Be on Food Network with me!!!

Hey all!

I'm in Denver coming off a sugar rush-crash ... we were taping a segment for How'd That Get On My Plate? at LaMar's donuts in a suburb called  Broomfield and I do believe I ate some glaze and tore into just about every single donut they offered me!!! Oooowwweeee tasty! Ok, so back to the subject ...

  

How'd ya like to be on Food Network with me? I'm gonna be featured on a new Food Network show called Dear Food Network. Click there and read up, basically you send in a video or email with a food question or dilemma and if you get picked your video, question or even YOU may be on with me! This is exciting for me, I like meeting new people and even better if it's a conversation about something I love, food!! 

Check the website for ideas of what they are looking for and get on it!! You have to upload the video by July 14th. Include your age, where you live and get your friends and family involved if you want! Be creative or just be sincere, whatever feels right. The video can be uploaded to FoodNetwork.com/DearFN or e-mailed in to DearFoodNetwork@foodnetwork.com. Again ... Deadline is July 14.

Making Food Ready for It's Close Up

Ever take a pic of food for memories or snap a photo of something you cooked for bragging rights? Like really, a souffle has a few seconds before you take a pic and it's over. Well, I can't help ya with taking a fast pic, but over the last two weeks I did my best to get some behind-the-scenes tips on making beautiful food - look beautiful longer.

Ok, here's how it works. If you've caught Cooking for Real, I begin by welcoming you to the show, then I list what recipes we'll cook during the show. While I'm describing what I'll cook, on screen is a camera shot of each dish completely cooked and plated. Those are called the "beauty shots" and if say, I make a pie, the one slice used for the beauty shot is called "the hero". Look, I hate to sound like I know things I don't so just know all this info I'm giving is very new to me as well ... so we can learn together :-). Anyway, the studio for my kitchen is huge. In one corner is a camera set up with lighting and all kinds of technical stuff with a back drop and this is where they take the beauty shot of the heroes. We'd tape a show and then the funniest thing would happen, right after I said, "yummy, see ya next time on Cooking for Real!", someone would rush in and take my plate from me! The first time around taping, there were so many moving bells and whistles this process got lost in the sauce, so to speak. So, this time around I had in my head that I wanted to take a few things home to eat for dinner after I made them on set because taping just takes everything out of me and how neat would it be to not have to cook dinner when I get home from cooking all day?

So anyway, the first day in we did a breakfast show and I wanted to continue eating it because I was hungry lol ... next thing I know someone is like "Wait!!! hold on don't eat those, they are for beauties!!!" I was like huh? yes, they are beautiful and they are going in my mouth! ... that wasn't gonna work obviously and the plate of food got whisked away to a dark corner of the studio. Now, my first time taping I'm sure this happened and went right over my head, but this time I was like "beauties? what's up with a beauty?" and I got some knowledge! I'm ready to share too.

We'll start with Young Sun. This is her food-styling a piece of my citrus pie. She cut a slice, then made the sides pretty by removing crumb bits that came off the knife and attached to the custard part of the slice. She then evened the slice and made it flat vertically. Look, she basically deconstructed my pie to get the meringue she wanted on the slice she wanted ... very frankenstein-ish ... and neat.



Now, she's pretty shy so I couldn't get the typical person-standing-next-to-work-smiling photo, but I think the ones of her in action are great too. Young Sun attended the Institute of Culinary Education and upon graduating worked at Daniel and Tabla before becoming a freelance cook for Food Network Kitchens. Now, she's a part of the staff and in addition to working in the kitchens testing recipes and developing them as well, she has styled food for Guy's Big Bite and has worked on the Next Food Network Star as well as styling the food on my show :-).

