My parents, hoping to escape the Canadian cold, are arriving in Manhattan (Kansas) this evening.

It was -5 F this morning.

They may be disappointed.

But the sun is shining, things are warming, and by the time they hit southern Texas next week there are supposed to be highs in the 70s.

My father was the inspiration for our 2004 cooking show paper which documented the food safety failures of the high-profile chefs on The Food Network, including Nigella Lawson.

Marieke Hardy of Melbourne, Australia’s The Age newspaper wrote a column yesterday that took aim at Nigella, including,

"We like food, certainly. Some of us are also partial to boobies, and innuendo, and ladies with big. round bottoms, but even then Nigella seems to make selected members of the wymmyn’s network slightly suspicious.

Perhaps it’s the chocolatey vowels and habit of rolling herself all over the preparation space in a fashion that would be considered deeply unhygienic by most food and safety officers."

How about sexy and safe food?