Sunny's Summer Eats!

Hey there! Months and months ago I set out across the country to find some cool places to hang out and eat during the summer. There's nothing I love more than eating outdoors. At first we had a tentative title of "Boardwalks, Fairs and Festivals" or something of that nature, but now it's simply called "Sunny's Summer Eats".

As usual I kept everyone in blog-land up to date on my whereabouts, so check the links below to get the lowdown on this Saturday's debut of Sunny's Summer Eats.

New Shows and Funnel Cake

and

Girl's Gone Wildwood

I taped some of this show during winter temps, so pardon the sweaters here and there lol. Hope you have time to catch the show, I had so much fun taping it and eating my way around the country. Every place I went, I found a reason to return and it was most certainly always about the food. Chocolate covered bacon, amazing hot dogs, cheesecake on a stick, wings galore and popcorn everything ... just to name a few.

Sunny's Summer Eats debuts tomorrow, Saturday July 11th at 9PM eastern and pacific. Hope you like it!

Essence Music Festival Wrap up

As I stated yesterday, I came home a bit sick and even my play-brother that was down there in New Orleans and returned home a little under the weather. So, if you were there and returned a bit sick ... like Michael Jackson, You Are Not Alone. :-)

Here are some flicks to round up my experience ...

Sooooo remember how I was telling you about how one of my commenters mentioned they were tracking Sherri Shepherd's tweets during the Essence Music Festival??? The very next day after I wrote that blog, I ran into her backstage at the show! I got my nerve up and introduced myself to her and told her what a coincidence it was to meet her just after blogging about her being at the same event. She was soooo nice, I mean super nice. And can I say it? Skinny. Yes, truly a thing where television distorts, not that I thought she was big, but I thought she was like me, full figured. She is way smaller than me. Cute and tiny. Anyway, the funny thing is the people with her were people she mentioned in her tweets and I naturally looked at their profiles when I looked at hers on twitter, so they looked familiar and they were just as nice as she was. They watch Cooking for Real too! I watch The View everyday and sometimes conference with my best girlfriend about the show when it's over! So, it was what I call a mutual lovefest lol. Here are Sherri and I before she did an interview with TV One.

Then I ran into the man himself ...
I just had to get a picture, I don't think I met Ronald McDonald when I was young and I always liked Grimace because of his shape and color lol, but I truly turned into a kid for a few minutes when I saw him.

Ok, now for two pictures of something ... I just don't know what they are and based on the last time, I'm willing to bet they are nuthin', but look at what I cracked into TWICE this past weekend when I ordered fried oysters.
Can you see it? The little white pearl ball? Got that one at the hotel when I ordered fried oysters. It's definitely smaller than the first one. Then I went back to Mother's to get seconds because someone in the comments mentioned a po'boy and after reading the comment I couldn't help myself. So I added time to the treadmill and crossed the street for one.
See that pearl ball? Tiny right? These are both way smaller than the first 'pearl' so I'm not to excited, but I'll have them looked at by a jeweler just to satisfy the curiosity. Check back for details. As I'm typing this I'm thinking, boy did I really forget the Essence Music Festival, was about music and went straight for the food!

