Can you hear me now? How bout now?

Real quick ... tomorrow morning catch me on Good Morning America!!! now for the post ...


Here I am at work inside a sound booth almost ready to give some sound! The engineer is making sure the mic stand is angled just right for my 5'5" frame, then it's time to turn me up and let me loose!

This was on Tuesday, just 2 days after my move. So, amidst the dust, boxes and construction of my new kitchen ... I got myself together somehow and headed into the city for a voice over, this time, for my very own commercial! Remember I told you a coupla weeks ago about Aida and me shooting a commercial together? Well, things are shaping up nicely and the ad agency and network needed me to go in and do some work. Here's the team I met with ...


The engineer behind the board, the director/producer, and the ladies from the ad agency. These are the people needed in the room to okay all of the voice work I was about to do, plus a Food Network exec on the phone from her office! What a production, huh? Closest I've had to that was when I did the voice over work for the final Destiny's Child release ... I sat in the studio for hours, I mean hours after I was done working. I just waited and waited on approval of my voice and the words I read and how I read them. This was after I got the gig, so it was more like I stayed in the studio to make sure the cut we did worked, if not ... back in the booth. I loved the campaign, it was a countdown to the release date series, so each day was a new commercial ... very befitting of the record-breaking group! Anyway, never since then have I done such an important and "signed-off on" voice over, cuz every one needs to sign off on it.

What did I do this time around do you ask??? Well, basically when the commercial was shot there were things we said just kinda off the cuff and not planned. This was nice because they wanted it in our own words. So, at one point I said "blah blah BLAH BLAH" and they needed me to turn those last two "BLAH's" down a bit lol. Yeah, that's a good way to say it ... I have a big mouth and sometimes things come out loud. This wasn't really loud it was more about the inflection just being too much. At the same time there was a word they needed me to add at the beginning. So, my job was to lessen the volume/inflection, add a word and make sure it allll matched and synced up with my lips. It's tricky cuz saying something loud or fast and matching is easy, but making it look like it came from those lips the first time in that moment and syncing up is hard. Kinda like you can tell when someone is yelling whether you hear them or not ... the face and lips and mandible all look different and are in different angles. So, anyway ... for the difficulty, we didn't take too long.

Here's what it looks like to me from the sound booth ... I'm in here, they are out there and they are all waiting to see what my vocal chords can do!


Many times at a voice over for television, there's no video playback. By that I mean, you are working more to fit things into a certain amount of time and there's no need to see the video. Now, there are times when I've done voice overs that I feel would have been better If I could see the material my voice is to match. For the aforementioned Destiny's Child voice over, there was video playback. There were other groups or artist's I did voice over work for and I'd walk into the studio and see no video set-up and know that either budget was low, or they didn't care or understand what a voice over can do for a project. Like sometimes I think people think it's the last thing to think about, but the voice that is selling a product is sometimes just as important as the product. Like, how am I reading a commercial for a ballad or a cologne and I don't even have the vibe or sound of it? Train wreck ... I can do either voice loud or soft ... just gotta know when. Anyway, I'm such a digresser ... I was super hype when I walked in and asked if we had video playback and we did ... thing is, with the matching lips it was needed, but I gotta tell ya I think it's needed across the board. The little monitor on the right is what I watched and there was a bigger one in the main studio where people that sign-off on everything sat.

Ok, here's a pic of my view in the booth, what I see when I read ... zoom away and get a sneak peak of what I'm saying :-)...

The commercial should begin to run in the next week or so, on other networks like VH1, E! and BET. Can't wait for you to see it, it's kinda funny to me and I hope you like it! Don't forget Aida's show, Ask Aida, begins this Saturday, she's a cool chick and I hope you like her show!!

BTW and Didja Know ...

BTW
Tonight's How'd That Get On My Plate? is at a NEW time!!!! 830 PM EST and Pacific ... NEW TIME NEW TIME NEW TIME! :-) it's' 830PM now!!! Check here for local listings, there's a tab at the top for each time zone. This week it's all about the only fruit we eat with seeds on it's outside ... strawberries!! Check here for the local press. Then, check your TV tonight for the rest. (my attempt at a loose rhyme... "press", "test" teeheehee)

Didja know ...

Last week I was in garlic country a.k.a. Gilroy, CA. Scroll down for the stories. Christopher from the local paper came by and he shot video instead of print- which is what I guess I expected ... go figure! I love a paper that has vlogs on it's site ... check me out talking about my love of garlic and check for the 10 foot pile of garlic in the background ... crazy!!!

ANNNNNNND ... Tonight if you are a Sirius listener, tune into MAXIM radio with Devore and Diana tonight around 730ish and then I'll be hanging out with the ladies of Lip Service on Shade45 radio around 8ish. See ya on the radio!

p.s. If ya follow the blog, i wrote this on friday in anticipation of my mess today as i'm moving into a new kitchen. just got my wifi so i feel human again ... like on Seinfeld ... "Serenity Now!"

