Who is Erminia Motika? She's the mother of beloved, Italian TV chef Lidia Bastianich, star of PBS/Create's cooking show, "Lidia's Italy", which is one of my new tv addictions since we upgraded to a digital tv converter box. Lidia is my favorite tv chef of all time; she's warm, and smart, and delightful and she makes everything look so easy! AND, she peppers her speech with endearing terms in Italian and takes us on tours of her favorite parts of Italy where she always visits the local market and manhandles all the produce! Lidia frequently features family members on her show, including her kids and grandkids, but best of all, she periodically has her mother, Erminia Motika, on the show to help out in the kitchen and pass along her years of cooking wisdom and general adorable Italian Grandma advice. (And Lidia confusingly calls her mother, "Grandma" on the show; for a long time I thought she really was Lidia's Grandma, and I figured the woman must be 110). Grandma is like a Muppet version of Sophia Petrillo from The Golden Girls, all cute and snuggly like a Muppet with a hint of Sophia spice, (but none of Sophia's bitchy meanness). Grandma loves her sweets and it's pure delight when she goes to town on a piece of strudel or torte, and she ALWAYS wants more creme fraiche! She's so adorable you'll want to go out and get your own cute Italian granny to act as your personal kitchen prep cook...In case you haven't figured it out, Grandma is the older lady on the left in the picture and the lovely Lidia, regal in her old school bullet bra, is on the right...and check out Lidia's show, website, and cookbooks...she has some great recipes.
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