While I was in the Food Network kitchens a couple of weeks ago, I met a restaurant owner that was on a tour of the network and it was my luck his place was in New Orleans! I told him how I'd be down his way soon and would come by for a bite. Boy was it gooood! His place is called Huevos and it's a breakfast only place that shuts down at 3PM. Take a look at my Huevos Rancheros ... sunnyside up, not because it's my name, but because I like it runny and sunny. Over easy is cool, but I need a clean over easy, not a dirty over easy if that makes sense? You can never tell which you are going to get, so I go with sunny side up.
Pretty huh? I absolutely love avocado on the side!!! In that bottle on the left is their homemade chile oil. Very good, so good my buddy is shipping some to me. They also sent out some tamales on the house and I devoured them before I could take a picture. Just know if you ever go, it's a must order. The sauce was smoky and sweet, very good. Take a look at the inside of the spot ...
I used to have a chalkboard in my old kitchen and I loved it ... this made me miss it so much. There's even patio seating and the construction next door is a soon-to-be extension of the restaurant.
I also took in El Gato Negro and although the picture isn't the best, boy were my chicken enchiladas yummy.
I was already two bites in when I took the flick, the drinks were good too. My best male-friend lives down there and he took me and insisted I ignore my health-kick and made me have a margarita ... it was SOOOOOOO GOOOOOD! I don't know if that's because prior to that all I'd had was water and the occasional light beer, but it was good. Again, great sidewalk seating to watch the day go by ...
That's it ... I got back Tuesday and woke up Wednesday with a 100 degree temperature! For the first time I know what it means when people say they have a cloudy head, I was really a mess. My neck hurt, everything. Not that big a deal if you have nothing to do, but today I had to work! I got up early to tape The Wendy Williams Show!!! As soon as I know the airdate, I'll post flicks and a rundown. Until then, I have a date with Tylenol PM.

New Interview!

Hey there! I'm a bit under the weather from the New Orleans trip (I think it's from the airplane ... all that breathing lol) Anyway, I'm currently writing up a new blog to wrap up my Essence Music Festival experience, but in the meantime check out this new interview I did with Maureen Aladin from Destination Success.

Destination Success | Sunny Anderson, Food Network (Part I) from Maureen Aladin on Vimeo.

Destination Success | Sunny Anderson (Part II) from Maureen Aladin on Vimeo.

Thanks Maureen! I had so much fun and it was great meeting you! Keep in touch!

Mother's Restaurant Knows Best!

Hey there! Well, let me first start off by saying how hot it is down in New Orleans for the Essence Music Festival. OMG! I was out very late/early and the temperature according to the car I was in was 90 degrees ... at 2AM! I remember this heat from when I lived in the neighboring city of Kenner, LA. I lived right next to a lake so the humidity from the gulf and the lake were killer. It just doesn't even make sense to take a shower, it's all over 10 minutes after you go outside. Given that context, as sooooon as I checked into my hotel room I turned right back around and went a block away to stand in line at Mother's Restaurant. I didn't pass go or collect 200 bucks, I just dropped my bags and left for the food. It was 10AM and the line was already pretty deep ...take a look.This is the view from my room ... very annoying for someone trying to watch their intake. My best buddy lives down here and when he saw my view, knowing how much I like Mother's, he said it's the worst room I could get. Lol. I'm doing my best to watch my portions and stuff because I had a full-on eating vacation a few weeks back and didn't say 'no' to a thing! Happily so. I don't mind shape of any kind, but I do mind having to buy new jeans, ladies ... you know the feeling. So, here I am trying to get back into my skinnier jeans (teeheehee, note I didn't type 'skinny') and I have to check into a hotel room with a view of my favorite restaurant from my Loyola days. My finger is about where I stood in line and from that point it was about a 40 minute wait. Not bad, actually ... but it was soooooooo hot and here I was wearing NYC clothes because I'd just landed. So, jeans, sneakers and all, I stood in line and chatted with a girl I was so envious of because she had on a sundress, boy did I want to change outfits. Turns out her and her man were both from NYC! So, if you guys catch this blog, it was so nice to meet you two and chat! Only towards the end of our conversation did they say ... hey are you ... Sunny? I used to get that for radio when people heard my voice and now it's for television. I gotta tell you, the hair and make up and lights make me look all cleaned up, so I'm always very puzzled when someone recognizes me. Ok, so the line outside is just the start, we go inside to stand in another line that moved much faster. It's cafeteria-style ordering and then at the end of the line you order your drink and wait for the food to come. It looked just as I remembered, full of people eating or ready to eat and pictures of people that have eaten there in the past.
I ordered the Mae's File Gumbo and Bread Pudding, but my mind ordered the entire menu. I wanted some fried catfish and grits so bad! I took it all to go, because I knew that the massacre I was about to put down on the food shouldn't be viewed in public. Here's my hotel room set up...
Ahem, I only ate one slice of the bread and ditched the rest because, really ... the bread pudding was bread enough and I was strong on that and only ate half. The rest is in my fridge waiting on a bottle of water. May handle it for a snack. Boy was it good! I now make my bread pudding using fruit cocktail because of Mother's ... don't knock it 'til you try it ... fruit cocktail is soooo good in bread pudding! The gumbo was just as I remembered not spicy, but not bland. I really like riding the thin line of too spicy when I cook, so when I eat out I really like to find dishes that make your tongue tingle a bit and your forehead sweat.

