Showing posts with label Cooking Channel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Cooking Channel. Show all posts

Friday, September 21, 2012

Eden Eats Baltimore

I don't know why I originally posted this so early, with the wrong date...either the first (of three I received) press release was incorrect, or I was simply confused. In any case, the Baltimore episode of Eden Eats airs tonight, September 21st at 10pm.

The Cooking Channel show, Eden Eats, features the somewhat (ok, very) annoying Eden Grinshpan eating her way around various cities. Come September 21st, she'll be working her way through Baltimore, eating at a bunch of obscure places. Here's the PR blurb:

Eden is in the diverse city of Baltimore, Maryland and has just 24 hours to eat her way around the globe! Her first stop is lunch at a Kenyan restaurant, followed by making dinner with two Ukrainian sisters, and sampling some Newari specialties at a Nepalese restaurant. Then it’s off to Lithuania for a late night snack and dancing! As the sun rises, Eden heads to a Bavarian chocolatier to satisfy her sweet tooth and a Peruvian restaurant for breakfast. Lastly, she learns how to make some rejuvenating Nigerian bitter leaf soup and winds down with some traditional music.

Posted on Minxeats.com.

Wednesday, September 05, 2012

Monday, July 12, 2010

Vokka

Recently we were pleased to note that Comcast Cable is offering a couple of new channels to their basic cable subscribers, one of which is Scripps' new venture, Cooking Channel. From the many ads we've seen on the Food Network, Cooking Channel seems to feature actual cooking shows, many of which come from FN archives. In addition to Emeril Live, Molto Mario, and Food 911, there are new shows like Food Jammers and Indian Food Made Easy. One show I've managed to catch twice so far is the boozefest called Drink Up.

From one episode, I learned there are basically only two kinds of beer: lager and ale. Everything else is either a lager (long fermentation) or an ale (quick fermentation). And a second episode taught me that host Darryl Robinson can't pronounce vodka. He says, "vokka," which hurts this Pole's ears. The word is properly pronounced "voodh' ka" (and spelled with a w, as there is no letter v in the Polish alphabet). Vodka means "little water" in Polish and Russian (voda being water), signifying its very important place within these Slavic cultures. In fact, it's almost a health food. Most people know that the proper thing to say when one is drinking vodka is "nas drowie!" (or "nas drovia" for the Russians). This phrase does not mean "cheers," nor does it mean "down the hatch" or "to life," but literally, "to our health" (because nobody should be drinking alone)!

Despite its "healthful" properties, we seldom had vodka in the house - we weren't what Grandma would call pijaki (drunks) even though she did make her own wine (!). Today, both the mister and I have an appreciation for the clear spirit and there's usually a bottle or two at Casa Minx, ready to be made into martinis or turn basically any other liquid into a quick cocktail.

When Robinson's guest for the "vokka" episode, bartender Jeremy Thompson, demonstrated a drink made with fresh tarragon, I paid attention. Our tarragon plant (indeed, our entire container garden) is a bit out-of-control and the Siberian Sling seemed like the ideal way to use some of the herb.


Siberian Sling
Recipe courtesy Jeremy Thompson, Raines Law Room

1 small bunch fresh tarragon leaves
1 ounce fresh lime juice
2 ounces vodka
3/4 ounces honey syrup*
6 ice cubes
Soda water or seltzer
*Cook's Note: 3 parts honey, 1 part water

Begin by slapping the fresh tarragon to bring out the aromatics. Drop the tarragon into a cocktail shaker, reserving a few leaves for the garnish. Add the lime juice, vodka, and honey syrup to the shaker. Add 2 ice cubes to the shaker, and short shake to make the liquid cold without diluting it. Strain the mixture into a high ball glass filled with 4 more ice cubes. Top the glass with the soda water, and use the reserved tarragon for the garnish.
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The drink had a mildly licorice-y flavor from the tarragon, but tasted mostly of lime juice and honey. It was dangerously easy to drink. Yes, please, I think I will have another.

Vodka always reminds me of a song my Grandma used to sing when I was a girl. That was a long time ago, and I don't know the name of the song, but I can still remember one line in particular:

"śmiej się Griszka, zajrzyj do kieliszka, wódka lepsza od dziewczyny, bo nie zdradzi cię"

"Griszka laugh, look at the glass, vodka is better than girls, because it did not betray you."

Unless of course you drink too much. Pijak. :)

Friday, February 19, 2010

The Cooking Channel

Our friends at Scripps, owner of the Food Network, are bringing us a new 24-hour food-related network called The Cooking Channel. Actually, it's Fine Living Network with a new name and new shows. And even though the word "cooking" is in the name, be prepared to see a whole lot of the bigmouth-personality-eating-other-people's-food-type programming. Read more about it here.

Wonder if those of us who will only fork out $ for basic cable will get this channel? We can't see FLN, so probably not. But those who do - get ready for more Rachael Ray!