As we gear up for the 2014 James Beard Awards, I am honored to be nominated for Outstanding Host in the Broadcast category, alongside Sara Moulton and Ina Garten (wow). I’m also inspired to reminisce a little about some of my shared TV times with these amazing women.

Sara Moulton was the original food TV host. With her ground-breaking program Cooking Live Prime Time, she artfully exhibited how a true pro can share the spotlight and warm the kitchen with genuine foodie banter that teaches, tantalizes and entertains in perfect proportion.  She helped her guests (even the shy ones) shine, all the while teaching and trailblazing with fascinating personalities and emerging talents that had a story and a viewpoint worth sharing. It was a great recipe.

I have been lucky to be on-screen and in the kitchen with all of the great Food Network-era TV chefs—important word there in my book–and will cherish the laughs, memories, mishaps (that’s live TV:) and learning forever.  No one’s ever topped Sara for her authenticity and confidence to let it roll as if you were really there in her kitchen. I love you Emeril and you are on a par. I adore this picture of the two of you as young kitchen mavericks.

Sara I loved being your recurring Master Somm guest. We shook up martinis, blended up smoothies and paired up everything from French bistro classics to native American tribal cuisine. Do you remember the kitchen towel fire that we had to douse on the fly with with a glass of red wine (the show must go on)?

Ina Garten was launching her cookbook Barefoot Contessa Back to Basics, and our Beloved Borders bookstore tapped me to host an episode of Borders Kitchen with her to promote the book.

I remember the aura of the just-finished culinary barn at her Hamptons home.  We’ve all visited it through her TV shows and on arrival I decided it’s what foodie Heaven must be like. I remember the crisp blue collared and cuffed shirts awaiting the Contessa’s arrival for wardrobe and makeup, and the very mild-mannered and self-deprecating Ina herself.

“I’m not a trained chef,” she said, explaining her painstaking process of testing each recipe for her books with multiple iterations of real-world kitchen equipment.  Like all home cooks, she’d been there—totally bewildered as to why a carefully-followed cookbook recipe developed by a chef in a professional kitchen came out completely wrong in a home kitchen using civilian gear like a GE stove and your wedding gift Revereware pots and pans. I respected that a lot. We had a blast cooking and chatting, and I hope I will be able to re-connect with you in person at the Awards.

Thanks for the memories, ladies and a toast to you both! I am honored to have been nominated with you.

Monday morning quarterback time: If you saw John’s blind wine tasting below you know he got the grape right-yay! The best thing about blind tasting with someone (especially a Master Somm or other seasoned taster) or  video-taping your tasting, is you can evaluate the play-by-play for what went right and wrong. Since everything in our house is about the kids, food and wine or sports, here’s our “play-by-play” analysis.

Blind wine tasting takes a lot of practice to get good, and if you don’t take it too seriously, it can be fun! So here’s another game of “beach blanket blind tasting” from the Caribbean, mon. John got the varietal here based on the opulent fruit profile, golden color and–important one, evidence of barrel fermentation and aging, namely, butter, vanilla, toasty or sweet spicy notes. If you think about it, very few white wines other than Chardonnay classically see barrel fermentation and aging. In fact, I can only think of one example–the white wines of Bordeaux (both dry styles like those of Pessac-Leognan, and the sweets of Sauternes and Barsac)–and wines made in that model such as Robert Mondavi’s Napa Valley Fume Blanc and Far Niente’s Dolce sweet wine. But keep me honest on that – leave a comment if you think of another classically barrel-aged white. And let us know what you think. What clues did John miss that would have led him to the right region?

 

The last day of local lobster season on Turks and Caicos…we came prepared. Since this is our first ever real vacation (i.e., no business, no kids) in 10 years of marriage, we were not leaving important details to chance. So, while the locally-brewed Turks Head beer is awesome, we brought some wine from our own stash and gladly paid the duties. And when it comes to great pairings, nothing beats barrel-fermented Chardonnay with lobster. Even Caribbean lobster, which is different–more savory and briny than Atlantic coast lobster. Oh, and no claws. But no worries mon because baby got back–these lobsters have huge, meaty tails. My husband John split them right down the middle and grilled them with butter. It was an unbelievable food and wine pairing–the perfect sunset supper to kick off this vacation. Since I packed the wine, I will be putting John through the paces with some “blind” challenges (he loves doing blind tastings) and we will be pairing other island cuisine with great wines so stay tuned. Awesome.

On the eighth date of Christmas my true love shared with me…a “first date” memory. Our first “date” (billed as a “business meeting” about doing a wine TV show–haha) was in New York City at a restaurant specializing in cheese–one of my other fermented-product passions.  My husband John still says, “You had me at ‘smell this’.”  It was a gorgeously-aged, toffee-scented sheeps-milk Gouda which still remains one of our favorites, and it smells as good as it tastes.

So tonight I have acquired some new cheeses to try as well as some favorites, whose best wine partners we know. There are no better cheese and wine pairings than:

Ewephoria or Bollerina (aged Goudas that you can get at Dean & Deluca) or Midnight Moon (available widely at Whole Foods) with barrel-fermented California Chardonnay. We are drinking Ramey Hyde Vineyard but Wente Riva Ranch is a lot less pricey and similar style.

Fleur de Maquis (from Corsica and Murray’s Cheese in NY usually has it along with Dean & Deluca) with majestic Napa Cab – This is OMG and a great foodie gift to a Cab lover. They’ll remember you fondly with every bite and sip.

Spanish Manchego (aged sheeps’ milk) with Rioja Reserva – You can find good Manchego at price clubs and Rioja Reserva is not hard either but worth venturing beyond your grocery store if it doesn’t carry Rioja.

Enjoy this video of our Paris bread, charcuterie and cheese “date”–lovely destinations to add to your bucket list. You could not top our Paris “bucket list” experts Daniel Boulud, Patricia Wells and Dorie Greenspan, nor their recos: Poilane is the Paris bread standard; Gilles Verot is the Paris charcuterie god; and Marie Quatre’homme the cheese goddess.  Look ’em up and pay hommage!