Addict or Enthusiast?

In a world where we readily have oh 1000+ television channels available at any given time with slight variations of roughly the same programing on virtually all of them and at least 50% of those channels promoting reality TV that represents pretty much anything other than reality I find myself sucked into any cooking or travel experience available on the boob tube. If there's been anything that's been a consistent interest of mine since I was a kid it has been the narrative, conversational format of cooking, travel, and nature shows. My favorites growing up were The Frugal Gourmet and Marty Stouffer's Wild America. I also willingly ate Grape Nuts and tofu as a kid so I'm not exactly sure how I didn't end up back-packing around the world and living out of a tent though sometimes that seems like a much more fulfilling alternative to life in the burbs.

The mass variety of culinary viewing available is almost mind boggling.  How many shows specific to ethnicity, budgets, dietary restrictions, and weird foods can there be? There's a lot riding on being a celebrity chef and often I wonder how much control they actually maintain over their passion once they've gone mainstream.

As I pursue my culinary endeavors I wonder if it's normal to develop crushes like a teenager for her high school teacher. The know how to wheeled a knife, wisdom, and the worldliness that come with years of international travels of any professional chef become intangibly sexy.

Crush #1

Couple the sarcastic, dry, intelligent wit with the bad boy, reformed, I don't give a f@$k attitude and experienced chef/world traveler/brilliant food critic/writer persona and this girl melts like chocolate under a heat lamp.

Crush #2
OK, not your classic beauty but come on every girl has to have a crush on the cute funny guy who'll eat or do anything to impress her, right? If humor and a talent for cooking make a man attractive well then Andrew Zimmerman has that all buttoned up.



Crush #3
And what girl doesn't love a grown man that goes by the name Bobby ya'll. Throw in a sweet southern drawl, a love for his Mama, and well it doesn't hurt to be tall, dark, handsome and a little funny and he can mash my sweet potatoes all day long.


Some gals drool over pro athletes and some over rock starts, obviously my weakness is for professional and celebrity chefs. I can think of worse things. A little inspiration never hurt in the kitchen so until I win the lotto (I need to start playing first) and can quit my day job to go travel the world, learn French, and go to culinary school I'll just have to keep watching my cooking and travel shows to survive my daily 9 to 5. The occasional cooking class or new cookbook should keep the dream alive too.

Cheers to you all who find your inspiration and motivation in the every day and keep dreaming big.