The Barefoot Contessa cooking show - Ina and Jeffrey Garten.

Susie_WilcoxSusie_Wilcox Posts: 1,014
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I like the cooking aspect of this show but the child-free Ina and Jeffrey really take the kissy-kissy-mwah-mwah stuff too far. She cannot get through a show without mentioning beloved Jeffrey. She might not have a real baby but she has Jeffrey instead and Jeffrey laps up the pampered husband crap like an over eager labrador puppy. These two have fallen into the never-land twilight world of the middle-aged childless couple who dont realise that fat, aging people look totally stupid when they behave like they are still teenagers.

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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,835
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    She's like it with all her friends too. I assume it's because they are in a closeted/insular, wealthy and priveliged community on the Hamptons and theiir lives are just centred around themselves.

    I used to quite like this programme, but I think I've seen most of them now.

    BTW, if you read her biography on Wiki, she's obviously quite an intelligent woman who used to have quite a high flying career before she bought the "Barefoot Contessa" shop.
  • CMK29CMK29 Posts: 361
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    Maybe that's what happens when you don't have kids and can actually focus on each other....
  • Susie_WilcoxSusie_Wilcox Posts: 1,014
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    CMK29 wrote: »
    Maybe that's what happens when you don't have kids and can actually focus on each other....

    Thats why kids are important to a marriage - so you dont have to focus on only one person, apart from yourself, for years on end. Beats me why anyone would want to do that but I see them as terribly twee for two highly intelligent and career-driven people. Treating your husband so he behaves like a waggy-tailed little lap dog well into middle-age....I would hope for more out of marriage than that by the time I turned their age. 'Feeding Jeffrey' is almost the basis of every episode these days. I like her cooking but like her less since Make a Wish tried to set up a teenager with terminal cancer to have a cooking session with her and she said 'Im too busy'...that's life on Planet Jeffrey I guess:cool:.
  • Swanandduck2Swanandduck2 Posts: 5,502
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    I like the cooking aspect of this show but the child-free Ina and Jeffrey really take the kissy-kissy-mwah-mwah stuff too far. She cannot get through a show without mentioning beloved Jeffrey. She might not have a real baby but she has Jeffrey instead and Jeffrey laps up the pampered husband crap like an over eager labrador puppy. These two have fallen into the never-land twilight world of the middle-aged childless couple who dont realise that fat, aging people look totally stupid when they behave like they are still teenagers.

    Wow, there's nothing like generalising.
  • Mr_EyeMr_Eye Posts: 1,495
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    Jeffrey is so obviously gay anyway.
  • SupratadSupratad Posts: 10,402
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    Mr_Eye wrote: »
    Jeffrey is so obviously gay anyway.

    I never thought he was/is, but he might be the only straight guy in the state. All the other chaps that Ina has in are all quite camp. Good teeth though.

    Quite a lot of supressed anger from the OP there. How dare Ina not have children! Let me guess, she's not a complete woman till she does?
  • Metal MickeyMetal Mickey Posts: 1,606
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    30 Rock got it right: "I'm like that woman on the food network whose husband only comes home on the weekends and she spends the rest of her time eating and drinking with her gay friends."
  • Hollie_LouiseHollie_Louise Posts: 39,759
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    I like the cooking but can't stand the fake, scripted conversations with the friends, they make it so obvious
  • SupratadSupratad Posts: 10,402
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    30 Rock got it right: "I'm like that woman on the food network whose husband only comes home on the weekends and she spends the rest of her time eating and drinking with her gay friends."

    Isn't Jeffrey a lawyer, in New York, or Chicago, hence spending all week apart? I sometimes get confused between him and Frank Lloyd Wright (who wasn't a lawyer, before anyone says)
  • CMK29CMK29 Posts: 361
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    Jeffery is a professor at Yale School of Management.
  • SupratadSupratad Posts: 10,402
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    Good lord! From wikipedia....
    "Ina Rosenberg Garten ( born February 2, 1948) is an American author, Emmy Award winning host of the Food Network program Barefoot Contessa, and former White House nuclear policy analyst" :eek:

    As for Jeffrey the "pampered husband" "labrador puppy", well he spent four years on a tour of duty in the Vietnam War. So I guess if he wants to get pampered by his gorgeous wife, who he met while they were teenagers, and who is a fabulous cook and business woman, I guess he can do whatever the chuffing hell he likes.
  • CMK29CMK29 Posts: 361
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    And they've been together since they were teenagers. I think they're quite cute. And I love her recipes. I want to cook everything she makes on the show. It'll probably kill me with all that sugar and butter and cream but, what the hell...
  • SupratadSupratad Posts: 10,402
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    I know there is the old cliche that everything in America in bigger, but I presume she is quite small, because everything in her kitchen looks enormous.

