Top Chef and Other Cooking Shows

I get a lot of pleasure watching cooking shows. I haven't figured out why because I'm not much of a cook, nor do I want to be. But when I do want to cook, I have about 50 different cook books to make me feel inadequate. What I find interesting is that in all of these cooking shows, no one uses a recipe! How is that possible? Even when I make something from memory, like a smoothie, I forget to put something in it. After I taste it, I'll remember that I should have added a banana or if I have to eat it with a spoon and chisel, I will remember that I need to add more liquid next time.

These people make fancy dishes like homemade pasta and stuffed frog legs - recipe free! And I don't see any Sarah Palin-like writing on their hands, either. I really am impressed with their memories. I can't even tell you the name of a movie I saw last week, let alone the ingredients in Baba Ghanoush. I have no idea what that is, but I like saying it.

I think I might do better on a show liked "Chopped". That is where 4 chefs are given a number of strange ingredients in a basket and they have to make an appetizer, main course or dessert. None really know what they are going to make so they pretty much wing it. I can do that. I can grab a bunch of ingredients, toss them together, cook them, throw some sauce on top and give it to the judges to taste. I wouldn't even think of trying my food myself. It might be fun to even be the first one eliminated just to see some judges have to eat what I threw together. That would be priceless - and prizeless!

Maybe I'm enamoured with these shows because even experienced chefs all get kicked off and there is only one winner. It makes me feel that I'm in the majority - the the bottom majority, but that's good enough. Food is for eating - not cooking!