Gordon Rocks

My celebrity crush is Gordon Ramsay. I love him. I could live without all the swearing and name-calling, but all in all, he is a good guy.

I saw an interview with him one time when I was staying in a hotel in Sacramento for business...he never swears in front of his mom. I love that. He talked about wanting his children to live normal lives, to try diverse foods, to have friends over, to just be kids. I think that is another great quality.

I had the opportunity to interpreting lots of cooking classes and I LOVED IT, which is ironic since I don't love to cook and I don't love most of the food that was cooked when I was interpreting. But it was FASCINATING. I actually learned a lot vicariously and remember teeny tiny pieces that allow me to experiment and try new things.

Mostly, I love to experiment with different spices. I learned most of what I know about the spices from working at Kobo's back in the 1980s, but I never really used many of them. Back then, I mostly did baking - some cookies and cakes. That's about it. I have branched out a bit since then.

Anyway, one of the most fascinating things about "Kitchen Nightmares" is the fact that it is about poor management, not bad cooking, most of the time. People think that passion for food or for cooking equals being the boss of a restaurant, owning or running or managing a restaurant. Sometimes that kind of pressure really takes the joy out of your passion. I love that Gordon can see through all the crap to what is really needed in any given situation. Sometimes, the people are tough nuts to crack, but he always figures out how to get through to them.

Anyway, Gordon is my other boyfriend. After Ryan Reynolds. Haha. ;)