B Roll they forgot: A) Wrestling with a tangled garden hose, B) Painful hair removal processes (tweezing, shaving, waxing), and C) Temperamential blender exploding contents all over your clothes, face, wall and kitchen counter. 

This is what happens when Bon Appetit pastry chef of the year, JBA nominee 2010, co-author of Charlie Trotter's Desserts and all around goddess Michelle Gayer of Mpls' Salty Tart makes your kids birthday cake. Heaven.

Check out www.lovinspoonfulsinc.org and see what my friends in Boston are doing to make the world a better place.

* * *

Why are my two favorite NBA teams so gosh awful bad? My Knicks and Wolves need help.

* * *

This is vintage GQ mag from 1997, the year after Tiger went pro, and, according to a NY Times article yesterday, the last time he permitted a journalist to see it all. Unbelievably prescient.

I'm headed to Namibia and Finland. What restaurants and markets do I have to visit? Any of your suggestions are appreciated-- we read 'em all, and the good ones really do end up in the show. Fire away!

So stupid, but you can't help but laugh.

I don't know about you, but I'm nuts over Top Chef Masters. Needless to say, I was thrilled when Magical Elves (aka the show's production company) asked me to be a guest judge on the upcoming season. Wish I could spill all the dirty details right now, but alas, you're going to have to wait 'til the episode airs later this spring. I will say there are a lot of talented chefs (many of which I've worked with in the past) this season.Here's the complete list of cheftestants:
 
Jody Adams – Rialto Restaurant, Cambridge, Mass.
Govind Armstrong – 8 oz Burger Bar, Los Angeles, Calif.
Graham Elliot Bowles – Graham Elliot Restaurant, Chicago, Ill.
Jimmy Bradley – The Red Cat, New York, N.Y.
David Burke – David Burke Townhouse, New York, N.Y.
Wylie Dufresne – wd~50, New York, N.Y.
Susan Feniger – Street, Los Angeles, Calif.
Debbie Gold – The American Restaurant, Kansas City, Mo.

According to my in-box, …the James Beard Foundation has kicked off the 2010 James Beard Foundation Awards and announced that Wayne Kostroski, Founder of the annual Taste of the NFL celebration, is the recipient of the 2010 Humanitarian of the Year award. Mr. Kostroski will be honored at this year’s James Beard Foundation Awards, the nation’s most prestigious honors for culinary professionals, in an awards ceremony taking place on Monday, May 3, 2010 at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City. The Humanitarian of the Year award is given to an individual or organization whose work in the realm of food has improved the lives of others and benefited society at large.”

“We are thrilled to announce that Wayne Kostroski has been selected as our 2010 Humanitarian of the Year,” says Susan Ungaro, President of the James Beard Foundation. “Through the Taste of the NFL and his tireless efforts over the years, Wayne has created a national platform that continues to raise awareness and millions of dollars for hunger relief not just in the culinary community, but across the entire country.”

I would rather eat Asian style seafood than almost any other style of ocean going fare. Anyone going to the Winter Games in Vancouver should bring this list with them. Nothing like a steaming plate of Chile Crab after a long day at the Ice Oval.

CHINESE

Golden Great Wall Szechuan Restaurant
705 West Broadway
604-872-0328

Sun Sui Wah
3888 Main St.
Vancouver
604-872-8822

Shanghai Xin Hua Lou
4136 Main Street
Vancouver
604-879-5818

Pink Pearl
1132 E. Hastings Street at Clark
Vancouver
604-253-4316

Imperial Chinese Seafood Restaurant
355 Burrard St.
Vancouver
604-688-8191

Kirin Seafood Restaurant
2nd Floor, Three West Centre
7900 Westminster Highway (@No.3 Road)
Richmond,BC
604-303-8833

THAI-KOREAN-MALAY

Montri's Thai
3629 West Broadway
Vancouver
604-738-9888

Jang Mo Jib
1043 Kingsway
Vancouver
604-872-0712

Cho Sun
3486 Kingsway
Vancouver
604-434-1222

Banana Leaf
820 West Broadway and 1096 Denman
Vancouver
604-731-6333 / 604-683-3333

The Mekong
1414 Commercial Drive
Vancouver
604-253-7088

I received an email from Stephanie Cronk-- a senior at Verrado High School in Buckeye, Arizona-- earlier this year. She's in that simultaneously stressful and exciting college application process, and decided to write about Bizarre Foods in one of her essays. So cool! I've posted the essay below-- think she's a shoe-in? Yep, me too.

If ever you get the chance to visit my home, the only house gift I’d ask you to bring is an open mind and an empty stomach. You would be entering a household influenced by the Spanish culture; you’d see paintings by famous Spanish artists like Francisco de Goya and replicas of swords of prominent medieval Spanish Kings, you’d hear bits of Castilian Spanish, and you’d feel the freshness and immaculateness my mother works so hard to inspire. Perhaps the most interesting of all, you would taste authentic Spanish food. I am notorious for introducing guests to the uncommon and uncanny foods my mother imports from her home country of Spain. This means you’d be trying anchovy-stuffed olives, pickled octopus, sardines in olive oil, and pate, a paste made of duck liver. Some quiver at the mention of the ingredients but my smooth talk, and occasional force, compels everyone to taste what they’ve been missing.

Like my guests, I too have had my fair share of foreign delicacies. I’ve tried beef tongue tacos, roasted chicken heart and chicken feet, snails sautéed in tomato sauce, every type of seafood; percebes and clams being my favorite, and several different types of raw, cooked, or even fermented fish, sometimes with their eggs as a side dish. Needless to say, food is something that rarely intimidates me; on the contrary, it allows me to reveal my spontaneous nature.

Love this. Reminds me of my days at Fox 9 Morning News.