Nigella Lawson

I only recently saw her show, but I'd seen her name online a number of times. I thought the name was pronounced with a hard G, making it very unpleasant.

Bring back the Two Fat Ladies!

Whenever I see her name in print I think 'Nutella'.

This is an old-ish thread about her. Mind if I bump it, OP?

She always makes provocative double entendre and showcases her ample bosom.

Nigella Dirty Christmas Cream

Sometimes I take a temporary break from my 100% gayness when she's on and enjoy her self-conscious sensuality, especially her voice and "rack." I find her soothing after a long day. Probably a maternal thing more than anything else.

I'm sure she's been offered a Playboy spread many times.

Anyone ever follow her recipes?

No. they don't sound tasty.

She's a fat cunt! Next!

Is she related to our beloved Helen Lawson?

You know her beef curtains are tantalizing and freshly seasoned.

A goddess!

I've met her a few times through work and she's as filthy in real life as she is on TV.

The only rumours I've heard from people who know her better than I do are that she's often smacked out on valium and those pictures of Saatchi 'choking' her were really him trying to look up her nose to see if she'd been doing coke.

Many of her recipes are good and not very fussy. Her slow roasted chicken with lemons and garlic is my and my partner’s favorite. See receipt below.

Oooh kitchen comforts:

She's from a very posh conservative UK family. Her dad served under Thatcher. It's not fair but i kind of hold that against her.

Britons regard her silly show as a joke

That's a fem with a great rack.

she is so gorgeous i initially doubted she was 100% english but she indeed is. I like her personality too. Her recipes are meh, especially when she tries to make italian food her way. a big no from me.

I love her show, not sure I would try her food.

R19 her mother is Italian

Her chocolate loaf cake is absolutely great. Most of her braises and pasta recipes are unfussy and tasty. The lemon pasta with egg yolks doesn't quite work, but that might be just me. She's a better cook than 9/10 of the "talent" on the Food Network, I think.

FN should just change its name to Competitive Eating Channel.

Her father Niger Lawson was in Margaret Thatcher's government (so a cunt(, and was featured heavily in the 80's satire show Spitting Image. Here's his puppet alter ego.

PIGella

Lol, Nigel. ^R23

Here's her mum Vanessa

^ The caption says "troubled Society Beauty"; Nigella is troubled (and strangled) by her awful husband.

I’ve read that she wasn’t a success in the US because she favors North African spices more than than northern Mediterranean - which what Americans are familiar with and love. After that I noticed she was far more inclined to use cardamom than oregano or basil.

Americans also regard her silly shoe as a joke.

I like that she’s not afraid to cook “British” food for an international audience. She’s not afraid of raisins abd prunes and Brussels sprouts and cabbage for example. You never see her drowning her dishes in cheese like US TV cooks tend to do.

A Jewess

She looks kind of Italian, thanks for the confirmation R21.

I used to watch 'Nigella Bites', and eventually bought her book, 'How to Eat: The Pleasures and Principles of Good Food'. She's a good writer, and she makes it very clear that she's not a chef. In R15's video, you see her shopping, and buying plenty of packaged foods. She's not very snobby about that. I've seen her making salads with packages of pre-washed salad greens, for example, which is almost unheard of for any other TV cooks. She's also offers some very useful tips for entertaining, with which I agree heartily. My favorite is that you need to need to learn to cook some dishes that you do really well, but also need to locate some really reliable bakeries or delis. So, I'll make quiche, since mine usually come out well, but I have a couple of bakeries that are very reliable when it comes to different desserts: I'm a better cook than a baker, so I'm happy to pay the experts for that.

She has eclectic tastes, and I enjoyed watching her cook a whole ham in Coca-Cola: she appreciates American food and tastes. And yes, although I'm gay, I think she's sexy and gorgeous. I felt awful for her first, losing her first husband, and second, with that ugly divorce.

She also used to write for the NYTimes, and there are still lots of her recipes (almost always, pretty unfussy and easy to follow) on the NYTimes Dining Section (sorry, but I'm a subscriber, but you'll run into a paywall if you've visited more than a few times and don't subscribe).

