I love to travel and I love food. So, if I can find a little time to watch TV on the weekends, I aim at Channels 10 and 36 to watch Ming, Yan Can Cook, Marianne Esposito, Burt Wolf, America's Test Kitchen, Lidia, Julia and the rest.

My favorite shows combine travel and food; Burt Wolf is a favorite. New to public TV -- thanks to Boston's WGBH -- is "Food Trip with Todd English" and it has the right formula of around 65 percent travel and visiting fish markets and knife stores to 35 percent working in the kitchen.

The two half-hour episodes I saw (of a 13-episode series) were seafood based. One was about sushi in Tokyo and the other about seafood from Nantucket, complete with a shore clam bake.

Boston-based English -- who has a bevvy of restaurants around the country, including Olives and Figs -- is good at getting involved (fishing with the fishermen, sticking his hand into huge freshly-caught tuna, etc.) and at looking behind the scenes. He finds interesting restaurants and chefs and so far the subject matter is good. The Tokyo show was especially fun for its numerous shots of the bustling, neon-lit city.