Angelina Le Grix

As we prepare to head south for the LA Webfest, it's time to re-introduce Angelina, the on-screen face of Bite-size Green.

Angelina Le Grix joined the Bite-size Green community when she graciously agreed to host our TV series. Her intelligence, humor and enthusiasm bring out the best in the guest experts and chefs, as well as the joy in eating local, seasonal foods.

Angelina was born and raised in Toronto, Canada where her parents instilled a passion for fresh and delicious food. She loves to cook because she loves to eat.

Her favorite cuisine started out with Cantonese and has now branched out to Indian, French, Japanese, and Californian.

Angelina regularly visits farmer's markets and loves to learn about local food. She is drawn to simple cooking techniques and recipes that bring out the natural flavors of the ingredients.

Other tidbits:

• Angelina is an electrical engineer.
• She is fluent in Cantonese.
• She has lived in Tokyo, Japan and speaks Japanese.
• She is married to a Frenchman and speaks French.
• She has lived on the East Coast (Boston area and Upstate New York) but considers California her home.

Saute Secrets Video

The first cooking demonstration of the season focuses on fundamentals - how to bring out the best flavors of fresh, local produce.
Laura Stec, chef and co-author of Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming, teaches technique to host Angelina Le Grix, using broccoli from the farmers market.

Cool Cuisine Highlights Video

In the very first episode of Bite-size Green TV, host Angelina Le Grix interviewed Laura Stec, chef and co-author of Cool Cuisine: Taking the Bite Out of Global Warming. Making a half-hour TV episode work as a webisode was challenging; but with some careful editing, the highlights of their discussion fit within the 5-minute limit recommended for web viewers. Included are some great tips for how to cook produce that's in season at the farmers' market in the winter.


Next webisode: chef Laura demonstrates how to bring out the true flavors of fresh, local vegetables.

Thai Salad Rolls

For the Google's Green Gourmets episode, Angelina made Thai Salad Rolls. Preparing for the shoot, I was pleased to find a packaged kit with both rice paper rounds and rice vermicelli. For the filling, we used the vermicelli, fresh herbs (mint, basil, and cilantro) from the garden, strips of both cucumber and carrots, lettuce, and pre-cooked shrimp.

The peanut sauce for dipping was based on several recipes, including an old favorite from the lid of a Laura Scudder's peanut butter jar. The final rendition arrived through experimentation with key ingredients and a variety of bottled sauces from the fridge.

During the taping, Angelina made the assembly process look really easy. Although we shot two takes for safety, she made a gorgeous, snugly-tucked roll on the first try. For the on-screen bite, she rolled one without shrimp, which turns out to be one of a very few ingredients she can't eat.

Solar cooking - brrr!

When you have a production schedule to meet, you plan and hope for the best. Today was overcast all morning, chilly, and pretty windy to boot. But Angelina was a great sport, cooking my adapted ratatouille recipe, polenta, and a strawberry-rhubarb crisp for the camera. Fortunately, all three dishes turned out well, with a little extra cooking time.

Thursday we'll tape in the studio, interviewing Solar Cooking International 's board member (and local solar PV business owner) Michael Mora. SCI does serious work with simple cookers in over two dozen countries, bringing life-changing benefits such as reductions in water-borne illness, cleaner indoor air, more time for women and girls to attend school or work rathering than gathering wood, less money spent on firewood for households already living under the poverty line, increased safety for women and girls who would otherwise risk assault while gathering wood outside their villages or refugee camps, and reductions in deforestation. An amazing amount of good from an incredibly simple, affordable, locally-adaptable technology.

Today's food shots will speak to local viewer's stomachs, and the SCI portion to their hearts and minds. All in one half-hour of Bite-size Green TV.