[quote]Bring back the Two Fat Ladies!

I'm on it!

Nigella isn't Italian. She speaks Italian cos she lived and studied there. Her family is high society English Jewish with a European background.

English Jewish, that's the one. Thanks.

too much licking of the fingers.

I love how she eats. She guested on Top Chef and my favorite part was watching her sample the dishes. She really enjoys her food and eats like she does. It's sensuous rather than glutton-ish.

I wouldn't be surprised to see her gently douse Yorkshire pudding with her breast milk.

As someone earlier pointed out - She’s a cook - not a chef! - and for the home cook who wants simplicity and unfussy recipes - she’s great!

I have her books and use her recipes all the time. Rarely had a flop - and most of them are great and you want to make them again. She’s clever, has a way with words and genuinely enjoys food and eating - Great personal style too! Love her. Saw her interviewed live on stage during one of her book tours - and she was thoughtful, warm and compelling - and you can tell she’d wine over the entire (standing room only!) audience.

She truly is a domestic goddess :)

She's the daughter of a vile Tory - a former cabinet minister, a prominent global-warming denier and a fervent Brexiteer who nevertheless has recently applied for French residency, so the effects won't affect him. Her brother edits a major Tory-supporting magazine. Maybe she can't be blamed for her family, but she can for her husband, vile Tory propagandist and millionaire Charles Saatchi, before he tried to strangle her at a restaurant. In profile, especially the left profile, she's looking more and more like her father as she gets older.

She is Oxford University degreed, I believe in Italian studies? Anyway, she is a fabulous writer and educator and I loved all of her shows. I frequently have them on in the background in my kitchen while I am cooking. I believe she was happiest with her first husband, who passed away, unfortunately. Her second husband, and the divorce, were rather horrible and I feel bad for her, but she seems to have rebounded. She is now, and always has been, a favorite of mine.

Not a fan. She vamps it up so people think she's sexy and her food is therefore sexy. It's not.

Love her shows. The whole aesthetic, actually.

I adore Nigella. I'd love to have her in MY kitchen;)

She's actually a bit of a thick cunt in some ways. Apparently she offered her teen kids drugs just to experience them. I assume she wanted to be there when they tried them, but better to instill the message NO FUCKING DRUGS, or I'll put your fucking hand in the blender.

R43 Yes hubby 2 was a thug. Story was that he was pissed off with her giving the kids drugs, but I doubt that was the only reason. Still not kosher to lay a hand on her.

The story about her mom upthread is really sad and makes you wonder what she had to go through as a child. Living with an anorexic/bulimic mother can't be fun.

Her mother's name was Lyons - they were a huuuge in England for many years and very much a part of the English way of life.

[quote]J. Lyons & Co. was a British restaurant chain, food manufacturing, and hotel conglomerate founded in 1884

Great tea blenders. This ad is of a bygone era

She's one of the rare full-figured women who seems to know how to dress appropriately: she's sexy and polished, and often displays a bit of cleavage, without ever looking slutty. I enjoy her intelligent, expressive writing.

R52 Well said.

She uses the language so well -- graceful, lyrical, funny. The first time I saw her, she was making a huge number of pigs in blankets for a party -- she showed how to wrap a little sausage in biscuit dough, then said "Carry on swaddling until you fill up the whole tray". I was hooked.

Her "Chocolate Guinness Cake" is my favorite of her recipes & it's foolproof.

Her Chocolate Pudding is amazing!

Lawson has had a lot of tragedy in her life. She lost her mother, her sister and her husband to cancer within a few years. She is left wing and hated the fact that her dad was a Thatcherite.

Nigella nursed her first husband John Diamond, through his illness and it was John who pushed her into writing How to Eat and encouraged her move into TV. Some say, he also encouraged her relationship with Saatchi for some perverse reason.

