on the celebrity of cooking..

Please. Get off your high horse and come back down to Earth. 

I never understood the celebrity fascination thing; I was never and still am not all that concerned at all with what so and so is doing, and frankly I could give two shits. You really should not either but I'll refrain into that whole argument, because it would be one-sided and the rest of my deal here will be opinionated enough so as it is.

I had a revelation, which is not really a revelation to anyone other than myself, in my at times extremely pretentious or out of touch with reality moments, when I was eating the arugula salad I prepared with the best bacon fresh off the slab and a homemade French dressing: this is good shit. That's the best I could ever hope for. 

You can eat classy while still being down to Earth. i don't want my dishes pined over and picked apart; I mean, if you want to do that you can, it's just not something I'm into. Same with drinking craft beer: I smell either hops or wheat or barley or whatever. I really do not see where you area getting figs, oatmeal, lemongrass.. IT"S A FUCKIN' BEER! DRINK IT, for christ's sake. You may be asking yourself if I like tastings then? Hell yes I love tastings. I love to taste it going down my throat, and going back for another. 

Maybe it's simply a matter of perspective; I certainly have my moments of contemplation lost deep in the brewing arts when presented with a masterpiece but at the end of the day, it's still just food and it's still just beer. Or wine (don't think that you're safe either, winos). There are always folks out there who need their egos stroked and who like to show off how brilliant they are but generally these things are just made by people who enjoy it as much as we do. 

The very definition of a labor of love. 

So, yeah. I use fancy ingredients for salads that are not Iceburg lettuce but so what? Try it. If it's good, it's good; who gives a rip what it's called or who made it? Don't fall into the trap of commercial branding: there is life outside of Food Network, believe it or not and they're not doing anything you yourself are not capable of, I promise. Anything they can do you can do better; you just have to want to.