I'm Seeing Red!

Well, I've picked a few green tomatoes this week and totally enjoyed every last bit and bite of them. So, after a few great days of green, I've got a couple of red tomatoes to look at!
Look at my babies! Gardeners know the feeling, I hope. :-). I mean, I talk about my garden every day and think about the weather and watch many different channels for it. I get mad when bugs pick on it. I want the plants to all just get along. My babies, teeheehee. Ok, just some more quick photos of my torrential-rain-ravaged garden. The weather has been brutal, but the strong are surviving.

These are my highest collard leaves. The low ones are being devoured by the herbivores. I don't want to spray chemicals, so let them eat ... there's still some left for me! Look at how big they are!

Like my hand is a ruler, but you get the picture. I'm going to make a recipe when I pick these and feature it on a future show. Hope you like it! Next, I'm gettin' frawny with it!

These are the tops of my fennel. If the bottoms don't bulb, I'll just make a frawny salad! Take a look at this ...

Looks like a collard plant right? It's not though, it's my broccoli! I'm just waiting on the florets. I met a nice woman at the Edible Garden and she told me they would appear soon. Can't wait! Well, that's it for now. Enjoy the weekend and if you garden, hope you have fun and get a little dirty in it.

You Say Tomato, I Say To-not-o

Yep, If you are gardening in my area of NYC or have just heard it around your way ... this isn't the year for tomatoes. The rain up here has been around like the mailman most of the summer and while that makes me happy because I don't have to worry about the lettuce ... I still have to worry about the tomatoes. They aren't going so well, so last week after chatting on Martha Stewart's Sirius show about gardening and my new love of it, despite the bad tomato weather, I decided to harvest my tomatoes green. Why wait on them to ripen and turn red into a bland mush of nothing? So here's my first early harvest ...
Looks neon, huh? It's the flash, but it really is a bright and lively green. I took it a few times and I then decided it was breakfast time, not shutter time lol. I just chopped it into chunks, about 20 or so and then sauteed them in the pan I made my egg in. Used the residual fat in the pan from the pat of butter for the egg, then just some salt and pepper, got a good brown crust on them ... it was soooo good, I forgot to take a picture. I was like, wait ... oh well. Teeheehee ... Anyway, if you are like me and the tomatoes aren't lookin too good in your garden, harvest early and introduce yourself to the tangy-sweet world of green tomatoes! Next up on the list, dredging and frying them, gonna take a culinary-memory trip down South.

Mi Lechuga and My Laziness ...

Hey there! I'm about to head into the city to get my nails done for a huge shoot I have tomorrow and Friday, but I thought I'd write up a quickie.

BTW, that first sentence can sub for what I would tweet, if I gave a twit teeheehee. I remember my blog buddy Jacob trying to convince me I should tweet and at the time of the text conversation we were having, I was getting my nails done. I told him, 'What would I tweet? That I'm getting my nails done and then I'm on the way to one of my favorite restaurants?" ... he said "yes". I have still yet to tweet away. I still don't know if I have an interesting life. I currently am truly enjoying the Wendy Williams Show and she constantly talks about what she likes to do most is pretty much nothing. Same here, I enjoy staying at home and cooking and playing video games and watching television. I do love going places, but I just don't think it's exciting or note-worthy enough.

Ok, so anyway ... i digress ... here's a shot of my lechuga, aka lettuce in my garden!

It grows like crazy when I clip it and because it's mixed, it makes a real pretty salad. My radishes didn't make it and it was totally my fault, I kept saying I needed to thin them out and never did :-(. I am so not letting that happen to my fennel! I'm a bit worried about the tomatoes even though they are looking great, the weather and other reports from gardeners makes me feel like they may not taste as tomatoey as they should. I am thisclose to pruning them while they are green and frying away. In the top left of the pic is a look at one leaf of my collards, they are big and feeding little herbavores, not me ... not yet. Other than that I'm, a lady in waiting for my onions and can't wait to see if they are big and juicy.

