The Dimwit Twit ... or tweet, whatevs (My Rachael Ray Return)

Hey there! So, as mentioned in my last post I got a second invitation to be on Rachael Ray's show last week! Do you know what goes into being on a show like hers? I'll give you the run-down ... aka my Dimwit Twit ... or tweet, whatevs

1) Weds 4/9/09 - On my birthday, my assistant (she's really my bff that asked if she could help de-stress all my scheduling and stuff when it got crazy last year. I really should talk about her more ... she has a full-time career wrangling a-list recording artists and more and she just slid me right into her program, very nice and effective.) Anyway, she gets an email from the p.r. department at Food Network asking me first if I'm available (yes) and then telling me the planned theme of the show (secret). Because I was busy that day (celebrating my 34th!), my girl, knowing my schedule and of course that I would never say no to Rachael Ray, confirmed me ... but I didn't know yet. No biggie, she knows when I need to know stuff. 

2) Sun 4/12/09 - I get the email forward from my girl letting me know she got the request last week and knew that I would say yes, so she confirmed. Now, reading the email I begin to stress out! It's what I do ... I stress out. Lol. The theme of the show was commonplace and I knew I could speak to it, but the stress is getting my thoughts together for the audition ... what kind of audition you say? Well, it's called a pre-interview, but to me it feels like an audition. Like if I don't say the right thing or have the clever ideas, I won't make the cut or something or I won't get a return visit. I gotta tell ya, this is pretty honest. I always just want to do my best and I get scared that I won't. Ick. Things usually turn out ok, but you can't tell me that beforehand and the funny thing is I know this and still can't chillax. Ok, so the pre-interview was set for that Friday. In a pre-interview, the segment producers talk to you about the flow of the show and ask pretty much the questions that Rachael could ask to see what your response would be. Now, to add to that, I've learned of the other guests on the panel and they are all chefs ... argh ... I'm not. So, will my responses be good enough? Sound crazy? Who knows? I was also told in the email that each host will demo a recipe and mine was a certain course. All week all I could do was day dream about that course in the meal and what I would do for that in the circumstances given for the theme of the show. Follow? Alright, so if you are in a creative field, you know what it is to have to be creative on a timer ... scary. Will my brain get in gear? Can I say the right things? Anyway, I was a bit stressed hoping I'd have it together by Friday. Good thing is I've been gardening lately and it gives me plenty of thinking time. 

3) Thurs 4/16/09 - I get an email with the conference call information for the pre-interview set for the next day! Surprise! Looks like the show theme has changed a bit, but I still need to be prepared with recipe suggestions and answers to questions I don't even know yet. Exciting and a teeny but stressful because I still am not sure my ideas are original and will stand up to the chef's answers. I start thumbing through my old recipe journals for more ideas and then I just do some quiet time. That helps me, just sitting and thinking and letting the brain relax ... If I were new-agey, I'd say I meditated. I went to sleep a bit nervous, but again, excited to get on the conference call.

4) Fri 4/17/09 - I call into the conference call number on time and greet a party that has already started. There are two producers from Rachael's show and my p.r. rep from Food Network. After the hellos, we got to work and the producer's begin by asking me general questions that I wasn't expecting ... I had to think on my toes and was very happy with what my brain spit out. Then we got to the questions I was expecting and those went well too. Really, this all felt like a conversation among friends. Rachael has a cool staff, really. We were laughing and I was doing my best to stay on topic because I can ramble, but before we knew it 40 minutes elapsed and we were at the end of the questions! They told my p.r. rep that they would get back to her after discussing my answers and let her know what my part in the show would be and what recipe they would use for the show. So now, the waiting and the second layer of stress ... did I give them something they can use? All I know is the show tapes in 5 days and I have to get ready.

5) Mon 4/20/09 - I find out from the p.r. department about which recipe they want to use. Turns out after stressing for a week about a particular course, my answer about another course was so good, they decided to use me for that! Yaaaay! So, now all I have to do is develop the recipe. All that entails is writing it and getting it perfect. Then naming it, which is tough, that too I feel is creative and hard to do on a clock. I immediately sat down after getting the email and began to work. Luckily, one part of my recipe was a part of another one if that makes any sense? So, all I had to do was the other half and bring to life the description I'd given over the phone of the recipe in my head. I had a deadline of getting it in by the next morning and I went to sleep that night feeling good because the work was done.