Throughout the 10-day shoot, I peppered her with questions here and there and took notes. It's important to note, she doesn't take the pics, just makes the food as pretty as possible for it's close up. I do have a future meeting planned with the person that takes some of the pics for FoodNetwork.com and plan to give you some camera tricks, but for now all I have is food tips. Plenty of times, I'd make a dish while taping and because the picture wasn't going to be taken until maybe an hour or so later, there was plenty of preservation of color and that gloss and sheen food has when it's freshly prepared. There are also times, when I made a plate to eat and they'd recreate the plate for the picture because it wouldn't look yummy with a bite mark missing. For this, say maybe I'd make 4 cornish game hens, I'd plate one for myself at the end of the show and take a leg off it to bite, then Young Sun would use the remaining 3 hens to figure out which looked best for a close up. One day we had a very funny exchange where I wanted to eat some of my fried oysters for lunch and we stood in my kitchen set debating over which ones were pretty and which ones were not so pretty. I ate the not so cute ones and left Young Sun the 'pretty' ones ... your guess is as good as mine as to what differentiates the two, but she's a pro and knew just which oysters to hold on to. Takes some food lovers to really debate what makes a fried oyster ready for it's close up. Anyway, I thought it'd be neat if she could just sum up all my notes I took watching her over the weeks and give us a few tips on making food stay as pretty as it is the second it is made so you can take your time setting up the shot. So here they are ...

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5 Tips For Beautiful Food in Pics

1. Spray oil on burgers or meat to keep it looking juicy or moist
2. Don't pick the prettiest piece, try something with character that isn't too neat or symmetrical
3. Overlapping looks more natural and alive. (food hanging over edges of bowls, pieces of chicken stacked on each other)
4. Use vinegar and water solution to clean off fingerprints from dishes

AND THE TIP I HAD TO BEGGGG FOR ... turns out just a mere mention of this technique seemed taboo, but also effective and a secret among food stylists ...

5. SANITARY NAPKINS for fake steam!!! Ok, look this one blows my mind!!! I have long laboured over how to keep food hot and pretty at the same time so I can get a good steam shot. So, the food stylists were all in agreement when discussing this technique. Use either a tampon or pad, soak it with water and then microwave it ... the steam that comes out of those babies is thick and long lasting, so you can click and change angles and click and change plates and still have steam. Put them either in the stunt food (like say inside a baked potato) or hide them behind a plate or dish you have the food on. If you take the pic at the right angle the sanitary napkin is out of sight and your steam will be outta sight!!! teeheehee ... I know, a bit yucky to think about, but really. When I was asking for tips to put here someone chimed in and said hey tell her about the sanitary napkins! I was like whaaaat??!!! I thought what place do they have in pretty food pics ... and now we know. A group of food stylists standing by all shook their heads in agreement.

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Ok, here's some pics of my food getting it's close up and first a pic of Young Sun's tray of tricks.



The plastic bowls have water and vinegar water for cleaning. The toothpicks are for precision movement of the smallest of things like saaaaay a fennel seed too close to another fennel seed on jerk chicken. The spray bottle is for the oil and brushes and such are pretty self explanatory.

Here's Young Sun and Hugh, one of the camera men. During taping he did plenty of the close ups of my hands and movements they made while cooking or cutting. So it makes sense he does the close ups of the food, right? Many days I'd come back from our lunch break and he was still in the studio filming beauties of my food, I thought to myself ... when does Hugh eat lunch???



That's some top secret flavored pancakes getting the close up treatment. Hugh is ready to shoot and Young Sun is adding some top secret syrup. Then a bowl of a pop corn getting a close up ... 



Up next is a quick post about the person I called the "Head of the Prettification Board" while taping. I'll chat with her and her team. They find all the neat dishes, containers and utensils that give each show it's style. I get plenty of requests for stores or places where you can find stuff on set ... hopefully I'll be able to help with some answers.

More great news to share!!

Well, again I've kept a secret ... I promise it's only cuz I couldn't talk about it until the release came out and now it's out, so naturally I'm talkin' :-), plus I've been really tired due to taping the new episodes of Cooking for Real. Now that we've wrapped taping and I've slept some ... I'm back in biz ... ok, I'm really excited to share the news with you that beginning in July, Food Network debuts a new primetime show hosted by me!

