Celebrity Chefs Dish Up Dinner Party Neurosis
The Daily Telegraph London
Richard Alleyne
December 14, 2001
THE great British tradition of the dinner party is coming under threat from an unlikely source: unrealistic cooking standards set by celebrity chefs, a survey shows.
Culinary experts such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Ainsley Harriot are undermining the public's confidence and giving rise to a phenomenon known as Kitchen Performance Anxiety.
The survey carried out by Prof David Warburton, of the University of Reading, showed that more than two thirds of the public had stopped giving dinner parties because of the pressures.
Most people still holding them said they were often more stressful than a first date or an interview. One in eight people felt such anxiety when entertaining friends that it made them physically ill.
Prof Warburton said: "Cooking for guests has always caused slight worry and some `butterflies' because it is natural to want to give guests the best one can.
"Unfortunately, my research shows that for many people it had moved beyond this and they had become tremendously stressed because they burdened themselves with irrational and unrealistic expectations of their cooking skills.
"For these people `butterflies' can become physical sickness and nervousness can become extreme irritation and impatience. They may even avoid giving dinners altogether."
More than a thousand people were interviewed in the survey, which was commissioned by Piat d'Or, the winemaker.
Prof Warburton defined Kitchen Performance Anxiety as the fear of one's cooking and entertainment being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, which would lead to feelings of embarrassment, inadequacy, humiliation and the avoidance of entertaining.
But there was some relief for the party-giver. Ninety per cent of those interviewed said good company and good wine were more important than good food.
The Daily Telegraph London
Richard Alleyne
December 14, 2001
THE great British tradition of the dinner party is coming under threat from an unlikely source: unrealistic cooking standards set by celebrity chefs, a survey shows.
Culinary experts such as Jamie Oliver, Nigella Lawson and Ainsley Harriot are undermining the public's confidence and giving rise to a phenomenon known as Kitchen Performance Anxiety.
The survey carried out by Prof David Warburton, of the University of Reading, showed that more than two thirds of the public had stopped giving dinner parties because of the pressures.
Most people still holding them said they were often more stressful than a first date or an interview. One in eight people felt such anxiety when entertaining friends that it made them physically ill.
Prof Warburton said: "Cooking for guests has always caused slight worry and some `butterflies' because it is natural to want to give guests the best one can.
"Unfortunately, my research shows that for many people it had moved beyond this and they had become tremendously stressed because they burdened themselves with irrational and unrealistic expectations of their cooking skills.
"For these people `butterflies' can become physical sickness and nervousness can become extreme irritation and impatience. They may even avoid giving dinners altogether."
More than a thousand people were interviewed in the survey, which was commissioned by Piat d'Or, the winemaker.
Prof Warburton defined Kitchen Performance Anxiety as the fear of one's cooking and entertainment being judged and evaluated negatively by other people, which would lead to feelings of embarrassment, inadequacy, humiliation and the avoidance of entertaining.
But there was some relief for the party-giver. Ninety per cent of those interviewed said good company and good wine were more important than good food.
The Work Dogs : 8:00 pm, Friday December 21 st. @ Max Fish on Ludlow st / new album release party and proformance.
Feedmymeter.com is a New Orleans project that sells advertising to raise money to feed expired parking meters. A flyer is left on the saved car explaining what was done. Included on the flyer are the ads, of course. Genius. Take that Rita.
A usually reliable on such matters friend of mine swears there was a court case in New York City which outlawed feeding a meter for someone else. Can anyone confirm that?
A usually reliable on such matters friend of mine swears there was a court case in New York City which outlawed feeding a meter for someone else. Can anyone confirm that?
In feeble defense of A Night on Earth, I thought Roberto Begnini's segment was very funny and I loved the guys from Finland. Jarmusch was still (partway) in his "people staring into space for long stretches of time" mode when he made that. I like Dead Man and Ghost Dog much better.
I don't really have much to say in defense of Winona Ryder, as an actress or star. I think I share a lot of guys' taste that she's cute, but also ironic and a little bit "off" and therefore more appealing than the usual bimbo sex symbol. But that's totally subjective and has little to do with acting ability.
I don't really have much to say in defense of Winona Ryder, as an actress or star. I think I share a lot of guys' taste that she's cute, but also ironic and a little bit "off" and therefore more appealing than the usual bimbo sex symbol. But that's totally subjective and has little to do with acting ability.
Could this be true?
Michael Moore was the keynote speaker at the convention of NJ Citizen Action which I attended this past Saturday. He told the assembled audience of 100+ people that his publisher HarperCollins had informed him that they will not be selling/distributing his new book "Stupid White Men and Other Excuses for the State of the Nation" --already printed -- because the content is offensive. He reported that the publisher also told him that he (Moore) is being "intellectually dishonest" not to state that GW Bush has done a good job in the last few months. Moore said that he has been told that the book will NOT be distributed as is, will be destroyed, and that if he will rewrite AND pay for the repinting of the book Harpercollins will publish the new version!!.I know he's been accused of embellishing the facts before, but this sounds like it might have happened.
key-z vids
Counting birds online from the Times.
Heavy metal parking lot to appear in MOMA documentary fortnight (or rent it from your local video store).