6) Tues 4/21/09 - I got my toes done ... a super-pedi ... and a mani. This show airs in the summer and has a similar theme so I was told to come looking summery. I thought, I think I'll wear some sandals or something, so just incase I wake up in the morning wanting to, lemme get my feet in gear. I forget about them in the winter months, lazy yes ... also cheap as well :-). I'm still nervous because this is the day they see my recipe and they have the right to kick it back and make changes. So when I can't take it any more I ask for progress and find out everything is ok, they loved the recipe and want no changes to it! Yaaaay! I go to sleep wondering what exactly I will wear and hoping everyone likes my new hair cut.

7) Weds 4/22/09 - Today is the day! I got up at 6:30, threw on my outfit and headed to my girl Hadiiya Barbel's studio to get my hair done at 8:30. Then at 9:40 I hop in a car to the studios. I get there and go right into make up to get my face hooked up. It was nice seeing the same staff as last time and catching up a bit. Then after I headed to the green room to chill and wait for the other guests arrive, I realize why I saw Ken Paves and Benny Medina in the hallway ... J.Lo is in tha building!! She's so cute and I sit watching her live stream in the green room. Minutes later our segment producers come visit and go over the pace of the show we are about to tape. We find out where we will sit at the table ... I'm Joy Behar, if ya dig. Then we are reminded of what we said to them on the conference call and that we have to pretty much say the same thing on the show so no one overlaps information. Very choreographed, but they produce the show so well it looks very natural. The rest you'll have to see on television, but I left the building at 3 something and headed back home. I don't have an airdate yet, but here are some flicks ...

Duh, food first :-). Like before, the green room food was delicious. I took a flick before we all dug in. It didn't last long. I mean only on Racheal Ray's show do you get pizza with quail eggs. I haven't been on many shows, but due to my radio background I've been privvy to many green rooms and the fare served there. Rachael's staff has everyone beat. Everyone. Everything was so good. Just like I'd mentioned before, it's a panel discussion again and on the panel this time ...

Ooops ... too close up, lemme see if someone else will take the pic ... maybe one of his several p.r. reps from his publisher!? That's smarter ... 

Now you can see it's Throwdown king Bobby Flay! He's in the Whoopi seat on the panel. He's just still one of the nicest dudes and hilarious. I told him I'd make a tough face, and he did too for a sec until someone told him to smile. Btw, he is eligible for dad of the year because he told such a cute story of getting his daughter face time with the Jonas Brothers for her birthday. Pretty hip daddy if you ask me. Then another panel member is ...

That's Rocco Dispirito (aka Elisabeth Hasslebeck on the seating chart)leaving the green room area in search of some more food, really ... he said he was going back for seconds of something we ate on the show ... it was Rachael's recipe and in her words, I must co-sign and say it was yum-o. So, I have to say kudos to the man that departs light conversation in search of seconds.

Then, I met this dude for the first time ...

This is Chef Adam Perry Lang, today's Sherri Shepherd in the seating chart teeheehee. (Of course Rachael is Babs). Ok, lemme tell ya ... the book I'm holdin' ... AMAZING!!! It's in stores soon and on first look the recipes are amazing and the pictures to accompany are equally beautiful. I've done plenty of time in the South on some good ole BBQ and his book brings it all together. We talked backstage at length about different types of BBQ and I told him how proud I am that I have an upcoming episode of Cooking for Real that deals with North Carolina BBQ, which doesn't really get much play. People always debate over rub or sauce, but no one ever talks about vinegar based BBQ. I mean, we just chatted away ... cool family dude and he cooks!!! If you are a meat eater, this is a must-have cookbook ... really. Aside from meeting him, if I were in the store thumbing through books for purchase, I'd buy it. You can pre-order it here on Amazon and it's in stores May 5th. Good Father's Day or birthday gift for the protein lover in your life. Ick sounds like a commercial, but really ... there's a full chapter on lamb, several recipes for roasting a full-hog, I dunno, it just lit up the southerner in me. I'd totally buy it and feel wack now I didn't ask for two so I could give one away. Luckily ... I took this one from him and in return he invited me to his restaurant, Daisy May's BBQ. 