It's called How'd That Get On My Plate? and I describe it like a cross between History Channel's Modern Marvels and Unwrapped. The crazy thing is I love both of those shows, so it's really neat that I feel I have a bit of a hybrid. Basically, on the show I follow food from it's rawest form to the various finished products that use it for an ingredient. Like saaaaaaaay peanuts. I'd visit a peanut farm, harvest, then visit a plant and show the various ways it is transformed into peanut butter, oil, brittle, etc. I've already taped one episode and just this week saw the rough cut. I really like it and hope you catch it when it begins. I'll check and see if I can run my mouth about the pilot and if I can I'll tell you what product we started with and some funny things I learned. That's what I actually love about the show, it allows me to share what I know about food and I also learn some stuff in the process. Really neat. Really neat. In addition to that I'll be a rollin' stone so I'll get to eat in new cities, see new places and meet new people. So keep the restaurant suggestions coming, I'm making a file for my travels. Next week Denver and San Jose ... any food tips? Here's the official release about the show from Food Network! I'll post the airdate and time soon and then read below it for a quick blog admin msg ...

FOOD NETWORK PRIMETIME IS IN FULL SWING THIS SPRING!

Production Begins on Three New Series, Debuting Later This Year

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – Production begins this May on three new primetime series for Food Network, it was announced today by Bob Tuschman, Senior Vice President, Programming and Production for Food Network. Featuring both up-and-coming talent and a brand new addition to the Food Network family, the series tackle a variety of subjects from travel and behind-the-scenes info to personal food journeys that will change lives. The series include: 

ROAD TASTED WITH THE NEELYS 

Premieres: July, 2008

Food Network’s favorite new husband and wife team – Pat and Gina Neely – hit the road on a cross-country search for the best local, hand-crafted foods on Road Tasted with the Neelys. This next iteration of the popular show follows the fun-loving couple to cities including San Diego, Baltimore, Portland, Las Vegas, Santa Fe, and Kansas City where they’ll highlight specialty stores and family-run businesses that make one-of-a-kind edibles. Armed with the knowledge of what it takes to launch a successful family business and a passion for all things food, they'll even show viewers how to get all the fabulous food finds delivered right to their doors.

HOW’D THAT GET ON MY PLATE

Premieres: July, 2008

Sunny Anderson, host of Cooking For Real, begins a fact-finding food adventure in her new series, How’d That Get On My Plate? Each episode follows the fascinating journey of a single ingredient (such as eggs, garlic, honey or apples) as it moves from its raw state into the finished, iconic product. Watch Sunny as she travels the country from the farm, through the factory and to the market and showcases the technology and innovation it takes to get our favorite foods to the plate. Whether milking a cow, making a martini out of potato vodka, harvesting honey or driving a corn-harvesting combine, Sunny dives into the behind-the-scenes action and finds out how food gets on our plates! 

THE CHEF JEFF PROJECT

Premieres: October, 2008

Chef Jeff Henderson (author, "Cooked") had a rough life as a young adult, following a path that turned him into a drug dealer, which eventually led to his arrest. In prison, Henderson found his passion for cooking while serving nearly 10 years for drug trafficking, and through food turned his life around, becoming an award-winning chef, best-selling author and popular motivational speaker. As Executive Chef at Café Bellagio at the renowned Bellagio Hotel and Casino and holding top positions at other Las Vegas resorts including Caesar’s Palace, he has become one of the most influential African-American chefs in the country.  Now, Chef Jeff wants to give back to six young adults who are heading down a similar path but who have a strong desire to improve their lives. In The Chef Jeff Project, the young adults will work under his watchful eye at his new LA-based catering company, Posh Urban Cuisine. As they learn about food under Chef Jeff’s strong and inspiring hand, they will also be instructed in the life lessons necessary to remake themselves and succeed, including appearance, attitude, respect, motivation and behavior. 

FOOD NETWORK (HYPERLINK www.foodnetwork.com www.foodnetwork.com) is a unique lifestyle network and Web site that strives to be way more than cooking.  The network is committed to exploring new and different ways to approach food - through pop culture, competition, adventure, and travel - while also expanding its repertoire of technique-based information. Food Network is distributed to more than 90 million U.S. households and averages more than seven million Web site users monthly. With headquarters in New York City and offices in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit and Knoxville, Food Network can be seen internationally in Canada, Australia, Korea, Thailand, Singapore, the Philippines, Monaco, Andorra, Africa, France, and the French-speaking territories in the Caribbean and Polynesia. The E.W. Scripps Company (NYSE:SSP), which also owns and operates HGTV (HYPERLINK www.hgtv.com www.hgtv.com), DIY Network (HYPERLINK www.diynetwork.com www.diynetwork.com), Great American Country (HYPERLINK www.gactv.com www.gactv.com) and FINE LIVING (HYPERLINK www.fineliving.com www.fineliving.com), is the manager and general partner. 

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Hey all! I'm also writing a blog about taking pretty food pics. This time around while taping episodes of Cooking for Real, I actually got time to smell the roses and take in the scene. One of them was a corner of the studio sectioned off for "beauty shots".  This is where they took my food after I cooked it so they could take pics of them for stills. Anyway, I found it pretty fascinating. What goes into making food stay pretty for a pic is pretty neat and I asked the food stylist to give my blog readers some tips cuz I know I have some food bloggers reading. I dunno about you guys, but my food pics could use some help sometimes :-) so check in for the food pic blog later tonight or over the weekend. It'll feature tips from the expert on my set with photos and food styling secrets included! 

I lost count! teeheehee

ok, it's true ... i've lost count of how many days it is that i've been shooting the new episodes of Cooking for Real. This is also going to be the shortest post everrrrrr... I have some great stuff to post later though ... gonna do a behind the scenes look at how they make the food look so perfect here and who does all the "perfect making" lol ... and then for all the set design junkies that have asked me where things come from, i'll also be posting an inside look at the design team ... let everyone know who gets it done ova here! ok, until then ...thanks for all the support! new episodes in July!

3.5!!!

Happy Tuesday!
I decided I'd do a lunch post instead of an end of the day, cuz ooooowwweeeee ... I was tired yesterday. Could be the "Mondays" lol ... but now I'm back at it today! Remember how I told ya I ran into some bottles of beer in the kitchens on day two?? Well, I knew they were outta place, turns out they were for one of my shows! Actually the show I taped today. For some reason it didn't click, but it did today when I realized we were gonna do my battered fish tacos. YEAAAAAAAH!!!!! Fish tacos!!! The menu on this show we are taping today is super easy and the payoff of flavor is crazy, so I can't wait for you to catch it. I do a lil pickling and throw together a salad, trifle-style. These dishes remind me of San Antonio, I went to high school there and a crazy thing happened yesterday. Here I was checking my emails at lunch and I got one from my German teacher in High School!

Turns out she caught the "Germany is Wonderveal!" episode of Cooking for Real this past Sunday and thought to herself, hey that Sunny chick looks familiar. So, she emailed my website and asked if it was really me. Long story short, I've called over the years and left messages at the high school I went to that she still teaches at just to thank her for being such a cool teacher and stuff. So when I wrote her back I was like, yeaaah this is Sunny, you never got my messages over the years? Turns out she did, I just never left a number or email to be reached at. Duhhhhh ... why am I so stupid sometimes?? Leavin' messages with no forwarding info ... what can I say. The calls were always on a whim, just to say thanks for great guidance in my formative years. So, I guess an absent minded message is okay every once in awhile teeheehee. Anyway, she gave my German-themed show a thumbs up and that makes me feel so good, her being German and my former teacher. It was almost like I scored well on a final exam! Teachers are always your teachers just like parents are always your parents. Teachers need more money man. I can thank several of them for helping me find myself in a sea of new people, new city, new everything. A moving military brat has plenty of assimilating to do growing up. So, Frau Richter now has my info and we can keep in touch!!!

