kitchen hygiene

General discussion about the nineteen episodes of "My So-Called Life". Note: Our episode guide can be found here.
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Natasha (candygirl)
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kitchen hygiene

Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Dec 13th 2002, 11:27 pm

I was always taught to wash my hands thoroughly with soap and water after handling raw meat, but I noticed in Betrayal that Patty (who "looks like she should be in a commercial for something really clean") neglects to do so. At the beginning of the episode, the phone rings and Graham asks Patty to answer the phone because he doesn't want to talk to Hallie. Patty indicates her hands deep in the ground beef and makes him answer the phone. The phone rings again as Patty is wiping off her hands with a cloth, so she agrees to answer the phone if Graham will let her raid his closet for Camille's clothing drive. So she didn't wash her hands between touching the raw meat and answering the phone - ewww!

On a related note, for a household with an amateur chef, Patty still does a lot of the cooking. In the pilot, she is seen serving dinner (chicken?) and I know that when I cook I get the privilege of bringing it to the table :wink: In Betrayal, she prepares the meat while Graham stuffs the green peppers. It seems like Graham makes the fun stuff like chocolate sauce (and stuff with cilantro!).

:D
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Post by RyeBlume » Dec 14th 2002, 8:05 pm

Yeah, the thing with the meat has always bothered me also. Yucko!!

tino's little sisters

Post by tino's little sisters » Dec 14th 2002, 8:09 pm

The way Graham teaches Rayanne to separate eggs, not the best way, and as a chef, he should know that! You should use an egg seperator, bc there is often bacteria on the shell, and the egg can be contaminated when passing it back and forth. I know I sound neurotic, and I myself separate eggs by passing back and forth, but I figured a chef would have a separator. Anyway.

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Post by lizardcub » Dec 16th 2002, 2:10 pm

tino's little sisters wrote: I know I sound neurotic, and I myself separate eggs by passing back and forth, but I figured a chef would have a separator. Anyway.
Huh, I never knew that about egg separators, but actually it doesn't surprise me that Graham doesn't have one. Yeah, he's an amazing chef--but the way I've always seen that as portrayed is that here's this guy who happens to have this incredible gift ("it's the one thing I can do"), much to his and everyone else's surprise, and, until Patty finally enrolls him in that class, something he never actually pursues. (Yeah, he has that dream of going to cooking school, but I think it's meaningful that, knowing full well they can't afford it, he holds out for that instead of ever taking any initiative around something on a smaller scale, like the class Patty finds.)

I almost feel like he treats it the way Angela talks about Jordan in Dancing in the Dark--the part about needing the fantasy to live, and what if the reality isn't as good? (Horrible paraphrase.) Graham makes things like lemon hazlenut torte, and treats for his daughter and her grateful friend, all things that get him recognition, and, maybe, fuel the fantasy. After all, it's an easy, show-offey way to do something for people, but it's still low-risk, because they're just ordinary people, and more than that, people that love him. So he doesn't really have to worry about being evaluated. (I don't mean that Graham only cooks to be a show-off, by the way--I think he does it out of genuine feeling for other people, but this is his way of showing his feelings, and it's by doing something where in the family he stands out, but where in a broader context he's totally untested.) I think the observation that Patty does a lot of the cooking is really important. I have to think about that some more.

Sorry, this was really inarticulate, but my point is that I wouldn't imagine Graham to have a lot of fancy cookware. In fact, most of that stuff, if they have it, I'd be willing to bet Patty bought. Graham is sort of, for lack of a better phrase, an idiot savant when it comes to cooking. And it's not really the right phrase because he's not an idiot, but what I really mean is, even though he's got this incredible gift, I always see him, up until the restaurant idea takes hold, as a complete amateur. Not as the sort of chef who'd have all the right equipment. Maybe what I really mean is that I see him as an intuitive chef, not a well-trained one.

Gaaah...I didn't sleep at all last night and I just took my math final...I'll blame the absolute failure that is this post on that, okay?

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Dec 16th 2002, 3:18 pm

I see what you're saying - when Hallie asks how he knew so much about potage (and if he learned it in France), he says, "It's just things you pick up. You know, trial and error." I see Graham along the same lines as a talented, mostly untrained artist. Say a musician or a painter - great instincts, but very little formal instruction. Graham has probably augmented his trial and error with books on cooking techniques (hence, the books he uses to review cooking terms the day before he starts class with Stephan Dieter). That probably translates to Graham making do with what they have instead of buying a bunch of fancy kitchen stuff (i.e. buying out the gadget section at Crate and Barrel). Graham is also very practical about certain things, so I can imagine him scoffing at needing a garlic peeler ("You can just do it with a knife and your fingers!").

