New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Quick and Easy!

Hey there! There's a new Cooking for Real on the way, but really quick let me show you what's in the pipeline and do a lil backspin to the AC Food and Wine festival! Yup, it's been weeks but it's still on my brain because I thought I took more pics but couldn't find them, until I remembered they were in my other phone :-) ..That's DJ Sonatra, he has killed my Sunset Sliders party two years in a row, and I mean the good kinda kill :-). Then I went from one great crowd motivator at the pool to the next ...
That's DJ Ed Smooth. He had the crowd dancing on the stage after the fashion show at Sweet &n Stylish. And he did it all with just music, no hyping on the mic, nothing crazy, just killed it!!! Again, the good kill :-).

Here I am at the step-and-repeat at my Sunset Sliders party. The funny thing is it just sat there most of the party because I was walking around saying hi and taking pics, then I said to myself "hmm, maybe people want a pic of me against the step and repeat?" So, I walked over to it, and I got my repeat-on :-). Soon after a line formed and people with candids, also walked off with pics that looked a bit more official...
Then, the next morning there was a lunch I went to for some clients that do business with Food Network. Breakfast and drinks were served, but the best part was meeting an un-crowned sandwich king aka Jeff Mauro. He's now the winner of the latest Food Network Star and his show starts this Sunday at 1130am!! Tune in, he is HILARIOUS!! I couldn't stop giggling and he was only on the microphone for like 5 minutes. I also saw some clips of his show while I was at the network for meetings this week ... looks real cool. Not just in the studio stuff! Here he is striking a pose...
Really happy for him, met his wife too, she's a sweetie! Yaaaay!! Jeff Mauro the Sandwich King!!! Also around for the weekend were other contestants from the show, this is my fave to pick on ...
It's Chris and he's a handful!! I pick on him cuz I love him, as you could see from the judges on the show, there is a quality about him that makes you wanna get him in line like a little kid, but to me it's part of his charm. Wish him much success! Ok, then some friends I met right here on the blog came out for all the fun ...
That's Jen on my left and her girl with the red hair (totally forget your name!! but I know you will remind me in comments :-) ) and the 3 ladies on my right, I just met that night! We took this pic at Guy's Cheesesteak battle. Check out my favorite one from the purveyors...
It was meaty, it was spicy, it was juicy, it was cheesey and I was tipsy. lol. So, I can't remember where I got it from. Very upset cuz I have a Philly visit on the way and would totally revisit this place. I hope to learn in comments from someone reminding me the name of the place lol. Can you tell I had plenty of wine? Actually there was a drink infused with jalapenos at that event and I had a few. Ok ... back to the biz at hand ... a new Cooking for Real is on tomorrow morning (unless you are reading this late and it's today, Saturday. Orrrrr, you are reading it really late and you missed it, in that case it reruns this Monday at 3pm) :-) Ok ...

I call it Quick and Easy and it is truly just that. Everything on the menu has minimal ingredients and prep, starting with my Baked Zucchini. Just zucchini, an herb, some bread crumbs, a spice, cheese, olive oil, salt n pepa :-). Then on the other side of the plate is my Grilled Sweet Potato Wedges with Maple Butter. Seriously, this one is all about the compound butter. It's great on pancakes, biscuits, to saute fruit for ice cream. If you don't have allspice, cinnamon or nutmeg or both work. Seriously good and easy. For the main, my favorite thing to do to grapefruit, the once diet fruit of my youth ... meaning my mom was on the diet and I had to figure out how to make it work for me as a snack. I always start with brown sugar :-). I kept it savory this time and marinated some chicken then grilled it for my Grapefruit Grilled Chicken. It's the pic from the top of the post :-). The marinating part is the longest, the chicken grills up in 2-3 minutes on each side. See, quick and easy :-). Then I wash it all down with a drink we had at this year's AC Food &Wine Festival, my Bourbon Cider Twist. People ask all the time how I come up with things, for the drink. Well, I took a swig of the bourbon and it burned lol. That started the party, but I decided I'd like to sip it. So I added some apple cider from the fridge door. It was a bit sweet, so I added a twist of lime. Quick and easy ... truly what I do at home. I cook and drink, for real :-). So tune in tomorrow morning!!