That is one of the personal benefits of this job. All of a sudden I'm getting my childhood friends back! Imagine moving almost every year--sometimes within a year, until you reach high school??? Crazy hard to keep in touch with friends, and that was back before the internet! I was a snail mail sendin' chick. That's what you did, you wrote letters, put a stamp on it and waited for weeks to get a reply, then wrote another ... I mean over the span of a year, you'd maybe get in saaaaaay 6-7 letters. Really. These days I can send 6-7 emails in 6-7 minutes lol ... and a call to a 3rd grade friend in Virginia as a 4th grader in Germany, ain't happenin' unless we were the Huxtables teeheehee. I feel so old ... 33 ain't old, but when you remember using a typewriter for reports in school ... ooooooowwwweeeee ...

Ok, I'ma tear into my turkey and avocado sandwich and get back to taping the show! Thanks for checking in and I appreciate all the comments!!!

Dos ... (equis)

Well, day two of taping was fun! I ran into a bin of Dos Equis bottles in the FN kitchens, very out of place, but just as I was wrapping up for the day I saw it and thought it was a cute thing to see at the end of day two, dos down, I think 8 more to go? Anyway, day two was Friday, but I'm just now getting to post because I had a lazy weekend. Friday morning I caught what I thought was the beginnings of a cold. The whole day while taping I was fighting it with meds and tissue paper and funny thing is I didn't feel sick, just really wack congestion and the usual. I got home Friday and commited to knocking out early to let my body rest. The next morning I went to the local pharmacy and the pharm dude says he thinks it sounds more like allergies ... I got some allergy meds and I am good as new!!!! Never ever had an allergy problem before and now, my eyes are watery, nose a mess, you know? So, as promised ... a pic of something I can show from taping ... the "green room"

This is my sanctuary while taping. I get in early before everyone and just kinda chill. I eat my breakfast, oatmeal every day while taping, then check my email. Then, I sit at the table and go over the days' notes. What show I'll be taping and which recipes go in that show. See, nothing too big. I also think about talking points and what I'd like to say about the ingredients and the recipes. Usually right about then it's been an hour and I go into hair and make up ... then on with the day. Here's a pic of today's snack while my dude and I played Warriors on PS2 ...

And remember I told ya about Upstairs on the Square in Baahhston? Well, we are still talking about how good the meal was and the atmosphere to match. Here's another pic, I almost lost words when I saw the 2 finger dishes of salt and pepper ... I was in heaven ... that's my bellini on the left ;-)

Bubble, bubble, boils and no trouble ...

Today was the first day of taping of our new episodes of Cooking for Real for Food Network and I had a grrreat time!!! Ok, lemme tell ya .... I was anxious. Last time around, I had just 4 days to get my act together and knew that if I got a chance to do more episodes I wanted to be able to speed up my side of the deal. Cuz lemme tell ya, first time around I had more false starts than that chick that was on American Idol. I feel her pain ... I'd begin talking and cooking and just lose my train of thought totally it's as if my brain blew a gasket with all the information input. Every night I unplugged and hit ctrl-alt-dlt on myself teeheehee. I progressed, but wish I had more time and wondered if my teeny progression was enough, you know? Like, am I behind the curve or right with it? My goal this time around is to focus a bit better and I think I did a bit better at that and was able to add some other tasks for my brain to work out while I try to cook and talk on auto pilot lol ... so today instead of waiting on me to focus ... we waited on water to boil. Really ... about 20-30 people ... all focused on a pot of water waiting on the bubbles so we could begin a recipe coming back from break. It boiled, I cooked and really had a good time. I took some chicken home from work that I'm about to work right now (uhhh, i actually typed the letter "n" in "now", then began to work 'em teeheehee). Take care and I'll try to snap some pics tomorrow of things I can actually show without getting in "trouble ... trrrrouble" (Think Bernie Mac, The Players Club) ...

On your mark, Get a new set, GO!