As far as Patty's cooking, I think she does a lot of the day to day practical cooking (notice the pattern?) while Graham gets the big showy fun stuff (turkey for the anniversary party, desserts, etc). A metaphor for their roles as parents?
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Post by Nostradamus » Dec 18th 2002, 6:35 am

Lizardcub, I know the feeling about those late-night essays! Don't worry though, you made some good sense. :)

Now I'm thinking that patty's cooking is the mirror of Graham's work at the printing business. They're both capable of pinch-hitting for the other, but they're really only "meant" for one career each.

We see in Strangers In The House that Graham can easily survive in the business world, but that he has no real passion for it. Cooking, on the other hand, will always hold his interest and seems to have a calming effect on him. And although Chuck seems like the kind of parent that might pressure his kid into a certain career, we never hear Patty wishing for a different job; we even occasionally see her excitement about the possibilities for expansion. Her attitude toward the cooking is summed up in the quote: "You know what this family needs? A wife."

Ideally Patty should devote less time to cooking and more to her business and/or her family. Graham is already on the right track with the restuarant. All the extra money pouring in could pay for maid!

Ideally, I should be working and/or sleeping now instead of typing here... :wink:
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kitchen hygiene

Post by Guest » Dec 18th 2002, 11:11 am

Talk about yucky, have you ever noticed in Dancing In the Dark when Rayanne and Rickie get Angela out of science, while disecting the pig heart, that Angela just picks up her backpack with her bloody gloves on and just leaves? That always disturbed me.

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Post by lizardcub » Dec 18th 2002, 12:39 pm

Nostradamus wrote:Now I'm thinking that patty's cooking is the mirror of Graham's work at the printing business. They're both capable of pinch-hitting for the other, but they're really only "meant" for one career each.
Oh this is so true, and I'd never thought about it that way before. Isn't that how a relationship should be? They each bring their own skills to the table, but they can both take on the other's role (for a little while, at least) to keep the thing afloat. The rest is just a matter of working out the balance...and, at least on the Graham end, that's what we see being worked out throughout the series, as he quits the printing business and moves into cooking.

Thanks, Nostradamus--now I've got some new Patty-and-Graham stuff to think about over Xmas break.

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Re: kitchen hygiene

Post by SanDeE* » Dec 18th 2002, 2:59 pm

Anonymous wrote:Talk about yucky, have you ever noticed in Dancing In the Dark when Rayanne and Rickie get Angela out of science, while disecting the pig heart, that Angela just picks up her backpack with her bloody gloves on and just leaves? That always disturbed me.
Yeah, me too. I never really noticed the Patty/meat/phone thing before, but of course, when I first saw the show I was paying way more attention to the teens than the adults. EEEEEeeeeeewwwwww!!!
Um, in my room, one seam is a little off and I stare at it constantly. It's, like, destroying me.

~~Kristin~~

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Post by Natasha (candygirl) » Dec 18th 2002, 4:41 pm

Nostradamus wrote:And although Chuck seems like the kind of parent that might pressure his kid into a certain career, we never hear Patty wishing for a different job; we even occasionally see her excitement about the possibilities for expansion.
The interesting thing is that we learn from Angela's voiceover that Patty took over the business, and due to the statements she makes prior to the IRS audit ("Honey, look at the date, '92. That's the year he got sick, the
year I took over. Oh, he was not pleased."), I assumed that she took over the business due to Chuck's heart attack out of a feeling of responsibility and loyalty, rather than Chuck pressuring her to do it. If that is the case, then what did she do prior to 1992? I can't picture her staying at home as a housewife, especially with the girls already in school all day.

As far as Patty's excitement about expansion and modernizing the business, I think that stems more from her "compulsive overacheiver" mentality, which I am sure I mentioned in some other thread. "Not failing" isn't good enough - she must succeed and prove herself.

We also know that Graham sells printing and that he was only supposed to do it for a little while. So what did he do before he sold printing for Patty's family's company?

Unsolved mysteries...

:D
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