Diamond was very rough on Nigella, he was suffering and had explosive temper tantrums etc. I think she was so exhausted after so many personal losses that after John’s death, she simply gave in to Saatchi, hoping he could just take over all the big things and she could just cook, write and do TV without any more drama. Shame it didn’t work out that way.

Her Italian apple pie is a go-to crowd pleaser for me. Everyone loves it and so easy to make. When I don’t have time to be creative, I whip it up and people wolf it down.

R21 Nigella's mother was a British Jew. She had no Italian descent at all.

R31 Nigella's is ethnically Jewish on both sides of her family. Some Ashkenazi Jews look Italian.

Part her effect was the '60s eye makeup...which she copied from her mother.

She has NO wit. NOTHING. ZERO. She was on some short-lived talk show in England with some comedian interviewer - and he was trying to get a joke out of her, just something FUNNY or witty...and it was useless and painful to watch. I wanted to say to him "Just stop!" - there's nothing there.

Hi, Charles!

R60 seems to be competing with Lawson in the "no wit" department.

Has she sampled the Paul Hollywood cock?

I love her Tagliatelle with Roasted Chicken from the Venetian Ghetto...Never had pasta and roasted chicken like that before. Very popular with friends at a dinner party a few years ago. I have her domestic goddess cookbook.

She and Madeline Stowe look like sisters.

She is gorgeous and has a mellifluous voice.

She said Saachi used to say she was a gay man in a woman's body.

I think he was just trying to flatter her.

Her Christmas book is a must have staple in many UK kitchens. Her ham in coca cola and the roast potato recipes are standouts.

Let's get seasonal with roast potatoes.

I love that she admitted to using marijuana and cocaine.

Nigella gave an extraordinary interview to Andrew Denton in 2008.

I’ve tried some of her recipes and really liked the results. Nigella is a goddess. Love her and her show.

SLutty whore

Out of memory - I’ve had only two failures with her recipes - and I’ve made a LOT of them - many of them have become favourites and make them often (a marmalade cake was meh - as was a squidgy chocolate cake everyone raves about - neither worked for me - but maybe i was having an off day)

A friend made her slut red raspberry jelly for a dinner party - and it was amazing! - and I’m not really a fan of jelly.

The poster who claimed she wasn’t a wit was being way too harsh. She writes so well - and is very witty in print! Maybe she’s a little nervous in front of the camera live and not comfortable with spontaneity?

I did see her interviewed live in a huge crowd at a book tour - and she was lovely. Not especially funny - but kind and self deprecating and authentic. And she had the audience (admittedly fans!) completely under her spell (in spite of a meh interviewer as well!)

Anyway - all just made me love her more. One of the few celebs I’d actually like to go to dinner with and talk and drink wine with her - reckon it’d be a great night!

She's pleasant and charming, but all that cancer in her family makes me worried.

Helpin' ya out, R63 -

Recent interview

I clicked on R69's link and she is a stunner in each of the photos (even from an unflattering low angle). I remember that defiant photo from the trial - you just know that her looking great was a big fuck you to Saatchi.

She looks rather slim there, R76. Great hair.

She lost some weight. Another link.

^^ I thought that was Chaz Bono with her.

Nigella was the first of the FN host who'd added the subtle 'Feminine Mystique' to her series. Then that hoo-er with the famous last name came along and blew the shit out of it -

In her book, 'How to Eat', she tackles some unlikely subjects, like what to eat when you're trying to lose weight (not diet foods, but foods that are flavorful, and sustaining: she calls them 'Temple Foods'), and even how to feed your children (with some careful comments about how children need foods that aren't too rich, or too fibrous). I mean, she even mentions making sure to serve them corn if your children have eaten too much rich food. It's not a cookbook. It's an education on how to eat well, in whatever circumstances you live. I haven't read all her other works, but I fell in love with her writing in 'How to Eat', and I actually did feel like it gave me a "leg up", so to speak.

I like her and her cooking shows. The production values are good on the shows, like candle light, almost. She does make the food look delicious yet simple enough to prepare. She's a sybarite.