Heyyyyy!!! Tomorrow is the day I start taping my new episodes of Cooking for Real!!! About two weeks ago I went in for a lighting test ... seems they wanted to change some things around color and lighting wise ....I've never done a lighting test, but basically I just stood there while everyone worked. There were various different colors of backdrops and different shades of each of the colors. They'd move the color behind my head then all look at the monitor and comment on what colors they liked at what setting ... it was all very above me ... I couldn't tell you what looks good on me, much less behind or around me teeheehee ... so, I just stood there socializing. Then came this really pretty blue tile they put behind me to look at on camera. Now, I hadn't seen most of the crew since we taped, so there were plenty of hellos and I'm a talker so most of the time while I stood on my mark, I'm sayin' hi and yellin' across the room ... just happy to see everyone, seeing the shades of green and such behind me, but not getting too invested. Then they put about a foot-long sample of tiny blue tiles behind me to check it for color and I continued to yap, but made a big mental note "i like it, i like it, i like it". I'd talk, then look back at the tile and think "i like it, i like it alot". So, I get in today for the final lighting test now that all the colors have been changed and other things on set as well and what do I seeeeee??? MY BLUE TILE :-) Yaaaaaaaay!!!! Along with this really pretty royal blue backsplash that goes higher than norm behind the sink, I have a fridge with a see through door and a new range and oven. Plus, a dishwasher!? Ok, now I'm jealous ... I don't even have a dishwasher in my own apartment!!! teeheehee ... most of the set stayed the same though ... Just newer colors and appliances, plus new cabinets and pantry ... lol I know I keep saying nothing changed and then I tell ya about something new, but really plenty of the things remain from before. I took pics, then was told it may not be a good idea to post them now, but I got the go ahead for a description ... I felt like a paparazzi teeheehee ... so there ya have it ... beautiful blue tile, new fridge, wood cabinets and pantry ... it's just a cleaner look and the lighting is nice too.

I can't wait to start taping and cooking tomorrow and hope to share some stuff about the journey here. I remember the long days from the first 6 shows (it wasn't long ago) so, I know it'll be tough to post, but I think I'll be able to handle it, there are plenty of stories to tell during taping, so check in and I'll let ya know how the shows are coming along .... here's a pic I didn't post last week of a tart recipe I worked on for these new shows .... It has 4 ingredients and has the most simple preparation with the maximum flavor output ... can't wait to share the recipe ...

BAAHHHSTON ... the haaahdway...

Teeheehee ... yeah, I was in Boston with my dude and the whole time we were there we murdered the accent. So, the title makes me giggle.  BAAAHHHSTON. I decided after a long week of cooking almost all of the recipes from my next run of episodes that I'd take a long weekend. So me and my dude got on a train to Baaahhston! I did this trip a few years back when I got a hankering for a lobster roll. I initially made reservations back then for only 2 nights I think, then ended up having such a good meal and time at the hotel that I stayed longer than expected and continued to eat until I had to get back to work. It helped the hotel was attached to two malls :-). This trip had it's interesting moments. The train ride was great, but after a week of cooking homemade stuff ... I settled in for some train food and got this ...

It doesn't look good, and if it got zapped about 10 seconds less in the train microwave, it would've been as perfect as a cheeseburger in plastic wrap can get. :-) The bun was chewy, but really ... I was so hungry it was gone after two gulps of Corona. The cheese was yummy. lol. You'd think I'd be full from all the cooking, but the load of recipes was so high, it was like I had two seconds to taste for accuracy before we moved on to the next recipe. So I had tapas all week teeheehee ... the train cheese burger was my saviour. Then next to us on the train was a lady talking about some really crazy stuff. Ever hear a conversation that is exhausting? That was it, but the funny thing is my dude and I had our own internal jokes about it ... is that wrong? We were making the best of an interesting situation. So... we get to Boston and we are staying in the hotel I stayed in before because I remembered such a good stay ... but lemme tell ya, something happened the night we got here that we probably won't forget for some time. Let's just say it felt like we were in pre-civil rights times at most or dealing with a classist jerk at the least. And the jerk works at the hotel. After the encounter we go grab a late night bite and the meal was bangin'! It was this place called News. I ordered the French Toast with Vermont Maple and two eggs sunny side up with bacon and an English Muffin. I know, again ... I was hungry. My dude got the Roast Beef sandwich with the best fries I've had in a long time. He didn't have to offer once after I heard the crunch for me to try them. They were fat and still crunchy because they were battered and I think twice fried ... really really winner fries. We kept saying to ourselves ... and this is a lounge? It was more of a club than a restaurant feel, probably because it was about 1:30AM and most people were chillin' on the couches than at the dining tables, but really the food was great. As we were leaving people were coming in that were surely coming for a bite to eat after the club, so If you are in Baahhhston late night and you are hungry, this is a place to add to your possible list.