I Heart Potatoes ... I think they heart me too :-)

Cute lil heart shape, huh? I got this at Reser's in Oregon on another fact finding trip for How'd That Get On My Plate?. We went to the processing plant where they make potato salad and there was this huuuuuuuuge holding bin out back. It had some jillion pounds of potatoes in it, but I couldn't see them. I asked if I could climb the ladder to the top to look inside and Steve, my guide said sure. I did the climb with him and scanned the scene ... millions of potatoes fresh from the field were just hanging out waiting to be steamed, peeled and diced into salads and one potato sat on top of all those millions and stared right back at me! I didn't even tell Steve I saw it I just said ... "can I walk over there?" (the bin was surrounded by a landing). He said sure, and I hustled over to my potato lol ... you see me type my??? I'm corny, huh? So, there it was in my hand and that's when I asked if I could keep it, he said sure! Turns out, it's a two-sprouter or something and it wouldn't have made the cut(pun) anyway. Glad I saved it from the pig-feed ... I'm taking it home to my dude, slice it thin and putting it in a round casserole in a fan .. gonna make something yummy for him, with a heart shaped tater. Another guide told me they had one that looked like Prez Nixon and kept it in the office for awhile until it went bad (there's a joke in there ... just read the sentence over, teeheehee). I think potato farmers should do a boutique market of these two-sprouters because everyone thought my tater was cute and then on top of that, turns out there are many that come along like that. Next on the tour was the part I like ... sampling the product. In this case .. 18 DIFFERENT TYPES OF POTATO SALAD!!! Take a look! Really there's more, they just gave us a mini sample of some of the blends they make. That's my plate I'm pointing to. I took a scoop of each sample.


My faves were the "Red, White and Bleu", which had bacon as the red and bleu cheese as the blue. I ate it and didn't even check the spelling, some people spell it "blue" and it is still acceptable. Then I think my next fave was the Bavarian because it reminded me of German Potato Salad and then rounding in third was the Creole which was packed with black pepper! What A food heaven I walked into. Lunch was next and I didn't eat a thing because I'd already had plenty of salad and then one of our tour guides celebrated a birthday right before lunch and you know that means cake!! Happy birthday Chef Barbara! And WOW Kayleigh on the raspberry butter cream cake!!! Special "Hi" to Rachael ... cook on girl!

Right now, I'm at the airport gettin' my wifi on and I can't wait to take some ty-p and nap all the way home. Big day tomorrow as the movers arrive only hours after I land ... what a tight schedule, but when it's over I will be so happy to have a new kitchen.

Today, we drove to somewhere outside of Pasco, WA to visit Kiska Potatoes. In the farm country is where we were ... deeeep in the country. I hung out with the farmers and even got on the back of the tractor to sort potatoes as they came right from the earth!


I stood up there on the right and rode in the tractor cab as well. I was having so much fun I didn't realize maybe it'd be a good idea to don a mask and safety glasses like the farmers, cuz when I was done I looked down and all I saw was dirt. A thick layer of dirt all over me! lol And I was chawwin' on gritty teeth for hours. We stopped on the way back to Portland to get gas and I took the opportunity to ... how do I say this ... is this the right place to type this?? Ever hear of a "w----'s bath"?? ... Well, I haaad to, I couldn't stand sitting in that car so gritty and then I thought no way was I gonna get on the plane farm-stinky!

Anyway, got clean and ran next door to get a burger, but they had a 20minute wait and we were on a schedule, plus my food 6th sense told me the 20 minutes wouldn't be worth it, hate to say. So, not 1 minute later we ran into a taco truck right off the highway -- courtesy of a wrong turn!! My luck on street food this week was grrreat like Tony the Tiger!! Take a look at my pollo tacos, after a bite. I almost forgot to share the story :-).


They were juicy and yummy and the green sauce is what it was supposed to be, real spicy with a teeny tang. Yummy!!! Alright, don't forget tomorrow morning a new episode of Cooking for Real. This week it's PB&J pancakes with the "J" being a very delicious sauce that is great on ice cream and in tea as a flavoring as well, but this week, it's on top of panny cakes! Hope you enjoy and heck, hope I enjoy too ... only been in it, haven't seen it :-). Have a great rest of the weekend and I hope to post soon after I move. Thanks for all the comments and I really appreciate the support. This is such an amazing ride and I've really worked for it for some time, you being here with me is what makes it cool. No "me" on TV without ya! Spread the word and tell a stranger about the shows, you may meet a foodie!!

Fellowship of Foodies

Well lemme tell ya ... I think I love Portland. I say think because I've only been twice and the first time, which was just a couple of weeks ago, was really in the outskirts not the city. This time around we flew in for a one-night stay before a day of shooting in Portland, so we stayed right in the city. Ok, how do I tell this story .... ummmmm where to start ... ok, well I'll say that I love street food.

About a year ago I began researching street food vendors in various cities across the states. I called city councils to get the amount of street vending permits, the where's the who's. I went on websites to find foodies talking up local street food and I got lucky here and there and actually found pictures of food and truck-fronts, not store fronts :-). Ok, I have to admit I have a horrible memory and last year seems like 20 years ago, so imagine the deja vu I had while riding to the hotel in Portland ... we passed a row of street vendors and things began looking familiar ... I'd stumbled on the very street vendors whose pics were still in my hard drive from last year's research!!! Ok, so we get to the hotel and I needed to run some errands (read- shop in a tax-free state), but the whole time all I really wanted to do was eat some street food. I just knew if I ate first, I'd rush it to get in some shopping time. In my world, I'll starve to enjoy a meal. Hope that makes sense to you lol. So, here I am in this great city of Portland, the weather is beautiful, no tax :-), and I'm armed with a hotel-style map. I'm super tourist! lol! On the street corner with the big map all opened up looking lost. What a mess, but a good one, reminded me of when I first moved to NYC.
So, right when I begin to wrap up the errands and walk in the direction I believe the street vendors are in, my internal compass gets messed up and I'm sure I'm walking in the wrong direction. Just at that moment ... I mean riiiiight at that moment ... I see a dude walking towards me with a purpose and I dunno, something told me to ask him which way to go. Here's kinda how it went ...

