SoBe Wine and Food Festival: Best Thing I Ever Ate at the Beach ... ...

Hey there! Well, I got through my third SoBe Wine and Food Festival without a hangover or a tummy ache from all the good drinks and food. I have more pictures to share so let's go backwards ...

That's Dwyane Wade of the Heat visiting my booth at The Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Beach party. I met him briefly last summer at an event in the Hamptons and he and his girlfriend Gabrielle Union said they watch Food Network all the time and like Cooking for Real too! Very nice! I hear athletes can burn up to 10,000 calories a day, so hopefully one of them is not just watching, but cooking, for real :-). I actually found my way in to the 1st game between the Heat and the Knicks since they signed Carmelo Anthony and last night headed out to watch the Knicks win it in the last minutes of the game ... I won two bets on that game, both with food pay offs, so I'm pretty excited! The night before before D. Wade stopped by my booth, I made the rounds myself and chatted with a few other participants ...That's Bethenny Frankel just a couple of booths away from her was the newest addition to The Cooking Channel, Debi Mazar ... She was there with her husband Gabrielle. I interviewed them on Valentine's Day when I was filling in on Martha Stewart's radio station at Sirius/XM so it was nice to meet them in person. It was really neat to see what people chose as the best thing they ever ate on the beach. Mine was a no brainer, If you are around here often, especially at the start of summer, you know how I like to kick off the season with a trip to Nathan's for a bacon cheddar hot dog at Coney Island in Brooklyn. So, I put on my pink "I heart NY" t-shirt and passed out a piece of boardwalk history ... I topped them both with chopped onions on a whim, but most of the night I served them the way I love em, bacon ad cheddar cheese sauce. I also left the option of people getting one plain with all the toppings lined up on the side. So chili, sauerkraut, relish and all the other usual condiments were on hand if people wanted to personalize their dog. I had so much fun meeting everyone that stopped by for a dog and a picture. The Nathan's team was pretty cool too. We all joked about how much 'hard' work it would be to hand out hot dogs on the beach in Miami vs. the current weather in Coney Island. Here we are before things got busy ...They were all so much fun to work with and they've invited me to come hang out on the 4th of July for the annual hot dog eating contest. As you know, I'm totally into the MLE scene and obviously Nathan's, so I can't wait!! During the set up of each station before the night began, Andrew Zimmern dropped by to have a dog then just as he was leaving we caught host of Mexican Made Easy, Marcella Valladolid and took a picture ...Her booth was just a few away from mine, so I had my bestie take a shot of it while I was slinging hot dogs ...The tent was filled with booths offering beach foods from all over the country and there were huge screens playing loops of The Best Thing I Ever Ate episodes. There were also these neat decorations with quotations from the show blown up large enought to read from a distance, but one in particular I had to get close to ...(click to enlarge)I don't remember saying it, but as soon as I read it, it sounded like something silly I'd say. It was pretty cool reading all the quotes, so I took another so you can enjoy as well ... Take a look at the tent before it got crowded ...

It's the same tent from the night before at the BubbleQ event. Stick around, I'll post those pictures up overnight. Until then, if you came to my booth that night, thanks so much for the smiles! Here's a video I found from Plum with some of the action at the event ... Everyone was so nice and people in line helped each other with each other's cameras, very nice crew of food people waiting on a Nathan's hot dog. Thanks for a great night!!

Ok, up next ... the Grand Tasting Village and my cooking demonstration, the BubbleQ and more ...

Sobe Wine and Food Festival: Burger Bash Slide Show

Hey! So last we spoke I was at the pool here blogging away with a bottle of bloody mary mix as my companion. I got up to head up to my room and get ready for the Burger Bash and ran in to the burger man himself ...Bobby Flay and that's my girl Aarti! She was just coming from the beach with her husband. We all chatted briefly then Bobby had to head off to make I think he said "five hundred fifty thousand" burgers lol ... Bobby is hilarious I can't wait to see him as a judge on his new show America's Next Great Restaurant.

Ok, here are some pics from the night ...