Cooking for Real!!! Season 10 @ 10am!!! Food Network!! Quick and Easy!! Tell a friend. Turn the TV to Food Network before you go to sleep so you can wake up with food :-). Ok, I leave you with a sign of things to come from my test kitchen ....Those are my Banana Beer Fritters, someone on twitter suggested I call them Drunken Monkey Fritters ... I kinda like it, but I'm a sucker for alliteration and I like the word "beer" so .... Then I made a Zucchini and Roasted Tomatillo Soup.
It was great hot and now on the 5th day in the fridge, it still tastes great and passes the "slurp test". Really hard to do when fat is involved, has to be just enough to roast, but not so much that a could soup will tighten, you know? So anyway, it passes the test and will hopefully make it on a future show!! If you are new to the blog, look around at some of the food pics, they start here and you see them eventually on the show :-).

Ok, don't forget ... new Cooking for Real Saturday mornin' 10am Food Network!

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New Cooking for Real Saturday!! Beefin' with Pork!

Hey there! I'm very proud to announce another new episode of Cooking for Real today on Food Network!! First, how was your week?!? Mine zoomed by and I cooked plenty, for real :-) Here's a pic of my latest faves...

That's a quick ice cream topping I made using pumpkin pie spice. It is becoming one of my favorite spice blends in the kitchen. Great for sweet and savory cooking. I still have some of the topping upstairs, gonna put it in some pastry and fry it soon. Then the fist pics are an Italian flavored sandwich stacked with flavor, and although it's not a classic muffaletta, I stacked it like one and it has the curb appeal of one when topped. It all came together in my freezer, the round par-baked focaccia simply looked better than the white pullman loaf. I can't wait to share the recipe and the inspiration with you. Kinda like today's new episode of Cooking for Real ...I call it "Beefin with Pork". What's Beef? Well, you can ask Talib Kweli and Mos Def aka Blackstar or take it back a little further and listen to Notorius BIG. But "beef" is just a way to express distaste with something or someone. So, with my love of words, the title popped in my head when I got a request from a friend for BBQ that had a distaste for Pork. Well, they were beefin and so was I, I like pork :-). So today, I have a menu based on some friends coming over for a bite and had to make everyone happy. Those are my Honey BBQ Oven Short Ribs up there before the ride in the oven. I can't express enough how easy it is to make these and the payoff is exponential based on the work you put in. Great weekend eating :-). I always take pics of recipes as I develop them, for fun and for work. Sometimes I see ingredients in pics I forget to add to the recipe, so it's good for checks and balances. Here's a preview of the Quick Bacon-Cheddar Biscuits ...

I promise, if you've never made a successful biscuit from scratch ... YOU CAN DO THIS! I promise. I don't wanna say it's fool-proof, cuz smart people make biscuits, but ... it's reeeeeally easy. Give it a try and add ingredients the next time around if you want! Now here's the other side dish ... my Creamy Potato and Proscuitto Salad.

The potato salad was a perfect compromise, I served it with the proscuitto on the side for the people beefin' with pork that day :-). Anyway, I take these pictures and hold on to them for my reference when I'm going over my recipes, but I also use these pictures on the set to assist the culinary staff. Usually for the sake of time many of my recipes are prepped in advance by the team, some times parts and sometimes in the case of things that take hours like a slow roast, the whole thing is done because we can't wait hours for it to finish while we are taping. The recipes, the photos and my verbal instruction get the team on the same page as I am in my home kitchen. It's such a team effort to make everything on Cooking for Real authentic to my home process and it's ease. Just a lil behind the scenes :-)

Thanks for watching! Tell a friend or tweet a friend :-)

All new Cooking for Real at 10AM est - Beefin' with Pork! Food Network!

