He Made/I Made - Salad or Sandwich?

Hey there! If you are a BLT person this month's Food Network Magazine is forcing you to draw a line in the sand ... wich. Do you prefer it as a sandwich or are you willing to have it in the form of a salad? (Sounds like the Wonder Twins) Anyway, a few months back FNMagazine called and asked if I would participate again in the "He Made, She Made" spread in the magazine. It's pretty easy to explain, they give two people the same dish to prepare and then you get to vote. This month's was BLT and I sat thinking ... well, I do a salad that may work, but they asked for a sandwich. I could've engineered or developed something over the top and crazy, but I cook for real, so I just went to my go-to salad. To make it fit the request, I put it in sandwich form and took a picture to send along with the recipe. Then, I when I sent the picture and recipe I also left a note to the magazine it can be prepped as a salad. Here's the picture I sent to them ...

To my surprise and amazement, the magazine decided to use it as a salad!!! YAAAAAAAY!!! That's how I intended it in the first place! Take a look ...

Food styling and lighting make my salad come to life! Check out the recipes in the magazine and vote here on the website for who made it best!! Aaron's my buddy and this is food, so no real battle here, vote with a smile!! Then enjoy making a BLT at home ... sandwich or salad :-).

If you're in town for the NYC Wine and Food Festival, I look forward to running in to you at some of the events and I hope to see you this Sunday at my cooking demo!! Get tickets and information here! It all goes to charity!!

Grillin' with my girls ...

Hey there! I hope you are enjoying your Memorial Day weekend so far. A special thank you to all the military members, veterans and family members. As a veteran from a large military family and a person living the American dream you make possible, I thank you for your sacrifices.

If you happen to be grilling this weekend I have plenty of stuff to let you know about ...

A few months back I taped an episode of Food Network Challenge and the week was so busy I took pics and didn't have time to share. Well now I can because I'm chillin' on a lovely weekend with time to spare and the show airs tomorrow night! Food Network Challenge - All Star Grill-Off airs Sunday, May 30th at 8pm. It's a battle of the sexes with Melissa d'Arabian, Aida Mollenkamp and myself for the ladies and Aaron McCargo Jr., Adam Gertler and Michael Symon for the guys ...
Ahem, yes, if you'll notice I did fashion the chef's coat they had for me into a cook's apron. I'm not a cop, I'm not wearing a cop uniform. Teeheehee. Plus it was hot and stuffy! I don't know how you chefs do it. That's like a whole other layer! We taped the show in California a few months ago and the weather was warmer there than it is here today in NYC.

Nice right? That's the evening before the shoot, all the crew was working hard to set everything up in time. Even better, the company that produces Food Network Challenge, also produced How'd That Get On My Plate? and it was such a great surprise to see some of the old crew from those road trips!
Those are my guys! Road trips like the ones we took are bonding adventures and it was so great to see them again and talk about the funny stuff. I even talk about them on Cooking for Real here and there. Bruner, second from the right is the reason I did my Sunny Lomi Salmon. Read about the story here. Ok, so then we got to grilling and the judges got to judgin' ...
I can't tell you the outcome of course, but I can tell you who I was sooooo excited to meet!

Yaaaay Keegan!! I am such a corny fan. When I met him, I told him how much I loved watching the show and like what he brings to the table as well. I think at first he thought it was just lip service, until I began listing episodes and specifics. I have to tell you, there's nothing better than the marathon of FN Challenge when you can catch it. I've sat and watched a whole day seems like. Anyway, Keegan was really cool and if you are a fan, hopefully you can live vicariously through me a bit because I totally gushed for him. To the point where I had to nonchalantly bring up that I had a boyfriend because I didn't want him to think ... "this girl has an eye on me!" lol! Ever do that? Ahh good times, well that's all I can tell you and show you because it's a competition. I can tell you that the money that usually goes to the winner is donated to charity! Hope you catch it ... Food Network Challenge - All-Star Grilling, this Sunday at 8pm!

