Eating: fill in the blank: Tyler Florence is ---------.

a pretentious snobbish boor.

in my humble opinion.

Checking the mail one fine day, you come across a dinner party invite from Tyler Florence (because as luck would have it (good or bad take your pick) he lives on your street). It seems that he just got back from one of his many fabulous vacations and he's eager to try out some new recipes on his neighborhood friends. "Oh, no." you say to yourself while cringing a little inside, because, dear reader, this invitation is a double-edged sword.

You know from past experience that Tyler Florence can be charming, very hospitable and he is a chef so there is that whole free food thing, but....

You'll have to endure endless (and boring) stories and slides of where exactly, down some hidden alley cafe that he only knew of, he was inspired, who he was inspired by, what dishes made him cry out with joy, what sunsets made him weep, every single person he met and so on and so on....

All of the dishes will look good but only half will actually be eatable (or 1/4 as I found out) the rest won't have much flavor at all. But it's a crap shoot on which is which.

You might be offered something like:

1) Black Eyed Peas with Stewed Tomatoes - (very thick, I could stick my fork up in it and was actually kinda bland)

2) Fennel Sausage Hush puppies - (blame The Hubs a li'l on this one as he made them really big, but fennel? really?? and sausage? is it really a hush puppy with all that crammed in it?)

3) Chili Cheese Dogs - (the chili was very ketchupy and bland, Cupcake thought it tasted more like Sloppy Joe mix and who wants that on their hot dog, I ask.)

4) Mexican Street Tacos - (go down to week 6) (the best one! it tasted close to a taco truck taco, I should know being the connoisseur of roach coaches/taco trucks that I am, and I had to stop myself from licking the cutting board. The Hubs did overcook it to where it was well-done, recipe calls for med., but as that is exactly how I like it I loved it!)

See what you're faced with?!

On one hand there's free food, friends and a chance to try some new, hopefully good, dishes.

On the other there's Tyler Florence.

What do you do?

relax,
paulina