Although I like Tony Bourdain’s show, and he did a great job when he came here to Livingston (a show that featured the ex-boyfriend known on this blog as the Mighty Hunter, as well as some real glamor shots of Jacques the bird dog), I was thrilled by his techniques show, especially his assertion that instead of killing Home Ec in the name of feminism, the nation should rather, have required Home Ec of everyone. One of my pet ideas. Home Ec should be a requirement in high school. Learn to cook the kinds of basic items Bourdain showcased, a stew, a roast chicken, an omelette, spaghetti with red sauce. Also, teach every high school kid how to do a basic home budget, balance a checkbook, understand interest rates, shop for groceries (basic ingredients from which one can make a meal, not processed crap).

Anyhow, looks like it’s going to be another day of TV, antibiotics, hot tea, and perhaps that Ian Rankin book I got from the library yesterday. But this episode totally cheered me up. First of all, I love Jacques Pepin, and his omelette demonstration was perfect — mine was pretty close, but now I get the last crucial bits I’d been missing. (Trivia alert: did you know that it was Jacques Pepin who invented the recipe for the amazing Howard Johnson’s fried clams? And the HoJos’ hot dog, my favorite childhood road food — fried in butter, in a toasted bun that had been lightly fried in buttter on the outsides. Heaven.) Thomas Keller’s roasted chicken was gorgeous, and might just be what’s for dinner tonight. And Laurent Tourondel insisting that a hamburger can only be dressed with American cheese! Love love love.

So with Bourdain, I want to encourage everyone to go out and cook something basic this week. Roast a chicken. Cook some good spaghetti. Make a stew.