Category Archives: news

Cooking together on Saturdays with KLRU

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Maria Rodriguez is Senior Vice President for Programming at KLRU. In her free time, she enjoys cooking and gardening.

One thing that I always enjoyed watching on television with my Mom and my sister was the cooking shows on Public Television.  So if you need some new cooking recipes, you might check out the KLRU-TV schedule on Saturdays starting at 1 pm.  There are many new episodes as well as new additions to the cooking block on Saturdays.

Simply Ming at 1 pm.  The James Beard and Emmy-nominated public television series Simply Ming is back for its 10th Anniversary season.  Award-winning host Chef Ming Tsai celebrates the television milestone with 26 all-new episodes in a season full of surprises and new twists and featuring some of his all-time favorite special guest chefs—both in-studio sequences “Cooking on the Fly” and in exotic locales “On the Road.” No matter what the location, Ming brings inspiration and surprise ingredients to create simple, fresh cuisine and delicious dishes on the spot, as well as demonstrate basic culinary techniques that all home chefs should understand. The new season coincides with the October 2012 release of Simply Ming in Your Kitchen, a new book of 80 recipes (published by Kyle Books).

For Season 10, Ming opens each episode revealing fun and user-friendly tips and advice with quick and easy demos. Designed to make cooking fundamentals less daunting for the home cook, these quick and simple demonstrations showcase Ming’s masterful teaching techniques on everything from blanching to caramelizing, thickening to tenderizing, reconstituting to grilling and poaching. Whether it’s creating pan sauces, a reduction or a roux, or making a ganache with panache, Ming and his all-star line-up of guest chefs will serve up a season full of one-of-a-kind recipes that viewers will want to try at home.

Martha Stewart’s Cooking School at 1:30 pm.  In this new series inspired by her best-selling cookbook, Martha Stewart demonstrates classic cooking techniques and basics.  Using her signature, step-by-step how-to teaching process, Martha will illustrate the building blocks of recipes everyone should know — from roasting and poaching to braising and blanching.

Pati’s Mexican Table at 2 pm.  Food writer and chef Pati Jinich guides viewers through the fascinating world of Mexican cuisine.  Pati infuses her recipes with a sprinkling of culture and traditions and demonstrates just how easy it is to make delicious, regional Mexican food at home!

Lidia’s Italy in America at 2:30 pm.  Lidia is returning for an all-new season of exploring America’s Italian heritage through food.  Join celebrity chef and restaurateur Lidia Bastianich as she embarks on another eye-opening culinary journey. Her series explores the food, artisans and ingredients at the heart of Italian-American cooking. Over the course of 26-half hour episodes, Lidia traces the impact of Italian culture on American food, drink, art, music and fashion. She travels from the East Coast to the South to the Midwest to interview Italian-American families still making wine and vinegar in their garages or curing their own prosciutto, to visit the “Little Italys” keeping old-world traditions alive and to meet third- and fourth-generation Italians putting their twist on authentic recipes.

Cooking Country from America’s Test Kitchen at 3 pm.  This cooking series features new episodes about the best regional home cooking — from potluck dinners and holiday favorites to simple suppers and lost recipes. In season five, the test kitchen chefs Bridget Lancaster, Julia Collin Davison and Erin McMurrer cook a variety of family-friendly recipes with host Christopher Kimball. The Tasting Lab’s Jack Bishop again challenges Kimball to sample supermarket staples, while Adam Ried reveals his top equipment recommendations. Other segments include: “Food History” and “Ask Cook’s Country.”

Simply Ming and Lidia’s Italy in America will start new episodes on October 13th.  So check out these new episodes and new series on Saturday afternoons on KLRU-TV.

KLRU nominated for 12 Emmy Awards

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The Lone Star Emmy Award nominees were announced this week. KLRU programs and projects received 12 nominations! Thanks to your support Austin’s public television station is able to create top quality programming and we’re proud that he Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences has recognized this work with nominations.

The Lone Star Chapter of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences is the standard-bearer for excellence in the television industry and the gatekeeper of the prestigious regional Emmy Awards in Texas. The Lone Star Emmy Chapter represents the best and brightest television and media professionals from all disciplines of the industry and from all of Texas’ 19 television markets.