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Workin' for the weekend!

Hey there! Some pics from the AC Food and Wine Festival!! It's been such a lovely week ... Thanks to every one that came out!!! We were sold out at both Sunset Sliders and Sweet and Stylish!!! Here's some flicks ...That's me at the VIP Dinner. Each year they ask me to come out as a surprise guest during a jillion course meal. I always ask to look at the menu before I choose what I'm making so it's not a train wreck on the tongue. This year I made my Quick Apple and Sweet Potato Soup. It's great hot or cold, but that night it was great not even made ... lol. The heat on the burner just wasn't cutting it, so I walked through the steps and then walked through the crowd. Some people watch Food Network Star and they say things like contestants not getting all the equipment or ingredients for a challenge would never happen and I say it happens all the time. It's no biggie if you ask me, the show must go on!! Ok, here's half of the VIP crew ...Then, just like last year, there were these really cool angle-perspective wall drop thingys lol ... click the link and see the ones that were still here this year. This one below was the only new addition, totally had to take the pic!Then, Saturday night after the Sunset Sliders party I headed over to my other shin-dig Sweet and Stylish, take a look at the crowd...
Can you tell this is a really fast post for me? I'm in a rush to head out to the Mets game. I'll tweet a pic @SunnyAnderson. Check out The Neely's on Pat's birthday! This is at their event on Saturday, really good brunch and music!!!
These are the guys in charge of the food for pretty much all the events ...

I have more pics, but I was busy having so much fun at the Sunset Sliders party, that I didn't get many personal ones. If you went and have any pics, comment, I'll get your email and we'll exchange hellos :-). Ok, Thanks again to every one that came out to the entire weekend!! It was so much fun!!!

Don't forget ... ALL NEW Cooking for Real tomorrow!! Season 10 at 10am!! Curry On Baggage!!

Curry Lamb Shanks with Potatoes

Twice Fried and Mashed Green Plantains (Tostones!!!)

Chocolate Chai Milkshake

AC Food & Wine Festival: Pictures and about a thousand words

Hey there! Well, I've finally recovered from a packed-tight weekend at the Atlantic City Food and Wine Festival. I had such a great time!! I gambled a bit, sipped a bit and ate a bit. Between all that, I met some nice people and enjoyed what turned out to be some beautiful weather after a rainy start early Thursday. I have so many pictures to share from the last two days, so I guess I'll go in order ...

On Saturday, July 31st ...

I caught a ride on what I call Monopoly way ...
It's my view from a wicker rickshaw. That was my preferred mode of transportation this past weekend along the boardwalk passing streets like St. James Place and Park Place. Sure, it took a bit longer, but I get car sick very easily and it's hard to justify taking a car or taxi just a few blocks when I'm by myself. The weather was perfect for it so that's what I did Saturday morning to get to the Blues, Brews and BBQ event at the Showboat Casino. The event was hosted by The Neely's and musician Robert Cray.Can't see Robert Cray that well there, but I was also trying to get the checkered table cloth in the shot because I liked that it was BBQ down to the decor. Here's a better stage shot...Not too much better of a picture, but I did my best :-). I walked around a bit and got my hands on 2 little cups of beer then stopped to take a pic with the Neely's...They took pictures with everyone that came up to them, then ended the event by signing copies of their cookbook. After that, I took the rickshaw back to Caesar's for a late lunch at the Pier Shops and by the time I was done, it was time to start getting ready for my Sunset, Sliders and Spirits pool party that evening. I got to the party 30 minutes before the official start for a VIP reception and I was so happy to enter hearing the DJ play Billy Idol's Flesh for Fantasy...

