There is so much going on lately during each show I can't even tell you about my recent eating adventures in Northern California, Las Vegas, and Mt. Vernon, IA.  That's a real teaser.

Live at Hy-Vee on Wednesday night we have two authors via Skype that I am very excited to have on the show.  First up is James Beard Award-winning author Elissa Altman.  Her newest book is Poor Man's Feast:  A Love Story of Comfort, Desire, and the Art of Simple Cooking.  I think you can understand Elissa's take on food by reading this excerpt from her website: 

 So, what is Poor Man’s Feast really about?
It’s about sustenance in the face of pretense.
It’s about authenticity in the face of the artificial.
It’s about simplicity in the face of the tarted-up.
It’s about kindness in the face of the rude.
It’s about storytelling — mine, my family’s, yours, your family’s — and how those stories are inextricably bound up with what we feed ourselves and those we love, what we eat at times of joy, sorrow, delight, surprise, fear, and sadness. And it’s always about slowing down a little bit.

Our second guest is Lisa Catherine Harper, one half of the editing team, along with Caroline Grant, that put together, The Cassoulet Saved Our Marriage: True Tales of Food, Family, and How We Learn to Eat.  The book brings to the table 29 different writer's perspectives on food, family, and learning to eat.  You will absolutely experience an emotional roller coaster reading this collection of essays, which, in its essence is about nourishing our body and spirit.  Lisa is the author of the award-winning book, A Double Life:  Discovering Motherhood.

IMPORTANT NOTE:  THERE IS NO LIVE SHOW AT HY-VEE THIS WEEK. 

ANOTHER IMPORTANT NOTE:  NEXT WEEK GREAT TASTE IS LIVE AT HY-VEE ON THURSDAY AT 7:00 PM.

Join us this Wednesday at 7:00 pm on KRUU for our annual Farmer's Market show.  There is a bounty of information about the upcoming market season, and some insights into what delicious varieties of veggies we can expect.  Our participants included Barb Grijalva, Back to the Basics, Claude Nicholson, Sharon's Produce, Kim Keller, Blooming Acres, Dixie and Bob Mettitt, Tenco Tomatoes, Ana Victoria Braun, local market promoter, Steve McLaskey, MUM Organic Farm, and Jan Swinton, Hometown Harvest.

Also, our health coach, Emily Rose Shaw continued her introduction to the GBombs with an introduction to how beans can play a critical role in improving our health.  We had some fun with that topic.

Live at Hy-Vee on Wednesday at 7:00 pm it's Italian food, fun, and family as we welcome SOFIA, the Society of Fairfield Italian Americans, to the show.  SOFIA members will share stories and treasured family recipes, plus they will prepare several dishes-farinata, minestra, fresh-baked Italian bread, and fried peppers Calabrese-style.  Join us in the Club Room for a celebration of Italian life.  Also, Emily Rose Shaw kicks off her new weekly health and nutrition segment with helpful information and tips on how to feel your best.

On the KRUU stream at 7:00 pm Wednesday is our show from last week.  That was a 60-minute non-stop food happening.  Emily Rose Shaw started the hour with an introduction to her upcoming weekly health and nutrition appetizer segment.  She was followed by the queen of eating healthy and delicious on a food stamp budget, Linda Watson.  Jan Swinton provided the latest triumphs on the local food scene.  Joy Salmon introduced us to cornbread three ways.  Jeffrey Smith put in perspective how Whole Foods decision to label GMO's will play out in the rest of the food industry. And, chef Vanessa Allen prepared guacamole, slaw, and salsa to go along with her blackened fish tacos.  Whew!  Have fun listening.

NOTE THE FOLLOWING CHANGE:  GREAT TASTE IS LIVE FROM THE HY-VEE CLUB ROOM THIS WEEK, NOT FROM CARIBOU COFFEE!

We have a double dose of Italy planned on Wednesday live from the Hy-Vee Club room. 

James Beard award-winning author, Alan Tardi, joins us via Skype to discuss Piemontese cuisine, and his experiences after a decade of living in the Italian countryside.  Alan left his career as a chef in New York City, closing his fabulous Tuscan-style restaurant, Follonico, and moving to the Langhe Valley in Piemonte in 2003, a region known for its amazing grapes.

With Laurie Baumann's assistance, we'll prepare a couple of typical Piemontese delights.  Join us at 7:00 pm for a delicious and informative hour.

ON THE AIR: Get set for a jam-packed sixty minutes of Thai flavors.  Sean Hickey was our chef in-residence last week, and he turned out three sparkling dishes that wowed the live audience.

Live at Hy-Vee this week we're going to spice things up with Thai food.  Local student of culture and climates, Sean Hickey, will prepare three dishes-dry-style street noodle, chicken rice soup, and kao soy.  Gisella Isidori will visit with us, and we're going to talk about a special Italian trip coming up in June.

If you can't make it to Hy-Vee, join us on the web for our tea show with Bruce Richardson and Corey Morrow.  Bruce is a world-reknowned expert on the Camellia sinensis, while Corey brews the leaves up locally at earth and water.

