Sunday mornings, TV-watching and great weekends

I don’t know if you’re like me, but I rarely have time to watch TV and when I do, apart from depressing news, sometimes I can channel surf that tele-visual tsunami only to totally wipe out with all the lousy trash showing out there. It’s that golden paradox of media — with the 100+ channels my cable subscription has to offer, I rarely venture beyond five or six of them. I’m not trying to be an intellectual snob or anything. I definitely don’t sit at home on a leather armchair with a glass of St. Emilion listening to Verdi opera arias, pondering over Nietzsche and Sartre.

There’s nothing I enjoy more than a well-deserved lazy Sunday morning… heck, the whole Sunday, snuggled in my bed watching TV. But more often than not I’ll catch myself watching some strange and depressing low-budget travel show about Philippine destinations where they make beautiful places like Bohol look like sad, haunted islands because they chose to film on a rainy day. There are times in the day where even on AFC — which is usually a sure deal for me — there’s some Mandarin cooking show about things that probably taste delicious but don’t make for very appetizing images.

Flashback to a month ago, when I am one of the lucky few that get to travel for work: I’m sent to Hong Kong for the launch of the Travel and Living Channel. Quite frankly, the only recollection I have of the old Discovery Travel and Living network was when I used to go run on the treadmill of Fitness First and I would catch Ian Wright doing his crazy antics around the world. I actually burned more calories and overstepped my usual lazy 30 minutes because the show was rather engrossing. To be honest, I was extremely impressed by the lineup. Shows for every kind of passion — from ultimate cake baking to extreme tattooing — this channel had everyone from Anthony Bourdain to Chef Marco Pierre White and all the hardcore travel and adventure show badass hosts that would make you want to change your life and career.

My delicious room service pasta with mushrooms and pancetta: gourmet delivery!

I really enjoyed the pampering of the Four Seasons, where they put us up. Room service was like gourmet heaven on a silver platter brought to your door — deliciously al dente fettuccini with mixed wild mushrooms in a delicate cream sauce. Yes, it was not thick but delicate, set off by crisp pancetta, not cheapie bacon — true smoked pancetta bits. Breakfast was memorable with croissants so flaky it dotted the prim, starched tablecloth like a starry sky. Late-night pizzas of such quality reminiscent of that tiny hole-in-the-wall pizzeria my mom and I ate at sometime long ago in Napoli. I holed myself up in the hotel, enjoying every minute and constantly wishing it was possible to put on the tab a degustation lunch for one at the famous three-Michelin-star resto, Caprices.

I was also there for a purpose and rather nervous about conducting the one-on-one interviews. This was to be my first solo international assignment and I wanted to take the opportunity to truly get inside the head — or more like the stomachs — of the TV personalities and ask them about their foodie and travel experiences. They’ve definitely been all over so they could share some interesting insights.

Imagine a life where you get paid to see the world, try new adventures, explore exotic cuisines and just have the best time of your life? Well, that’s what Samantha Brown and Janet Hsieh have in common. These globetrotting ladies could make anyone jealous and wish really hard on that lucky star, to have a job that somewhat comes close. Heck, I’d volunteer to hold their luggage for minimum wage!

Samantha Brown hosts Great Weekends. She gets to go to amazing destinations, sharing her secret discoveries, meeting people that make the trip extra-special and just show the rest of us stuck at home on the couch eating our popcorn a small fantasy glimpse of what we would like retirement to be. She’s come a long way from her small-town American background globetrotting from Rio to Bangkok. She is the travel goddess. Sam is extremely warm, unassuming and easy to talk to. Immediately, you feel like you’ve known her for a while and interviews are more like conversations. Sam willingly shared her foodie travel tips: “Don’t ask concierges where to eat, ask the housekeeping or staff or anyone with a strange accent. Ask them where they go to eat their food and you’ll discover wonderful ethnic communities and great cuisine. Never eat in a resto with pictures up front. I keep an open mind for discovery … but I always have peanut butter.” “Peanut butter?” I asked.

Janet Hsieh with Bob Blumer host of TLC show Glutton for Punishment holds surreal bacon and eggs dessert. Buy Bob Blumer’s new book, Glutton for Pleasure, out now in online bookstores.

“Yeah,” she laughs.

“What kind?”

“I like Jiff, sometimes chunky, sometimes creamy. It’s always good to have food on you just in case. Oh, and it reminds me of home.”

Janet Hsieh is this Texas-born, multi-tal-ented, quadrilingual, violin-playing, gorgeous genius. I was utterly amazed by her thirst for adventure, tons of en ergy and beaming smile. Fun Asia is a spin-off of the ultra-successful Fun Taiwan where she goes to rediscover her Taiwanese roots. No pretense and always up for anything, she takes this spirit around Asia and the world. “We’re going to need to change the name of the show! Fun Asia and we shot in the US, Germany … everywhere! I’d be doing the same thing even if it wasn’t my job. On my vacation, a few friends and I rented a catamaran in Tonga and went whale diving. For me, I want to get to know the people and see how they see their surroundings. Like, for example, Taipei 101 — I want to meet the window washer. Not just see the building. When I was in India, we followed a child who was playing football with his friends where they were restoring the black Taj Mahal. Amazing how they lived with all the beauty.”

Janet is coming to the Philippines to shoot an episode for Fun Asia. Watch out for a new, amazing take on our country!

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Catch Samantha Brown’s Great Weekends tonight, Dec. 2 at 9 p.m.

The newest season of Fun Asia airs Friday, Dec. 3 at 8 p.m.

For more information on the Travel and Living Channel call your cable subscriber or visit www.yourdiscovery.com and look up the TV show schedules for TLC in your region.  

You can contact me at Stephanie_zubiri@yahoo.fr.