Billy Idol - Flesh For Fantasy

I just can't say how crazy it was to hear this song! Brought back memories and I instantly thought how I was about to make some more memories that night. A huge thanks to DJ Sonatra He navigated the 80s, 90s and the 10s, with style. Like I said when we ended the night, there's no party without a DJ. Here are some of the people that stopped by ...That's Jen from the comments section here and the blog "one curly fry in a box of the regular". We've chatted plenty in comments and email, but this was our first meeting. We had a bet that I had to find her in the crowd based on her picture and I'm happy to report not 2 seconds after I stepped onto the pool level to find her, I said aloud to myself, "I'm looking for Jen". She actually turned around and I thought ... "is that her?" I walked closer to get a better look and it was!! Here are her girls ...How neat to finally meet! It got packed pretty fast and the next thing I knew the party was in full effect/swing! ;-)
That's the southern dream-team of the Neely's. Word has it they are expanding, official details to come soon :-). Pat and Gina are always so nice to me. They both often ask how I'm doing and ask if everything is ok. Pat feels like he could be an uncle giving out sage advice at every turn ...
We had a second to chat and then I ran into someone I missed at Thursday night's NFNS: Kick Off Party ...
It's Aarti, Next Food Network Star finalist! She looked like the sunset with her color choice and radiant smile. I kept seeing her throughout the weekend, but this was our first chance to chit chat. It was so nice of her to come to the party! It was sold out, but there were several "lists" so, it was packed to the brim and I made sure to move around to see everyone. I headed upstairs next to catch the sunset and ran into these partying ladies ...

On of them had two drinks and I said, now these are my kinda girls!! I mean, they were tiny drinks so why not have two at a time? Then I headed down the steps and caught a glimpse of one of my favorite rays of sunshine ...
Awwww that's my girl Alex Guarnaschelli of Chopped, Alex's Day Off and her home, Butter. I met her when we were both trying out for Food Network shows. We auditioned together on set and out of all the people I auditioned with I thought she was the most pleasant and interesting, besides being a great chef. I wake up to her show most Sundays at 9:30 and immediately get hungry! Here's someone I just met a few weeks ago ...
That's Serena from this season of NFNS. She was just eliminated last week, but she still has dreams and desires to be on the network, so you never know! She and I both got lucky and caught a tray of sliders and my Summer Corn Salad coming out from the kitchen and hijacked it for a couple of bites. I was so happy with every thing; the food, the music, the weather. Then I met someone I never expected to meet, much less in this setting!
She should look familiar to you if you watch Food Network faithfully. It's Marlie Hall, she once hosted Recipe for Success on Food Network. There's also another special she hosted that I always watch when I catch. I can't remember the name of it, but it's a candy convention in Las Vegas and I can't turn away from it. It was so nice meeting her as I was a fan long before being on the network. Then another face I missed the first night of the festival popped just in time to close the night out ...

That's super mommy Melissa D'Arabian. She had such a busy schedule for the weekend so it was so nice that she made it out. It truly is a busy weekend for all of us with many parties overlapping or closely scheduled, so it was hard to make every event. With that being said ... NOTHING was getting in the way me heading over to Sandra Lee's Sweet & Stylish party right after my pool party was over. I quickly changed and headed over to the ballroom to catch her on stage hosting a fashion show ...I took that standing right next to a table with my offering for the event, my Easy Blueberry Peach Cobbler.That's Gerry manning the table and passing out my desserts with a smile. When Sandra was done working I caught her backstage to say hi and get a photo for the blog. Her outfit was sooooooooo pretty. She looked just beautiful, this picture does no real justice ...Foxy lady and just the sweetest! I finished my night by heading to an after party, sorry no cameras ... and then I went to my favorite night spot "Club Bed", with a bottle of water for bedside table service to combat the dry air of a hotel room. :-)

Sunday August 1st ...

