Gwyneth Paltrow: "My Father's Daughter"

"My Father's Connections" is more like it.

Gwyneth Paltrow celebrates the launch of her
new cookbook "My Father's Daughter' in Stella McCartney.

Stella McCartney Resort 2011 Collection
Model: Magdalena Frackowiak

Enh. It's okay. Gwynnie and Stella are besties, so it's no surprise she'd wear her on her big night. It's a bit plain, but apparently Gwynnie was doing double duty as both the star of the event and the caterer.

We've had a bit of a turnaround with Gwynnie. Oh, don't get us wrong; we're not one of those people who went from hating her to loving her just because she sang a little Cee Lo and didn't embarrass herself. Truth be told, we still think she's entitled, over-confident, pretentious, and somewhat clueless about her image. What's changed, inexplicably, is that what used to send us shrieking up the walls in queenrage now just gets a smirk, a roll of the eyes, and an "Oh, Gwynnie!" As if she was a precocious child. It's far more entertaining than getting angry with her. She's clueless and self-absorbed and she's convinced herself (not without reason, we might add) that people are dying to hear her thoughts on just about anything. Sit back and enjoy it, we say.

And in that vein, while you watch her schmooze and pose, read the following lines out loud, which Eater.com thoughtfully collected under the heading "The Best Lines from Gwyneth Paltrow's Cookbook." Enjoy the pretension and cluelessness, darlings.

1) "One year I was given a birthday present I'll never forget — a cooking lesson from Jamie Oliver."

2) "Through this process my father and daughter had unwittingly taught me the importance of balance. Could I use some butter and cheese and eggs in my cooking without going down some kind of hippie shame spiral? Yes. Of course I could."

3) "The stove is really the epicenter of my house — I am never far away from it and most of the time there is something atop it, simmering away for my family."

4) "When I was twenty-one, a friend gave me a book called Diet for a New America by John Robbins, which exposed the brutal practices of American factory farms. That, coupled with a lecture from Leonardo DiCaprio (when he was nineteen and I was twenty-one) about how such animals are kept and processed, made me lose my desire for factory farm pork and beef right there."

5) On Vegenaise: "My most often-used and beloved ingredient. It can be found at most grocery stores and all health food stores—unfortunately not yet in London. Regular mayo is fine and works, but Vegenaise is a healthier alternative.

6) "I grew up going to the island of Nantucket (off the coast of Massachusetts) at the end of every summer."

7) "I'm not sure how healthy bacon is in general, but I know it's incredibly delicious."

8) "I basically love anything that comes in a hot dog bun... except hot dogs (sorry, Dad)."

9) "One cold wintry day in London, I was dreaming about salad nicoise—one of my favorites."

10) "I love corn so much I tried to grow it one summer in the garden. The raccoons loved it even more."

11) "I had my first bowl of gazpacho when I was fifteen in Spain, and the impression it made was a lasting one."

12) "During the strict macrobiotic chapter of my life, I ate miso soup every day for breakfast and sometimes with dinner as well."

13) "One evening when I had my wood-burning stove going I realized I hadn't thought of dessert."

14) "I first had a version of this at a Japanese monastery during a silent retreat—don't ask, it's a long story."

15) "We've got a wood-burning pizza oven in the garden—a luxury, I know, but it's one of the best investments I've ever made."

16) "When I pass a flowering zucchini plant in a garden, my heart skips a beat."

Number 13 is our favorite.

[Photo Credit: wireimage, style.com]


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Labels: Gwyneth Paltrow, Stella McCartney