Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares....American style

do i like it? do i like the souped up, sauced up american version of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares?

um, like, this is Gordon Ramsay we're talking about here. add a dash of Gordon and i'm happy. hell, i'll even capitalize his name to go with the god-sized crush i have on him.

let me be clear. i have not always loved this man. this is a love that has grown over time. at first, he was the kind of man i love to hate. his shows were the shows that made me groan in discomfort or in embarrassment for the little folk at which he was cursing and spewing his venom. i had a sophomoric fascination with the amount of cursing he actually did in his shows that aired across the pond and which i was now watching on my beloved BBC America (ok, it's not so beloved. for a start, can they do something about their scheduling? why on earth do they get me addicted to a show with about four episodes and then completely change the time and days the show airs? or worse, take it away completely? but i digress...).

i did, in fact, get acquainted with Gordon through the original, british version of Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares. i love food. i used to serve food. i am interested in owning my own place someday. and i do love the drama of watching someone (mainly Gordon here) getting sick from eating a rancid scallop. oh, i love even more seeing him go through the fridge in a restaurant kitchen with the chef and/or owner and throw away with shouts and curses the rotten food sitting inside. the food that has been coexisting with the rest of the food that has been served to the restaurant's customers.

that's my hard, evil side. my softer, gentler side does quite enjoy watching the restaurant turn itself around, clean itself off (sometimes by getting rid of the heavy baggage of useless staff it's been carrying around) and become shiny, successful and happy.

along with this soft side of mine, i melted as soon as i saw Gordon become sweet and helpful to the restaurant owners. chiding jovially with the staff to help pick the drowning souls out of the gutter and up into the steady buzz that a successful restaurant should be.

so i was a little excited when Hell's Kitchen came to our side of the atlantic.

after two seasons of watching Hell's Kitchen simultaneously with british Kitchen Nightmares, my crush started to grow. i noticed how he is much sweeter in the brit show than he is on Hell's Kitchen. i thought how we yanks were not getting the full Gordon effect and how it was a shame that my american friends could not appreciate just how kind he really is. alas, none of my american brothers and sisters believed me.

well, then BBC America started showing The f Word. then i really saw his softer side. though i didn't much care for this show, it really did cement my crush and kind of ballooned it. i mean, my celebrity crushes used to be people like Jude Law, Jake Gyllenhaal (well, i do still like Jake), Heath Ledger...you get the drift. now it's all Gordon. sigh...

anyway, should i even try to relay my complete state of bliss when this last year went something like this - i was watching versions of brit Kitchen Nightmares I'd never seen before simultaneously with the third season of Hell's Kitchen. then i see advertisements for the upcoming "new" Kitchen Nightmares to be aired on Fox in the fall. ahem, this was turning into the year of Gordon. i was so excited (inner shrieking going on now!).

this was my state of mind when i tucked into the first episode of Kitchen Nightmares...american style.

i've just told you how much i love Gordon, but do i want to see a five minute intro of him yelling at everyone in every future episode while music is blaring? i do not, it so happens. luckily i have DVR and can forward through that bit. i noticed tonight that the long intro has disappeared, thank god.

then there is the overly dramatic background music. and the narration of who i think is the same guy who narrates Hell's Kitchen. whose voice i love, by the way.

but i do so miss the quiet desperation of Gordon's narration from brit Nightmares. as well as just the, well...quiet. i can't believe i'm calling anything Ramsay quiet but compared to the american version of Nightmares, it was quite quiet. that music is just distracting.

that being said, i guess i am a true fan and will watch as the drama unfolds in each episode and hope the restaurant turns into a successful, booming business. i won't mind when Gordon changes into his chef smock (is it called a smock? a shirt?), i can tell you that. it's my weekly bit of titillation. how sad am i?

on a side note, Ian, my husband (yes, i am married so Gordon's happy marriage is safe), who is english, has come up with our own campaign modeled after Ramsay's campaign for real gravy from one of his brit nightmare episode. our campaign will be for real tea in america. we shall educate the american public on what a real cup of tea should taste like.

all for now from a tired soul...

going local

there is a pretty big movement here in madison to buy local products. it is inspiring and it has actually nudged me to plan meals and search for recipes where i can use fresh, local, and hopefully organic, products.

i haven't made it to the farmer's market in two weeks, and so have been forced to buy things from the grocery store - big gasp! the only places to get an abundance of local and fresh products is the farmer's markets (of which there are a few in madison and the outlying towns), or one of the co-ops (of which there are a few scattered throughout the town but hardly convenient to me).

i go to the grocery and see almost two aisles worth of apples...apples of all sorts and sizes and variety. even some that are organic. but very rarely do i find apples that are locally grown. or even any grown in wisconsin. or the midest for that matter. i actually see a lot coming out of canada here (which is totally foreign to me [pardon the pun] since coming from the west i normally see apples from california or washington.

when i'm at the farmer's market i see apples from a variety of local farms coming from all over the state so why am i not seeing any in the mainstream grocery stores? it is bothersome to me.

in any case, i love buying local and seasonal and there is so much of it here. i just can't believe that i am actually enjoying cooking!