Heavy Metal Parking Lot: 15th Anniversary Tour. 2001. USA. Directed by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn. A sixteen-minute video documentary shot in a parking lot in suburban Maryland, right before a 1986 concert by the English hard-rock band Judas Priest, Heavy Metal Parking Lot vividly captures a moment in pop culture–the 1980s version of a rock 'n' roll ritual, with kids hanging out, getting loaded, and screaming "Priest!" at the top of their lungs. For the fifteenth anniversary of their popular underground success, the filmmakers have assembled a compendium of related shorts. Filmmaker Krulik present. 90 min.
Heavy Metal Parking Lot: 15th Anniversary Tour. 2001. USA. Directed by Jeff Krulik and John Heyn. A sixteen-minute video documentary shot in a parking lot in suburban Maryland, right before a 1986 concert by the English hard-rock band Judas Priest, Heavy Metal Parking Lot vividly captures a moment in pop culture–the 1980s version of a rock 'n' roll ritual, with kids hanging out, getting loaded, and screaming "Priest!" at the top of their lungs. For the fifteenth anniversary of their popular underground success, the filmmakers have assembled a compendium of related shorts. Filmmaker Krulik present. 90 min.
My horrorscope advises me to "think out[side] of the box". No shit. Last week I was trying to remember the first time I had heard the phrase. Tom mentioned first hearing it in a movie (which one again ?) from two years back. Now it's every where. Can any one else help pin this down ?
alt.fan.emo - advised by musicologist Brian that rich kid John Walker was big fan of emo band Race-Trader (traitor?) but I cant find anything to back it up.
tonight is Santarchy in NYC, but the big national meeting is in Austin in honor of GW
The film rights to C.S. Lewis' "seven-part fantasy book series 'The Chronicles of Narnia'" have been bought -- "with plans to develop it into a franchise, beginning with the children's classic 'The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe'" (Hollywood Reporter).
all i will post from dinner tonight [and we would have joined you yatters at aka but we were only available late tonight] is that, aside from yet another extremely yummy meal at locanda vini et olli, en route home, wheel and the cabbie were ROCKING out to a highly caffeinated merengue band, which i am listenting to as i write b/c we somehow got the cd from rubin the driver in exchange for a slight increase in fare, sounding like a cross between salsa and polka, BLASTING from the car driving down atlantic avenue, from which there was quite a lot of hooping and hollering from rubin and wheel. needless to say we will only be taking rubin's car from now on and he has an even better cd for us next time.
Hey, I'm finally getting some Google searches coming in. And they're not all porn, though I'm not sure whether "sex pistles" is a misspelling or not.
Edits from the log include:
skirting+pussy
lullabies++%22in+the+meadow%22+baby++butterflies+birds+alone
Songbirds+and+Hallucinogenic+Plants
the+sex+pistles
BELLADONNA+POEM+EYE+RED+FIRE+NIGHTSHADE+ATROPA
22bitter+withy%22+apocrypha
mute+swan+cygnets+pictures
tutti+frutti+fairy+%2Bchristmas+%2Bornaments
(Say, there could be a hot product idea in that last one.)
Edits from the log include:
skirting+pussy
lullabies++%22in+the+meadow%22+baby++butterflies+birds+alone
Songbirds+and+Hallucinogenic+Plants
the+sex+pistles
BELLADONNA+POEM+EYE+RED+FIRE+NIGHTSHADE+ATROPA
22bitter+withy%22+apocrypha
mute+swan+cygnets+pictures
tutti+frutti+fairy+%2Bchristmas+%2Bornaments
(Say, there could be a hot product idea in that last one.)
good dr W
i didnt think there were ostridge in argentina
it was a rheas
Rheas are the true inhabitants of the South American grasslands or pampas. Distribution in the wild is from north-eastern Brazil to central Argentina. Although conspicuous to our eyes, on the pampas, crouched, immobile, amongst the tussocky grass, they are almost invisible. Then, when something alarms them, off they go, in typical, high-stepping ostrich style, reaching speeds of 30 m.p.h., and zig-zagging this way and that, often with wings outstretched and bending to one side, then the other, at acute angles
i didnt think there were ostridge in argentina
it was a rheas
Rheas are the true inhabitants of the South American grasslands or pampas. Distribution in the wild is from north-eastern Brazil to central Argentina. Although conspicuous to our eyes, on the pampas, crouched, immobile, amongst the tussocky grass, they are almost invisible. Then, when something alarms them, off they go, in typical, high-stepping ostrich style, reaching speeds of 30 m.p.h., and zig-zagging this way and that, often with wings outstretched and bending to one side, then the other, at acute angles
i think Captain Wylie will be cooking for only 8 more nights at 71CFF, than its nothing public till summer 2002 i hear, time for seats at the bar next week, we did this week--YUMMY STUFF!!!
Minor league baseball's Daytona Cubs are offering a lifetime seasons pass to anyone who gets a tattoo of their logo anywhere on thier body. They'll bring you into their office, you show them the tat and they'll take your photo and make the pass right there on the spot. Once you have the pass there is no need to show your tattoo at the gate.
Bill Moyers is bitter.......
I'm trying to find some photos Bill posted a number of months ago. Pictures of men in a barn doing something strange with a chicken. As I remember it there were comments using the words "Hazing" "Frat" or "Fraternity". The advanced search on Bill's page and Treehouse has yielded nothing. What am I doing wrong?
pablo is not just painting jungle scenes only anymore:>)
OK, I know everybody's starving for bird news, so here's a little insight on the vagaries of bird watching.
