It is not time for cookie party. . .It's time for FOOD PARTY!!

Tomorrow night on IFC @ 11:15 est is the debut episode of Food Party which is a very imaginative and novel approach to a cooking show. The program stars Cleveland's own Thu Tran. She is a graduate of the CIA -- pretty cool huh. . .? Well, not that one. . .she actually is a graduate of the CIA that is equally as impressive -- that being the Cleveland Institute of Art.

Her cooking show, which started out a web-based series amongst herself, her friends, and her boyfriend (Dan Baxter the head puppet maker/creator of Kreppy Doll Factory), is produced by some very creative artists who either are from Cleveland and/or have gone to CIA with her. It is a collaborative effort where everyone seems to lend a little of their personality to the show. Since graduating they have (of course) relocated to Brooklyn. We can't blame them at all, however, it is too bad that they were not able to make such a cool thing work and stay in Cleveland -- especially since the show started here in 2006.



Her show is completely a surreal odyssey into cooking. While it does not give the viewer any actual recipes that you can concoct yourself, it does make you wish your kitchen was this animated. We love that the host is accompanied by a darker and edgier version of Jim Henson's muppets on a set built from the mind of Michel Gondry.

Bonus: Great piece about the show in the New York Times {here}

(mp3) Girl Talk - Cleveland Shake (Thu Tran is friends with Girl Talk, aka Gregg Gillis, another alumni of CIA) An oldie but a goodie, but we gotta represent C-Town!