Jamie Oliver

I love cooking but I had never heard of Jamie Oliver. (half of you are saying, "Who?" and half of you are saying "DUUUUUUUHHHHH!")

The wife, wee-one and I are on a west-coast road trip right now visiting friends and family and just by geographical happenstance, the first three stops on our trip have been to stay with friends that I would consider "foodies". And believe me, this is the FIRST time I have ever used that term with a positive connotation.

These are friends who love people and love to prepare good food for the people they love. Just to keep it simple: Our first night was spent with friends whose food has a heavy Persian influence. Oh, and the lady of the house has actually been hired to cook for dinner parties. They mentioned Jamie Oliver.

Our second stop was with friends who are Italy incarnate. Everything was rustic Italian and delicious. Did I mention that they make wine in Napa? The GOOD stuff? They mentioned Jamie Oliver.

http://www.monticellibros.com/home.html

http://www.escawines.com/order.php

Our third stop was again with friends who have close ties to Italy (their family runs a touring company that takes people on gastronomic tours of Italy). THEY mentioned Jamie Oliver.

http://www.experienceitaly.com/home.php

So today, while I had some down time, I thought I would check out Jamie Oliver's great Italian Escape series on YouTube. I am hooked.

If you like: British accents, Italy, Food (Italian Food specifically), Travel, or all of the above with a dose of humor - you might get hooked too!

Here is part one of episode one: