What I Had For LINNER: I'm No Shepherd, But I Like Pie!

So, yesterday I was about to make soup when I decided to make Shepherd's Pie. Someone brought it up a few weeks ago and then someone else brought it up very close to that ... then it just stuck in my head. We used to kill it growing up, but barely repeated meals so when we did have it for dinner, boy was it a treat. Anyway, I ran out and got a coupla veggies that weren't in my fridge and I went to work. I'm a one pan type person, so I browned the beef layer, then sauteed the veggie layer in the same pan. But once I was done there was so much love left in my work-horse pan by way of bits of veggies and beef flavored stuff, that I decided to go left and use up some mushrooms I had in the fridge and made an onion, garlic, mushroom and red wine gravy. The red wine was leftover too, so it made me happy to clear out some stuff. That's what I put on the bottom of the plate before I scooped out the pie, so even though this may look hectic, boy was it yummy.

(my food is reppin' brooklyn :-P )

I boiled the potatoes in salted water with a few cloves of garlic and mashed it all up with lots of butter and cream ... very very baaaad cook teeheehee. I just love the crunch the mash gets when cooked on top of everything in the oven. I may use this recipe on one of the 13 shows I have to tape in the near future, but I think the gravy may be taken out because it isn't really traditional and it's a bit of food overkill. Then again, it may make the cut, who knows until I get closer to planning the episodes with the producers. The best thing is we actually try to capture how I really eat and cook at home, so this is really an easy process.

 
Ok, I have some work to do today, just wanted to say hi and wish you a good weekend. My bf (blog friend) Food Network Addict, has some dates on Thanksgiving specials on Food Network posted, if you are a Tivo/DVR person, head on over and take a look so you can make plans to spend the holidays with us.
Have a great weekend!

When It Rains ...

Hey, do they still have that little girl on the side of the salt canister walkin' in the rain? I've done kosher salt for so long, I dunno. Anyway, this is just a snapshot of our weather here in NYC. Well, Brooklyn to be exact.
It was raining so hard this morning while I was out getting the paper that I had to take a shot. Water was up to my calf at one point. My super duper umbrella from the last rain back-winded on me as I was taking this flick and then I thought to myself, I'm stupid, trying to get a photo and now I'm soaked. I headed home and got to work on recipes, so much so ... I'm just realizing I forgot to read the paper. So now, I do my day in reverse ... shall I have a tea or coffee? I'm thinking about a mulled cider for dinner, with some rum and a swirl of whip cream. Stay warm and stick around I think I have some schedules for upcoming holiday shows if you are currently planning your menus. I'm having Thanksgiving at my place this year so I'm in the thick of it as well....

I'm a Killa ... almost.

Hey all! Well, hope you had a great weekend. I didn't do much but cook. I have 13 new episodes to tape in December, so right now I'm developing the recipes I'll share. Looks like plenty of stews and soups, plus I'm throwing in some inexpensive meals and meals you can finish in no time. I just found out that the fruit/veggie stand I love is eclipsed by one 2 more blocks down the street, that's what happens when you go for a stroll in search of scallions on a Sunday night.

Anyway, to the blog title and me being a killa ... kinda. Really it was a killer ingredient. I read plenty of blogs including the Food Network Kitchens blog ... here I am catching up on my reading over the weekend and I see I made an appearance in the blog, here's an excerpt of The Accidental Poisoner :

"...Sunny and Santos gazed down at one that Santos had smashed with the side of a knife, as if waiting for it to speak. No, I had no idea what it was.

None of which stopped me when Santos broke off a piece and offered me a bite."

Read the rest of The Accidental Poisoner the Food Network Kitchen's blog and tool around and check out the new site, I'm still finding my way on it myself and have received a few emails looking for recipes. If you need help finding one, just comment and I'll shoot it over to you as soon as I can ...

P.S. Thanks to Jonathan and all the FN kitchen peeps ... killin' ain't my style, but I'm glad to work with foodies that'll eat first and ask questions later.

What I Had For LINNER: A Texas Chili Dog!!

Ok, so this past weekend me and my dude went out searching for home stuff. You know, rugs and furniture and knick knacks. Even though I live in Brooklyn, there's something to be said for New Jersey's lower sales tax, so when making big purchases, the $10 trip over the Vary-Vary, that's what I call the Verrazano Bridge, is worth it. It was Sunday, so we did our best to leave early to catch the full abbreviated shopping day, which meant skipping breakfast. Why, I dunno. What I do know is my smile decreases as the hours increase with no food intake, same with my dude. So, we agreed to not get short with each other while shopping if we felt hunger pains come on. Here we are hungry, but not so much that we'd eat over shopping and right when we pulled into our destination in Vauxhall, NJ, I saw what was for lunch! I have never heard of this place before, but the outdoor sign said "Manny's Texas Weiners", there's no website, but another location has one. Now, just in case you don't know ... anytime you are in a Texas-style place, there's no beans in the chili. I haven't been able to get over-the-counter chili without beans since my days eating at Coney Island Restaurants in Detroit. In fact, in a new run of shows I did my bean less chili recipe and gave love to both Texas and Detroit during the show. All I could think about while shopping was, 'I know it said Texas dogs, but I wonder if the chili is made without beans?'.

When we could take the shopping no more, we crossed the street and headed inside to be greeted with the most overwhelming menu I've ever seen other than the Cheesecake Factory (what is up with the 1000 menu items??) Take a look ....


Luckily, we sat down and got a hand-held menu that was less overwhelming, but still crazy packed. I asked our waitress and was very pleased to find out the chili was bean less, so I ordered a chili-dog with onions and mustard, fries, a side of chili and shared onion rings with my dude. He had fries, half the onion rings and a burger he kept commenting on after each bite, good stuff. Said it tasted like a cookout burger. The onion rings aren't seen here because after we thought for a second, we ordered them and they arrived a bit after everything else. They were real onion rings, which made the former Sonic worker in me happy. I gotta go here again take a look at how dark and non-tomato-ey the chili was ...
My hot dog had a great pop from the casing, which is totally a love/hate thing for some hot dog lovers. Needless to say, it was my one and only meal Sunday. We got back home and neither of us got hungry the rest of the day which is so true to the word Linner, our Texas meal was lunch and dinner combined ... even breakfast ... what would that word be?

Hope you are having a good day so far ... I just came back from the city. Finished up a voiceover for Dear FN, a holiday series that begins airing I think next month??? It was plenty of fun, so when I get word on the actual air dates, you know I'll share :-) ...

It Was All Good Just A Week Ago ...

A Jay-Z lyric is the title reference, but it was just a week ago that I got up, runny nose, stuffy head and all just to head into the city to tape another holiday special for Food Network. This was in the middle of my haze, but I was sooooooo excited to be a part of the show! The premise is like many of the holiday specials in the past with various hosts cooking with each other for a holiday dinner to be enjoyed by all. A couple of months ago I got the invitation to be a part of it. That's something I don't think I thought about in the pursuit of a cooking show, the additional shows that come with the territory. I gotta tell you, this is all still pretty neat for me and I think it will be for a long time. I only dreamt of getting to New York and working at a top radio station, so when I made it, the brand-new feeling never left me and was there until the day I left. So, this feels quite similar. like some actors say, I'm just happy to be nominated. What great company to be in. On deck was Alton Brown, The Neelys, Giada De Laurentiis, Guy Fieri, Bobby Flay and me. It was my second time meeting Alton, but I'm sure it's one of those I remember, but he didn't things ... So, I treated it like a first meeting. A couple of years ago, Bone Crusher taped a judge run on Iron Chef America and I went to watch the taping and met him then. He was very kind, funny and welcoming then and this time I thought he was cool and quiet. Very like I think you may guess, he's very observant. I watched his segment and totally enjoyed it. Good Eats is one of my fave on the network. Here he is workin' with the Neely's...


Gina and Pat are exxxxactly like they are on their shows and Pat is so sweet, he sent Gina flowers to the set. So cute. Gina is hilarious and really made the 6a.m. call-time work for me, if every one was dead I would've been dead. She was the life of the early morning hair and make-up room. The network filmed behind the scenes video, so hopefully you'll get to see that soon either on the web or during the show. You can truly see how the network is built on such unique people all with a common love of food. We all were on different schedules throughout the day and at one point we all headed to another floor in the same building to shoot a promotional commercial. My part was to grab apples or cupcakes, put them in a gift box and pass it along ... here's my perspective of the set before we begin ...


And the cupcakes allll looked good, I wanted one, but was told the sprinkles were stuck on with adhesive spray because the frosting was put on the day before .... ahhhhh nice trick. Now whether the trick is to save me from eating a poisonous cupcake or to save me from eating a perfectly fine prop ... I'll never know :-).

Speakin' of eatin', when I got in the kitchen to cook with Guy, he had something sitting on set for me to nibble on, what a nice dude ... You'll see us munchin' on it while we make 2 of his dishes. I acted as his assistant, measuring, chopping, grabbing, etc. and I can't tell you what we made, but it was yummy and smelled good from the first sizzle. Here's us chillin' in the kitchen. BTW, these are stills that were being produced while we filmed ...


Then, remember how I told ya I'd just briefly met Bobby Flay? Who knew I'd be in the kitchen with him just a few weeks later??? Even crazier ... this time around it was my 2 recipes and he was my assistant in the kitchen. When I first heard of this I was like, HUH?! WHUHH?! Like for real, first my grandma is cooking one of my recipes and then months later Bobby Flay is helping me prep two of them???? For real, this is my bizzarro life. I have to tell you, none of this is lost on me. I am constantly thankful for the work and constantly thankful for the support. I've lived a life of goals and running towards them, so this is all truly neat. I often pride myself on having the right words to say, but in my head I know I haven't figured out the right ones to tell you or anyone just how this feels. The support is much appreciated and if you're a dreamer, we have plenty in common. All I can ever say is "can you believe it?". So, can you believe I was in the kitchen with Bobby Flay? Me neither, take a look see ....


I did two side dishes, get it, Sunny's Sides? Alliteration makes some people happy teeheehee. Hope you like the recipes when it airs, they are easy, crowd pleasin', vegetarian and verrrrrry economical. Bobby liked them and I saw Giada givin' one of them "tha bizness" (eating enthusiastically) when we sat down to eat at the end.

I gotta tell ya, it was a lonnnng day. Even Gina and I laughed saying we had the earliest call times because we were the rookies, but boy was the day rewarding and busy. If I wasn't on camera, someone was shooting behind the scenes, so I really can't wait to see how all the footage is used. Here's me and Bobby after we wrapped out shoot. I said, "let's take one for my blog." and he was on board!



Take it easy and have a great Friday!!!

The Good, The Bad, The Not So Ugly

*******THIS WAS WRITTEN LAST WEEK WHILE I WAS SICK, THANKS FOR ALL THE WELL WISHES, I'M FEELING BETTER AND HAVE AN EVENT LATER TODAY IN NYC AT CIRCLE OF SISTERS, IF YOU ARE GOING, LOOK FOR ME!********

The Good ...
Well, last Wednesday was the final day of shooting Cooking for Real until I go back in late December to shoot 13 more episodes. You might say to yourself, why not do all 26 in a row instead of breaking it up? Well, there are probably a few reasons. Let's start with the Food Network schedule. Boy, are they busy!! They only have 2 in-house studios. One is Studio B, that's the one I auditioned in and I also shot some interstitials there as well. It's tiny and doesn't fit my Cooking for Real set or all the other things and people needed to tape the show. Then there's Studio A, this is a bigger studio and many other shows shoot there. It's actually where I made my Food Network debut back in 2005 on Emeril Live! It's the workhorse studio that is home to, Guy's Big Bite, Ultimate Recipe Showdown, Iron Chef and my joint. Thing is, they are on a crazy tight shooting cycle, as soon as one show packs up it's time to load in the set for the next show. Before I began this run of 13 shows, I could only do 6 acts a day. There are 4 acts in a half hour show, which means we'd end the day sometimes on one episode and then have to pick it up the next day. This can account for repeated stories in the early runs, it's hard to remember what I say from day to day because I talk so much. So, this time around my producer asked if I thought I could handle 8 acts, or 2 shows a day. I didn't know if I could, but I know I can do things when people believe I can and I can also do things when I try. So, believin' and tryin' is what went down.