After that, I got settled and headed over to the SuperDome for the first night of the Essence Festival Concert. It was sooooo packed. They sold out for the very first time!
Packed right?! I saw so many people I knew from different cities. It happens like that when you move around plenty, you just run in to people in the craziest ways, if you are military or a mover ... you know what I mean. Small world and all. The show was pretty neat, and walking around I saw so many people, but was really psyched to see Real Housewives of Atl cast member Ne Ne ... she is funny on the show and taaaaaall in person! Here are some flicks from the show ...

That's John Legend closing out his performance atop his piano. Mary at My New 30, commented in a previous blog that The View's Sherri Shepherd was tweeting about how John Legend was crazy for wearing leather in this heat. His outfit was definitely leather, but it was freeeeeeezing inside the SuperDome! Freezing, I say. Salt n Pepa opened up the show, but I saw them earlier at sound check, good to see them back on stage. Neyo also performed, but I caught most of his show while walking around trying to find people and an elusive cafe. There was a tribute to Michael Jackson done in the local tradition of a Second Line and then the headliner ...
Yup, that's Sasha Fierce, aka Beyonce. Lemme tell ya, I've liked her music and even jammed to many of her songs, but never felt a connection if that makes any sense. Things are different now. I'm buying all her cds and I'm a huge fan. Her performance was amazing. Such a clear voice and sound, the outfit changes, the dancing. She's a true entertainer and she is much more aggressive during performances than I knew. She's an obvious Michael Jackson fan and had some pretty neat video of her when she was younger and getting ready to go see him in concert, she was so excited to go and you could see a younger version of her mom all put together and ready to see him as well. She peppered the show with videos from her childhood and at one point mirrored herself and danced on stage as an adult as she did as a child in the video ... made my skin tingle. She really is in the right place and I'm really happy she made it. I really like her. Here are some more blurry flicks ...
That's her and a bootylicious bow as part of her outfit. And really this is soooo blurry, but I said why not. I still have a picture from the first concert I ever went to and it is super blurry, but also super important to such a memorable moment.
Beyonce closed the show and afterward I headed home through a maze of traffic, that's when I got that 90 degree temperature reading I told you about. I turned in for the night knowing I was just hours away from using the hotel gym the next morning, which is today. I got up, put on my workout clothes and headed to the gym to get in some treadmill time. I got on ... started walking and turned my head to the right ... you won't believe what I saw as I was trying to work off the meals from the day before ... Mother's!!!
It isn't very apparent in this picture, but if you look between the treadmill handle and it's mainframe ... you can just make out the people standing in line. I don't know if seeing my fave restaurant while in the gym is good or bad, but after I saw it I added time on to my workout.

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

That's what it is ... plenty of hot fun in the Food Network kitchens this summer. I just began the pre-production stages for my next 13 shows and these debut this coming winter, so although sorbet and gazpacho sound refreshing ... I'm dining on soup and roasts these days. Pretty heavy and calorie laden. I don't mind because although I love to dine out on seasonal fare, there are plenty of times I find myself making a very heavy meal during the summer or a light meal when it's freezing outside. What gets a bit tricky is finding winter ingredients during the summer. Blood oranges in July?? Hard to come by ... people willing to eat hot soup in June/July?? Not so much. So, I work on what I can ... Here's a bird's eye view of my first day back in the kitchens with my culinary team.