Then the next day we had lunch at a seafood spot I probably shouldn't name because ... although my oysters on the half shell and king crab legs were yummy, something my dude ate (clam chowder, shrimp) gave him food poisoning ...3 hours after eating we hopped into a car service to get to Faneuil Hall to go see the Red Auerbach bench sculpture. We got out, passed a fake Cheers bar and just around the corner there he was ... sitting for eternity. 5 minutes after this picture, my dude threw up lunch in a trashcan, then took a 10 minute break and threw up some more. Food poisoning is no joke ... but it's pretty cool to know your stomach can actually reject food. Check out Red ...

And an added tourist attraction bonus to his left (our right) was this ...

Good ol' Larry Bird!! Very cool.

So that was Saturday .... the sickness pretty much kept us in the hotel. Did dinner in the lobby restaurant. Then, on Sunday we went to two restaurants on the opposite ends of the spectrum and had two baaaaaangin' meals. Our hotel concierge Jerry, was a pit of information. You know when they say that about people? He was that and so much more. Just really a nice guy. So, he set us up for brunch at Upstairs on the Square in Cambridge's Harvard Square. This is a place he described as "Alice in Wonderland on acid" and immediately we agreed to make a reservation. We were not disappointed. Eager to get there we hopped into a cab and the driver took us over the bridge that separates Baaahhston from Cambridge and then decided to tell us he had no idea where the restaurant was. He was like, I can't know where everything is lol ... I was like, maybe next time tell your passengers when they get in, not when they get across a bridge lol. We got out and hopped into another cab and pulled up to the street and spotted it because it was the only spot on the block with bright pink and purple chairs outside ... just a little hint at what we'd see inside. The decor was aptly described as Alice in Wonderland on acid ... there were animal prints, pinks, purples, greens, gold painted chairs. There was a bridal shower going on with some partying ladies, a few locals and Harvard students, Take a look ....

The light bulbs had wings



Now look at the fooood.

Selection of Artisan Cheeses 

(figs were yummy) 

Tuscan Style Melon & Prosciutto de Parma

(pesto was sooo good)

Eggs Benedict

Two Poached Eggs, Pancetta & Tarragon Hollandaise 

Served on an English Muffin

(h.sauce was so good, I asked for a side of it and it came in 2 secs, perfect balance of lemon and butter)

Lobster Omelette

Sautéed Mushrooms, Brie & Petite Salade

Signature Milk Chocolate Pecan Turtles (plate of 3)

(ok, theeeese .... theeeeese?? were ... i mean .... omg and so sweeeeet and sugary ... and the chocolate melted ... just .... theeese  were ... we should've bought some to bring back) Our waitress brought us these complimentary when we ordered this ...

Butterscotch Pudding

Pecan Caramel Shortbread Cookie

(the spoon is covering the first scoop taken out surreptitiously by my dude before I could snag a pic, he had the hand-in-the-cookie-jar face teeheehee)

All was very yummy and just when we were about to leave, our waitress told us that a neat show was about to happen, little did we know our table was front row, stage center. A few seconds later in runs the Harvard Krokodiloes, according to them they are the oldest acappella singing group at the university and they did a short, but very entertaining show, one dude sang Summertime and my eyes got a bit watery, I'm a wimp for music .... here's most of them, mid-song....

We took a break, walked some and then headed back to the room to get ready for dinner!!! Now this place was recommended to me by someone at Food Network last week when we were chatting about our weekend plans. The chef just won battle coffee on Iron Chef America and I was told it may be hard to get in. Jerry hooked us up and at around 9pm Sunday night we were at Clio in foodie heaven!

