Filming a cooking series with a production company takes a lot of trust. I just finished finished filming 8 PBS Digital Studios episodes for our new PBS Parents Kitchen Explorer series in 6 days. We are breaking today and starting tomorrow to film 8 more. It is tiring work in a good way. It has stretched me and has forced me to really challenge myself to get over myself. Read that again… it has challenged myself to get over myself. Simmer on that thought for awhile but apply it to your own life.
Working with a film crew means (to me) trusting them to be your advocate and to translate your vision, and in this case reality, into something special. My vision has always been to share glimpses of our lives with you in a way that is not forced and is very true to our family. So far we’ve launched one episode and the next one should be airing soon.
A simple fresh salad using in season corn, tomatoes, and basil to be served as a side dish.
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 1/2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 3 garlic cloves finely chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 ears cooked corn kernels sliced from cob
- 1 cup cherry/grape tomatoes halved
- 1/3 cup chopped fresh basil
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In a large bowl, whisk the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt, and pepper.
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Gently mix in the cooked corn, tomatoes, and basil.
Going back to the trust issue, our creative director Kelly has made this experience very enjoyable because I trust her. Although we may disagree about food politics, our disagreement comes more in the form of personal convictions that is never judgmental. Instead it is more in a “this is how I do things…” kind of way. The way we both cook and eat comes from places of personal experiences and upbringings. I cook off the cuff, trying not to waste any food. This is how I learned to cook in a large family of 8 people. Growing up poor will do that to you. As much as I love organic, local eating my priority is more about being resourceful and getting food on the table. I stay clear of food politics because I think it is a very complicated issue with no real one philosophy fits all solution. Kelly on the other hand… she has her own ways of doing things. For instance, we were making blackberry jam from berries we picked after shooting a long day. She needed local honey, all I had was non-local honey and white sugar. I did apologize for my sugar, but I told her, sometimes certain recipes just taste better with sugar. No judgement on her part. She laughed at me then just assured me that I didn’t need to apologize and she understood that I’m trying to feed my family and so much goes into how I cook. Phew.
All of this to say, I’m learning a lot from Kelly. To be more open minded. And as my mom would say quick to love, slow to judge. We are taking a break from shooting today but I wanted to share this recipe with you for Corn Basil Tomato Salad. This is a super quick and easy recipe that I like to use with leftover corn on the cob. Although this recipe is not new to me, I’ve been making it all summer, I did made it again last night using the leftover corn that was used as props for a PBS Food episode I was in that we shot on the Puget Sound Sunday. I couldn’t allow myself to see those ears of corn thrown out so I cooked them up as soon as we got home and made this salad which I took to the beach last night as part of our family dinner. If Kelly would have been there with us I’m sure she would have brought her homemade local jam to go with the bread we baked together. I imagined she would have sipped on local wine as I would have downed my Diet Coke. We could not be more different yet this is why I love sharing food with others. In the context of relationships, food is my love language and celebrating life with friends and family is what matters at the end of the day. And if you want to get a food dialogue going where it’s not about who is right or wrong, maybe judging less and loving more is a good place to start.
This looks like a great combination for a little later in the season. YUM YUM
What a great story, Alice. It’s always great to hear about the people involved with cooking shows about what really goes on behind the scenes, especially at the beginning of their television careers. I just don’t trust Martha Stewart to tell me what really goes on in her house.
This looks so fresh and delicious!
Beautiful post! This salad looks so simple and so delicious 🙂
Any kind of salad with dinner or in lunch is important to keep health fresh.Tomato have a lots of vitamin c and other calories as well.I like salad very much with onion.
Love this simple salad! Yum!