[E]lemental KC

I think I might have to get this shirt! Check out more tees at LTD Tee

From Party Girl:

Follow the hilarious recounts of my dating diary post divorce as I narrate what we all do wrong in looking for love.

Each 3-4 minute webisode chronicles a specific dating faux pas, focusing directly on the crux of how each date went down. Fetishes, compulsions, politeness, insecurities, arrogance, fascinations, addictions, culture, religion, hygene, parental influences, work and on and on prove no one is exempt from their own dating blunders, including myself.

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So yesterday, I get a message on the blog from a “Jennifer Dawson”. I put this is quotes I thought it was another online bot trying to sell me penis enlarging pills or free tickets to anywhere in the world. Anyway, as the fates would have it, it was Jennifer Dawson.

I’m a huge fan of web series. Here’s another one to enjoy. Check out Party Girl Webisodes here.

Thanks, Jen!

Peace.

BANG!BANG!L.A.’s Killa Lipstick featuring Shay Maria.

See more videos from BANG!BANG!L.A. — http://vimeo.com/bangbangphoto

(Image Source: Playboy.com)

PLAYBOY: You have spiky bleached hair, tats, bling, money, millions of fans and serious attitude. When did chefs become the new rock stars?
FIERI: All I know is we all gotta eat, and not everybody knows how to cook. So if you’re the guy who can rock the kitchen, people go crazy for you. People such as Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, Tom Colicchio, the Iron Chefs—they’ve turned food making into a kind of arena spectator sport with their TV shows and competitions, and their restaurants, cookbooks and products have made them rich. Me? I’m just a dude who always loved to cook. At a certain point I got to the reality I wasn’t going to be Evel Knievel or a pro football player, which were my childhood dreams. So I thought, Hey, why not be just as frickin’ cool with a frying pan in my hand?

Q2

PLAYBOY: Gone are the days of “A woman’s place is in the kitchen.” But what exactly is a guy’s place in the kitchen right now?
FIERI: Men have always been cooks. Since the first saber-toothed­-tiger burger, guys have been grilling and thrilling. My dad was always my role model. He could make anything in the kitchen, even when we were basically living out of a van in California. I remember once he traded a pair of cowboy boots for salmon. He liked to cook healthy, vegetarian mostly, with a little fish and stuff like bulgur. Yuck. One night we had eggplant parmigiana, and I said, “Why can’t we have chicken parmigiana like everybody else?” That was the fatal day.

Q3

PLAYBOY: Did he hit you with a piece of tofu?
FIERI: Actually, it was my mom who got mad. She said, “If you don’t like the food, you cook.” So being the confident 10-year-old I was, I rode my bike to the grocery store and told John the butcher to give me a bunch of red meat. He slapped down two big fat rib eyes, and somehow I managed to get dinner on the table that night. I remember watching my dad. He took one bite, put down his fork and glared at me. It’s as clear today as it was 30 years ago. “You know what, Guy?” he said. “This might be the best steak I’ve ever had.” Total relief! And on top of that, my sister had to do the dishes. I was hooked, man.

Q4

PLAYBOY: You never went to cooking school?
FIERI: I left home when I was 16 to go to Europe as an exchange student. Before that, I cooked for my parents a lot. Their friends would come over, and I’d put on a whole Asian dinner—chopped the stuff, made my version of wonton soup and all those things. If I didn’t know a recipe, I’d make it up, trial and error. France really opened my eyes to great cooking. Then I came back, majored in hospitality management and lived with a bunch of college students, who were my guinea pigs. I had a skill nobody else had. You get away with a lot in college if you can feed people.

Q5

PLAYBOY: It sounds as though that came in handy with women.
FIERI: I saw some possibilities, definitely. When I was 18 or 19 I got a job as flambé captain at a hotel, cooking table-side with the brown polyester outfit, the dickey, the whole getup. I realized success is all about your style. I’d meet these families having dinner and would always find the older daughter who looked bored. “Hey, you want to see an extra-big flame on your scampi?”

Q6

PLAYBOY: Was it a winning pickup line?
FIERI: Sometimes, but I effed up on that job. They taught us this technique of opening and closing the jar of Grey Poupon mustard with one hand for the steak Diane presentation. [rolls eyes] One time my cart got stuck, so I yanked it, and ch-ch-ch, the Grey Poupon fell, hit the side of the cart, the lid clicked off and a globule of mustard flew through the air and ­shhhpwakked this grandma on the forehead. Her beehive hairdo flopped down, and there was mustard everywhere. It was the couple’s 50th anniversary, and I was thinking, I’m a dead man. But her old man thought it was the funniest damn thing he’d ever seen. Dude tipped me 40 bucks!

Q7

PLAYBOY: Do you separate fancy food from the food in your book and on your Food Network show Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives?
FIERI: I don’t separate fancy food from the rest. Good food is good food, though there’s definitely way too much fussing and phoniness out there in the food world, with people talking about ingredients you need an advanced degree to pronounce. That’s not to say I don’t like five-star dining. But costwise, I don’t know. Even with flavor. If you prepare it right, a burger can taste better.

Q8

PLAYBOY: How can a burger taste better than filet mignon?
FIERI: The core fundamental is great meat. Go to a good butcher and ask them to grind a great piece of chuck right there. With chuck, you don’t need to add a lot of ingredients at home. It’s quintessentially great as it is. Cook it medium rare. Some people like a charbroiled or wood-fired taste, but I use a flat metal grill top or a big flat pan. That way you get a little bit of fat, and with fat comes the crust. Crust is key. We’re a culture of crust, and that crunchy outside is what makes a crowd go crazy for a burger.

Q9

PLAYBOY: Speaking of crowds, what is the secret to a memorable Super Bowl party?
FIERI: It’s the greatest sporting event in the world, so do it up a little. It doesn’t have to be expensive. At my house I’ve got my buddy Kleetus at the stove, cutting fresh tortillas into wedges and frying them into tortilla chips. It’s so much better than out of the bag. Then my buddy Opossum makes fresh salsa. Chicken wings are great, but bake them, then panfry them in a nonstick pan to get a little more crust on top. Oh, and ice. Nothing’s worse than a party where you have to dig around the beer cans for ice. It makes my hair stand on end. [laughs]

Q10

PLAYBOY: What’s the deal with your hair anyway?
FIERI: About 10 years ago I was in Vegas with a bunch of buddies. It was my buddy Reno’s birthday, and we were shaving his head. My buddies and I are a little bit on the wild side. But it gave me the idea to try something new. Next thing I know, I’m telling my hairdresser, “Do whatever you want.” She sits me down and puts a plastic bag on my head. When she takes it off, my hair is Colonel Sanders white! And I go, “Oh no! Man!” I used to dye it blackish purple in the winter, but now it just stays white.

Read the rest at Playboy.com

Peace.