Here's Clark fixing one of my newest cooking scars. I have a few ... my favorite is the Pineapple Upside-Down Cake scar. But here he is touching up a scar I'm very proud of as well ... a Frying Donut Holes scar!!! This is after ...


this is before ...


I have no problem showing the scar, I actually like all of them because they remind me of food, but it was a bit distracting according to the team watching behind the camera. So, we doctored it up and I don't think you'll even notice, but just some behind the scenes I thought you may enjoy. I kept forgetting there was makeup on my arm and every time I went to wash hands, or lotion up ... I had to wimper back to Clark and apologize for messing up his masterpiece. It'll be back to normal skin tone in a few weeks ...

Here's Santos cooling off a dish I put in the oven that got too hot to handle. Thing is, the oven turns on automatically because every time I prep something on the counter above it, my chunky leg bumps into it and turns it on. Sometimes we'll put something in the oven and say it's on when it isn't because we need to re-shoot close up shots of it going in before we cook it and lose what it looked like uncooked. Why waste food with a swap when you don't have to, ya know? So we were about to prep for close up shots when we realized the oven was on courtesy of my genetic code for big thighs lol. Look close and take a guess at what he pulled out to cool the handles down ...


The second reason we did half now and will complete the rest in December is, quite like the Food Network studio schedule, my schedule has been crazy lately as well. With shooting specials and being on the road for How'd That Get On My Plate?, I was booked soliddddd. Which brings me to the next ...

The Bad ...
Well, I got news that How'd That Get On My Plate will remain a 13 episode series and will not go into the next season. I really like the show for the content and enjoyed working on it. I met some great people across the country and look forward to working with the network to find another show to work on for the night time audience. The show will continue to run, so catch them! They aren't done yet, just actually did a voice over for the apple episode last week. Thanks to everyone that watched it and sent me comments about it. The support is appreciated!

The Not So Ugly ...
I'm sick, I think it started that last day of shooting and then got worse. So I met up with one of my girl friends Monday and we had lunch at The Clinton Street Baking Company. Wow, on a Monday, there was a 40 minute wait! No problem for me, I hadn't seen my girl in forever and I love a meal you have to wait for. Feels like it's gonna be good ... and it was. Although a wait, doesn't always mean a great meal. Here's my plate ... Huevos Rancheros with the usual suspects plus, Jalapeno Cream and Chorizo.

I think it may have put me on the road to recovery. That's sugar-cured bacon in the top right ... yummified! (yum - eh - fyd) Take it easy and stick around for some more posts now that I'm feelin' better.

Under the Weather ...

Hey All! I'm sick :-( ....

I got a scratchy throat on Friday and headed out that night for Indiana and a popcorn festival, I think the flight sealed the deal. I have the sniffly, sneezin, coughing thing. Could barely talk yesterday so I had to cancel interviews and meetings, I hate doing that. Then I knew I had work today and that would've been hard to cancel, so I did my best to not tear my nose cartilage up with tissues yesterday. Then at o'dark30 this morning, I pulled myself together and went into the city for a Share Our Strength promotional taping. That's why although I'm blowing my nose in the pic, my eye makeup is poppin' (thanks to clark). Tomorrow I have a full day of taping with Guy Fieri and Bobby Flay. I'm gonna cocoon myself in the blanket and hope for a clear head in the morning. I just wanted to check in and tell ya, I haven't forgotten about bloggin', just really sick feelin' :-) ... The blogs are piling up and hope you don't mind old pics and old stories when they do come up. Any questions you want answered by the graphic designer or prop designer on Cooking for Real, get them in ... I'll be chatting with them this week and will post their tips n stuff later, like maybe next week or so. Until then, Nyquil, Actifed and Sudafed PE wishes!