New Cooking for Real Sunday! The Cod Father!!!

Hey, real quick, the Dr. Oz show from Friday reruns Monday on the early airing of the show, check your listings if you want to catch it again if you missed it (Charles!!!). A big thanks to the Scotto Family, Santos Loo, Chef Clarence and Charles!! I rode home and put the trophy right where it belongs ...
Ok!!!! Finally ... "The Cod Father" episode of Cooking for Real! Lol, Look, I have to admit that I love my job and one of the best parts is creating things. I get to create recipes and then compile them into menus and then I get to create a theme for a show and a title. Sometimes the cart goes before the horse and I think of a great show theme then I find the recipes that fit. I can tell you this was fish first, "cod father" second, but oh was it a good moment when the brainstorm hit me, because I knew I'd make a fool of myself and do an impression of Marlon Brando as the "God Father". I did it a few times on the show and I think they are all very bad impersonations, but I'm goofy, so I did it. That day on set I had some guests from right here on the blog and even blogged about it while taping season 9. You can read up on the behind the scenes stuff on "Day 3 is a Wrap". In the meantime, here's the latest menu ...

The Cod Father!!!
Coconut Cod
Saffron Basmati Rice
Cauliflower in Curry Cream Sauce

Cooking for Real airs Sundays (today! The Cod Father ep!) at 11AM, Weekdays 1130 and 4PM, with the Sunday repeat airing in the 4PM slot on Mondays :-) All times are eastern, check your listings here on the Food Network schedule page.

Enjoy the show! I'm heading out to North Carolina again to shooting some stuff for a special I am very excited about!! I can't wait for you to see it because it's very close to my heart. Ok, have a good weekend and I'll check in when I can!! Catch me on twitter where I say sill things in 140 characters or less ... I still predict the next social media will be the conversation. smh ... but I'll assimilate :-). Sunny Anderson Twitter

Catch me & the Scotto's now & later, just like candy!

Hey there! Well, it surely has been a minute since I've blogged about something other than a new show. I've been so busy and I like to have "real" time to write instead of just rushing things, so I've not been able to share some cool stuff. First, I am currently taping the 10th season of Cooking for Real! I can't tell you how happy I am, it just blows my mind and I'm truly thankful. Thanks so much for watching, I'm still enjoying it like the first day.

Today I had some guests come hang out for a bite ...

That's the Scotto's! Well, some of them. My set isn't really big enough for the whole family tree and they do have a restaurant to run! So Marion, the matriarch of this big family sent me 3 of her darlings and I can't even believe we got anything done during the 22 minutes of the show (commercials happen!). That's John, Rosanna and Anthony Jr., he runs the family restaurant, Fresco by Scotto along with his brother John and his sister Elaina (not pictured). Then, Rosanna Scotto is the co-host of WNYW Fox 5 NY's, Good Day New York. She's an Emmy Award winning journalist and this week is celebrating 25 years at Fox 5! What a career! I cannot WAIT for you to see this episode of Cooking for Real when it airs. Here they are getting ready for their close up ...My director Mike said go, then all I remember is laughing and thinking to myself, these are my kind of people! They were a total blast. I watch Rosanna every morning for not only the news, but the great chemistry with her co-host, Greg Kelly. The whole morning team is really funny and I like to start the day with a smile. They make it really easy to do. Catch them live online if you ever want to see what I mean. Here's the link.

Now, the behind the scenes I leave for the blog ... I asked them to join me on Cooking for Real after we both joined Dr. Oz to tape an episode of his show for a segment called "Family Food". Think, Family Feud - with nutritional content. :-) BTW, I LOVE the newest version with Steve Harvey as the host, it's like an hour of stand up comedy!

Anyway, we taped the Dr. Oz show a few weeks back and it airs this Friday!! Here we are before we went out on the stage to compete ...
That's actually in a green room for the Jimmy Fallon show that tapes on the same floor. He has each room set up with a different animal theme, pretty cool.