Below is the list of KLRU nominees. Winners will be announced Nov. 10th.
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Small gift, big difference, right now!

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We’re approaching the end of our fiscal year with a budget deficit and we need your help to reach our goal by September 30. As of this morning, we’re $185,900 short. More than ever we need the help of our loyal viewers – YOU – to join us. Each and every gift, no matter the amount, from every person who is able to will help tremendously right now.

We hope you’ll consider joining our Countdown Campaign this month. Maybe you’ll decide to renew your support today – make an additional gift for the year – or tell a friend to become a brand new member!

Whatever you do, we appreciate your generosity and support of KLRU-TV, Austin PBS – YOUR public television station.

Look at what you’ve done!
Thanks to support from our community, KLRU has been able to do so much in 2011-2012:

  • Threw a downtown block party for our whole city to celebrate 50 years of public television in Austin (Cookie Monster was there, too!)
  • Brought Community Cinema back to Windsor Public Library for another great season of independent film – Free every month for anyone to attend.
  • Showcased phenomenal women in our community who are changing lives through the national online project Women and Girls Lead (we’ll highlight more women in 2012-2013 so stay tuned!)
  • Challenged hundreds of school-aged kids to read this summer with the KLRU Summer Learning Challenge
  • Brought you new episodes of Downton Abbey, Frontline, Moyers & Company, NOVA, Nature, Antiques Roadshow, Market Warriors, Arts in Context, Central Texas Gardener, Overheard with Evan Smith, Austin City Limits, and many more!

KLRU announces Hardly Sound

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KLRU is excited to announce a new addition to KLRU Q’s 11pm music block, Hardly Sound. The documentary series focuses on Texas underground music and artists but goes beyond the recording studio to tell the story of the band members with insight into the creative process.

Meet the Creators from Hardly Sound on Vimeo.

In episode one, follow Austin twang wave band, The Bye & Bye in their quest to understand their future through the telling of their past. Future episodes will feature The Bad Lovers, Royal Forest, Emcee Eats, and Ralph White

New episodes air the first Monday of the month at 11pm on KLRU-Q, beginning with the Bye & Bye airing this Monday. To keep up with Hardly Sound visit http://hardlysound.tumblr.com/.

Watch and Win! Celebrate Julia Child tonight at 7pm

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We have been looking forward to this night for a very long time! In celebration of Julia Child’s 100th birthday, some of the best chefs and foodies in Austin will be joining us LIVE in studio during a special presentation of three classic episodes of The French Chef featuring Julia’s take on omelettes, boullaibase, and roasted chicken, tonight at 7pm on KLRU.

If you call in during the evening with your support for KLRU, you might be talking with one of these wonderful people on the phone: Rene Ortiz (La Condesa, Sway), Laura Sawicki (La Condesa, Sway), Philip Speer (Uchi/Uchiko), Aaron & Stacy Franklin (Franklin BBQ), Karla Loeb (Slow Food Austin), Larry McGuire (Lamberts, Perla’s, Elizabeth Street Cafe, Fresa’s, Jeffrey’s), John Bates (Noble Pig), Sonya Cote (Hillside Farmacy, Homegrown Revival) and Casey Wilcox (Justine’s), and Patty Cater (Central Market).

This is the perfect opportunity to support the great history of cooking shows on public television and celebrate the incredible culinary scene here in Austin. We love when we can connect the awesome programming on KLRU with our local community and who better to showcase the KLRU vision of inspiration and creativity than Julia herself.

Every gift made tonight (or made online here) will automatically be entered to win one of several gift certificates to the places above and others: Olive & June, Parkside, Olivia, The Back Space, Foreign & Domestic, Lenoir, Chez Nous, Trace, Dai Due, Second Bar + Kitchen, and Barley Swine. A gift of just $25 could mean a dinner at a critically-acclaimed Austin restaurant – and you’ll be supporting Austin’s only locally owned and operated television station at the same time – what’s not to love about that?!

KLRU needs your support during this August pledge drive – if you love food, you won’t want to miss out on tonight’s special tribute to Julia Child beginning tonight at 7pm. Thank you for celebrating with us.