Me: Excuse me, are you from here?
Dude: Yeah
Me: Ok, well uhhhh I was just driving in today along I think this road or a parallel road and then we turned left I think somewhere over there (motioning), then right before we turned I saw these street food vendors in a parking lot and I think it was that way (pointing the direction I was walking, and a few other directions as well). There was Thai food and another thing. Anyway, do you know what I'm talking about?
Dude: Actually that's where I'm going right now and it's that way. (pointing over my shoulder, I was walking the wrong way)

So, he was like you can walk with me if you want. I was like heck yeah!! Lemme tell ya, I was really far off with my mental compass. Turns out the guy's name was Zachary. He was not only really cool, but on the 15-20 minute walk I learned he was an avid foodie, eating all over the place and he has friends that live thisclose to me in Brooklyn! Small world. We got to the corner of the street vendors and I was in heaven ... here are some pics ...





Crazy scene ... we decided to get some yakisoba topped with an egg and I got the chicken, Z got the pork. Well, our walk to the street vendors was slower than I'm sure he planned (remember, he was walking with a purpose when I stopped him on the street), so that being said he had to get to work, but I didn't. So we ate, but he left to get that check and I still had a few noodles to tend to when he left. I sat there eating and just thinking about how cool life is - food wise. I am beginning to think I have food esp, like how do I research a street vendor scene last year and dream about going, then I get there? This same thing just happened to me in South Carolina recently. I don't wanna understand it, I just hope I can get some more meals out of it! So, should I begin to dream or talk about German food and then I'll get back there soon? Hasn't worked yet, been wanting to go back for years.

Alright ... I know this is getting long, but I called the post Fellowship of Foodies, and that means two.
Anthony. What a pleasure to meet you if you ever catch this blog.
I met Anthony right after I left the row of street vendors. I took a few minutes to snap the flicks above, then I crossed the street to make the trek back to my hotel room. I walked about 200 feet and I saw a row of 20somethings in chef whites just chillin' leaning up against a building. I love foodies, so I wasn't gonna just walk by, I stopped and said "hey, what are you guys doin'?" ... a split second after I said that, I see the logo on the lapel ... they were standing in front of Portland's branch of Le Cordon Bleu! Ha! I didn't even know there was one here and right after meeting a nice foodie that walked me to lunch, I bump into a whole row of them. I chatted with them all, but Anthony and I began to wax philosophical about GARLIC. I still smelled like it from the flight from Gilroy that morning and I was still a bit excited I'd seen so much garlic up close. Some 5 million pounds of garlic! So, we talked and he told me of his garlic stories, how he loved food and cooking for others and his plans for externships and how he wanted to fit in the culinary world. If he cooks like his words are passionate about it, I know he will flourish. I began to see myself in him, just some of the things I say about food and how sometimes people said things about my drive in the beginning of my radio career. I just really felt his dreams and goals and hope he achieves them. He's a dreamer, a skilled one. I told him my stories and then talked about my very own love of garlic and then it hit me, I should show him my garlic pics from Gilroy. I whipped out my phone to show him and I could see he was kinda pleased to see I wasn't just talking about it to talk about it. I mean, I am zoomin' in on roasted garlic in a cell phone for goodness sakes teeheehee ... just then as I completed my show and tell ... Anthony reaches in to his bag and brings out his show and tell - a bright yellow plate with ridges in the center ... I've never seen one in real life, but I'd heard of them. They were used back in the day to mince garlic ... his grandmother gave it to him and then, this cool foodie told me he could get another from her and gave me the one right out of his bag. I was like you sure???? He was like yeah!! We took this pic below ... and then he asked me if I wanted him to autograph it, Darn Skippy!!! He pulled out a Sharpie and hit me with the sig ... I smiled all the way to my room. I'd just met 2 cool foodies in the land of port.

Anthony, you've dared to dream it, now dare to live it!

A special thanks to Dave at Portland's city hall visitor's desk. I just walked in and asked him for some suggestions and he ended up being a mini foodie himself! Just in case you are wondering ... he had no notion I was from FN. I just specialize in talking to strangers lol. He found a swanky place for the crew to eat so I could head out and do my street food thing!

I'm in Pasco, WA tonight and return from the road Sunday ... Then I'm moving into a new place, so if the blog goes silent for a few days, it's just me getting my life in order. Have a great weekend!!

Hop, Skip and Jump ...

That's where I am from Gilroy, CA ... a hop, skip and a jump. This morning the crew all got up early ... me late (set my phone alarm and uhhhh, also decided I didn't want to answer the phone lastnight, so I set it to silent ... so in the morning, I heard nothin' lol ... I'm not always the smartest lol) Anyway, we hopped a quick flight to Portland, OR and boy did I have a great first day! I took pics and all, but now my phone is having a hard time sending all the pics I took today to my email acct ... I have such a nice story of foodies in the streets of Portland I can't wait to tell with some flicks, but in the meantime ... here's what I still smell like ... and I love it.