That's Burger Bash is held in that huge tent and every packs in like a night club, it's packed!
Rachel Ray is the host and architect of the evening and Lee Schrager got up on stage to make some welcoming remarks as well. The band really made the night great. They covered songs from Kool and the Gang to Ke$ha and it was allllll good! Here's Bobby Flay's burger ...made with his signature Crunchafied chips and a nice slather of goat cheese. It was pretty tasty!! Then, I headed over to Spike Mendelsohn's booth only to find him in a Hamburglar outfit ... this dude is crazy!Spike is really a cool guy, he always has some kind of gimmick involved, good thing his burger is slammin'!!! This time around he offered his Coletti Smokehouse Burger, here's the namesake of the burger, Mike Coletti ...
That BBQ sauce was something serious. I want a jar right now for a night I get lazy and don't make my own. I stepped away from Spike's burger spot and bumped into Robert Irvine hanging out at Michael Symon's offering ...

Robert and I chatted for a quick second, then I got to business by stepping to the man and asking him for everything he had to offer, in turn I got a burger I ended up calling "meat on meat on meat, a meaty burger" ...

Look, I don't know what to focus on with this burger, but let's start with the with fried salami. I saw about a jillion little crisps sitting on a wire rack in his staging area and immediately got excited. Then he layered on a really good shacha sauce, provolone cheese, pickled onions and there was fresh basil involved ... very tasty! He won the big prize and I'm not surprised I walked away and thought to myself, geez, he plays dirty ... all that MEAT! That just ain't right! Crazy!! Check out who I ran into on the way out of the tent ...

Duff Goldman hosts tomorrow night's Best Thing I Ever Ate on the Beach event. I also have a booth there and I can't wait to share with you the best thing I've ever had at the beach! Stick around for that and if you are here, I also have a cooking demonstration tomorrow, Saturday in the grand tasting village at 3:15. Come on by and hang out!! Here are the culinary students that prepared all my ingredients today for the event tomorrow ...

Alright! I'm heading out again tonight, hope you had a good week, if you are here and you see me, stop me and say hi!!

SoBe Wine and Food Festival: Chick Stole My Look & NBC Stuff

Hey! Well this will be fast because my battery is low and I'm logging in from the pool (sorry about the pool reference if you are in the cold, but when in Rome, eh?). Ok, so last night was the kick-off event for the 2011 SoBe Wine and Food Festival down here in Miami. It was hosted by Food Network Magazine at the Fountainbleu Hotel, along with myself, Melissa D'Arabian, Scott Conant and Anne Burrell. I'd love to show some pictures, but I was so busy saying hi and talking peoples ears off that I only have one picture from the party to show, but it's a winner. In the paraphrased words of Ms. Joan Rivers ... CHICK Stole My Look!!

Funny right? The tops were actually similar, but not the same. Funny thing is, there were actually two women at the party with the exact same white dress on :-(, don't you hate that ladies? All I can say is great minds think alike, so if you ever see someone stealing your look, walk up and say hi ... you may make a friend. I have drink and dinner plans with my doppelganger when I get home from Miami! I wanna see her closet! Ok then this morning I headed over to hang out with my friends at the local NBC affiliate. I met the crew of South Florida Today last year when I was down here for the festival and they told me whenever I was in town to call, so I did and we made plans to cook up some fun! Here I am getting my anchor-on ...

I tell ya, I love the news ... I was just playing in this seat, but I'd love to fill-in on the news one day. I started out writing news stories in high school. It would totally be a neat full circle thing. Until then, I'm sharing my love of food!!! Check out the video if you missed it or are out of the area ...

View more videos at: http://www.nbcmiami.com.

I prepared my Grilled Smoked Pork Chops with Sweet and Sour Glaze, Jicama Salsa and Pineapple Spritz. To get it all ready for me was my sous chef, Andres. Here we are smiling away because eating time is within minutes!!Andres worked great under pressure because after we did the planned segment and he was all packed up, the team asked if we could do another for the new NBC Non-Stop channel, and we both quickly unpacked and got it together!! I do things with a smile and it was cool working with someone else that handles pressure with a smile. Thanks Andres!!!

