VH US

“In this humorous paean to the joys of food, the main story is about trucker Goro, who rides into town like a modern Shane to help Tampopo set up the perfect noodle soup restaurant. Woven into this main story are a number of smaller stories about the importance of food, ranging from a gangster who mixes hot sex with food, to an old woman who terrorizes a shopkeeper by compulsively squeezing his wares.” (Reid Gagle, IMDB) This week's guest:Lola Milholland is a creative food event planner and award-winning writer and multimedia producer. A Portland-native, she studied Japanese language and culture since kindergarten, first in the Portland Public Schools and later at Amherst College and Doshisha University. Before launching Umi, she worked at the nonprofit Ecotrust for eight years on regional food and farming issues and as assistant editor of Edible Portland magazine. This week’s links:Umi OrganicShizuku RestaurantMississippi RecordsPortland Mercado

“Mame is an unconventional individualist socialite from the roaring 20’s. When her brother dies, she is forced to raise her nephew Patrick. However, Patrick’s father has designated an executor to his will to protect the boy from absorbing too much of Mame’s rather unconventional perspective. Patrick and Mame become devoted to each other in spite of this restriction, and together journey through Patrick’s childhood and the great depression, amidst some rather zaney adventures.” – IMDB This week's guest:Native Portlandian and thrift store junkie, Michelle Lesniak hasn’t followed the traditional path down fashion lane. Born into a family of quilters, seamstresses, and interior decorators, needle and thread were predestined to find their way into her hands. From a young age, Michelle took her minimal clothing allowance and hit thrift and vintage stores, where she purchased wacky pieces that she altered to fit her taste. By remaking previously worn garments, she learned construction, destruction, and how to tailor garments. Determined to jumpstart her career in fashion, Michelle tried out for Project Runway, landing a spot on Season 11. Her lack of formal training gave her an edge; there were no rules to follow. As a self-proclaimed, professional rule breaker, Michelle won the season and the ability to design full-time, a luxury many designers never achieve.This rule-breaker, no-shit-taker continues to live in Portland, Oregon focusing on small production and emotive clothing, as she likes to say, “Fashion with a purpose”. Fun Facts: Favorite color – dirty chartreuse. Chihuahua lover. Project Runway All-Stars alum. Former trombonist. 5’5” in flats – wicked tall in heel – (bio from michellelesniak.com)This week’s links:Altar PDXMoore

“A man becomes destructively obsessed with killing a dangerous rat, which has taken residence in his, recently renovated, house.” – IMDB Mangled Bohemians (Bandcamp)Summit Pest Managment

Deceiver: “The gruesome death of a prostitute brings suspicion on one of her clients, James Wayland (Tim Roth), a brilliant, self-destructive and epileptic heir to a textile fortune. So detectives Braxton (Chris Penn) and Kennesaw (Michael Rooker) take Wayland in for questioning, thinking they can break the man. But despite his troubles, Wayland is a master of manipulation, and during the interrogation, he begins to turn the tables on the investigators, forcing them to reveal their own sinister sides.” – IMDB https://www.polygraph.org

The Ambulance: “A comic-book artist meets a woman on the NY streets, but after a quick flirtation, she suddenly collapses, and is picked-up by an old ambulance. He checks all the hospitals in the area, but the woman seems to have disappeared.” –IMDB UPDATED 7/28/20 - This was one of our early episodes, before we added movie clips and other enhancements, so we did a quick "redux" of the episode, and added a special surprise (right around the 1:03 mark).This week's guest:Leila Del Duca draws Sleepless, Shutter and writes Afar for Image Comics. In 2015 she was nominated for the Russ Manning Promising Newcomer award for her work on Shutter. Her client list includes Vertigo, Oni Press, IDW, Image Comics, and National Geographic. Leila likes to be creative during her free time, making music, cooking food, knitting, sewing, and can be found staring off into space a lot, drinking coffee and contemplating life. (Helioscope)Please be sure to click the links to find the impressive art being created by these people as well as head over to the vh.us Instagram for the accompanying visuals.Leila’s links:Image ComicsMike MignolaSean Gordon MurphyHelioscopeSteve LieberTerry DodsonCat FarrisDylan MeconisCurrently reading:Sarah MirkNaoki Urasawa’s 20th Century BoysA Bride’s StoryJuli Berwald

“Mystery abounds when it is discovered that, one by one, the greatest Chefs in Europe are being killed. The intriguing part of the murders is that each chef is killed in the same manner that their own special dish is prepared in. Food critics and the (many) self-proclaimed greatest Chefs in Europe demand the mystery be solved.” – IMDB This week's guest:After graduating from the California School of Culinary Arts’ Cordon Bleu, Aaron did an externship in his native Canada at Lumiere in Vancouver, BC and was immediately taken with the flavors and produce available in the Pacific Northwest. He moved down the West coast back to California to work under Gary Danko in San Francisco, shortly thereafter taking a sous chef position at Myth under Sean O’Brien. Reminiscing of the Pacific flavors that caught his palate in his externship, Aaron headed back up North to Oregon. After working in Portland kitchens for a couple of years, he opened St. Jack in 2010. St. Jack has won multiple awards in Portland, including the Oregonian’s Rising Star, in addition Aaron was given the Portland Rising Star award in 2011 as well as, received a nod from James Beard in 2012.– ChefsTable

“A delicious, mysterious goo that oozes from the earth is marketed as the newest dessert sensation, but the tasty treat rots more than teeth when zombie-like snackers who only want to consume more of the strange substance at any cost begin infesting the world.“ This week's guest:Heather Arndt Anderson is an award-winning author, food writer, and botanist. Heather is the author of four books on culinary history and wrote the Pacific Northwest chapter in the 4-volume Food Cultures of the World Encyclopedia (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 2011). Her work has been quoted in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and The Atlantic. Her recipes have been published in the cookbooks One Big Table: 600 Recipes from the Nation’s Best Home Cooks, Farmers, Fishermen, Pit-Masters, and Chefs, and Boozy Brunch: The Quintessential Guide to Daytime Drinking. Heather is a contributing writer to the magazines Roads & Kingdoms,Taste, Portland Monthly, Render Feminist Food & Culture Quarterly, Narratively,Remedy Quarterly,and Fish & Game Quarterly. She has appeared on “The Splendid Table” and is a regular panelist on the James Beard- and IACP award-winning podcast, “The Four Top.”Heather runs a test kitchen from her home in Portland, Oregon, where she develops recipes and content for food brands, teaches cooking and pickling classes, and tests recipes for cookbooks by other authors.