Roasted Garlic!!! This goes mostly to food service (restaurants and stuff)... so chances are you haven't seen it in stores, but there is a smaller size they service to a very limited amount of grocery chains. So, I guess in some cases the chef didn't roast those cloves on location, huh? I'm not mad. Just gimme the garlic!!

BTW and Didja know ...

BTW...
Reruns of Cooking for Real air on Wednesdays at 130PM!!! Catch me cooking during the week!! Again, reruns on Weds!! This Weds it's all Tex-Mex food, a term used in Texas to describe the blend of both cultures, duh teeheehee. Really this is what you call unauthentic Mexican food, what the natives have done to make it their own. Best of both cultures. This is how I ate when I lived there and still do. I miss Texas, I remember a bumper sticker I saw while living there that said "I wasn't born here, but I got here as quick as I could". So fitting.

and didja know ...
Debuts are still on Sundays at 1030AM. This week PB&J pancakes plus my take on green eggs and ham ... feels like a must-do for a cooking show right? The green part is great with more than just eggs, hope you like the show!

In honor of my rerun's ... the original Rerun - Fred Berry, r.i.p.

I Stink, Therefore I Am ...

... in Gilroy!!! Here's a pic of just 40 of the some 8000 acres of garlic Christopher Ranch owns in Cali. The field hands are out here at 5AM pulling up bulbs!


So, you 'd think it stinks here, but it doesn't ... and lemme first say that I LOVE GARLIC. I actually feel like if my dude didn't, we couldn't date. Like really ... I'm cooking for two, no way I'm living without garlic. No Way. My guy is actually as enthusiastic about it as I am, so it works. Anyway, just so you don't think the word stink is detracting, I love the smell. Now, the cool thing today was going in a processing plant where they take the skins off and sort them for whole or minced. The fumes had every one's eyes on the crew watering, except mine. I'm like ... i crush, mince, chop and eat these things whole almost every day! No tears for me ... call me Johnson&Johnson!! I just got back in the hotel room and as I was hanging my clothes I wore today, I could smell the garlic!!! Yummy!!! Just in case you caught that, I'm hanging stinky garlicky clothes that I wore today, so I can wear them again tomorrow ... that's all for continuity. Even though we film in different cities on different days I will always have the same outfit throughout an episode. Do you ever pay attention to that? I don't really, but I get it, probably a subconscious thing. So, I usually bib-up at lunch so I don't mess up my top. Then, sometimes between road trips I take the television clothes to the cleaner. Sometimes, I have doubles of television outfits, but those get messy too ... All I know is, I don't mind sweating all day and getting back into the same clothes tomorrow ... they smell like garlic!! We leave Wednesday, the day the Garlic Fest starts arrrrgh! It's ok, I plan to get in some quality garlic time before then.

Dear FN Shoot

Happy Monday!!

So, I'm on the road again to tape How'd That Get On My Plate? and began my day by waiting for 2+ hours on a tarmac in a plane with no A/C ... very funny. Now look, I know it isn't really funny, but watching how heat can really turn a good thing bad, is a bit funny. Like alllllll the pleasantries were over as soon as the people on the plane realized they were gonna sweat. Now, I've been in the land of sweat (hot factories, hot farm fields) plenty lately, so my resistance is built up n stuff. I just sat there in my seat with the sweat trickling down my face and watched as people complained. Honeymooners mad that they'd miss their connection. Another woman mad she'd have to add a day onto her vacation. And then there was the crazy man that got so bad, we had to pull back up to the gate after 2 hours of being pushed back just to let him off ... via escort. Now, that ... was funny. Ever see the Spike Lee flick Do The Right Thing? Kinda like that ... heat can make people go crazy! Anyway ... real quick, I wanna tell you about the Dear FN shoot I had this past Thursday with Brian from North Carolina.

He saw the posts and press about Dear FN and sent in his own video request for us/me ... I can't tell you what he wanted cuz that would give the segment away, but I can tell ya a bit about the day ...

So, I had some stuff to do before he arrived to set. We flew him in to be on camera with me and wanted him to be rested so I began the day early and he joined us after lunch.

That morning I got in and my task was to tape these little segments that will run in every show, I think there are 8 total. My segments are short n sweet with little ideas for holiday guests and parties. The afternoon shoot with Brian, our viewer, is more of a cooking segment. I was actually so busy in the days leading up to the Thursday shoot that I didn't know where the shoot was until that morning when I got in the car headed towards the city. The driver (I know, a driver lol) says to me "seventy-five 9th?" and I was like ... "I guess, if that's what you have!" teeheehee. I got excited immediately because that's the familiar address of Chelsea Market and Food Network! I dunno where I thought I'd be taping, on location or in another studio, so I was really happy to be going to a familiar place. Even better, I'd get to see some familiar faces -- as in almost everyone I worked with on Cooking for Real! The whole crew is like a set staff with only a few rotating parts. So, the guy that does camera on Iron Chef, chances are he does camera work on various other shows, like mine. Anyway, after spending a coupla weeks of long days with the entire crew, you get to really miss them when you are gone and done taping. I just sat in the car from Brooklyn to Manny Hatty thinking how seeing them during my Dear FN shoot was gonna be great. Now, you may say duh, Sunny, of course you were gonna tape at Food Network's studios ... and to that I say well, even though the show is on the network, it isn't produced by it ... so, that's why I guess I thought we'd tape elsewhere ... again, I'm a rookie.
:-)