We are still in compost-mode and I am loving it! Makes me feel not so bad about not doing it at home yet. I said yet :-). Check the remains in the blurry bowl and then the rest is kinda top-secret-like teeheehee. Not really, but a hint? I've named the episode that this recipe is in "Easy Peasy". Boy was it good and comforting and I can't wait to share the recipe with ya. Ok, this is just the start. More pics are on the way from recipe testing. I'm off to the Essence Festival in my old stompin' grounds of New Orleans this weekend. First stop, Mother's Restaurant. Boy, do I miss this place! I used to visit regularly when I lived there and hated when city events happened because tourists would make the already long lines longer and now ... here I am about to be one of those tourists. Hope it lives up to the memory!

BTW and Didja Know ...

BTW

Don't forget to catch my guest appearance on Movie and a Makeover on TBS!
It's a show within a movie! Enjoy Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion while during the commercial breaks, Anne Burrell and I help Jen and her friend Jamie plan a girls-only reunion of their own! We bring the food tips and recipes then leave the ladies up to the rest. The party was a hit! It airs tomorrow morning at ..... 1040AM est on TBS. Check here for a synopsis about the movie and airtime. Didja miss my blog post about our trip down to south to tape this? Check Movie, Makeover & Mangia, for the details. Do what I do most weekends, stay in bed as long as possible and watch Saturday morning TV. Or, if you are like me and have plenty of house chores leftover from being lazy this past weekend, this is a great way to get up early, do some cleaning and watch TV at the same time. Speaking of same time, a brand new episode of Cooking for Real: North of the Border airs tomorrow as well. There may be some overlap, but like Digital Underground said ... "dowhatchalike". I just hope you enjoy your Saturday in a foodie way! Movie and a Makeover was fun, hope you like it. The recipes are up on the TBS website.

and Didja Know ....

I'm a healthy cook? Yup! That's sometimes and if you have diabetes. Recently, Diabetes Focus Magazine featured my recipe for Curry Pork Burgers with Spicy Ketchup along with the recipes of other Food Network hosts with diabetic-friendly recipes. Here's the article sourced by a sister site. There are nutritional breakdowns and all, pretty neat! These burgers are a great alternative to the typical grill scene, so if you are in need of a change, give em a try! Know a diabetic? Pass it on! They are easy to make because everything is easy to find at the grocery store, and c'mon ... it's a burger! Did you miss the episode where I made 'em? Check out this video of me preparing them on the show.

Enjoy the weekend!

Ladies That Laugh ...

Hey there! So waaaaaaaaaay back in January, yes January, I got together with some of my Food Network ladies for a Food Network Magazine photo shoot. We all got up early and convened in a Tribeca loft that was decorated soooo pristine white, it woke me up that morning just looking at it. Makes sense though, because we were told to bring summer colors and I knew they'd pop with life on the white background. At the shoot were all of us newly minted Food Network hosts, Anne Burrell, Alex Guarnaschelli and Aida Mollenkamp. Anne and Alex were both still chefs at local restaurants (Anne has since left her position at Centro Vinotecca) and this shoot actually fell during NYC Restaurant week. So here are Aida and I with no worries in the world, but a photo shoot that day and Anne and Alex were both concerned they weren't fulfilling their duties as chefs during the special week. Very nice to see two chefs at their level want to get to work and meet the people checking out their restaurants during the special events. So, it was our goal to finish as soon as possible so the ladies could get back to tha real biz. Having said that, with tight schedules and plenty of work on the schedule, you'd never know it because us girls were laughing pretty much all morning. A behind the scenes video just popped up on the FN Dish hosted by Noah Starr, who is also Aida's computer guru on Ask Aida. 

Take a look at the Girls Night Out "Photo Shoot Crash" video.

Aida lives on the west coast, so anytime she comes in for work I am too excited. Ever since we shot a commercial together and really before that we chatted some and just clicked. She's my go-to chick for a quick smile or laugh. She's just my girl, I don't have a better way to say it, but when we get to together we have so much fun. Here's the photographer discussing shots with his crew ...
And here's us ladies after all the work is done ...

Look for the July/August issue of Food Network Magazine on stands soon! To subscribe and get it delivered right to your mailbox, click on the logo ...