Adventures With Ruth

Weren't we all heartbroken when Gourmet Magazine went belly up? I certainly know that I was.  November 2009 was the last issue of the magazine, and I cooked several of my Thanksgiving dishes out of it in a tearful farewell gesture.  Ruth Reichl was editor of Gourmet from April of 1999 until its demise ten years later. She has long been one of my favorite food writers; and her memoirs, Tender at the Bone, Comfort Me with Apples, and Garlic and Sapphires, hold the same place on my bookshelves and in my heart as Laurie Colwin's two collections of food writing, Home Cooking, and More Home Cooking.  These women write about both cooking and eating food with a verve and passion that makes their books as readable as any novel.

I was worried about where I would find Ruth Reichl after she was no longer editing Gourmet, but even before that November issue came out in print, I read that she would be hosting a PBS series called Adventures With Ruth, wherein Ruth and a celebrity companion (Frances McDormand in the first episode) would travel around the world tasting, cooking, exploring our favorite subject: food.  Once I knew its starting date, I called my local PBS station to find out when it would air.  Imagine my sorrow when the program director told me they would not be carrying this program, at least not the first season, and after that, who knows? I threatened never to renew my membership (an empty threat, yes), I begged and pleaded, but the answer was still simply, no, not this season anyway. Today I was noodling around Gourmet online, as a result of some recipes featured on AOL's Welcome screen (good recipes too), and discovered that I can watch this season's episodes of Adventures With Ruth right here on my computer screen.  They are all there  on the Video link on the website.  In living color.  Now, all I have to do is find time to sit here and watch them. I've started Episode One this morning.  Maybe I'll start getting up even earlier in the morning, as the days grow longer and lighter.  Start the day with my walk and then a cup of coffee and time with one of my major idols in some exotic locale. Life is good again.