Because I don't have any family in New York, my mom made room in her schedule and came to town and my dad couldn't compete because as a doctor he had an unfair advantage. So, I lined the rest of my "family" up with family in another sense :-). Along for the fun was Executive Chef Clarence Van de Mark from Del Frisco's here in NYC. I eat there maybe once a month or so and every time I leave stuffed and very happy. The steaks are crazy delicious! Next, I invited my right and left hand man, Santos Loo from Food Network. And last but certainly not least, I'm just introducing them in the order we were in on the show, is blog winner Charles!!

I can't give away too much about the competition, but I can tell you the Scotto's are a rowdy bunch, and so were we! Tune in to see how it all turns out, the winnings go to charity, so really we all win!! The Dr. Oz show we are on airs this Friday, the 13 (spoooookkkyyy!!!) on WNYW Fox 5 here in New York at 11AM. Click here for local listings.

Want to join me on the Dr. Oz show?

Hey there! I'm over here making dinner and thought I'd stop in really quick with a neat opportunity for you. Well, that is, if you live in NYC or the area. Ok actually you need to be in NYC and have the ability to join me on Dr. Oz's set this Friday. Here's the deal without giving too much of the show away, the segment has a game show feel and it pits my team or "family" against another family. Well, as you know my family is spread out across the country due to our military background and I do actually have a family member coming, but I was thinking wouldn't it be great if someone from my "blog family" was on my team?

So, here we are ... we tape this Friday and if you'd like to be on my team send me your email in comments and I'll conduct some sort of quick drawing for the winner! Pretty simple. Only leave your email if you can have the day off Friday, you are in NYC and would like to go on the Dr. Oz show. (no worries, I won't post your email, it's just so I can send you a message if you win the drawing)

BTW, I'm tweeting, not say like a Diddy or an Ashton, just simple stuff here and there. Check it out if you haven't already Sunny Anderson twitter page

Also, I have been so busy I haven't had a chance to share with you some cool news, Ice Cube and the team at Are You There Yet? on TBS offered me a guest starring role on the show! I don't want to give too many details until I find out how much of my mouth I can run, but I tape my scenes tomorrow!! I am too excited! Can't wait to share the experience with you! I am soooo not an actor, but I'm studying my lines like crazy!! Wish me luck!!

Ok, New Yorkers, send me your deets if you want to come on the Dr. Oz show this week!!

Dr. Oz tomorrow, Bushman today!

Hey there! Just a couple of weeks ago, I got up at the crack of dawn to hang out with Dr. Oz and now it's set to air tomorrow! I gave some details in a blog I called "My trip to the Dr., Oz that is" ... check it out if you want some behind the scenes stuff. Here's the doc and I just after we taped our segment. He was sooo nice and I'm happy he thought my corny medical joke was funny.
I don't know when the segment airs during the show, but check his local listings page for your local show time and channel. It airs in NYC on FOX 5 @ 3PM. Set the TiVo/DVR and get ready to learn about some healthy stuff you can make in a cinch! Hope you like the show!

I'm in Detroit today visiting some friends and places I've missed since I left in 2001. If you are a Detroiter, I'll be on with Bushman @ WJLB today around 3pm. He's a buddy from my radio days here and even though at the time we worked at competitors, we didn't care and were the best of buds. Radio can be a weird land where the employees of one station actually dislike employees of other stations. I've seen it get nasty and it's not like that everywhere, but I'd say it's the prevailing sentiment from each market I worked in. I never understood it, because if I worked at Mc Donald's and you worked at Burger King, I'd still be your buddy :-). Let the suits not like each other, I don't own the company. So, anyway Bushman, a DJ here in Detroit was just the opposite of every other radio jock I'd met from the "competition". In a word ... NICE. So, we've kept in touch and I can't wait to see him today! Catch us catchin' up around 3pm. If you aren't a Detroiter and you still want to tune in, they stream on the internet! Just check out WJLB's Website and click on the listen live tab!

My trip to the Doctor, Oz that is

Hey there! Well, I told you yesterday about my plans to visit the set of Dr. Oz today and I took a few pics to show you what the day was like. I got up at 6AM this morning to get into the 7AM car they sent for me. I actually snoozed until 620 and got in the car a tad late, but that's because I live much closer to Manhattan than most think. Some people think Brooklyn is far and some parts of it are, but where I live is pretty close. I can get from home to midtown in about 25 minutes. Pretty fast, so I always know I can get in extra snooze button hits when I work in the city and someone sends a car.