Speaking of charity, remember a couple of weeks ago when I was in Providence, RI for a charity event? The final tally is in and Miriam Hospital raised $443,000 for their expanding cancer center. It was such a nice event with an auction and dinner, capped off by a cooking challenge with local chefs. Robert Irvine hosted and I judged along with Miriam Garron, restaurant critic Linda Beaulieu and food journalist Gail Ciampa. Gail actually reported on the event as well and it's on Providence Journal's site. Thanks for the link Jacob! Not the Jacob I usually refer to here on the blog, but a co-worker that buys all the food at Food Network. His dad is related to the cause and was a great host to the city. We had a super satisfying meal the night before the event at Al Forno, if you are ever in the area, I suggest the pizza for an app, everyone kept asking the next day if I'd had it and I was so glad I did. Obviously the locals know. It's super thin, crispy and the ingredients are premium, just real smart and good. We had one plain and a pepperoni, both to a thumbs up from the table. I also recommend if they have a special and it's a steak, just get it. The wine sauce alone was worth it, it had a nice molasses flavor and I plan to make a lil batch of my own at home now.

Ok, now for the other grilling news ... If you are up on Monday morning, catch me on the Today Show! I'll be on late in the 9AM hour and I can't wait!! I've been on before, but can you believe I haven't 'cooked' yet? Nope, just showing products and giving tips. So, now I get to step behind a counter and work! Hope you can catch it. If you've read my blogs from my first and second visit to The Today Show, you know they love to rehearse the day before (if not, check the links. I share pics and little stories). So, I'll take pictures tomorrow and share if anything interesting happens.

Aaaaaaand now the last bit of grilling news ... LOST? No, not the series that just wrapped and left everyone just that ... lost. I'm saying, do you need more brainstorming help for your cook out? We have a cool grilling site over at FoodNetwork.com/grilling. There's plenty of new videos with Bobby Flay and the Neely's, recipe links, sample menus, grilling guides and tips, just plenty of stuff. Take a look.

Ok, have a great weekend and I hope you get a chance to enjoy your friends and family. I'll post a few pictures of my visit to the Vice Presidential residence next week, but I just wanted to get you some grilling news.

SoBe it! 2010 - Burger Bash!

Hi there! This will be less verbose, but hopefully an exercise in quality not quantity :-). I got to Miami yesterday to enjoy my second visit to the SoBe Wine and Food Festival. I've been a bit busy in the last few days and have stuff to share, but this is more pressing ... so without further drivel ...

Look at Bobby Flay reppin his burger! We were on the same flight headed down and were both just happy to make it out of NYC before the snow hit. When we landed I got plenty of pictures of what the snow did at home while in flight ... it looks bad. But never mind that ... look at Bobby!

He already looks sun-kissed doesn't he? His burgers were Crunchified (meaning they had chips on them ... and that's his word, not mine. I'd throw a "tm" on it, but I can't find the symbol on my computer lol). He also had a yummy BBQ sauce on it and coleslaw. When he gave me a preview on the flight, I knew it'd be my first burger at Burger Bash ... I also felt Spike Mendelsohn's winning days may be over. Spike's won two years in a row ... I tasted his burger last night. It was gooood, but even better was his cotton candy shake ....
I had two! You push the cotton candy down and the best way I can explain the texture is ... do you ever get an iced coffee or an iced tea? Ever have too much sugar in the bottom and enjoy sipping that layer with your straw and crunching? Well, that's how it was for the cotton candy shake, but even better was the texture of the shake, it was soooo smooth. Go Spike! He didn't win though ... Iron Chef Michael Symon brought it home for the team! Sorry, no pictures of that burger because most of the night I was hangin' out with Viva Towels! Here's my booth where I gave out not burgers, but my Baklava Cups.
That's Rebecca with me. She's a student at FIU and if you didn't know the festival is a charity event, so at the end of working here she gets a grant for school. Pretty neat. A few minutes after I met Rebecca, I met her dean and promptly try to barter for straight A's in exchange for some baklava and Viva Towels. Every one was just total smiles last night. Here's my Memphis family ...

It's the Neely's crew!!! It's our 1 year anniversary lol, we first met and hung out last year at this very event and since then we've had so much fun together. That's Tony Jr., myself, Tony Neely (Pat's bro), Pat Neely and my girrrrrrl Gina. They are such great supporters and feel so much more like family than co-workers. They were on their way in to the Burger Bash and made time to stop by before going beef crazy. I took a quick walk outside the immediate area of my booth and ran into two crazy characters ...

