The F Word

Let me just start this out by saying that I don't consider myself a feminist in any particular way. I usually enjoy Chef Ramsey's work - Hell's Kitchen is pretty entertaining, and Kitchen Nightmares is another somewhat interesting show, they usually do pretty well for background noise and a few laughs.

His new show however really got to me - I couldn't even finish a full episode of it. The F word, which mixes a few different concepts like cooking contests, new recipes, and celebrity restaurant stuff is part of a campaign by Ramsey to get women back in the kitchen.

Wtf? Are we in the 21st century here? Sure, basic concept, that women don't learn how to cook in school anymore, that's true. And he points out that 21 year olds don't think it's an important skill to learn, which may be true in some cases, and may, as he claims, lead to 30-somethings that can't or don't cook. Alright. But that's not truely a "women only" issue.

So Ramsey goes to this one house, and the woman he's talking to is a doctor, which in my mind is arguably one of the busiest professions, and she admits that she eats frozen food. Gasp. Shock. And hasn't cooked in 9 years thanks to a fish pie disaster that she tried to serve her parents and in laws. The thought of a fish pie in general is pretty nasty. So whatever, he gives her some simple recipes and helps her cook something good. The husband in all of this? Sits by prettily and enjoys the food. He doesn't have "Dr" in front of his name. Not sure what his excuse for ignoring the kitchen is but apparently that doesn't matter.

I don't get it. In this day and age where women are no longer stay at home mothers who don't get jobs I don't see the point of focusing exclusively on women in this case. Men are also more then capable of following a recipe - or maybe he thinks that professional chefs can be male, but in the family it's only the woman that should cook?

Whatever. It just ticks me off every time he says that women need to get back in the kitchen.

Love, etc

Reza does The Way

Reza does Pretty.

Yup. Geek.

Music and neuroscience go well together. The host of this clip is a little... um... hmm what's the word... painfully nerdy...? But stay with it, it's kind of interesting. And amusing.



Synesthesia seems cool.

The things I have to study....

Fading out of reality while reading paper upon paper about what amounts to -nothing- made me wonder if I could make them any more interesting. Maybe if it all came in comic form. I could turn all the developmental mutants into characters.

Sonic Hedgehog's a given. But other proteins could make it too... I could totally see Forkhead and Fox. Maybe have Lunatic Fringe lurking crazily around the edges, coming up with devious plots. Fear Of Intimacy and Abstinence By Mutual Consent could be sort of awkward characters that pop up once in a while. And the background could be the alphabet soup of usual crappy names.... speaking of which...

I'm kind of jealous of the grad student or PI that decided to name a protein creating the acronym "CRAP". And then I realize that I'm only jealous because that would make a good conversation starter and poster title and realize that there are no limits to my geekiness.

Can't wait til this semester's over.

Eff.