Many Native American groups in pre-Conquest Mexico celebrated one day each year when their deceased ancestors would return to visit them—El Día de los Muertos. This ancient tradition has become the state of Oaxaca’s most important celebration. Parades, home altars, and gaily-decorated graves welcome back the dead. The custom has spread throughout Mexico and even to Los Angeles and Tucson.
Lidia learns all about artichokes at Pezzini Farms in California, and crosses the country to be joined by Tanya for a visit to the Maugeri Farm, grower of New Jersey tomatoes. At the farm, Tanya and Lidia enjoy a classic, home-grown, Italian-American meal with the Maugeri family. Inspired by her visit to Pezzini Farms, Lidia makes an Artichoke Soup, followed by Stuffed Vegetables and a Radicchio, Goat Cheese, and Raisin Salad.
Test cook Julia Collin Davison uncovers the secrets to cooking with a slow cooker. First, she teaches host Christopher Kimball how to make the ultimate Old-Fashioned Chicken Noodle Soup. Next, she reveals the test kitchen’s secrets for foolproof Pork Loin with Cranberries and Orange. Then, she makes the perfect Chocolate–Hazelnut Bread Pudding. And finally, gadget guru Lisa McManus discusses how to buy a slow cooker and how to know the temperature of your slow cooker.
Ben O’Donoghue starts his culinary adventures with lunch at the camel market in Casablanca, learns to cook “harira” (the soup that breaks the Ramadan fast) in the imperial city of Fes, lives with a nomadic family in the high dunes of the Western Sahara, scours the markets in Marrakesh for ingredients to make the classic “tagine,” samples Berber delicacies in the High Atlas mountains and fishes for his dinner in the port of Essaouira.
Chef Joe travels to the upper east side of New York City to learn more about this cozy restaurant that has been in business for the past 33 years. A staple in this neighborhood, this intimate restaurant offers an overall, great dining experience. Back in the test kitchen, using Sun dried Tomato Pesto, Chef Joe creates a chicken dish stuffed with the pesto and potato flakes plus a pasta dish using Gnocchi and the pesto as the garnish!
What’s more fun than shopping and cooking? Street Fare follows some of our favorite chefs, such as, Joanne Weir and Ming Tsai to popular street markets around the U.S. and beyond. They’ll teach us how to choose the freshest ingredients possible, from veggies, to seafood, to spices and then whip up delicious recipes for your family's table.
Good friend an attorney Ciro Poppiti visits Mary Ann nella cucina, with an ample supply of freshly made ricotta from his company, "Arcangelo Cheese" in Wilmington, DE. They proceed to make a stupendous pastry-encased, Ricotta and Mozzarella cheese-stuffed masterpiece; Pizza Carnevale. Then Mary Ann takes up the baton and creates a light-as-a-cloud, orange-flavored Ricotta Cheesecake. Did somebody say "cheese?" Please.
The old town in the capital city of Talinn is Europe’s best-restored medieval town with streets and buildings that recall the days of the Hanseatic League but whose cafes, art galleries, hotels, and restaurants today appeal to both sophisticated as well as first-time travelers. Venture into the countryside of Estonia, to the large island of Saaremaa and the much smaller island of Muhu, where you’ll find windmills, thatch-roofed farmhouses and quiet waters. Of special interest is a candid interview with Mart Laar, the prime minister who took over a country that was an economic and psychological basket case following the withdrawal of Soviet troops and—with the help of a flat tax—turned Estonia into one of Europe’s most dynamic and forward-thinking little countries.
An interesting top or blouse can set the tone for your style. There are so many color and design choices - we've picked just a few to showcase today. Gretchen Hirsch with her vintage inspired design style is first with a feminine blouse. Then, meet Emma Seabrooke on location as she talks about sewing on slinky knits. Angela Wolf appears in the last segment sharing more couture details for perfect finishing on your garments.
During the spring of 1502 the Maya of Mexico introduced Columbus to the cacao bean which was their currency as well as the source of chocolate. This program looks at the history of chocolate in Mexico; its arrival in Spain, where it was used as a medicine and an aphrodisiac; its evolution into a drink for the rich in France as opposed to a drink available to all classes in England. We follow the beans from a plantation in Mexico to a chocolate bar in the United States, explore the story of chocolate in America and discover that on more than one occasion women have killed to have chocolate.