I slowly pushed myself out of bed around 11am and headed over to the House of Blues for a little brunch with Jen and friends at the Neely's Gospel Brunch. I walked in to the sounds of church ...The choir sounded so crisp and full. The acoustics in the House of Blues are great in so many cities. They really put music first there. I said my hellos to the Neely's and promptly sat down at the next table with Jen and her girls eager to get a full pot of coffee in my system lol. We ate and chatted between songs as much as we could, then when it was over and we got up to leave Tony Neely, Pat's brother, stopped by to say hello.I ran into him the day before at the Brews and BBQ event while he was overseeing the menu, this time we had a bit more time to chat. Not for long though because I had plans to quickly make my way over to Alex's Farm to Table Brunch at Caesar's. So, I hopped in a trusty rickshaw and headed back down the boardwalk to another plate of Saturday night recovery food.Looks classy, eh? I got there just in time to sit down and catch Alex's introduction and explanation of the menu ...Next to Alex is a representative from Wild Horse Wines, the featured vintner for the brunch. Here's my view of brunch. No words needed. It was yummy, just wait until you scroll down to dessert ... OMGrizzlyGoodness!! Click on this first pic to read the full menu on the side. I didn't get all the parts and mostly because the beignets came out warm, so no delaying for a photo! They were tender chewy little dough balls filled with raspberry jam. I had one, then split the guilt over a second one with a neighbor... Take a look at the salad when you zoom too ...

JUST LOOK AT THAT!!! The guy across from me killed his in no time flat so I corralled another one and before you know it, it was empty just like the first serving. This is where I try to end simply so this last picture can speak for itself. It was the perfect ending to my weekend. However you think it should taste ... is how it tasted and more. It was pretty darn perfect. After this I went back to my room and headed into a much needed food coma. Thanks for getting through this marathon post and if you were in Atlantic City this past weekend and we met, thank you so much for saying hi! I had fun at every turn and can't wait until the next one ... NYC is on the way!!! Tix are available now here.

AC Food & Wine Festival: Buffering ... a bit

Hey there! I am obviously slow on the last posts from this fun weekend. I'm headed back up to Brooklyn and plan to upload pics and share them today! Thanks to everyone that stopped me to say hi! Before I depart for the trek home ... Stephanie Turnbull and her girls decided to kick-off her bachelorette party weekend with me at my Sunset, Sliders and Spirits pool party - pretty cool bunch of chicks! They know how to have a good time!! Thanks for making me a part of the memory! Here we are saying "Ball and Chain!!" instead of cheese teeheehee ... That's from left Kristy Turnbull, Amy DiBattista, Amy Werts, Stephanie Turnbull (bride to be!), Lauren Dickert, Sunny Anderson, Jamie Pfitzenmeyer, Niki Stright, Sara Daniele, Katie Harrison, Nicole Giuliani and Kim Beck. Cute note, Stephanie played her wedding date at the roulette table and made big money on the first spin!! Good sign :-) ... thanks for the pics Stephanie!!

AC Food & Wine Festival: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise!

Hey! I got my Gomer Pyle on last night here at the AC Food & Wine Festival and surprised a packed house of over 700 VIPs at Harrah's for dinner! I couldn't tell you about the planning stages here because it was supposed to be a secret, but early yesterday when I went to the venue to check on my recipe and ingredients, people started to ask me why I was there and I had to just answer very vaguely. It was funny and I really just wanted to burst and say "Oki'mhereplanningasurprise!", all in one breath. It was in a huge ballroom and as soon as I stepped inside, I realized just how big the crowd was going to be ... That's not even a good picture to represent the span of the room, but the room was long and every table was already set and ready to go at around 2PM. There was a set menu for the VIP diners, but my part was to interrupt between courses and prepare a recipe for them. When we were planing the surprise, my first question was ... "Do, they get to eat it?" and to my surprise, the planners said "That's up to you". I quickly said that of course I want them to try what I'm making, that would be crazy to cook something in front of you with no tv screen between us and when I'm done I just pack up and go ... taking my food with me lol. So, I also made sure my recipe was easy to prep for 700+ food people and small so they could easily pass them to the tables. I decided on my Cod Fish Puppies ... They mass produced them catering-style and planned to do a quick run in some heat before they served them with a Mango Habanero Sauce recipe I provided. I usually serve the puppies with an avocado mash, but this was for a large group and 1. no one wants to break down all those avocados, I try to take it easy on the kitchen at events like this because they are already stretched thin. And, 2. Avocado just doesn't hold up well in catering conditions. Can you imagine dolloping 700 trays with avocado mash only to look at the first one and realize the time it took to finish allowed for the oxidation and color change to start? Only so much lime I'm willing to squirt on my avocado to keep it pretty, before it ruins the flavor profile. I am so proud of putting my catering hat on for all events now. I had no idea years ago when I began catering that it was training me for moments like these. Here are the chefs that brought it all together ... That's Chef Robert and Chef David, both were so nice and actually had little tasting plates ready for me when I arrived to check the flavor and texture of my puppies. They were perfect and I was very happy they didn't dial back the heat on the habaneros. For 700+ servings they used 25 habaneros! That may not seem like much, but imagine just putting a whole, un-chopped habanero in a pot of soup will spice up the whole thing ... to chop them down and add to a sauce, the heat is crazy! Crazy good, I hoped. :-) Happy the chefs liked it and so did the committee with me that was escorting me around. All I had to do was wait for the attendees of the VIP dinner!