Here I am with the hosts between the break making sure the chops don't burn too much ...

We all ate plenty and they loved the Pineapple Spritz. Let me tell you it is the most simple drink ever and I made it one day just looking through my pantry for stuff. The can of crushed pineapple is what started it all! Ok, tonight is the burger bash! A special thanks to Samantha from Vivo's Specialty Foods, I was sitting here typing away and she dropped by with a gift ...Bloody Mary Mix!!! I told her it would be perfect for my unofficial hair-of-the-dog party Monday morning! Can you believe she actually had the nerve to apologize for "interrupting" me? Look, I am going to say it again ... I don't mind being interrupted. If you are down here, you've paid for the tickets, you've taken time off work, maybe you paid for the pets to board or for the baby sitter ... please ... interrupt me! You've done so much and all I've done is share recipes. I don't have an entourage or any of the high-falootin' mess :-), just me and my recipes. So, please tap me on the shoulder and say hi! I'll try not to talk your ear off teeheehee. Ok, stick around because I'm headed to the Burger Bash hosted by Rachel Ray tonight!

if you Build a Biscuit ... they will come

Hey there! Just a quick update before I head down to Miami, FL for the 2011 SoBe Wine and Food Festival. I had plenty of fun last week filling-in on Martha Stewart's Sirius/XM radio channel. I have some pics from that to share at the end of this post, but first ... my brunch this Sunday was so much fun I thought I'd share. One of my close friends, Fiona, told me last week about a place that allows you to "Build a Biscuit" called Peels. WHAAAAAAAAA?!?!?!?!?!? So, immediately I did the smart thing and said "no thanks". Like, I am trying to fit into jeans that fit me last year this time lol. Then, I thought about it and got smarter, I texted her back and said let's throw caution to the wind and go Build a Biscuit on Sunday!!! Take a look at mine ...GEEZ. That's my baby! I chose scrambled eggs, bacon, red-eye gravy and fried chicken. I kept seeing biscuits delivered with the chicken inside the biscuit and we decided to share the calories on the chicken, so we ordered it on the side. Let's talk about the biscuit for a second, it wasn't the fluffy, pull apart kind. Very smart on their part because when you are piling it on, you need a good sturdy foundation. There was a nice crunch on the bottom too, I liked it plenty ... but only ate half of it (compromise):-). Here's the menu of add-ons in case you'd like to build your biscuit one day ...
Really, I asked for "pepperjack" too, but I guess it was lost in translation. I never really complain about stuff like that because sometimes I think it's the "food gods" that brought it to me that way. I must admit, cheese would've killed the spotlight for the red-eye gravy anyway, I was just piling it on. So, in the end it was perfect! Perfect enough to share calories on a slice of apple pie ala mode ...It was so good, I hope you believe me when I say I only had the very edge, a triangular piece of the pie and maybe 2 tip-of-the-spoon scoops of the ice cream. I was very modest. Very hard to not massacre good food! Ok, since we are on the sweet tip here ... have you seen the commercials for the new chocolate donuts at Dunkin Donuts? Well, I'm a sucker for a good advertisement so I had to check it out ... Now this, I must admit, I ate the WHOLE thing!! BTW, this is not an advertisement, just one chocaholic to the next saying, give the inside-out/reverse Boston Creme donut a try. CRAZY!!!

Ok some pics to catch up on last week and then a pic from my photo shoot today for Food Network Magazine ... I totally forgot to tell you about the magazine shoot. It's for the June issue this year and I'm making something and showing the steps that go with it. That's all I can say about it until it comes out in a few months.

Now a couple of pics from last week filling in on Martha Stewart's radio channel...

