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my friends cook with pearls

 

juliachild

Cooking shows have changed since I was a youngster watching The Galloping Gourmet and Julie Child’s French Chef. Every Saturday morning on channel 9 they walked me through the details of recipes that I wouldn’t actually attempt for decades, but that didn’t deter me. As soon as Captain Kangaroo went off, cooking went on. And much to the chagrin of my mom, who was a wonderful cook, I had no interest in actually cooking. What I loved about the shows was how accessible the chefs were, how kind they seemed, and how they explained what they were doing with a love for the process, the food and the eating. They looked like real people, sometimes they made mistakes, they tasted their food and talked with their mouths full, they shared their kitchens as if I were right there with them and they were having so much fun! These were my celebrity chefs, although I can’t imagine either of them using the term.

The cooking shows of today I watch with rarity. Recently I was listening to a show on the radio and the chef actually referred to himself as a celebrity chef. I turned the radio off. So many of the cooking shows today seem to be hosted by people more interested in celebrity than chef, and while they may be wonderful at what chef-ing they do, the celebrity part leaves a nasty taste that sends me in search of a good cookbook.

Then today as I was reading through Marcia Gagliardi’s Tablehopper (an awesome SF dining newsletter that you should all be subscribing to), she mentioned that Tante Marie’s Cooking School is closing and that she hoped that the founder, Mary Risley, would continue to share her cooking videos. Oh my goodness Marcia, me too, me too! Please Mary Risley, do keep making your videos! They take me right back to that childhood happy place with my friends Julia and Graham.

Everyone should cook with pearls…just awesome.

 I know, I know, wrong time of year but this is so funny!

Enjoy the videos with a glass of pinot! Keep in touch,
Leslie