People are always going on about those NPR “driveway moments” where they halt regularly scheduled activity to listen to a touching story on their listener-supported radio. Well, here’s one for me (though I don’t have a driveway). The other day Christopher Walken sat in for Leonard Lopate on WNYC. Among others, he interviewed Lidia Bastianich and her mother, Erminia Motika. The Walken and Motika families go way back to Astoria, Queens, where the Walken family owned a bakery. Their reminiscences in this interview could not be more dear, complete with comfortable silences and Erminia’s beautiful trilled R’s. I couldn’t help picturing Walken’s Captain Koons telling young Butch about his great-grandaddy’s gold watch in “Pulp Fiction.” That same gentle sincerity was exhibited here, just different subject matter (Lidia’s TV show, oxtail stew, wedding cake fiascos, immigrants). Listeners, it will only take 30 minutes of your time, so click now.

Lidia and mom on "Lidia's Italy"

It’s a pretty safe bet that if you want to find the most beautiful places in the world, just go where wine is made. I’m still glowing from the beauty of France’s Languedoc region where I recently spent some time. We stayed in a tiny village of 120 residents called Caussiniojouls in the heart of the AOC Faugères. Vineyards galore. Perfectly sunny, grape-loving weather. During our stay, we had the good fortune to dine with my friend Anne de Ravel, someone who helped me early on in the process of research WWWE (she was a producer in the early days of the Food Network). Anne is a native of the region and runs Saveur Languedoc where she offers culinary tours and cooking classes. We enjoyed the benefits of her skill when she made us a delicious dinner including the poulet you see below, cooked over burning grape vines.

I didn’t watch any French cooking shows while there because I couldn’t figure out how to work the TV.

Voulez-vous de poulet?

As I mentioned, I’ve been immersed in the world of Dione Lucas for several weeks now, and as a result I find occasion to reference her in just about any situation. We do tend to use our TV guides as life guides a bit too easily (Oprah), and the little things they say have a way of becoming oft-quoted pearls of wisdom (Sue Sylvester). And so it has happened with me and Dione. A kind of “WWDD?” month for me, you might say. For instance, a Facebook friend posted Michael Ruhlman’s recent Huffington Post column lambasting the over-hyped notion of the 30-minute meal. To her post I naturally responded that Dione Lucas used all kinds of adjectives to describe the food she was making, but “quick” and “easy” were never ever among them. She was more likely to say, “This is complex and time-consuming but worth it.” What’s the big rush to get out of the kitchen, people?

"Top Chef" judge?

Anyway, enough about Dione for a while. I’ll give us all a rest. But I recommend a great blog by said Facebook friend, Signe Rousseau, where she holds forth about food and cooking (n.b. this recent post about TV cooking) and some other topics. And another blog with which I’m newly smitten is I Wish I Liked Flan. You might think you’ll hold the title against him (because you like flan and don’t understand how anyone couldn’t), but you will be fine with his taste disability as soon as you read one post.

Please visit the WWWE Facebook page and tell me what foodish blogs you visit compulsively.

Because this never ceases to be fun, and because it’s number 3 on my list of procrastination activities (after checking email/facebook and watching cat videos), voilà the latest word cloud of this very blog you’re so kind to visit. (Wordle your own stuff here.)

I’m back into it. I’m writing an article about Dione Lucas and am discovering the joys of her all over again. In Googling about, I stumbled upon this, which my Google Alerts somehow failed to show me when it appeared last year. I’m gratified to see that Dione made Time’s Top Ten TV Chefs list. You can play, too, by rearranging the list. Annoyingly, though, you can’t add any other contenders. If Julia Child gets knocked out of first place on yours, let me know who you put as number one, will ya?

Lucas comes in at #5