Ok, so I get there and find out I'm shooting in the Food Network test kitchens. You've seen this kitchen if you watch NFNS or Throwdown and it's very familiar to me because it's where I did my recipe testing for both runs of Cooking for Real. It's actually where Aida and I did our commercial shoot as well. Everything was really fast and almost every 20 minutes or so I'd see a familiar face pop in from the Cooking for Real crew, so the morning whizzed by.

For lunch we all walked in a single file line like hungry little kids to another floor of the building where there's a break room, but forget the break room ... I WALKED PAST THE EDIT BAYS!!!! Yeah, here I am walking by these little edit booths and I hear something familiar ... me. I stopped in my tracks and looked right, there it was ... a frame of Cooking for Real, on a big screen being edited to life! Ok, call me stupid, but I kept walking while looking ... a bit caught off guard and slower like in a trance. Then not a few steps later, my continual right-facing slow walk paid off ... I heard me and saw me again, this time in another edit bay. So, finally I was like forget lunch, what is going on here?!!?!!? I'm all loud and noisy, so I back tracked to the first room said "hey!" and met the people that take all my stuff and piece it together into a show. That was super cool. I've wanted to meet everyone in the process, but sometimes I think we are kept out of the real stuff so the real work can get done ... no editor needs me sitting in his/her booth saying which angle I like better, you know? But how neat is it to meet the very people that "make" the shows!!! As a voice over person I also wanna meet the chick that voices some stuff on the network, what a velvety voice. Great pipes! And you'd think after watching hours and hours of unedited me, they'd be sick ... but they actually were really nice, welcoming to their office and even said they'd taken some of my recipes home. That's a huge compliment, especially from the people that see it up close and unedited. Thennnnnnnn I learned something I find quite crazy, but they said it's true ... I'm the first person they'd met at the network, that they edit. As much as it seemed a huge treat for me, I think we were all kinda excited by the Twilight Zone I'd walked into. I even got to dub a voice over for the promo in the next room they were putting together. All because I happened to walk by, doors were open and I could see them working on me. Lemme tell ya, I can't say enough how much hard work the editor's go through. I don't think they see daylight much because just imagine the workload ... and when you watch a show produced by the network, you don't get credits, so lemme give em some credit! Take a look at us ... we took this twice to juxtapose the screen in the back over us, so you could see what I walked in on ... ha, I'm wearing orange, twice!!


Ok, then after lunch I finished up some segment stuff and the whole time I saw this guy off to the side of the set just smilin' away ... I'm thinkin', must be an exec I haven't met yet. He was just watchin' and smilin' and then I'd smile ... it was a smile-fest. Turns out it was Brian!!! The man of the day!!! Just months ago he'd sent in a video about a holiday food issue and here he was now in the Food Network test kitchens about to get his food problem solved ... or so we hoped!! Teeheehee ... anyway, he was great!!! I think I was more nervous than him ... I'm like I hope I don't make a mistake! Then he's like me too! LOL ... I'm so wack right? I'm supposed to reassure him it'll be ok and here I am worried. Well, we go our nerves out and in just one take, got all the stuff done!!! Then we had to do close-ups and inserts ... those are almost self-explanatory. The close-up is of course a zoomed shot of a hand or a spoon stirring, a can being picked up ... sometimes they are caught live during taping, then sometimes they are done right after the wide shot. In this case they can also be categorized as "inserts" ... I'm the blind leading the blind here if you don't know TV terms ... I'm learnin' and lovin'. We did those and then moved on to the next segment ... I can't say what it was, but it ended with a drink!! A rum drink!! What a way to end the shoot huh??

So, Brian and I went into to the big studio that was being used by Guy Fieri for his Big Bite and I introduced him to Guy and the rest of the crew that also worked on Cooking for Real. Guy is such a class act, took time to say hi and all while he was in the middle of acts and taping his show. We watched for a bit, I showed Brian the layout of the studio, the mini kitchen and all the stuff that happens behind the scenes and then we parted ways ... me off to do some voice-over work and Brian off to tour the big city! I can't wait to see him on the show! He had such a funny story and really took well to the process. Hi Brian!!!! (he says he reads the blog)!!! I'll post a pic of us in the Food Network test kitchens as soon as I get it!!

I'm in Gilroy, CA a coupla days for GAHHHHHHHLIC!!!!

See Spot Run!

Hey all!!
Well, the term "spot" is used in the biz as a word for a commercial. I'm sure you knew that, but just in case you thought I was talkin' about a dog :-).

