Everything about Reality, Lifestyle & Documentary, eh?

Great Canadian Cookbook celebrates country’s smorgasbord

Food Network Canada’s Great Canadian Cookbook is a multi-platform project designed to celebrate and inspire with recipes reflecting this country’s diversity, and Noah Cappe knows exactly which family recipes he’d share with viewers.

“Growing up, my mom was famous for her chocolate chip mandel bread,” Cappe says during a break in filming Season 3 of Carnival Eats. “And for my dad, to this day I still think he makes the best French toast with McCutcheon’s maple syrup. Everybody has something in their family someone makes that transports you to growing up and those are it for me.”

Cappe and celebrity chef Lynn Crawford co-host Food’s ambitious Great Canadian Cookbook, part docu-series, part recipe source, part celebration of Canada. Launching Monday with four back-to-back episodes, the television segment of Cookbook finds the foodie duo hitting the East Coast, Ontario, Prairies and West Coast in search of tasty recipes, touching stories and interesting characters. You don’t get more interesting than Episode 1 in St. John’s, where Crawford experiences brunch at Mallard Cottage, a Jigg’s Dinner hosted by firemen and a music-infused house party fuelled by cod tongues and scrunchions. Cappe, meanwhile, visits Lunenburg and Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, sampling lobster rolls, lobster-topped burgers and to-die-for homemade bacon.

Cookbook_Lynn

“A show like this is as much about the people as it is about their recipes,” the Toronto-born actor says. “It’s really nice to see how each story is built through the landscape, the person, their story and then through the food.” He likens Cookbook to chef-author Anthony Bourdain’s CNN series Parts Unknown, that uses food as a stepping stone to learning about other cultures and peoples. Over 20 nationalities contribute to the four-part Cookbook.

The series serves as a path to FoodNetwork.ca, where recipes from the episodes are combined with extra video content of Crawford cooking with celebrities, making sausage in Saskatoon and foraging  for mushrooms and Cappe icing cakes in Winnipeg and sampling Nanaimo bars in B.C.

Cappe spent two days in each locale, filming for the television show and website, eating, talking and gathering some of his favourite recipes to re-create at home, though he won’t be the one making them.

“I don’t cook, but I’ve given all of my favourite recipes to my dad, ” Cappe says. “He loves cooking and I love eating. It’s a win-win for me!”

All four episodes of Great Canadian Cookbook air Monday, Oct. 11, beginning at 3 p.m. ET/noon PT on Food Network Canada.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Is House of Bryan: The Last Straw for Bryan and Sarah Baeumler?

Is this it for Sarah and Bryan Baeumler? After having TV cameras in their faces 24/7 for House of Bryan, have HGTV’s super-couple finally called it quits? The latest iteration of the franchise—returning Sunday with back-to-back episodes—is called The Last Straw. So, what gives? Is the title a reference to the show being set on their property close to farmland? Does it refer to this being the last-ever home they’ll renovate together? Or maybe it is, simply, the final steps in creating that forever home they’ve dreamed of.

“Is this the straw that broke the camel’s back and lead to divorce?!” Sarah says with a laugh during interviews at HGTV headquarters. The short answer is, no, the Baeumlers are not severing their marriage. As a matter of fact, their next TV project—read on for details on that—will bring them even closer together. “In the beginning, it was our goal to show our real lives. Bryan said at the very beginning that he wanted to show our house being built and everything that comes along with that, including what a couple goes through. The reality is, we have lives, there are jobs and kids and things happen.”

“Anyone that tells you, ‘I own a construction company and I’m building my house, it went perfectly, we were under budget and ahead of schedule and everybody is happy is full of shit,” Bryan says. “It’s just not like that. It’s not a railroad track. It’s a shipping channel and you’re meandering towards your destination.”

House_Of_Bryan

Things do, however, begin Sunday night without a hitch. House of Bryan: In the Sticks followed Bryan, Sarah and their kids Quentin, Charlotte, Josephine and Lincoln as renovations began on their home. Those episodes showcased how weather and other obstacles pushed construction on the new wing of the property way past the original deadline. Now that section of the home is done, and attention is turned to the original part of the house and the challenges that come with bringing 70s-era style into the present day.

In The Final Straw, Bryan begins the season by taking advantage of Sarah being away for two days and gutting the original structure. In no time, he and his team have dispatched old panelling, addressed some minor moisture issues and prepped for a vaulted ceiling by hauling in a massive beam to provide strength to the structure. As Sarah tells it, Bryan knows his best option is just to begin work on a project and then reveal what he’s done. That way, she can’t say no. Her reactions, of course, make for great TV.

“They’ve gotten quite a few reactions, and have had to edit out some language,” she says with a laugh. What you get from watching the Baeumlers on screen—and in a conference room with no cameras to capture it—is their sense of humour. These two take everything in stride and don’t let construction drama—or what some fans say online—bother them.

As for their next television project? They’ll be working more closely together. Bryan Inc., which began production just a week ago, spotlights Baeumler’s business by following him around during a typical day. Building and renovating homes will be part of it, as well as Sarah becoming more involved in the 60-plus employee company based out of Burlington, Ont.

“As Bryan says, ‘It’s bring your wife to work day. Let’s see how this goes!'” she says. “Bryan does have me sweeping some floors and it’s good to learn a job from the ground up. We have a really great working relationship and we’re expanding on that.”

“There are going to be challenges,” Bryan teases.

House of Bryan: The Last Straw airs back-to-back episodes on Sundays at 9 and 9:30 p.m. ET/PT on HGTV.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Link: Keeping Canada Alive puts spotlight on healthcare system

From Melissa Hank of O.Canada.com:

Keeping Canada Alive puts spotlight on healthcare system
It’s one thing to enjoy a good medical yarn on shows like Code Black or Grey’s Anatomy. It’s another to know that the drama is real, and it’s happening in a hospital near you.

Keeping Canada Alive, CBC’s ambitious new six-part series, chronicles what happened in the 24 hours comprising May 6, 2015, at more than 40 health and homeware locations in 24 Canadian cities. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail

Link: CBC drama on Canada’s health-care system is scary and uplifting

From John Doyle of The Globe and Mail:

CBC drama on Canada’s health-care system is scary and uplifting
Keeping Canada Alive (Sunday, CBC 9 p.m.) is a new six-part factual series that is breathtaking in its scope – 60 camera crews shooting in 24 cities across 10 provinces and one territory in a single 24-hour period last May to capture how our hospitals and other medical facilities work. One day only, but the show points out that on an average day in Canada, 700 people die and another 1,000 are born. Continue reading.

Facebooktwitterredditlinkedinmail