I talked to Stephanie Izard, winner of Top Chef season 4. Here we are after the interview ...Check out her new restaurant in the Chicago area, it's called Girl and the Goat. I'd visit for the name alone!! Then, I also talked with stylist to the stars (Jay-Z, for one) Crystal Streets. You may recognize her from a reality show about stylists ...
Such cute style she has! She's launching a jewelry line, check it out at LyraLovestar.com

And now to today ... I'm in Manhattan taking pics for Food Network Magazine, we are on lunch now so I thought I'd share it with you :-) ... I can't tell you what I'm making, but here's a pic of us setting up the shot ...That's it! Ok, tomorrow I head out to Miami for some sun and fun! If you make it, check in here for updates, if you can't I'll do my best to show you what it's like at the 2011 SoBe Wine and Food Festival!

Monday was sweet!

Hey there! Hope you got a chance to tune in yesterday on Martha Stewart Living Radio over at Sirius/XM! Get a free trial here and tune in today! I'm on today from 1-4PM! Yesterday, Adam Richman and Badlands Booker stopped by as my first guests and I challenged them to eat some of my Halloween candy lol. I'm stupid, but it was fun and I'm sending their charities a check ...We had plenty of fun and found out Adam has a new show on the way and Badlands has a date with a King Cake, or two, or three in Atlantic City soon. Tune in today, I have plenty of guests and I'm kicking it off with Robert Irvine!

A week with Martha! (almost)

Hey there! I've been a bit slow on posting and replying to comments, but I see pics of my finished spread for the big game are requested, so I'll post them at the end of this.

First, news to share! If you have a Sirius/XM receiver, tune in this week to catch me on Martha Stewart's radio station(if not, click here for a free trial!!!). I'm filling in during the afternoon drive all week long, except Wednesday. In the past I've stopped by for interviews and even co-hosted with Betsy on Martha's Morning Living show. This time I'm all alone so I have some great guests coming by. It's a tricky schedule, so I'll list it in a second, but can you believe I'm Martha material? Yes, I garden, but it's considerably messier. I obviously love to cook and I'm constantly doing stuff around the house. Some call it nesting, but I don't really think of it as that. I just like to constantly make things better. Anyway, I'm happy to be asked back because radio is like second nature to me, so it's a breeze and I'd love to talk and have conversation. It's a talk station, I asked if we could play music and it looks like snippets, but not whole songs. Should be fun! I like to think there are people like me out there, totally Martha inside :-), but a bit rough around the edges, ahem real - like Cooking for Real :-). It's not always pretty, but it gets done, right? Ok, here's the schedule for today and the rest of the week:

Monday 1-4PM

Tuesday 1-4PM

Off Wednesday

Thursday 2-4PM

Friday 1-4PM

Today's guests include; Man vs. Food host and author Adam Richman, competitive eater Badlands Booker, Lee Schrager, Debi Mazar, her hubby Gabriele Corcos and more! Stick around for updates.

Ok, week-late game day food flicks ... this is my counter top turkey fryer moonlighting as a wing fryer ...

I made like 20 per batch so they would always be hot when served. I made 3 different types ...That's a spicy honey BBQ sauce I whip up. Then a simple blend of honey and dijon mustard ...
And the third was a new recipe I worked on the night before. Wings tossed in a BBQ dry rub ...

I liked them all, but my new favorite is the last one ...
They taste like a sweet BBQ potato chip, down to the powder left on your fingers for licking! Can't wait to share the recipe with you on a show or in print somewhere :-). Then, here's the layered queso dip I made ...

Plus, I made the chili the day before and wrote about it here.

And what is a party without drinks???

That's a watermelon drink I made by just blitzing melon chunks and running it through a sieve. I toss the solids and sweeten the juice and add some lime juice, then I shake with tequila, pour over ice and top with lemon-lime soda. Pretty darn refreshing!!

Ok, sign up for a free trial and tune in to Martha Stewart's channel today on Sirius/XM!

Ready for Kick-Off!!