It was a total departure from the funky decor that worked so well at brunch ... this place was more refined and conservative in decor and atmosphere. People speaking in hushed tones and white linen on the tables. I had ...

Frozen Hot Chocolate

(liquid nitro and it was smooth and velvety)

White Asparagus with Maple

(I love white asparagus and this was so good, sorry i didn't take notes, i just ate and ate and then now i see it isn't on the online menu, but lemme tell ya it was divine.)

Sweet Butter Basted Maine Lobster with chanterelle mushrooms, fava beans and vin jaune d'Arbois

(ok, i've never had a lobster more tender and buttery, the vin d'youknow was out of this world creamy and silky, and yes ... the foam was good too teeheehee)

Couldn't tell ya the title of this one ... i'm gonna have to call, i know, i'm wack i really was counting on it being on the website, but it isn't. i'm really not doing it justice because this meal deserves more respect teeheehee.... really does. ok, well the orange dots were mango sweet, the white was a lil scoop of ice cream, the blocks were butterscotch and the orange curls tasted like orange life savers, little crunchy bits ... it was all verry yummy!

Every bite garnered a remark of how good it was, me and my dude just kept saying how our food tasted. It truly was the perfect meal. I wish I could've been a judge or something on that Iron Chef to taste more of Chef Oringer's creations! Crazy good.

we walked back to the hotel because the weather was nice and omg, how much did I eat this weekend?? I took no prisoners ... I'm on my "water is my only drink right now" diet, no more beer, soda or sweet tea for a minute ... gotta get some good fluids in me teeheehee ... ok, hope you had a great weekend. Check back soon, I have some behind the scenes news about my Cooking for Real set, if you are in to that type of stuff :-) ... Happy Tuesday!

More FN Kitchen Time!

Hey there! I just wanted to throw up some more pics from today's journey in the kitchen. To bring ya up to speed, my show Cooking for Real got picked up for more episodes so we're compiling and testing my recipes before we shoot. I couldn't tell you how many things I've cooked this week, but to say it'll all spread out over 13 episodes can kinda give you the idea of the cooking load. I ain't alone though :-), I have my trusty team on hand. Here's a pick of us getting loopy yesterday between roasting and frying...

That's me on the left with a 10-inch wide by my side :-), Santos holdin' the tray and Sarah. Sarah is one of the producers and Santos is a Culinary Gangsta of all Cuisine or a C.G.C. ... (i told him i'd come up with somethin' ... but the official title does have the word culinary in it, so can a chick get some points? teeheehee) I said "hey everyone pick up something for the pic!" I grab my knife, Santos the food and Sarah the pen! Too funny!!

Alright, also yesterday remember I put up some pics of two cakes? I almost toldya the name of the one I ate and then decided I should check ... glad I did ... top secret cake title and it isn't done yet ... still a work in progress. Let me tell you though ... the dude in the kitchen that made it ... he's my new best friend. I want another slice. Or two. Or three teeheehee. It's such a great scene to look up and see people happily cooking. No chef barking on the line or a manager yelling orders. Everyone cooks and works pleasantly and the different kinds of food that go down in one day spans the globe. Today, I got a taste of some Thai food and got another slice of cake ... this time chocolate! That was from someone else's cooking station.

The Peaches n Cream cookies I did yesterday are still getting good reviews in the building, so I cannot wait to share the recipe with you on a future show. Today we started with breakfast ... hmmmmm I seasoned some pork and made sausage yesterday, so I browned it up and we ate it alongside some breakfast recipes I'll share soon. This is my empty plate ... excuse my need to pour more syrup on than needed, it was so good I overdosed.

Then some more bfast...

And omg ... at first this was going to just be a sweet and tangy custard pie, then when I took it out, I said let's use those egg whites we had left over and voila! A better pie without waste! Gonna change it to a smaller spring form to get the custard to meringue ratio better, but it was so yummy. Can you tell which slice I called out? Ok, hope ya like the pics ... I am beat. Thanks again for all the support and hope you catch this week's show!!