It was an evening filled with knowledge, history, practical tips, and some laughter about the world of tea.  We tasted four different types of tea so if you would like to taste along with us, here's what to find (or something close) at your local tea purveyor-Silver Needle (white), Wu Yu Green Mist (green), Ti Guan Yin (oolong), and Assam Gold (assam).  Bake some scones, invite a group of friends over, (don't pre-boil the water), and experience some of the infinite aromas and tastes that come from one, that's right, one--in case you didn't know--plant.

Great Taste is live at Hy-Vee on Wednesday at 7:00 pm CT, and on the air with our previously recorded show at the same time.  The show airs this Friday at 7:00 am CT and again next Wednesday at 7:00 pm CT.  The tea show will be rebroadcast on Friday, March 8 at 2:00 pm CT. See Chai recipe by clicking "Read more" below.

NOTE: FOR OUR LOCAL GUESTS - A LIVE SHOW at Hy-Vee

BROADCAST AIRS ONE WEEK LATER

This week it's the final appearance for Indian Hills Culinary Arts program students Curt Goudy and Sara Valentine, who have been monthly regulars for over a year.  They are getting ready to go on their externships and graduation is lurking after those are completed.   It's a fight to the finish between the two with an "Iron Chef" culinary competition.  We'll pick the judges from our Club Room audience.  

Also, my latest observations on the dining scene after a week on the road-some surprises, and other spots that never miss.

IMPORTANT PROGRAM NOTE:  Starting this Wednesday, February 20, GREAT TASTE broadcasts will be recorded live in Hy-Vee's Club Room Wednesday nights from 7-8 pm CT and aired the following Wednesday during the same time slot (with a rebroadcast on Friday at 7:00 am CT).  This change is so KRUU can provide its listeners with a quality audio production of Great Taste each week.

"It is, I feel, our apparent reluctance to recognize the interrelated nature of the problems and therefore the solutions, that lies at the heart of our predicament and certainly on our ability to determine the future of food."
— HRH Prince Charles, The Prince of Wales

The highlight address at "The Future of Food" conference on May 4, 2011 at Georgetown University was given by HRH the Prince of Wales.  Among food activists Prince Charles is a well-known organic farmer who has advocated sustainable practices for many years.  His address, which challenged the belief that industrial agriculture and large agribusiness are necessary to feed the world's ever-growing population, was published last week by Rodale Press.  The Prince's Speech:  On the Future of Food is a rallying call to not only advocates of sustainability, but also presents a vision that recognizes "the wider and important social and economic parameters-how we can feed a global population approaching 9 billion people and still safeguard public health, keep jobs, and protect our environment."

Our guest, Robert P. Martin, Senior Policy Advisor-Center for a Livable Future, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, was one of the "Future of Food" event organizers.  He has been a key player in getting The Prince's Speech published so its ideas can be shared with the general public.  Please join us on Great Taste for a discussion of the critical food issues that effect every single one of us now and future generations.  You can view some excerpts from the Georgetown conference here.

LATE CHANGE BECAUSE OF THE SNOW-Chef Fátima Pérez Andres will join us next week live in the Club Room.

Major thanks to tonight’s guest, Jeffrey Smith, for stepping in when Mother Nature modified the guest lineup. Our change in programming was a natural result of the snowy weather, but what are the consequences in our food system when scientists modify the genetic code of plants?  According to well-known author and scientist Candace Pert, Jeffrey is equipped to answer that question.  Pert described him as “the leading world expert in the understanding and communication of the health issues surrounding genetically modified foods.”

Enthusiastic and adventurous cook and eater, Keith Dixon, had to make some changes in his kitchen habits after the birth of daughter, Gracie.  Keith's culinary and parenting odyssey is chronicled in Cooking for Gracie:  The Making of a Parent from Scratch.  There are plenty of trying and triumphant moments in this memoir of the evolution of a couple from when Gracie makes her first appearance five weeks premature to the end of her first year, plus scattered throughout Keith shares recipes, including the one found at the end of this blog post. We'll talk with Keith, a New York Times writer and novelist, about some of the memories that he chronicles in the book.  Also, we'll find out how life (and cooking) have changed since the addition of another child.

Molly Aronica, Restaurant Editor for The Daily Meal joins us in the second half of the show.  Molly and the staff of the popular internet site have their pulse on the food world.  I'm very excited to announce that she has agreed to do a regular monthly stint on Great Taste, and bring our listeners the top culinary news and trends from around the globe.  Check out the following links for some of the stories we're going to feature on the show:

Happy New Year to everyone!  I'm looking forward to a tasty one.

We're going to set the stage for Great Taste's programming in 2013 with a treat that celebrates tradition, family, and baking.  Al Davis' father started baking rugelach commercially in 1939.  The crescent-shaped pastry's origin is unclear, but it definitely is part of the Ashkenazic or Eastern European Jewish kitchen culture.  The word "rugala" is Yiddish, probably derived from a Polish word meaning horn or corner.  Its food heritage may come from a Romanian pastry.

Wherever or whenever it came from, the little bites of dough, butter, cream cheese, and various fillings are delightful and addicting.  Al's bringing some just-baked rugelach to the Hy-Vee Club Room, plus he'll teach us how to prepare the pastry in our home kitchens.