Bite-size Green on the Menu at LA Webfest

We're going to LA! For a weekend (April 6-8). For a web fest. A what?

Well, it's like a film festival, but for web series. Bite-size Green submitted its series, was selected, and will be screened there.

 We might even win an award - stay tuned!

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.

Solar Cooking Basics and Benefits

In less than six minutes, here's the lowdown on how a solar cookers work, and why they are life-saving technology in the developing world as well as a good item to keep in your disaster kit at 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.

Honey Teriyaki Salmon

When beekeeper Wayne Pitts appeared on the Bite-size Green TV episode The Buzz about Bees, he was a marvelous guest.  He not only shared humorous anecdotes, facts, and photos; but he also provided a cooking demonstration.  Like many good cooks, he tried a dish at a restaurant and said, "I could make this."  The result became his Honey-teriyaki glazed grilled salmon.  Naturally, it's best if made from wild salmon and with honey from your own apiary.  If you can't become a beekeeper by suppertime, visit one at your local farmers market (Wayne can be found in Palo Alto every Sunday) and ask for a local variety.

Ingredients (to serve eight):

• One cup honey, warmed
• One cup teriyaki
• A large fillet of wild-caught salmon
• Fresh leaf spinach, in bite-size pieces
• Two types of fruit, in small chunks (or whole, if berries)
• Blue cheese crumbles (or goat, if preferred)
• Walnut bits (or other nut, as preferred)
  
• Cherries tomatoes to garnish
• A fruity vinagrette dressing

To prepare:

• While warming the grill, fold a double layer of aluminum foil into a tray, and pour a layer of glaze into it.  
• Place the salmon onto the glaze, and pour the remainder over the fillet.
• Close the grill and let cook approx 20 minutes (med. heat).  
• Check to make sure the salmon is caramelizing.
• While the salmon is cooking, arrange the spinach on each plate.
• When the salmon is done (and cooled, if you like), place a portion on each plate,  over the spinach.
• Add the fruit, nuts, cheese and garnish to each plate, and drizzle with dressing.
• Enjoy the quiet while everyone digs in.
  

Adventure Year

2009 was indeed a year of adventures in healthy eating, replete with marvelous meals, trips to a variety of farmers' markets, and meeting local chefs and farmers. Learning to move the stories from the page and onto video and TV became an adventure in its own right. Like all great adventures, the journey was never solitary, always grounded in and enriched by community.

May 2010 hold more adventures, with an equally fascinating cast of characters. And more pie.

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.

First TV Episode Airs

The first episode of Bite-Size Green, the TV show, begins airing this Friday at 4pm, PST.

If you don't live in the Community Media Center 's viewing area (mainly Palo Alto, Menlo Park, East Palo Alto and Atherton in California) and have cable service, you can view the show online while it is being aired. To use the live streaming option:

1. Check the program schedule for times and channels.


2. Pick one airing that fits your schedule.


3. Log onto the webcast page a few minutes before the show begins.


4. Click the Watch Now button for the channel airing the show at your time choice.


5. Give your computer's media player a moment to bring up the video window.


6. Watch and send your comments!

The first episode features guest Laura Stec, slow food chef and co-author of Cool Cuisine.