This past weekend I got up and headed in to the city from Brooklyn for my first national commercial shoot! Ok, well, I've been on a few national commercials, but not me per say, my voice. I did voice overs for musical artists and their promotional campaigns while I was in radio. This time around the spot is to promote not only me and my shows, but a new chick I'm luvin' and I hope you love too ... Aida Mollenkamp. Go check her show info out on FoodNetwork.com ... she is a crazy cool! We found out that we'd be shooting a commercial together a while back and kept trying to reach each other to chat on the phone. She lives on the left coast and was flying in for the shoot, so finally last week we both found time in our schedule to "meet" over the phone. I was in Oregon fresh from picking cherries, and she was in San Francisco making candied apples. Anyway, turns out she used to live in the tri-state area and listened to HOT 97, she was like "I think I listened to you, your voice is familiar". Small world huh? I was just happy we had something in common, food and music! So, needless to say we hit it off and both got off the phone excited to shoot our first spot. This is different for the network because it will air on other channels as well, so it'll hopefully give us some new viewers, cooooool with me.

Are you interested in the process? See, here's the rub, I have info and I dunno what's interesting to you lol. I know I'm blogging cuz boy, did I wish I had a peak inside as a viewer, so now that I'm on ... I'm just doin a lil stuff to fill the void for people like me out there, people that like information ... no matter how superfluous it is. So, I ask myself when I blog, "who cares?" ... here's a who cares paragraph ahead, if you don't care ... you can skip, but it's just some background on how things came together.

So, to backtrack, maybe like a month or so ago we got wind of the commercial. Then, there was the lunch meeting. I gotta tell ya, I love the lunch meeting. Biz gets done and tummy gets full ... what could be better for work? So the marketing people from the network, the advertising company people the network hired and lil ol me piled into Morimoto's restaurant to chat. The whole idea was for everyone to meet and then for the ad company to get to know me a bit before they went off to brainstorming land for the spot concept. I gotta tell ya, sometimes I can just babble for hours and that day I think I did ... it was a table of about 10 women and they all had questions and I had long-winded answers lol. The food was yummy and service was cool too. No complaints about the Iron Chef's spot. Well, after the lunch they said they had enough information to move forward and after that I didn't hear much about the concept until last week. Boy, those chicks at the ad agency, I say chicks with respect, really did get enough information! I got an email last Thursday from the marketing department and with it was an attachment of the story board for the commercial we'd shoot just 3 day later. It was simple and easy to understand with no words and it was hilarious and cute even at this stage. I'm sure I can't post it now, but I will when the commercial begins to air, so you can laugh along with me ... there's one frame where the ad company put both Aida's and my head on someone else's body, just to illustrate our placement in the scene and it looks hilarious!!!!

Ok, now that the details are over ... the fun. So, without giving away the concept, there are two little girls that play the younger version of us in the spot and this is little me, Kabrina.


Her mom found my blog and we've since emailed some, she says Kabrina woke up that Sunday morning and watched Cooking for Real so she could study my mannerisms more ... how cute is that? Such dedication from a young actor is probably why everyone on the set said she has a huge future ahead of her. They said at casting she walked in and they just knew it was her from her smile, but then wondered if she could act ... they found out in 2 seconds that she could and she got the gig!!! I don't wanna say it and have you think I'm biased cuz she plays me, but I think she is just such a pretty girl and the smile is a melter! Thanks to her mommy for the photos, you got a winner girl!

Here's me and Aida chillin between takes...


Lemme tell ya, every single thing in view is there down to the centimeter! They kept making teeny nudges to the left or right of the stuff on the counter behind us. All really to frame things up properly, so we did many takes and when the still photographer came in for the print ads that will accompany the campaign, boy did we take a jillion flicks. I dunno how models do it. Really ... definitely one of those gigs that looks like fun, but isn't 100%. I used to get that in radio plenty, people would say "oh it must be so much fun!" and I'd think, well most of the time, but some of the behind the scenes admin. stuff is a bore. This shoot wasn't a bore, but it surely wasn't cooking food or talking for hours, which is really fun lol!

Here's a long shot of the set and the monitor... the two dudes are standing in, blocking the shot to see where they want us to be in it.


and here's another shot of us workin'...


And here's all the execs and crew looking at one of the monitors ... there were monitors galore so everyone that needed to could check and make sure things looked right in the manner they were framed.


The shoot didn't take long, but it was in two locations. Aida and I shot in the Food Network test kitchens and the girrrrrrls aka "Young Sunny" and "Young Aida" filmed elsewhere (see me tryin' to be all secretive?) teeheehee. So, I never got to meet miss Kabrina, who played a younger me. By the time we wrapped, they'd wrapped as well ... what a production!!!

Anyway, I think today the network got the rough draft and stuff, but I have no idea when they will begin to run. As soon as I know, you'll know! Alright, stay tuned for a post about my Dear FN shoot yesterday in NYC with a Food Network fan from North Carolina!!!

UPDATE: TAKE A LOOK AT THE COMMERCIALS

Make it work!

Ok, 1st ... one of my fave shows is back tonight!!!! Tim Gunn and Frau Heidi are back for Project Runway on Bravo!!! Hence the title of this post, but ... I'm makin' it work too :-) ... Here are some pics from the road last week, then I'll drop a post with a brief description of the commercial shoot I did this weekend ... gonna say jusssssst enough to not get in trouble with any Food Network suits lol!!! Ok, so first last week I went to Rochester, NY to find out how tomatoes get into Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauce ... here it is coming off the line ...


And post water, oil, seasonings and PRE-Tomato ...