    This might be quite weird, but her electric lemon squeezer always makes a sound like a man screaming in agony. I often imagine there is a man trapped in the kitchen cabinet below, and his head is up through the worktop and part of the squeezer, so everytime she uses it, it grates on his skull and his muted cries from within can be heard. His body would be wasted and thin as he exists on a diet of lemon pips and spilt juice.

    Yeah, reading that back, that is quite weird.
  • Swanandduck2Swanandduck2 Posts: 5,502
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    Supratad wrote: »
    I never thought he was/is, but he might be the only straight guy in the state. All the other chaps that Ina has in are all quite camp. Good teeth though.

    Quite a lot of supressed anger from the OP there. How dare Ina not have children! Let me guess, she's not a complete woman till she does?[/
    QUOTE]

    I agree. Very unpleasant post.
  • ShrewnShrewn Posts: 6,824
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    She does some nice cakes mind :cool:
  • NickelbackNickelback Posts: 23,764
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    I think she's nice,doesn't bother me at all the way she pampers her hubby,i'm sure he enjoys it. .;)

    Her recipes do look tempting, but she uses far to much salt and butter for me,she;s heading for an heart attack if she 's not careful.. :(
  • Fried KickinFried Kickin Posts: 60,132
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    I watched the show once .. she made a bacon sandwich :rolleyes:
    At one point she even said it's like a BLT without the lettuce and tomato :D
    And get this .. her recipe for this culinary delight is even on the foodnetwork website :p
    http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/english-bacon-sandwich-recipe/index.html
  • Swanandduck2Swanandduck2 Posts: 5,502
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    I'm sure a lot of the pampering and cheesey interacting is hammed up for the cameras, and they have the same normal rows as any other couples when the cameras are off them. I even bet Ina often tells Jeffrey to 'get it himself' when he fancies a sandwich and a cup of tea in front of the telly. They're just selling an image, really, and its no worse than the images being portrayed by British chefs in their chintzy kitchens with their adorable kids and their gorgeous friends dropping in for supper.
  • jette52jette52 Posts: 256
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    well she has some pretty good recipes.i love her chicken with fennel recipe.that is the only way my daughter and i make it now.thanks ina.
  • daisiesfandaisiesfan Posts: 2,722
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    Thats why kids are important to a marriage - so you dont have to focus on only one person, apart from yourself, for years on end. Beats me why anyone would want to do that but I see them as terribly twee for two highly intelligent and career-driven people. Treating your husband so he behaves like a waggy-tailed little lap dog well into middle-age....I would hope for more out of marriage than that by the time I turned their age. 'Feeding Jeffrey' is almost the basis of every episode these days. I like her cooking but like her less since Make a Wish tried to set up a teenager with terminal cancer to have a cooking session with her and she said 'Im too busy'...that's life on Planet Jeffrey I guess:cool:.

    Not every married couple have to have children. Hell a LOT of married couples SHOULDN'T have kids. The world may be a better place!
  • daisiesfandaisiesfan Posts: 2,722
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    CMK29 wrote: »
    And they've been together since they were teenagers. I think they're quite cute. And I love her recipes. I want to cook everything she makes on the show. It'll probably kill me with all that sugar and butter and cream but, what the hell...

    Not to mention the amount of salt. I watched her last week and she made a pot roast. It looked delicious but had almost 4 TABLESPOONS of salt in it.
  • CMK29CMK29 Posts: 361
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    daisiesfan wrote: »
    Not to mention the amount of salt. I watched her last week and she made a pot roast. It looked delicious but had almost 4 TABLESPOONS of salt in it.

    I mentioned that once to my sister (married to a chef) and she didn't seem to think a teaspoon of salt in a recipe was alot - I have never in my life put a whole teaspoon of salt on anything! I think it's a reaction to my upbringing where everything we ate loaded with salt.
  • Serenity.Serenity. Posts: 262
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    Thats why kids are important to a marriage - so you dont have to focus on only one person, apart from yourself, for years on end. Beats me why anyone would want to do that but I see them as terribly twee for two highly intelligent and career-driven people. Treating your husband so he behaves like a waggy-tailed little lap dog well into middle-age....I would hope for more out of marriage than that by the time I turned their age. 'Feeding Jeffrey' is almost the basis of every episode these days. I like her cooking but like her less since Make a Wish tried to set up a teenager with terminal cancer to have a cooking session with her and she said 'Im too busy'...that's life on Planet Jeffrey I guess:cool:.

    Ever thought that maybe they can't have children? Not everyone can pop out kids whenever they feel like it.
    That's shocking about the Make a Wish thing though.
  • hooterhooter Posts: 30,206
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    CMK29 wrote: »
    Jeffery is a professor at Yale School of Management.

    sheeeeesh....no wonder they`re so hard up:rolleyes:
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