Now, if I had a Twitter account, I could've told you all of this in real-time, but I gotta tell ya ... I don't think I am going to begin twittering or tweeting or whatever the proper terminology is. I'm afraid it's the next generation Myspace, then Facebook ... eventually something will eclipse Twitter. I dunno, still on the fence, but I also know there is something to be said for a little privacy. I don't think anyone cares about my day to day and I know how much work I put into just blogging and replying to everyone here ... I ain't leaving this anytime soon, which means I can't take on new stuff. I can't follow the flock on this one ... thoughts?

Mulch Ado About Nothin'

I'm still having fun in the garden, but boy is it work! There's a tree that drops all kinds of stuff all over the garden and I've yet to go get one of those screen-dome things. I actually don't mind getting out there and picking the stuff up. Petals and buds and ... wha ... what is THAT?! ARE THOSE WEEDS????!!!!?!!!? Yes, after all that turning and turning of soil little teeny weeds started to sprout. So, to the mulching I went. Here's some of the progress ...

Sadly, the carrots, scallions, cucumbers and watermelon died on me :-(. Well, really the carrots are my fault. I didn't do enough research and I really needed to treat the earth differently for those. In their place I planted some fennel. Then, in place of the scallions I dropped yellow onion bulbs because the red onions are really growing well. I haven't quite figured out what to do with the cuke patch and in place of the watermelon ... more onions! I use them plenty so, If my green thumb pans out ... I'll have some homegrown trinity soon .. well minus the celery and bell pepper. :-P Here's a flick of the new fennel plot ...

Boring? I questioned myself before uploading it. Teeheehee ... ahh, ok. The green sprouts on the right are the radish rows. Gotta thin those out soon . So then, forgot to fess up, the tomatoes weren't lookin' like they were going to sprout up and the decision was made to get some starter plants and do it like that. Here's the new batch ...

The pot said they'll be ready to pick in 50 days ... we'll see. If you get out a magnifying glass you may catch the beginnings of the broccoli.

All this past week all I was doing was gardening and developing recipes when out of the blue I get an email, I've been invited to make a second appearance on The Rachael Ray show! Last time was so much fun and I can't wait to give you some behind the scenes stuff. I am just totally excited about being asked to come back and look forward to it. It's another panel discussion just like the Thanksgiving show and wait'll you see the lineup of the panel this time! I Can't wait to share ... btw, we tape tomorrow, but it airs at a later date. Stick around for that and my new fave place to eat ... I found it by trying to give back a bit.

Sowing the Seeds of Love

It's springtime!!! 

For the last few years or so, I've wanted to have an herb garden. I've thought about it, daydreamed about it and talked about it. I know indoor herb plants are just as good, but I wanted a garden, you know ... one you work in and get all dirty and stuff. Not very eloquently said, but I'm willing to guess I'm also not your typical stereotype for a gardener. At least I don't think so ... we are given some pretty clean images of people gardening. In commercials the women have on cute little khakis and a denim button up, thrown over a white tank or something. The shoes are clean and the gloves, pristine. Can I even say the people usually seem older? I'm 34, for the record. In magazines, gardening is even prettier ... the gloves are clean and tools are shiny with only dirt on the part touching the dirt. Reminds me of how fast food looks in commercials ... it never adds up in real life. That being said, I thought starting a garden would be pretty and easy and breezy lol ... it isn't.

I recently moved into a place with a nice patch of earth in the backyard. It may seem tiny, but in Brooklyn, it's golden to have any outdoor space. I lucked up and got more than the standard concrete found in many of the borough's backyards, I got dirt ... and lots of concrete as well. Everything was covered with years and years of neglect and junk. A definite fixer-upper of a backyard. When we finally decided we were going to tackle it, it coincided with the first days of spring, so why clean it if we aren't gonna use it? I immediately turned an idea of my own herb garden, into a full-on garden of veggies and fruits as well. I ordered some seeds and bulbs online, then when they got here we took a trip to Home Depot for the rest. First, I'm never an advertiser of stuff here, just a talker telling a friend a story, but you must know the Home Depot I go to ... we call it "The Bizarro-World Home Depot" (taken from a favorite Seinfeld episode). We call it that because typically I'm used to going into one and searching forever for something and not being able to find anyone to help and when you do find someone chances are they are tied up with another customer. One time I waited about 40 minutes in the appliance department trying to buy something. I ended up getting it at a locally owned store. Now in the new 'hood I thought I'd give the old standby another try. Look, I know the aisles have headers and all, but there are just some things you need help with. So, anyway every time we go in there now, there are more than enough people to help and twice, we didn't need help, we were just comparing products and someone asked if we needed help deciding. Really nice. We commented at checkout how nice everyone was and we weren't used to it and the guy that checked us out said with a smile, "We aren't trying to see a recession happen over here!". It was lay-off, recession humor that was needed. As I am experiencing growth, I have many people very close to me dealing with layoffs. It sucks and I hope soon things turn the corner on the economy. Oddly, if you have some earth close by and a few bucks, you can start a garden and work off some of the stress. Yes, it's a workout and it's cheap! Seeds are like $1 for a bag of them and topsoil is cheap and so are the tools. All I bought was a hand shovel and a hand-axe/rake thing. There was already a shovel left behind by the last folks, so not really much to upstart the garden. Just plenty of planning and running around.

