For old school food show people like myself, the title “Dinner with the Band” may bring to mind Jamie Oliver and his mates tucking in and rocking out at the end of “The Naked Chef.” But this new cooking show on IFC is as much band as it is dinner. It’s more akin to the online “Cooking with Rock Stars,” but the “DWTB” host, Sam Mason, has some true chef cred. The names of the show’s guests are as unfamiliar to me as Major League Soccer players, but even if indie rock is not your thing,  it might be worth a look for the actual cooking and recipes, like “Can I Kick It Curry with Control Cous Cous” and “Boom Boom Boom Buns.”

I am in the midst of a kitchen renovation and have relocated cooking operations – a toaster oven and a borrowed hotplate – to the bedroom. As such, I have been bolstered and inspired by the Hotplate Gourmet, Erin Culbreth. Erin lives in a tiny West Village apartment with a “barely-there kitchen,” which, as she notes, is not uncommon in NYC. It’s true, one does get used to working in small spaces and with limited resources. But Erin has not let square footage curtail her passions. She documents her maneuvers in her blog, Hotplate Confidential, where she shares recipes and photos of luscious meals that would impress even a suburban kitchen dweller. Erin’s also a featured home cook contestant on food52, an online recipe collective developed by Amanda Hesser and Merrill Stubbs.

If you live in the tiny kitchen capital, you’re invited to join Erin and me (both Bates College alumnae) for a conversation on Dec. 3 at the Williams Club.

Tiny kitchen > big dinner

Some of us keep hoping that First Lady Michelle Obama will pick up a copy of Watching What We Eat (and subsequently get photographed reading it and that large newspaper chains will pick up the photo). Maybe she’s one step closer. Mrs. Obama will appear on an episode of “Iron Chef America” in January as the secret-ingredient revealer. The taping took place at the White House last month. The secret ingredient is revealed in this here NY Times article.

Iron Chef: White House Edition

Geoffrey Drummond, award-winning producer of a number of superb public TV cooking shows including the “Cooking with Master Chefs” series with Julia Child and “America’s Test Kitchen,” has raised the bar again. “Avec Eric” stars Le Bernardin chef and co-owner Eric Ripert and satisfies our now well-developed desires for food in the global, holistic sense – from the hunt/farm to the recipe to the table, at home, in the restaurant, all around the world. And should we settle for less? Jamais! Cherchez Eric on your local PBS stations.