Hey!!! I am so excited! I don't know what it is, but this year Super Bowl seems to be bigger and better as far as the entertainment value. I just finished watching people walk and be interviewed on the red carpet ... is that a first? I just finished all the major spokes in my party wheel, take a look ...The chicken wings are dunking in a water and salt brine. I'll take em out 1 hour before kick-off, pat em dry and dredge em. Then, I'm gonna start frying around 30 mins before kick-off. I have 3 different ways I'm making them, honey mustard, honey BBQ and the final is a BBQ rub that tastes like sweet BBQ potato chips. So two sticky, one dry. Then ...That's a 4 layer queso dip for plunging corn tortilla chips and later fingers :-). It was pretty simple to assemble, then I covered it and put it in the fridge. That will come out of hiding around middle of the 1st quarter and go in the oven to get bubbly around the end of the first. I expect it to be done a quarter of the way through the 2nd. Then the chili I made last night is in the fridge, I'll take that out when the nachos are done and it should be done around halftime. This morning we dined on lighter fare to manage the day and I made some ground chicken tacos ...I know, no official breakfast, unless you count chocolate yogurt at 7AM. I haven't done tacos on the show yet, so I may start with my ground chicken taco recipe. Very simple and the light sour cream on top is just blended with cilantro, lime juice, a shake or so of hot sauce and onion powder. That's a great multi use blend for sour cream. I had one taco then got back to work on every thing above. Up next, I'm working on the drink! I have ingredients and I don't know where they'll take me! I'll share! Ok, now since I've been watching pre-game all day a little bit of musical inspiration ... Can you tell me why I'm playing this video football fans???!?!!!!?
Enjoy the game!!

Essence.com Game Day Reading ...

Hey there, just a link ... Check out Dine on a Dime with Essence.com, I did the interview Friday afternoon sometime after nachos and chili, but before chili prep. The interviewer, Derek, was so nice to accomodate my messy schedule, check out his work here; 5 Questions for Sunny Anderson on Super Bowl Treats.

Then, a few weeks ago when I was taping Cooking for Real, a crew from AOL's Pop Eater came by during my lunch break to chat Super Bowl and more, check out the interview and video here on PopEater.com

Chili's Done! Bring on the game!!

Well, I'm done prepping for tomorrow's game! On my menu, Beer Punch, Nachos with an Irish Cheddar-Horseradish Cheese Sauce, Fried Chicken Wings tossed with a BBQ Rub and Wine and Dine Chili. Most of those are new recipes I'm currently developing in my kitchen. Here's tonight's work ... the chili as it begins ...That's the flavor base full of veggies, spices, herbs and tomato paste. Things got a bit hot in the pot, so in a hurry instead of adding the planned stock in the fridge a few steps away, I had to pour on the closest thing to deglaze and it was a bottle of wine. I was just enjoying an 8oz pour while prepping the chili, love it when these little things happen to take a recipe down a different avenue. That's when I decided to call it "Wine and Dine Chili". I added the rest of the ingredients, let it simmer for a bit then took this pic before I covered it and put it in the fridge ...It tasted great an hour or so ago, but I can't wait to taste it during half-time tomorrow!! I just thought I'd post this late right after I finished just in case you are up like me tonight working on your party tomorrow and looking around on the internet between stirs. Have fun and enjoy the games and the commercials!!

Chili, Nachos and Things ...

Hey there! I have ingredients waiting to be turned into chili for tomorrow's big game, so this will be quick. Just wanted to give you some behind the scenes from yesterday's activities. For the second day in a row I set my alarm for 4:30AM so I could get up in time for a visit to The Today Show. Seems early, but getting my face spackled for the high-definition cameras takes about an hour or so, then getting dressed and over the Brooklyn Bridge through NYC morning traffic takes time, as well as getting mic'd up and briefed by the segment producer.

Friday morning's segment was all about The Today Show's Homemade Chili Cook-off finalists. Three competitors from across the country were flown into town to enjoy the city and possibly get a trophy along the way. A couple of days ago I found out I was judging alongside Man Vs. Food host Adam Richman. I watch that show plenty and just love his energy and my fave part is the fake press conference at the end after he defeats or fails at the food challenge. I was really excited to meet him and turns out he watches Cooking for Real, read my articles when I edited and wrote for Hip Hop Weekly and even listened to me on HOT 97 when I was on the air years ago. Pretty crazy! And he's from Brooklyn! Who knew? We spent plenty of time exchanging local places we like to eat and hang out in our borough. I Love, love, love a food conversation! He has a new book out called America the Edible and continues to shoot his show. Here we are with the finalists before we went on the air yesterday ...That's Michael, me, Kyle, Rhonda and Adam. We all had plenty of time to meet and say hi, then the finalists had to head out to the set to shoot previews for the competition. Here's how it all went down ...

