Where There's Smoke, There's Dinner

Sue mentioned the other day that she was so inspired by Top Chef that she attempted a new recipe for her family's dinner, with disappointing results (hilarious, but disappointing). This made me think about how unrealistic and misleading cooking shows can be. I, for one, would be glad to star in a cooking show that demonstrates what it is really like when a mother of 4 or more kids tries to cook dinner.

Picture it - I could appear before the audience in a real kitchen: old phone numbers and miscellaneous magnets hanging all over the refrigerator door; a counter cluttered with the candy canes we're saving for hot cocoa and a bowl full of almond shells that a certain teen family member was too darn lazy to throw out; and the requisite sinkful of dirty dishes in the background. The featured recipes would, of course, require no more than 2 steps, maximum. In the process of preparing them for the TV audience, I would also demonstrate how to search for the right-size bowl in a cabinet filled with mismatched Gladware and how to locate the proper ingredients (or some reasonable facsimile thereof) in a refrigerator replete with bottles of salsa and leftover egg sandwiches.

Best of all, the whole world could watch how my stove smokes every time I turn it on because I don't get around to cleaning the burners.

I wrote this idea in Sue's comments, where Jillybean saw it and ran with it. Totally. Hop on over to her place to see her put the "real" back into reality. You'll be glad you did...