Alright now for another picture. I was in recipe development a couple of weeks and back I'm still wrapping up all my recipes for the next episodes I begin taping in August. I always try to bring you the flavors of my kitchen with an emphasis on easy and accessible recipes. I really want you to watch and see that it's possible to do and there are no real tricks involved in getting good food on the table everyday. Well, on a future show I'm planning I wanted to demo a dish that I love to eat in my new neighborhood in Brooklyn. They are called pastelillos de carne and basically it's seasoned ground meat wrapped with pastry and fried, yummy. There are many variations and really a great comparison is an empanada, if you are familiar. So, I was working on developing the pastry dough part and came up with something great, but for such a yummy treat, the steps involved would be lengthy on television. I don't mind showing long steps because sometimes we alllll know good things come to those that wait. But, shortcuts are fun too, when they don't mess with the integrity of the recipe. Look, when I make pot-stickers, I'm not making the wonton papers, I'm buying them. Although I know how to make them, and have a great recipe from my days making their cousin yakimandu in South Korea ... laziness is what will keep me from cooking, so wonton papers are a miracle in my freezer. Now ... on what I call a "spelunking grocery store trip" just yesterday I found the way to faster empanadas and the aforementioned pastelillos de carne I have planned for a future show. Take a look!

Who knew? Not me, so I thought I'd share for a few reasons;

1) If you don't have these at your local grocer, you can get them. All you have to do is take the name of the product to the customer service window where you get the membership cards and stuff and ask for it. Enough people asking, and they are sure to stock them. I've gotten stuff stocked after only asking once ... and don't think they know I work in the food industry, they don't. I just put on a smile and ask. Goya is a national brand, but I find sometimes they are mostly in ethnic areas. So, if you don't have these or any other thing you see being used on Food Network, empower yourself and ask for it at your local grocer.

2) I just want to inspire you to do some of your own grocery store spelunking. You never know what you are going to find when you open your eyes. I know it's economically safe to walk in with a list and a full belly, but try to look at your grocery store in a different way. New items are constantly arriving and you never know what you'll find if you just do a stroll instead of a marathon. I usually take forever when I'm in the mood and it's as if I look at every single row, high and low, very slowly. Like it's a museum.

3) After I took the picture of the empanada wraps in my freezer, I realized the borders reveal a few of my freezer items ... can you tell what they are? Just a fun game to play if you happen to be working when you catch this post and need a little 5 minute distraction. Ok, enjoy the day! I'm headed off to get my nails all pretty for tomorrow's big shoot ... details to come.

p.s. this isn't an advertisement for Goya or it's products, just a friend telling a friend :-).

I Have a Bundt In the Oven ....

UPDATE at end ...
Hey there! Hope you are enjoying the week so far. Last week I was talking to my grandma and she told me of a pound cake she'd just made. Now, look ... we always talk food among other things, but it was pretty neat to hear a woman that has made cakes and pies like crazy forever, brag about the most recent one she'd made. She just couldn't put her finger on what happened different, same recipe, same tools, same oven, but she swore it to be the best in her many years. She just bragged and boasted with an audible smile. You should've heard the excitement in her voice. I immediately got tingles and realized this is where I get my DNA. This is the woman that passed that dominant happy with life's simple victories trait down to me. Grandma has made cakes her whole life for friends, family and church goers and is still able to do something to surprise even herself in the kitchen. It inspired me as she always does and before I knew it she was telling me her recipe and the tricks she pulls to make it perfect. I jotted it all down on an envelope and made a note to go get some cake flour and an apple. I was about to make my grandma's cake, with a few changes. Take a look so far ....

That's my addition to the recipe, a granny smith, small diced. It's sitting with some lemon juice now, but I added some cinnamon to it before adding it to the bundt...

Imagine greasing that baby ... it took forever because I'm just not a spray oil person and I wanted to get all the nooks. Even though this is non-stick, a grease and flour is par for the course. I have a few ornate bundts, but I plan to share this with you on a future Cooking for Real, so I don't think I'll use those on camera, prolly go with the basic humps. Why? Well, sounds silly, but sometimes if you use fancy looking stuff on television, people don't think they can do the exact recipe without it. Look, a bundt is a bundt is a bundt. Matter of fact, I bet my grandma uses her same bundts from ages ago when they were first introduced to the market. I digress, this is before the final pour of cake batter ...

Now, it's baking away ... I'll post a pic after it cools and I turn it out.
UPDATE:
Here it is on the way out of the oven ...

And after waiting what seems like forever for it to cool down, I finally turned it out ...

It was still a bit warm and I left a lil swatch stuck to the bundt because of it. Not too bad, I just couldn't wait longer. I took my first slice from the not so perfect part ... and now, it looks perfect and it's yummy! After the first bite I decided to put it in a show I tape in August and it should air before the year is up, so stick around for the recipe! Thanks for hangin' as I baked in real-time!

Sunny's Summer Eats!

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

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

New Shows and Funnel Cake

and

Girl's Gone Wildwood

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

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

Essence Music Festival Wrap up

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

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

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

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

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

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

New Interview!

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

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

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

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

Mother's Restaurant Knows Best!

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

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

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

Hot Fun in the Summertime!

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

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