That's John Besh and Aaron Sanchez ... two willlld and craazy guys! Totally showing my age with that SNL reference teeheehee. I just recently worked with Aaron Sanchez in right here in Miami on an upcoming episode of Chefs Vs. City. It airs soon and I'll give you a heads up when I get the air date. John Besh is just one of those chefs you like to run into ... never stuffy and always smiles. Then, I turned around and someone that I totally LOVE ... actually came by to tell me he watches Cooking for Real ...
That's Chef Pepin, he's has a product line and I've watched him on Univision and although I don't speak Spanish, I watch to learn the language and of course I'm going to watch when food is involved. Other than that ... I've just seen this happy chef around and I love a good smile. What a nice way to meet someone I watch, finding out that they watch too. Speaking of, do you remember me posting about my last visit here and running into a Pollo Tropical for the first time? Well, looks like they read the blog just like you and one of the executives came by to say hi last night at the Burger Bash. Very nice surprise ... you never know who's watching ... or reading. ;-) Ok, that's all I have today and I still ended up typing too much, eh? If you are in Miami, I'll be on NBC today from 11-12noon to showcase my Caribbean Chicken Wings I'm making for this weekend's crowds at the Grand Tasting tents. If you are here, please comment if you'd like to meet up for a drink this weekend! Until then, check out Aaron McCargo's tweets and Jacob's tweets if you want to keep up with what's going on down here!

NYC Wine n Food Fest - My Weekend Deja View

Hey there! Sorry so slow on the post from this past weekend. I've had a couple of packed days. I'll make it quick :-). After hangin' with The dancin' Chairman in the Grand Tasting Tent Friday afternoon, that night it was all about Brooklyn!
That's me under the Brooklyn Bridge happy I'm there! I was pretty beat earlier in the day mostly from traveling, but Aaron McCargo and Aida Mollenkamp both visited me at the Grand Tasting and we made plans to hangout at the Burger Bash. Plus it was in Brooklyn, how could I not go? Speaking of, here I am with the big guy ...
He met my dude that night and we all had a good laugh at how eating too many burgers, even tiny sliders, could make you feel like ... you ate too many burgers. You know? So, I had Bobby Flay's burger and stuck to the beer. Smart choice, his burger was just as good as I remember the last one being down in South Beach at the other festival. Mmmmmm yummy. It was crowded and so many people were there to chat with.
This is Aida and me sandwiching Stan, a big-time-crazy-cool ad sales rep at Food Network. We hung out a bit there and then walked around the corner to an after party. I had a cooking demonstration the next day, Saturday, so I scooted early to get some rest.

So the next day I headed over to the Javits Center for WBLS' Circle of Sisters event. Remember I told ya, you'd never guess who I ran into? Take a look ...
Look familiar? I was walking up to the stage and saw her standing there and immediately thought, "Hey! Next Food Network Star!". It's Nikki Shaw, remember she was on a couple of seasons ago. Well, she was hosting the event that day and took questions from the audience as I prepared my Grilled Chicken with White Wine Mushroom Sauce and Sweet n Sour Garden Collards. Then, I headed over to the broadcast booth to do an interview with radio host Jeff Foxx, when I ran into WBLS host Jasmine and singing legend Charlie Wilson. I grew up listening to him when he sang with the Gap Band and just recently caught him at the Essence Festival. He tore that stage up! What a performer! It was a nice chance to tell him that and if you are interested ... he said he'll be back next year. Says the event organizers called him shortly after to book him again.

I called it a day after that because I knew I would be giving out more of my North Carolina House Ribs with Viva Towels the next day. Sunday, Jacob stopped by for a visit and has some great flicks on his blog. Right across from me was the Iron Chef booth and the plates coming outta that kitchen were soooooo good!
That's contestant Eric Greenspan and you can jussst make out the back of Seamus Mullen's head. Then I headed out to eat some and drink as well. One of my first bites was from Govind Armstrong.
Looks tiny, but it packed a flavorful punch. I told him my daddy used to always have venison in the freezer from his hunting trips, so I was familiar with the versatility of the meat. Here we are after I had two of these, I'm so greedy.
Then, I doubled back around and headed over to get something everyone was talking about the whole weekend ... the marrow.
Wanna know what's in it, and by it, I mean the hollowed out bone ... can you see it?
Ahem, that's my drink there, Wild Turkey with Honey. I had it neat, then got the mixed drink ... very yummy, not an ad, just an observation. :-) Here's the marrow getting shaved on ...
I ate so much and then when I was stuffed, headed home to rest. I sat down in my movie room to the read the Sunday paper and look what I found!
Pardon the hard cheese, but this is seconds after I saw it and I wanted to catch the moment. Totally excited. And pardon the mess, it's my work-couch lol. Anywho, in my hand, is what fell out of the advertisement section ... my first ever coupon! How neat! I knew it was coming, but didn't know when. It's with Viva of course and my Dad called shortly after I saw this told and me one of his co-workers saw it, then I got a text message from a friend that saw it. It seemed to be everywhere. Neat feeling, I love a coupon with a real amount of money off, that's almost a dollar!!! My dad kept saying on the phone I was "20 cents off" to kid with me and I kept correcting him with "it's 85!!". It was funny. Hope you saw the coupon and put it to use! Viva towels were all the rage at the Wine and Food Festival everyone kept telling me they were so soft, like I had something to do with it. That's the smart engineers and people at the plant. I'm just happy to be here to spread the word. Ok, well that's it! More flicks later from a secret shoot I had yesterday with some ladies from Food Network and food flicks from my vacay.

