Sportsattitude

Sportsattitude ate a LOT of food over the Holidays…and eating is still on his mind…

I was fortunate enough to find/be found by a neat site which will expand your knowledge of the latest goings-on relative to Celebrity Chefs.  If you love reading about what’s going on in their world, this is a place to check out.  Sportsattitude only gets into their kitchens on occasion…

As you know, I love periodically poking fun at those who primarily serve to cook up ratings on the Food Network, having just recently posted my latest “rankings” as to how “hot” they are.  Just a couple of weeks later, it’s time for a tweak or two in my poll…maybe I’m just in a voting mood because the good folks of Iowa are going to go vote today (finally!).

#2 Giada DeLaurentiis made a very strong move towards challenging Rachael Ray’s top position in my rankings via her recent interview with Redbook.  Not only did she make a pre-emptive strike at escalating her national profile by “opening up” in the popular mag, she also took the opportunity to reveal she and her hubby are having a lemon.  I’m not kidding.  Read the article.

She also confirms she’s very much responsible for the outfits worn on her shows, which have been a subject of some discussion during her climb towards chef fame.  It’s nice to have that cleared up for all of us who may have previously speculated some sinister PR/marketing firm might have suggested them to her instead.

Meanwhile, could it be true that #6 Paula Deen may very well have been scorned by the woman responsible for taking Rachael all the way to #1, The Mighty Oprah?  Paula is teetering on the edge of falling out of my rankings entirely…I told ya the whole union thing with Smithfield Foods might cause a problem.  Rumor has it also at least some folks have finally calculated if you actually eat any of the recipes Paula Deen offers, you increase your risk of heart attack by about two-thousand percent.

Ina Garten, known to all as the Barefoot Contessa, is hereby moving into an “Honorable Mention” on my rankings and will stand ready to move into the Top Six should Paula not be able to extract herself from this union thingy and/or start making something that doesn’t involve two sticks of butter.  Seems to me Ina sticks with one…stick.

As for the remainder of my rankings aside from #1 Rachael and #2 Giada…with Paula barely hanging on at #6…there is a shake-up within as former #3 Bobby Flay and #4 Alton Brown each slide down to #4 and #5 respectively. 

While Emeril Lagasse is ending his run of “Emeril Live” telecasts and therefore got kicked down a notch or two in my rankings…on New Year’s Day there he was serving himself up as the Grand Marshal for the Rose Bowl Parade!…something Sportsattitude was admittedly unaware of…since I was concentrating more on the upcoming game itself. 

Emeril, you move up to #3 by not just settling for doing the occasional football-themed show, but actually getting onto the field for the Rose Bowl game.  BAM!!!