscuitto was a perfect compliment to the butternut squash soup that it accompanied.

There's so many more recipes I'm planning on trying, but so far, so good. Although some dismiss Giada as just a pretty face (which covers about half the pages in her cookbook) she at least can back up her looks with simple, modern dishes adapted from classic Italian recipes.

I know this post is covering a lot (James Frey and panini?), but I'm in a kind of Friday, end-of-the-week-recap mood.