Catch Me Hawkin My Product, Rachael Ray Style!

Hey there!!!
Well, last week started off on Monday as my first of two kitchen sessions to finalize recipes for the next 13 episodes of Cooking for Real. I posted some pics and stuff and have a few more I'll put up early this week from Wednesday's final day, but I wanted to tell you how my week ended! Tuesday, while in the kitchens I got word there was a possibility that I'd get booked on the Rachael Ray Show!! At first, it was put to me like, "what are you doing Friday?". I knew with an open question like that it meant something biz-wise and even though I learned early on in basic training for the Air Force to not volunteer for stuff, I said I was free. Happily, it had better results than my time at Lackland AFB in the summer of '93. I volunteered myself into everything, not fun in basic training teeheehee. Back to 2008, turns out they were thinking of putting together a panel of sorts for a Thanksgiving-themed episode. I was totally into it and had to wait until later that day to get more word on it. I can tell you as soon as I was asked about it I was nervous and still had plenty of food to cook for the show, so I just put my head down and got to work trying to forget there was a possibility I'd get to guest on her show. By the end of the day I was scheduled for a pre-interview with her producers the next day, Wednesday, and if everything went well, a live-to-tape taping of the Rachael Ray show that Friday!! The reason for the pre-interview is for the producers to figure out what you would say if on the show and what I, personally, would bring to the discussion if it were all about Thanksgiving.

So, Wednesday I went in to work ready to talk turkey and more and had a cool pre-interview with her producers. There were questions about gravy, turkey cook-time, mashed potatoes, I mean everything you could think of concerning the holiday. During the call I got the news of everyone else that would be on the panel and then got a bit sick to my tummy ... lemme tell you why. Remember I told you how I went to Ed Lover's Morning show the other morning to talk turkey with him? Well, a food stylist I work with was there and we had a quick discussion about cookbooks and which ones we liked and such. I told her one of I think the best layouts and best concepts was Rocco Dispirito's Flavor. She surprisingly told me that she actually had worked on the cookbook with him and that he'd love to hear that I said that. So, how is it a week later, to the day, that I'm going to be on a panel with him???????? CRAZY. So, it's me, Rocco, Ming Tsai and Aaron Mc Cargo Jr. on the panel along with of course, Rachael Ray.

The show airs November 19th at 10a.m. est, THIS WEDNESDAY!!! Check at The Rachael Ray Show for local listings. Here's the episode page with all the details. It's a full hour of Thanksgiving talk, recipes, quick fixes and even decorative stuff from viewers. I got to demo a recipe and we all took part in answering questions. It was over before it even began, how time flies when you are nervous and having fun. Here are some flicks ...

Ok, so this is the food in the first green/conference room ...

At first, I was put in a conference room and there was just a fruit plate (right), then after a few minutes two nice people brought in the two plates on the left. I was already full of chocolate soy milk that I brought. The little single serve ones are my fave treat these days, so when the two plates on the left came in the only reason they got action is because they were fried lol. Goat cheese balls and balsamic-glazed veggies on the left and soup, spinach pie and custard pie in the center. Ok, so the funny thing is, I ate the three balls in like 2 seconds and thought, where can I get some more of those. Like 5 minutes after that they moved us all to the green room area that was occupied by the previous shows' guest, Harry Connick Jr. and there were some more balls in there ... I thought to eat one, got called to get my microphone put on and when I got back, the balls were gone ... thank goodness. I would've eaten them all. Don't we need someone else to stop us here and there? Well, anyway ... the show was fun and before we went out I got a flick with the guys, minus Ming ... he was chattin' it up elsewhere.