Now lemme tell ya about the hosts ... they were THE BEST!!! We as a team are on the road plenty trying to get the shows taped in time to meet the schedule given to us by the network. So, there are plenty of long days, long flights and long drives. It really is a bonus when we get somewhere and the people we are there to interview are just kind. The people at this factory, were way more than just kind. The crew felt like family. They made a huge Italian family style lunch for us and constantly asked if we needed anything. Usually we fend for ourselves, hunting down lunch and bringing our own water bottles to the set. This is actually totally ok with us, we are all adults and actually sometimes get excited to find a local spot to grab a bite. So, hospitality is not expected, but surely appreciated. And oh, wow, was it HOT in that factory!!! Consider the fact that the bottles in the above pic come off the line at almost 200 degrees ... imagine the temperature of the room ... crazy!!! So, here we are eating lunch and finishing up with espresso .. yes, I'm telling you they had a full on meal for us ready at lunch time ... we are all chillin' and in walks Erinn!!! She was the daughter of one of the people we worked with that day and we actually called her to say hi earlier because her dad said she was a fan of Food Network. She wasn't there though when we called, she was at work. So, I thought awww shux, we miss a chance to say thanks for watching and in she walks from her job at lunch with some treats ... ICE CREAM SUNDAES for everyone!!! Helped she worked at an ice cream spot ... So thanks to her, with the heat we were enduring in the factory, the Ice Cream hit the spot!!!

Then next day I hopped a flight to Portland, Oregon to pick some cherries ... these are my first two ...


It was hot here too ... and the host farmer's were again very kind and took us to lunch ... turns out the restaurant owner wanted to meet some foodies ... and there we were!! Romul's was the place, in The Dalles, OR ... we all piled in and ate like kings n queens on some yummy food and then headed back to work. I can't wait for you to see the cherry episode of How'd That Get On My Plate? They way maraschino cherries are made is verrrrrrry interesting. Here's some pics and hopefully video later ... enjoy!!!

This is me and Bob, he's talkin cherry pickin' and I'm listenin'!


Ok, now I'm pickin', but in order for you to see it on TV, there's (from left): A producer holdin' her clipboard making sure we do everything right; a production assistant (hidden) holding a sun reflector making sure even though it's sunny and hot out, I get an extra dose of light; a cameraman catching the memories, me picking cherries and trying to not sweat off the make-up artists' work; a makeup artist holding a tree limb down for the camera man; and a sound man making sure you hear the "snap" when i pull the cherry from the tree. Behind the still camera??? The p.r. dude Eric, he was there to make sure we got our facts right!! Thanks for the pics Eric!!!





After I picked 'em, time to dump 'em ... uhhh and I must admit to stuffing my bin with some cherries I didn't pick lol!!! It was hot out there!


Here I am at the processing plant, about to sort through cherries to weed out the bad ones ... I am now a terror at my local fruit stand ... it took me waaaay too long day before yesterday picking out cherries! One little trip to an orchard and now I think I'm a pro at my local spot ... coincidentally called "The Orchard" lol. That's Brenda next to me, her family has been in the cherry biz for generations.


That's it, I hope to get that video up so you can see some behind the scenes stuff from the shoot ... then I'm also gonna post about the commercial shoot I had with Aida this past weekend ... it'll start popping up soon, so I wanna give ya some scoop before everyone sees it. Check in a bit later, for now ... I have a pineapple upside-down cake to make for a new show, more on that later as well!

Red-Eye, then shut-eye

Oooooooowwwweeeeeee I just landed from the trip to Oregon ... that started in Rochester. I had plenty of fun and met some cool people ... Even have some pics to post later ... and by later I mean probably Sunday eve. Teeheehee. Right now I'm fully tuckered out lol! I have a big day tomorrow ... we are shooting a commercial and I have to get up early and be on set by 6:30AM! I'm totally prepped for that thanks to a military background, but to make sure I'm well rested from a week on the road with 12+ hour days, I'm taking a full day of "west and wewaxation" as Elmer Fudd would say teeheehee ... ok ... I'm about to catch some sleep, but did want to send a special thanks to Erinn in Rochester :-). She's the daughter of one the guys we worked with at a factory there and at lunch she surprised the whole crew with ice cream from her job. Complete with caramel and chocolate sauce ... all kinds of nuts and toppings too. It was sweet(pun) and right on time, considering we'd spent the first half of the day in 100+ degree temps within the factory! Thanks Erinn!! And Santi as well for the old world Italian cooking stories ... We all felt like family and we truly appreciated your hospitality. Truly.
Okay y'all I'm nervous about the commercial shoot tomorrow! A good kind of nervous.

CW11 Posts video!

Hey hey hey!!! I'm all waitin on some stills to post up from this morning's TV appearance and someone sends me this link ... check it out, it has video from this morning and the recipe aaaaand a photo gallery!! Ha, no need to post my personal ones from the culinary crew, unless they are good stuff... here's one of the 8 pics on the CW11 Website ...
                                                                                                                                                                                                                              copyright 2008, wpix

Here's the video link to cut n paste as well ... http://weblogs.cw11.com/news/local/morningnews/blogs/2008/07/food_networks_sunny_anderson_m.html

I'm in Rochester tonight to shoot some stuff tomorrow. A BBQ pulled pork sangwich just gave me the "itis" (ahem, if you don't know, let's just say the food made me real tired, btw Hawaiians call the "itis" a "kanack attack", pronounced kuh-nak!!!) Anyway, I poured sauce all over the joint even though it was already sauced, it was goooooood. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

One down ... One to go!