On the way out of the dining room is when I got stopped with all the curious questions and it's partly my fault for almost blowing my cover for the VIP event that night, but there were some neat back drops set up in the hallway and I wanted to take a few pictures in front of them ...The scale was large, but the mix of colors and the proper depth in some of the backdrops made me feel like Alice in Wonderland, after her first sip of "poison". :-) Crazy right? I don't know if it's me, but it looks like I'm actually in the kitchen! The artist didn't sign a name and none of the planners with me knew who did them, but I just think they are so neat. Here's another one ...It was up pretty high, so I played along with it and tip-toed to act like I was trying to see over the stove. These are in the event registration hallway at Harrah's if you are here and feel the urge to take some kooky photos. I didn't see one person using them, but I just loved them! After taking the pictures and almost blowing my cover, I headed back to my room to get ready for the rest of the day and ran into this sign, take a look! It says "Saturday, July 31 The pool and gym will be closing for a private event." Wooohoooo! That's my Sold out Soiree! Sunset, Sliders and Spirits on the rooftop pool at Caesar's! Can't wait to see you there tonight if you have plans to attend! Here are a couple of pics from the VIP event last night ...It was packed! Sorry it's a bit blurry. I had a great time and thanks to everyone that came up and said hi! Also a big thanks to Sandra Lee, she had a surprise visit to a VIP dinner right before mine and left plenty of her cocktail ingredients, so I begged the kitchen to shake up a pitcher for us and we all enjoyed a sip back stage ... I don't know what it's called, but it had me at Goldschlager and Grand Marnier :-). Thanks Sandy!

Afterwards I went to hang out at some of the after parties and ran into 2 of my favorite people ...Can you see them? It's the Neely's! Also if you look close (sorry about the blurs), on the left you can see Cooking Channel host Darryl Robinson of Drink Up! and on the right you can see Roger Mooking, host of Everyday Exotic on Cooking Channel. Darryl and I worked together on NFNS: After Party and he knows his drinks! Really cool guy and I just met Roger the other night at the kick off party, but he escaped before I could get a pic. Everyone else in the picture are co-workers in our PR/Marketing department. They shine up the engine and make it run! Here's me and my girl! Ms. Gina Neely. I so wished she lived closer to me or vice versa, she's a ball of fun and energy. I'm often mistaken for her and end up sending her texts like "someone just mistook me for you while I was with my boyfriend, so just in case people think you are cheating on Pat, it's really me and my guy" lol. Too funny. They have a brunch thing going on today at noon and looking at the time, I need to hurry up with this, so I can head over to that! Hope you enjoyed the sharing! If you are here and checking my blog between sips and bites, can't wait to bump into you. Please say hi!

Oh wait ... one more thing ... did you know Caesar knew how to fry ... in a pan ... with a spatula??? Totally wrong ... lol. I feel like a person watching Mad Men pointing out all the era errors ... say that fast.