Archive for the 'Cooking' Category

TV, Books, Food and President Clinton

Posted by Marty on April 19th, 2008

I love food. I love to eat great food, nothing fancy, necessarily but GOOD food…I want it to be flavorful, balanced and interesting. That could be a steak or salad or something really exotic. Just make it balanced.

I am a fan of the show “After Hours with Daniel”. Daniel is Chef-Owner-Author Daniel Boulud who is probably best known as Executive Chef at Le Cirque in NYC. The idea of the show is an after hours conversation with chefs, food critics, restaurateurs and celebrities. For someone like me…AWESOME!

The most recent episode I watched was Episode 1 of Season 2. Taped in Los Angeles at Pizzeria Mozza in L.A. which is the creation of Nancy Silverton, Mario Batali and Joseph Bastianich. INCREDIBLE stuff they are doing there including the creation of a Mozzarella Bar, sort of like a Sushi Bar but with exotic servings of Mozzarella…when I get to L.A. it will be one of my first stops. Guests on this episode included Chef Nancy Silverton, Chef Alain Giraud, Chef Hiro Sone, Restaurateur Lissa Doumani, Actor Josh Charles, Actor-Comedian Ray Romono and Comedian-Author-Producer Phil Rosenthal. What a perfect balance of Food, Comedy, Showbiz and conversation. At one point in the conversation, Phil Rosenthal was describing his passion for food and wondered why he wouldn’t be better at preparing food since he loves it so much. He also explained the motivation behind his love of food. Turns out his mother was a horrible cook and when he moved out of the house, he was able to taste what he had been missing.

Phil Rosenthal has written a book called “YOU’RE LUCKY YOU’RE FUNNY” which I have designs on reading very soon. In fact, one of the great things about livig in Columbus is that we have a great library system and I reserved my copy of “YOU’RE LUCKY YOU’RE FUNNY” to be picked up at the Main Library in the morning!

Phil also directed and co-wrote a really funny piece for the closing days of the Clinton administration back in 2000. Odd to see how different life was pre-911.

I Can Cook!

Posted by Marty on September 19th, 2007

There are a couple of things I love more than comedy…

  1. My wife (I’m not stupid)
  2. Broadcasting
  3. Cooking

I am happy to discover that a couple of those things are coming together through Oprah Jr., Rachel Ray, who is putting together a contest called "So You Think You Can Cook" in an effort to discover the next great untrained culinary guru.

Don’t count yourself out before you get started, Rachel Ray was not a trained chef, she just loved cooking and it seems to have "panned" out for her okay! So give it a shot.

The contest is sponsored by WalMart.

Here is a link to the official rules for the contest "So You Think You Can Cook" on Rachel Rays official website.

On a similar yet slightly different note…

One of my favorite presenters on Food Network is Alton Brown. If you are not familiar with who he is, Alton Brown is the host of the wildly popular "Iron Chef: America" on Food Network. He’s funny, entertaining and presents cooking in a really fascinating way because he talks about the history
and science of the food.

If you are getting a few miles on you and thinking about giving up, watch this video t get some inspiration.

And don’t forget to enter the "So You Think You Can Cook" contest now…I am!