And Baby Makes Two

Actually, on with movie star gorgeous Giada this morning on Today was, not only Jade (too cute!), but Matt and Meredith during a Mother’s Day breakfast dem. And there was a quick on-camera sighting of Todd, plus Al and Ann came in at the end.

Jade was sitting next to the dem bench in a high chair and I got extremely nervous that with no adult nearby she would stand up and fly out of the chair. MATT (not Meredith, who was standing the closest) realizes there’s a problem and goes right over. Jade doesn’t like this strange man at first, but then she warms up to him.

Hold it a red hot minute! Giada is showing us how to use a BOXED waffle mix?!! Oy! That is NOT what I paid for!

I’m just going to watch the baby. Matt is feeding her pieces of waffles, which is far more interesting than the nothing-to-write-home-about recipe, although the espresso nightcap (strange name for a brunch drink) looks good. Giada, cooking anything, is at least a feast for the eyes and that baby is hard to resist.

This pound cake recipe, shown later in the morning, is definitely worth a try and unusual with the addition of cream cheese.

Today, Giada Makes Lasagna

There was nothing revolutionary about Giada’s recipe for a classic lasagna on the Today Show this morning - it was a good all–purpose meat lasagna - but, boy, did it look good! Plus she made two interesting points about the noodles. In this case ONLY, she adds oil to the water, so the noodles don’t stick AND she rinses off the noodles to get rid of the excess starch.

Matt and Meredith were funny and at the same time quite earnest in assembling their lasagnas, in comparison to how Katheee Leee is with her constant interrupting during chef segments.

The Today Show’s site is so easy to use and navigate, unlike a certain food television network’s, that I know it IS possible to produce a useful website without tons of irritating features.

Poor Giada Copes As Matt Lauer Tries To Poison America

More about that in a second.

Giada had a lovely segment on The Today Show this morning. She talked about her love of lemons (she’s pictured with one on her new book cover).

In the VERY few minutes allotted to her, she showed us a gorgeous looking risotto, which was interestingly finished with mascarpone along with Parmesan, parsley and lemon rind. She served it in lemon cups, which looked fresh and inviting.

Giada also quickly showed us how she tops a veal chop (does anyone still eat veal?) with lemon slices and wraps it in prosciutto. That would be good for chicken or even a portobello mushroom. We got a quick glimpse of iced lemon cookies before the computer switched us to a commercial. The recipes are here.

Now about Matt. Forget the Governor of Alaska (fast forward to 1:30 minutes in this video), Matt Lauer said the dumbest, most ignorant thing I’ve ever heard during Giada’s appearance yesterday, when she showed us Italian kids’ recipes.

Giada was marinating chicken legs in a ziplock plastic bag. She said to marinate them about 2 hours. Matt said, “So you marinate them at room temperature for 2 hours?” and he rushed on to the next thing. Giada, with great restraint, said "It’s RAW chicken, you marinate it in the fridge." He said, "Oh, 2 hours is a bit long", realizing what an idiot he had been and he looked a bit sheepish.

Only then did Giada laugh out loud in acknowledgement of his potentially rather large error. She was more than gracious, though, even when he told her that her, as yet, unglazed chicken didn’t look all that appetizing.

Giada has gotten a lot more comfortable on the Today Show. Both of her segments were excellent. Fun to see were the clips of Jade in the intro video yesterday. Even better, though, were when Todd and precious Jade came out to say hello. THAT is a beautiful baby and really, we all know, that not all babies are.