Ok, then right after this, it was show time. We all entered the stage in a neat way and if you are a viewer of the show, you know how the audience moves on a turntable, so it was fun to hop on the turntable. Then we all sat down at the dinner table and got to answering the audience questions. We were there for the whole show, then at the end we left the stage and Rachael Ray finished off with a recipe as she usually does. Here she is from the green room as I gather my things and head out the door... (my best shot of her lol ... way too nervous to ask for one. but we did all take a press flick)


She looked bananas! The skirt, is a must have ... look for it when the show airs. She was so nice and her staff was the tops. I even saw some familiar faces. Heck, I forgot to tell you the crazy thing ... remember how I told you about the food stylist and our conversation about Rocco only to meet him a week later? Well, when I met him back stage I told him of the conversation I'd had about him just a week before, then we all went into that room to get ready for the show and on that television screen was a camera focused on the set before the show. I saw the back of someone that looked familiar and would you believe it was the very food stylist that worked with me the week before and told me about her work with Rocco???? Turns out she was asked to come in just for that day to fill in on the Rachael Ray show, she didn't even know I was there or that Rocco was there!!! CRAZY. It was great seeing her there. Life is super crazy sometimes with the coincidences it throws at you. Anyway, back to the pic above of Rachael Ray cookin' away at the end of the show. She looks great and for a woman that did a show that morning, then our show right after with just as much energy ... it blew me away when I pulled off and saw people lined-up to see her tape yet another show...

Now, that's a hard day's work. On a Friday no less. I gotta tell ya, I've heard stories of her work ethic. One show can really take the energy outta ya, but 2 .. then 3???? She's puttin' in work and I told her as much, gotta respect that. I really look up to people that are willing to put in the work. So many are ready to judge, but never see how hard someone works at their dream. You gotta say to yourself sometimes things are projected inward when complaints surface, cuz if they knew how hard you worked at your dream, the detractors would go elsewhere. So, if you are working your dream and it doesn't seem everyone is aboard your train, or even sees the work you are putting in, don't worry ... it isn't you, it's them. I believe you can do it, if you do. :-) Have a great Monday and look for more kitchen pics this week and soon the interview with the graphic artist that re-labels all the products on Cooking for Real.

Playin' Ketchup ...

I'm a teeny bit behind on the behind the scenes ... Took a day off to chill, which was yesterday. So, I'm sure you're like, uhhh what was on Saturday then? I'll get to that, but first ... Friday in the Food Network kitchens I continued to cook away for the new episodes we begin to tape at the end of the month. One of the recipes I share this time around was developed years ago for a friend and he hasn't had it in years from me, so I took this pic and emailed it to him ... fastest and yummiest gumbo everrrr


Then, here's the arm of Santos scooping a sample of something I'll call dumplings, for now. Some bacon in there and to the right little packages of fire!


We took a half day and I went to run some errands in the rain! Made me feel alive! Until I got tired, then I bought an umbrella. That's another thing I love about NYC. If you get caught in the rain, on just about every corner is a place to buy a lil 4 or 5 buck umbrella. If the storm is severe, in it's wake you'll see dozens of these broken cheap umbrellas in trash cans and on the side walks. Very funny sight to me.

The next day, Saturday, I got up early, got dressed, got my face put on and then headed to the city for a commercial shoot. This was with some of the new people on Food Network. I got to meet Aaron McCargo, winner of NFNS. He was funny and really nice. I told him I'd seen his blog and was impressed how fast he's pulled his online stuff together as I'm still working on getting my website up! Here he is shooting one of his parts.




Then I got in on it ... but first a touch up by the pros.


Anne Burrell and Aida were also there and from what I understand other people are doing their parts in other places. I'd have those flicks too, but I forgot to charge my phone and it died halfway through. Oh and just as I was leaving Danny Boome showed up. He is so funny and just as hyper as you can imagine, very animated! Everyone was chatting away and talking about how things have been for them. It was a really nice environment., except for the heat! It was hot in there!!! They had to turn off the air to get good sound, so we were all sweatin' to the oldies in there!

Here's some of the hard workin' crew that sweat more than we did and worked hard too ... they are deciding what I should do before I begin my segment.


Can't wait for you to see the commercial, I think there's two and they begin in October, so pretty fast turn around time. Funny thing to look for ... I'm a lefty so there's one part where they want us to all make a movement that is very left/right specific, so I did my best to do it the way the righty's did, but in the end ... my left took over. Funny thing is I do so many things better with my right, like cut and bowl, golf, bat etc., but I write lefty. Go figure. Alright, back in the kitchens today! Have a great Monday!