#CookForJulia: Ooh, La, La! Watch classic episodes of The French Chef online

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Presented in honor of Julia Child’s 100th birthday, PBS has released full episodes of Julia’s first PBS show, The French Chef – originally broadcast in the 1960s. Today’s episodes feature French Tarts, Quiche Lorraine, and French Onion Soup. Watch them now then re-create a recipe (or two!) and share with us to celebrate Julia Child’s legacy and memory on PBS!

#CookForJulia – The Most Important Thing is Having Fun

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Austin’s own chef extraordinaire Paul Qui shares his tribute of Julia Child with PBS Food:

Julia Child pioneered food culture in the United States and opened the door for Chef’s like me. I’ve learned to be fearless and determined in the kitchen and that the biggest hurdle is the fear of failure. But the most important thing is that cooking is about having fun.

About Paul Qui

Paul Qui has quickly made a name for himself as one of the next best chefs in the country. He began his culinary career in Austin, Texas at Uchi, a Japanese farmhouse dining and sushi restaurant, in 2003. He progressed to become Executive Chef at Uchiko and also founded East Side King, a series award-winning of food trucks. In 2012, Paul won Top Chef Season 9, the James Beard Award for Best Chef Southwest. Chef Paul is currently working on his latest concept, soon to be announced.

Celebrate Julia Child’s 100th Birthday by sharing your favorite Julia Child memories and recipes here, on Facebook, or Twitter using the #CookForJulia hashtag!

Celebrate 100 Years of Julia Child!

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Julia Child is a quintessential PBS icon and pioneer who opened up new worlds for a whole generation of Americans, showing them that cooking – even French food – is easy, enjoyable and within reach for all. In honor of what would have been her 100th birthday on August 15, KLRU is planning a 10 day celebration of special tributes, videos, and more to commemorate her life and memory.

Starting today on the KLRU blog, Facebook, and Twitter, we’ll have special Julia posts and we want you to join in the fun – use the #CookForJulia to share your favorite Julia Child recipes, memories, episodes and more with your friends on Facebook or Twitter (and us, too!).

This is a nation-wide celebration that we’re so excited to share with you in the Austin community – check out all the national buzz here and stay in touch because we’ll be sharing a lot of Julia goodies in the next 10 days!

Olympic Fever

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Every four years, Summer Olympics keep us on the edges of our seats. As the Opening Ceremony nears, excitement for the games reaches a fever pitch. KLRU is here to help tide you over.

Saturday, July 21 at 8pm: My Music, British Beat
This year’s Closing Ceremony aims to celebrate fact that music has been one of Britain’s strongest cultural exports over the last 50 years. Why wait for August? Tune in as My Music travels on location to London and around the UK to the place where the British Beat was born.

Thursday, July 26 at 9pm: Strong!
 In a few days, we get to see serious athletic glory. But what about all the hard work that goes into preparing for an Olympic competition? Strong! follows Cheryl Haworth as struggles to defend her champion status as her lifetime weightlifting career inches towards its inevitable end. Strong! chronicles her journey and the challenges this unusual elite athlete faces, exploring popular notions of power, strength, beauty and health.

Stotesbery added Latino Public Broadcasting board

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KLRU’s Bill Stotesbery named to national Latino Public Broadcasting board

Austin, TX — KLRU-TV, Austin PBS, announces that CEO and General Manager Bill Stotesbery has been elected to the Latino Public Broadcasting Board of Directors. In his announcement, letter Edward James Olmos, President of the LPB Board, wrote that Stotesbery’s “leadership and expertise will greatly contribute in helping our organization grow.”

Under Stotesbery’s leadership, KLRU has worked on several projects with focusing on the Latino community, most recently the addition of VMe, an all-Spanish language public television service, on KLRU’s digital cable channel 18.4.

“I am pleased to be included in this vital public broadcasting organization ,” said Stotesbery. “The LPB is very active in ensuring the diversity of PBS offerings and making sure Latino filmmakers have their stories heard.”

“As Latinos become this nation’s largest minority group, we face an exciting time ahead of us as we help bring diverse talent and content to public broadcasting,” Olmos said. “The programs we support bring new audiences to public television and have a recognizable impact on a broad range of viewers; present a diverse subjects and viewpoints from a variety of Latino producers across the country; and both complement and challenge existing public television offerings.”
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