Heyyyyy!!! I am tiiiiired!!! teeheehee ... but I first gotta say what a blast I've had these last few days promoting the new shows. So, Friday I did Good Morning America in Bryant Park! Here I am just hangin' out before we go on ...




Then Chaka Khan perfomed. THAT GIRL LOOKS GOOD!!! Like, we were all commenting on how grrrrreat she looked and boy is it nice to see a chick with some hips!! As soon as we finished the cooking segment, it began to rain ... but that didn't stop her! Very Central Park Diana Ross-esque, but not ... cuz she's CHAKA darnit! OKAY?! She hit the notes too, crazy.


Gotta click on this to enlarge to really see her... my cam phone is not too bad ...


Ok ... I didn't meet Ms. Khan, but her security dude, Tony, came over to say hi when she was performing and told me they watch Cooking for Real and they were just happy for me and proud of me, so that was cool, good ol' Tony put a smile in my heart that a.m. ... nice when people say nice stuff when you are nervous! I still had nerves leftover from the cooking segment. It's funny because they gave me about 3-4 minutes for the length of my portion of the segment and then of course I wasn't alone, there were two other chefs (i'm a cook teeheehee), anyway they had plenty of time alloted for all 3 of us in the segment. Then, when it began, me being first ... it was all about leaving time for the others, so what you can't see is riiiiiiight as we begin and Deborah Roberts and I begin our thing, the director hastily began wrapping us up to finish. It was funny cuz in my head I'm like I just started adding spices to the processor, no way 3 minutes passed already. lol!!! Anyway, it was new to be wrapped without a countdown, I think I survived ok, but now I know if I'm the starter in a segment, I can expect to be wrapped before my time. We got our full time in and every one else on the panel got theirs too, so mission accomplished.
If ya missed it, click here and check the Food Network Addict post about it, he has the video up!

Then, yesterday the new episode of Cooking for Real started!!! I hope you like it ... That chicken is crunchtastic! Give it a try if you are a fried chicken fan! New colors on the set and if you are a stickler for change, my lil "L" shaped counter got cut up :-). Already I've had a coupla good responses about people trying it lastnight!!! Feels good, cuz really it's exactly what I do when I watch anything food on television ... I get inspired to cook. Same with a good meal out or even flipping through the pages of a food mag. So, one down and one show to go ....

Last night they did a sneak peak of the show (glad you caught it dtdub) and tonight is the official launch of How'd That Get On My Plate? at 930PM EST on Food Network. I got up at o'dark30 this morning to hang out with Sukanya and the crew at CW11, hope my New Yorkers caught it, I forgot to promote it last week and actually planned to post about it yesterday, but ended up in a Home Depot abyss. I'm gonna see if can get pics from the CW11 visit this a.m. and post em.

Until then, I'm off to Rochester and Portland this week to see all about tomatoes and cherries!! I'll post from the road when I get some down time! Thanks for the support on the new shows and hope you catch How'd That Get On My Plate? tonight at 930!!! (I gotta find a short way to type that show title teeheehee)

Catch me hawkin my product ...

Hey all! It's been a busy week for me here in NYC. On Sunday my new Cooking for Real episodes begin running and Monday is the official debut of How'd That Get On My Plate?.

So lemme give ya tha downlow ... At first the debut ep was to be either about milk or strawberries. We got back from Hawaii taping the beginnings of both chocolate and honey just a few weeks ago. Whatever they saw on those tapes made honey move to the front of the line, so if you can image there's a bit of scrambling goin on :-). We finished shooting the honey parts just last week in ATL and just yesterday I recorded the voiceovers for it. So, between taping, the editors, writers, producers ... everyone is really bustin' tail to get it finished. I don't know the norm cuz I'm new to this, but I've been told getting a show together in such short time is not typical. Everyone is cool though, no stress and they work well under pressure.

So, anyway been working on that plus some recipes for upcoming specials. Add to that interviews to promote the show and my week off the road is stacked with work. I got up early this morning to do radio interviews in about 20 cities via phone and still have some interviews tomorrow via phone. ... I'm hangin in there though. The radio stuff is fun and kinda easy since I used to host a radio show. Pretty funny feeling answering the questions instead of asking them.

Something else I haven't even discussed is how I've been looking for a new place with a bigger kitchen. Finally signed on to the new kitchen yesterday! So, I'm jugglin stuff right now and kinda love it. Busy is better than dormant.
... Want ya to know where to catch me b4 it's too late.
Tomorrow AM I'll be on with the Ed Lover Morning Show @ Power 105.1 in NYC ... they stream, so outta towners are welcome to log on and hangout, should be in the 7am hour ... Thennnnn July 4th ... This Friday, I'll be on Good Morning America!!! Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! That's ABC and I think it'll be in the 8am hour, so tune in! They are broadcasting from Bryant Park for their summer concert series (Chaka Khan!!!) so it'll be a nice outdoor grilling segment. If you are from NYC, come on down and find me and say hi ... Even if I look busy :-) ... Ok, hope ya tune in tomorrow a.m. with Ed, I'm takin him breakfast again and hope he likes it!