'Ian's Kitchen' closes

For the last two years, I have been hosting a show on cable television.  In Season 1 (July 2011- March 2012), the show was called 'I'm Home, This is Ian' (loosely translated), and was an interview-based documentary program (more about that HERE).  For Season 2 (April 2012-May 2013) the producers changed the format of the show into a cooking show (!) called 'Ian's Kitchen' (that story is HERE).  

The documentary-style cooking show was extremely fun, and the cooking segments were peppered with interviews with the farmers that grew the ingredients for the dishes.  (One memorable episode is from last autumn about which I wrote in an entry called "In the Pumpkin Patch", part 1 HERE and part 2 HERE).

For Season 3, there had been talk of me getting a small plot of land and working with local farmers to grow the food that we would use on the program.  Unfortunately, however, I was informed last month by the producers that our contract was not being renewed for a third season.  It seems amid the down economy and budget cuts, the TV station had decided that funding local programming was too expensive and that they would start "buying in" more ready-made programs.

The last episode of 'Ian's Kitchen' has now been filmed and will air shortly.

But as they say, "when one door closes, another one opens" and I am looking forward to seeing what new adventure is just around the corner.  

I will close this chapter with some photos from a few of my favourite moments on 'Ian's Kitchen'.  In January of this year, I filmed two episodes on which my dad appeared as a special guest.  He brought with him a cookbook complied by my sister that contains recipes our family has enjoyed dating back to the time of our great-grandmother.  My dad also brought with him some photos of me cooking when I was so little I had to stand on a stool at the stove (!).