Our guest this week is Padma Lakshmi, host of TV's reality show, "Top Chef." Her famous line is "please pack your knives and go." Padma packed her knives, cooked her way around the world, then came home to write her new book Tangy Tart Hot Sweet: A World of Recipes for Every Day. Her food, including Two Hens Laughing, is some of the most alluring to come along in some time.
This week we're taking a look at our carnivore nation with journalist Susan Bourette, author of Meat: A Love Story. Jane and Michael Stern are at Bakesale Betty's in Berkely, CA. Wine expert Joshua Wesson gives us his suggestions for gift bottles. New York City food authority Mike Colameco comes up with a short list of places in NY with a particularly festive air, and we learn how to cup coffee with Portland's legendary Stumptown Coffee.
This week it's the story behind the wine world's most revered and feared critic. One bad review from him can take a wine down. He's Robert Parker, Jr. and his power is both rare and absolute. We'll find out what shapes and informs his legendary palate. Look for the 7th and latest edition of his classic Parker's Wine Buyer's Guide in bookstores now.
This week it's a cooking lesson with a virtuoso. Violinist Joshua Bell has received every accolade imaginable in his career, including a Grammy for his stunning performance in the soundtrack of the Academy Award-winning film The Red Violin. Now he's creating his first home and he wants to learn to cook. He and Lynne met up at the stove in his New York City kitchen where Tagliatelle with Caramelized Oranges Almonds was the lesson of the day.
This week it's Jeff Henderson, "Chef Jeff" of the Chef Jeff project on The Food Network, Jane and Michael Stern are at Enstrom's Toffee in Grand Junction, CO. And we visit with Dorie Greenspan author of Baking, From My Home to Yours, and Gourmet magazine's John Willoughby.
This week we have a homage to all things porcine, and the story of family life in a rural French village from French chef Stéphane Reynaud, author of Pork & Sons, Jane and Michael Stern have found the "krunkest" fish in Nashville at Eastside Fish, and Kim Marcus of The Wine Spectator brings us up to date on the wines of Portugal.
This weeks it's the intersection of food and international relations with Chris Fair, author of Cuisines of the Axis of Evil and Other Irritating States: A Dinner Party Approach to International Relations. Jane and Michael Stern are eating cream puffs at Butler's Donuts in Somerset, MA and Gourmet Magazine's John Willoughby brings us their picks of America's legendary restaurants.
This week we peek at the fantasy life of a house in Tuscany with Michael Tucker, author of Living in a Foreign Language, A Memoir of Food, Wine and Love. Sally Schneider author of A New Way to Cook gives us a fresh take on pears, and Seattle chef Tom Douglas explains the trials and tribulations of becoming a "gentleman" farmer.
This week we talk to journalist Julia Flynn Siler author of The House of Mondavi: The Rise and Fall of an American Dynasty. Jane and Michael Stern are at Kumback Lunch in Perry, OK. David Rosengarten looks at the origins of ramen noodles. And for an interpretation of an epicurean's take on happiness we turn to philosopher and historian Jennifer Michael Hecht, author of The Happiness Myth: Why What We Think is Right is Wrong.
We're looking at global seed banks with journalist John Seabrook, author of The New Yorker article, Sowing For the Apocalypse. Jane and Michael Stern are at Short Sugar's BBQ in Reidsville, NC, wine wit Joshua Wesson takes us to Italy's premier wine event, Vin Italy, and Jill Carle, co-author of College Cooking: Feed Yourself and Your Friends, has ideas for breaking out of the popcorn and noodle cup rut.