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Rhonda was super sweet and I didn't catch it live, but my boyfriend pointed out to me when we watched it on the DVR later that she made a heart shape above her head for me. Sooooo sweet. Thanks for all the kind words backstage Rhonda! Like I said, you are just like me. Someone experiencing life through food among other things! Michael had his sister on hand for support and Kyle, well he brought the fun with his pig call. Pretty unexpected because he was so quiet backstage! Must have been the nerves!! Both Adam and I really loved all of the chili. Kyle's was smooth and delicious, but we wanted more of the apple and maple flavor. Then Michael's was equally good. It smelled like BBQ sauce, but tasted like a big ol bowl of hearty chili. Plus, it was healthy with the turkey and chicken. I think Rhonda's won because it was so unexpectedly powerful with flavor. Both Adam and I were blown away by it instantly. There were big chunks of tender beef and the spice level was so that it was just hot enough to make you want more. Really hard to judge them all because they were the best of the best. Catch their homemade chili recipes on the website.

After having chili for breakfast, I snatched a few bowls of Rhonda's chili recipe (thanks to the friendly crew at The Today Show!) and took it to Martha Stewart Radio for a chat with Betsy and Kim at Morning Living. They loved it too and I shared my recipes for my Southwest Quesadillas w/ Cilantro Lime Sour Cream and my Game Day Chili.

Then, after talking chili, quesadillas and more chili, I headed over to Chelsea Market where Food Network is located for a nacho competition among my co-workers! The internet departments of both Food Network and Cooking Channel along with Food.com put their game day thinking caps on and prepared several snacks for judging ...That's plenty of nachos for lunch, eh? I was judging again and this time around my co-judges were Kelsey's Essentials host, Kelsey Nixon and Food Network Kitchens chef Claudia Sidoti. Claudia develops recipes for Food Network online, cookbooks and the magazine. She was recently at the helm of one of the cool 50-recipe pullouts Food Network Magazine has every issue. Her theme? Nachos!! Here we are all ready to snack and judge ...Take a look at a sample of our lunch ...Those are some serious muffins! Very pretty too!
Those were carnitas nachos, made by a self-proclaimed bachelor! Pretty and tasty!
Some BBQ inspired nachos with pickles never hurt! We liked how they were individual servings, instead of the traditional pile-up with naked chips on the bottom. Then check out something that took me back to cafeteria time ...
Tots!!! Did you know they make hollowed-out tater tots now?? I'm looking on my next browse in the freezer section! Many people made original recipes and some made recipes from Food Network hosts. The muffins were 3 recipes in one, pretty crafty! Here's my paper plate pile-up after all the tasting ... Chili for bfast, nachos for lunch, pretty exciting Friday! Check out who won the competition on FN Dish (bookmark it!), it's Food Network's blog. WHAT?!? You didn't know we have a blog?!? Yup!! Get acquainted by visiting the Super Bowl Nacho Showdown for the winner and more behind the scenes pics! Cooking Channel has a blog too!! Here are the spectators that do all the work to keep our online presence well, present. :-) ...

Thanks for feeding us in more ways than one guys!! I hope I'm counted in for the next eating holiday judge's table!

Also, don't forget the showtime change for Cooking for Real! It's still on weekdays at 4PM and I've moved to Sunday's at 11AM for the debut shows. This weekend it's a big pot of my Chicken in a Pumpkin-Mole and teeny pots of my Molten Chocolate Cinnamon Pots on an episode I call Pots of Gold.

Alright, I'm off to make a pot of chili today, cuz it'll be better tomorrow! Check FoodNetwork.com/BIGGAME for all your last minute tips, recipes and instructional videos. Goooooooo team lol, I can't pick sides really, but I will say that I don't want the JETS to have lost to a loser, so the Steelers better take this one home!!!