Tuesday, February 19, 2013.
A Healthy Food Writer, The Big Green Egg Guy, And Chef Scotty.
The round-table radio show today was good because of the diversity of the guests. They had almost nothing in common, although all were knowledgeable and interesting. Only one was a first-timer--Molly Kimball, who works for Ochsner Hospital's health and fitness division. She also writes a weekly column for the Times-Picayune about healthy eating. And she is the fittest-looking person ever to appear on our program.
Molly is also connected with the marketing efforts for Cabot cheeses--a cop-op of dairymen in New England, who make good products that sit squarely on the line dividing standard supermarket cheese from cheese-shop wedges and wheels. The Cabot people sent us a box of their cheeses during the holidays, and Mary Ann went crazy over them. Which is the main reason Molly was on today. She brought cheese with her--a white cheddar made with half the usual amount of fat. I never would have guessed that to taste it. It which went well with the Picpoul wine Chef Scotty brought.
Scotty is a good conversationalist, and while he didn't have a lot of specifics to promote, he gave stimulating counterpoints on the subjects of cheese, healthy eating, and the Big Green Egg. The latter was the lookout of Fred Rittler, who sells the high-end but fantastically useful grill at Bassil's Ace Hardware, which he manages. He was here to remind us that the crawfish are running now, and that maybe some people might need a rig for boiling seafood in their back yards.
In other words, each of the guests were curious about what the other two were expounding on, and we all enjoyed it. Two of them sent letters the next day telling me how much. (Scotty didn't have to, because I was just at his restaurant last week, and we've seen quite enough of each other, I'm sure.) This makes for a perfect radio show.
The presence of wine and a beautiful young woman helps, too.
No dinner for me. Scotty brought his superb duck liver paté and his house-made focaccia toasts. Between that and the cheese I was full. Maybe a little too full.
Besides, I had to stay after wards to write and record six commercials. It's not my favorite activity, but something that needs to be done. The sales, traffic, and production staff are all furious with me for letting this get behind, but what could I do?
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