At 745 I arrived at 30 Rockefeller Plaza and was greeted curbside and hustled inside where I showed my I.D. to get a badge and then we caught an elevator to Dr. Oz's Studio, which I found out is Conan O'Brien's old studio. I dropped my bag in my little green room and headed to the studio for the show rehearsal.
That's my view of the stage as I wait in an empty audience for my turn to go up and run through my segment. That's the floor director, the director and Allie, my segment producer. Again, I just think television is such a happy place because everyone on the Dr. Oz staff was so nice and pleasant. Really cool for an early morning call. I wake up pretty happy and it can be boring if I'm the only one pumped up at 8AM. Almost right after I took the above picture, it was my turn to go on stage and rehearse the segment.
That's my point of view from the stage. We basically just went through where we'd stand, who would do what when and how much time we had to get the segment done. It all took about 5 minutes and then I was escorted back to my room where I was greeted by an hour or so of hair and make up and a plate of green room food ... Dr. Oz style ...
Yes, you are looking at a plate of healthy mini bran muffins! When I realized what they were I giggled to myself a bit and then thought, well did I expect him to have bagels and cream cheese and bacon and eggs or something? It's Dr. Oz! So, anyway, I give him a big thumbs up for the healthy start. I had one and it was so moist and something about a bran muffin always makes me drink plenty of water, so of course, the drink of choice back stage at Dr. Oz was water. Perfect. I guzzled a few mini water bottles, brushed off the crumbs and sat still to get some professional work done and then snapped a pic ...
I waited in my room and went over notes for about 30 more minutes and then it was go time! I headed to the stage and got set up where we planned and next thing you know we were live ... to tape. Jill was the name of the audience member that joined us on stage and she was really cool under pressure and plenty of fun to do the segment with. Hope you catch the show when it airs. Here's Dr. Oz and me after we taped the segment.
That's me hunching and giggling, a habit I need to drop in pictures, but it does catch a moment in time, so hey. We'd both just finished laughing about something. He's such a nice guy, I guess in his language you'd say he has great bedside manner. I grew up with a daddy that is a doctor, so I think it's great that he is having a national conversation about the things we often discussed at home growing up, but I knew other households weren't so much judging from my friends. Medicine and personal health are so personal to some that it seldom gets discussed. Anyway, I had a chance to tell him thanks and he was so gracious and we even giggled a bit. Nice guy and I can't wait for you guys to see the show!! It airs April 28th! So please set your TiVos and DVRs!!! I'll put up a reminder closer to the date, but just so you know.

Instead of running back home right after taping the show I ran errands and then right as I was about to head underground for the ride home, I ran into the perfect way to book end my Dr. Oz visit ...
The cupcake truck!! I know, I know ... I had such a good start, but I've heard and even read about this truck in the paper and it's a traveling truck. That means you gotta catch it when you see it, or follow it on Twitter or something, I'm sure. Anyway, no matter how I rationalized it ... I was going to stop! Take a look at the menu ...
I decided on the mini 5-pack. It struck me as pretty neat I could get the same package size as the bran muffins from Dr. Oz, plus the 12 pack would mean that I'd have to eat them all. I can do that, but why? Summer is on the way! Time to drop a quick 10 and fit into a cover up! Lol ... and OMG I just realized typing this that it means I payed a buck each for a teeny MINI cupcake!?!?!? Sugar will make you do crazy things, huh? Ok, well, just wanted to share a bit. Here's my mini cupcakes, minus a bite. :-)
And after eating 2 more, I can firmly say they are each worth $1 and for their size, they are extremely moist! Which is sometimes hard to do in a tiny tin. Glad I ran into them and got a chance to poetically end my business day kinda the way it started, save for a few extra calories on the end.

Don't forget the Dr. Oz segment airs on his April 28th show! Hope you tune in!!!