words of others

i've tried. really i have. so many "trust in the power of the lord." or indulgences of children. (actually good they're trying to write --wonder if they ever get help to make it better?) or words that seem to be written by kids but instead by barely literate adults. some are from the perspective of a pet or an infant. undoubtedly charming to the owner of said cuddly creature, but not much to bring me back.

i don't delude myself i'm fascinating, and i know introspection isn't a big draw, lol. at least my navel-gazing has proper spelling and grammar, and i'm 100% certain i've never posted *anyways*, or *irregardless*.

months ago i stuck a cork in the wine sites. all those armchair parkers in love with hot heavy california fruit-bombs just made me wanna bang my head on the monitor. i'll no longer wonder why residual sugar increases every vintage and so many wines i can't get past a few sips.

so, my next expedition was for good food boards and blogs. the food sites are peopled mostly by folks who can barely make ice, and if something is finished with a cream sauce it's automatically elegant. at least once a week: "help! my chili is too spicy/salty/soupy!" or "can i freeze bread?" it's wonderful they want to learn, but i'm not. i do get a lot of "oh! i never would have thought of that!", so apparently i'm at least helpful. yes, i know i'm jaded because my palate hasn't been deranged by krispy kreme and olive garden gluttony, but there is that frustrating element of lacking common sense. they don't seem to know how to use google or even the internal search engines. the same 4 or 5 cookbooks are bibles, which is very tiresome. how many times do they need to talk about marcella hazan's lemon chicken? stop bitching about how annoying rachel ray is and turn off the tv. is emeril holding a gun to your head and making you watch the food network?

my frustration with blogs is the same. (food blog = flog? hmmm.) apparently there are new photo widgets that make publishing those easier, and i have seen some very appealing shots. i guess they're all used to eating dinner cold, lol. but they're very remedial cooks and all link circularly to the same handful of blogs. occasionally the ny times will reference one. i'm always shocked to find those littered with typos and crappy writing too. such lax standards, et tu, gray lady? i've yet to find one that's a keeper and i've visited dozens.

michelin sent me links to a few french food blogs. some have absolutely salacious gastro porn for pix. happily, my french is so lousy, i can't tell if the writing is good or bad, lol.

i just need less time on my hands.