That's another thing they don't show in the ads or magazine articles about gardening ... it's a workout! Here I am, halfway through raking ...

Don't laugh at the gear, I'm no slope bunny. I don't have the khakis and the cute stuff. Look at that mess though! There was junk under those leaves from years ago. Really yucky, but we had a garden to sow! My dude was such a champ and knows plenty about landscaping and stuff so I had an advantage. We had to turn the soil because it was rock hard and filled with junk, here I am getting that done.

This is a bit later in the day so I had to change because it was cold and I found jeans just don't feel comfy in the garden. Even though we were sure to be past the last frost, it was cold. This was only two weeks ago. I didn't work alone, I had the hand tool and my dude wielded the bigger ones to remove the weeds and stuff. There were all kinds of roots down there. Ick. After we turned it and mixed in some new soil we decided to take a break and start plotting what seeds would go where ... we also needed some refreshment. :-)


Okay, so you know how it goes when kids are in the car on a road trip the question is always "Are we there yet?". I was that annoying kid to my dude while we were turning the soil. Because even after our lunch break after turning soil for hours, he said we needed to turn it some more. I'd work for about 10 minutes and ask him "Can we start yet?", "Are we there yet?", "How far away are we?". LOL. Ahhh he handled it well because I can be a whiner, but finally when all things were turned, I got to sow the seeds!

I was so engrossed, I didn't even notice him snap these flicks. I told him to get pics of me raking, but that was hours before this. Anywho, there's red onions, carrots, radishes, scallions, 3 kinds of lettuce, collards, cucumber, watermelon, tomatoes, broccoli, rosemary, thyme, oregano, bell peppers and cilantro. Not all went directly into the ground. I did a mini greenhouse inside for a backup to the watermelon I planted outdoors, then also planted the peppers and backup seeds of the collards and radishes in the container as well. I just wasn't quite sure the seeds would last and from research knew starting indoors was a good idea for some seeds. Here they are a few days in ...

I was nervous until ...

... these sprouted up a few days later! Those are watermelon, collards and radishes. In the front are the pods for the bell peppers -- slow starters. Also, any other gardeners get giddy every morning like it's Christmas or what?! Because after sowing the seeds into the ground outside, I couldn't wait to wake up every morning and check out the window for overnight progress. I wanted to blog about it two weeks ago when I planted everything, but I thought that would be boring. A flick of a patch of dirt. Not so neat, but now ... I have some green out there. Take a look at my radishes!

They were the first to sprout and the funny thing is I just got over my dislike of them! Cute and ironic twists the world throws us. Take a look at the collards, on the left are the ones sown directly into the soil, on the right are the transplants.

Unfortunately, the watermelons I planted outdoors were killed by weeds. We don't even know how we missed the huge weed bulb because as I mentioned, we turned until turning couldn't turn anymore. We investigated the soil around the watermelon seeds and found a bud sprouted and ate up all the nutrients from the seeds. There were teeny little weak watermelon sprouts in the hill I built. Like anemic versions of the ones grown indoors. Darn weeds! No worries, we transplanted the backups from indoors and rebuilt the hill for them.

That's where I'm at now, just waiting to see if the implanted stuff takes outdoors. Then I have to thin stuff. I'm starting to feel like I need a journal to note what to do to each crop, it's hard to keep in my head. Another thing, I've never checked the weather report so much in my life! Btw, the herbs I mentioned for the garden aren't seeds, they are plants and I actually haven't put those in the earth yet. Waiting for better weather. If the weather warms up as promised, I hope to tackle that sometime this weekend along with some flowers in other areas of the backyard. Stick around for garden updates and I still have BK Restaurant Week stuff to post soon.