Friday, September 29, 2006
Programs I Like
One of the joys of pay television is having the food channel. There are some great presenters with plenty of fantastic food and tips. My all time favourite is Rick Stein, whenever he comes on my wife D wrinkles up her nose in disdain, she likes him well enough but they do repeat quite a lot. Of course I can watch him over and over, there is always something you missed. D doesn't count the movies (read chick flicks) she watches again and again, usually because she falls asleep at one point, so poor me who stayed awake, gets a second or third dose. Mind you if I fall asleep during one of her movies I catch it for not being interested in what she likes, sigh.
I have a secret weapon for watching Rick and that's my daughter M. She loves his dog Chalky and always calls me when she notices that Rick is on much to D's chagrin. I can't say I'm a big fan of Chalky and actually cheered when Rick left him behind for his series on the houseboat in the canals of France. In common with a lot of small dogs, Chalky likes a bit of a snarl and nip and seems to of gotten more cantankerous as he's gotten older. But M loves him, even forgiving that time he chased, caught and killed a rabbit during filming.
What has caught my attention lately are a couple of shows on Lifestyle Food that I'm really enjoying. When I can. One of them, Good Eats, starring Alton Brown is on at 6.30 in the morning. because I'm helping out with M while she's on school holidays, I've been fortunate to catch a couple of shows. Alton is kinda like the nutty professor, he's really clued up about food in a Harold McGee kind of way, but makes it so entertaining to watch as he demonstrates the processes that occur during cooking, making them easily understandable and a lot of fun.
The other show that has my eye is Lidia's Table. Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is the host of this delightful and warm Italian cooking show. She has several restaurants and her experience is easy to spot. This program is more about home cooking and to this end regularly includes members of her family; I love it when her mum is on. Lidia refers to her as grandma and she has a real twinkle in her eye as she steals the limelight form Lidia who is gracious enough to allow it. All the recipes I've seen so far are interesting and make me want to cook them, which is not always true of other shows. The problem is that the only time I can watch it is 10.30 at night.
Come on Lifestyle Food, there is a lot of filler programming in prime time. How about moving these two programs to a better slot?
I have a secret weapon for watching Rick and that's my daughter M. She loves his dog Chalky and always calls me when she notices that Rick is on much to D's chagrin. I can't say I'm a big fan of Chalky and actually cheered when Rick left him behind for his series on the houseboat in the canals of France. In common with a lot of small dogs, Chalky likes a bit of a snarl and nip and seems to of gotten more cantankerous as he's gotten older. But M loves him, even forgiving that time he chased, caught and killed a rabbit during filming.
What has caught my attention lately are a couple of shows on Lifestyle Food that I'm really enjoying. When I can. One of them, Good Eats, starring Alton Brown is on at 6.30 in the morning. because I'm helping out with M while she's on school holidays, I've been fortunate to catch a couple of shows. Alton is kinda like the nutty professor, he's really clued up about food in a Harold McGee kind of way, but makes it so entertaining to watch as he demonstrates the processes that occur during cooking, making them easily understandable and a lot of fun.
The other show that has my eye is Lidia's Table. Lidia Matticchio Bastianich is the host of this delightful and warm Italian cooking show. She has several restaurants and her experience is easy to spot. This program is more about home cooking and to this end regularly includes members of her family; I love it when her mum is on. Lidia refers to her as grandma and she has a real twinkle in her eye as she steals the limelight form Lidia who is gracious enough to allow it. All the recipes I've seen so far are interesting and make me want to cook them, which is not always true of other shows. The problem is that the only time I can watch it is 10.30 at night.
Come on Lifestyle Food, there is a lot of filler programming in prime time. How about moving these two programs to a better slot?
5 Comments:
Lucky you! I'm against getting pay tv only because I'd sit in front of the cartoon and lifestyle channels all day. Is Rick Stein any good? I've looked at purchasing one of his cookbooks but hesitate only because I don't know who he is or whether his recipes are any good...
Food programs in the UK are fairly good actually. Rick Stein is wonderful by the way Ellie, his recipes are simple but authentic - he has a deep love of fish.
Hi ellie, if you flick through one of his books and find several things that you would like to try - buy it. Rick's recipes always work out, they're well tested. Scott is right, Rick does simple very well, he also has great affection for the food of his youth.
Hi scott, and we get just about all of your programs here. There has always been a strong bias towards British cooking programs and only lately are we seeing much American stuff and pretty much only on pay t.v..
Hi paz, I think the programmers cater to the masses in prime time and the thinking persons programs come on after - at least that's what I tell myself!
We love Rick Stein's dog, especially Tracy, she's mad about dogs.
I've been meaning to write about TV chefs for a while, must get around to it.
Hi kitchen hand, Chalky is definitely peronality plus, but he's always had that mean streak. I remember the first time he was introduced, when he took exception to the sound boom and mike, the poor soundman must have suffered quite a bit that day.
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