SoBe Wine and Food Festival: OMG where did my week go?

Hey there! Well, needless to say I am sooo behind here. Is it ok with you? I feel like I had an assignment and I'm late. Reminds me of the people I used to work with at the magazine I edited. Everyone waited until the last second to get things in, but things still looked good! Hope that's the case here, let me roll out the remaining pics and stories from this year's SoBe Wine and Food Festival (check the link, there are pics there too!) ...

Saturday I headed out to the Grand Tasting Village for my cooking demonstration. Promptly after a sweet intro by Lauren Mueller, our director of public relations, I hit the stage at 3:15 to cook, for real :-) ...
That's me welcoming the crowd. It was packed, save for about 10 seats in the direct sun, some smart people decided to stand in the corner instead of sweat! It was hot!! I'm wearing jeans because my closet is a mess, I have no idea were my cargos or shorts are, I'm lucky I'm not wearing a turtleneck, as it's still cold in NYC lol. Anyway, I had a full menu with my Sweet Potato Hash and my Easy String Beans and Onions, but started with my Sweet Glazed Butterflied Chicken. All of these recipes are on the way in season 9 of Cooking for Real, can't wait for you to see it! First things up, let's do the butterfly!!I'm a skin junkie and the butterfly is the way to maximize my happiness. I like to start my cooking demos with technique so I can spend the rest of the time gossiping and talking about life stuff. If you were there, you now know which American Idol I can't stand, simply because she makes "it" look so easy! So, really ... I LOVE HER! You also know the difference between my South Carolina grandma and my North Carolina grandma teeheehee. Ok, so mid-way through my cooking demonstration, I noticed people a bit distracted with something left of the stage. I quickly turned to see these guys walking up to join me on stage for the fun ...We actually took that pic after my cooking demonstration was over. Guy and Emeril were so kind to jump on stage with me, it was a total surprise and really nice of them both. As I've said many times, Emeril gave me my start, with out him, I wouldn't be on Food Network. Then, Guy was the first host I met at the network that basically said to me "here's all my info, call or email if you have ANY questions about the gig". I took him up on the offer (which people hardly ever expect when they offer) and like a champ, he imparted some serious jewels I'm still very thankful for. So, it was really nice of them to jointly step up on the stage with me and say hi to the crowd. Just an hour or so later, I'd do the same and walk onto Guy's stage with Emeril and Robert Irvine. We went out to start the show and his crowd was so wild they all stood up in anticipation of Guy. I took this picture from the back of the crowd after we did the intro ... Pretty crowded, eh? You can barely see him, may have to click to enlarge the pic. I told Guy he's all over the place in NYC because now there's a Minute to Win it lottery ticket. Crazy. I was so excited to tell you about Guy and Emeril joining in on my demonstration, that I forgot to tell you about the Oscar winning celeb we had in the audience ...That's DJ Paul of Three 6 Mafia. Of course, they won an Oscar a few years back for a soundtrack song to Hustle & Flow. I was totally caught off guard when he walked up to me and said he watched Cooking for Real all the time! I then asked him if he was "ready for this!?", he said "yup", so I told him how about 10 years ago when I turned 25, he performed with his group at my birthday party in Detroit, Michigan along with rapper Trina. Yep, I loved them long before the Academy Award :-). I was a radio dj at the time and begged for them to come perform and they did. The party was a sellout and it had so much to do with them showing up for the fun. He immediately remembered the night because of some unique circumstances, but it was neat for him to realize it was me then and here I am now, lol. Really funny moment and so neat to find he watches the show all the time. He talked to me about specific recipes and everything, pretty cool. I plan to have him visit the show in the next season and he's promised me he'd bring the Oscar along. That should be a fun episode, I'm already planning the menu! We all chatted for a few, then I bumped into this b*#chin' chick ...That's Nadia G, Host of Cooking Channel's B*#chin' Kitchen. I saw her the night before at the BubbleQ event, but it was too crowded to get to her, so I was happy to stop and chat at the grand tasting tent. She's really neat, check out her show if you aren't already b*#chin' :-). Ok, thennnnn the night before I stopped by the BubbleQ event and quickly found I had to go straight to the back of the tent for a trio of fun ...Word of mouth is the way to go at these events and it's usually the first thing I'm asking people "where's the good stuff?", as if it isn't all good, but you get me. I can't possibly eat all 30 booths of food. So that pic above is from the booth in the back with all the buzz. The chef is holding what I lovingly will call a "trough of love". It's one-third each of mac n cheese, BBQ and baked beans. Look at the display they had to advertise the "trough of love" ... I think the baked beans were the best followed by the BBQ and the mac. I headed over to get some cheesy grits from another booth and ran into Alex Guarnaschelli getting some desserts from a guy walking around with food furniture attached to him lol ... is that what you call it? "Food furniture"?? ...He was really nice and funny. I looked, but didn't get a dessert. I was saving myself for some cheese grits ...I must admit, I only ate the grits. I know there are short ribs involved and I'm a sucker for them, but after the "trough of love", I didn't have much space left. Alex actually came on stage with me at my demo the next day and told the crowd how I asked for an extra serving of grits, I totally did. I mean, a dollop of grits?! That just isn't right ... I mean a couple of spoonfuls, yes ... a dollop, no. Teeheehee, plus they were super creamy. Really can't go wrong with creamy grits. right after that, I started heading towards the front of the tent to leave, it was such a huge tent that it really took about 45 minutes to get from one end to the other. Right as I got to the end, I ran into Ingrid Hoffman ...She's so delicioso :-), I told her I watch her show on Galavision to learn the language faster. I already know plenty of food words in Spanish, so it makes it easier to learn the other words. Love it!

Alright, that's it for my visit to Miami except for a place that has become a must-visit. I'm talking about Haitian restaurant Tap Tap. I ordered the stewed chicken, rice and peas and fried plantains ...Geez, I was so happy I took it easy all weekend so I could indulge in some goodness! Ok, that's all I have left of the 2011 Sobe Wine and Food Festival! Mark your calendar for 2012 ... February 23-26!!!

Stick around, I have a photo shoot tomorrow with a contestant from this season of Apprentice, can you guess who it may be??

SoBe it! 2010 - Final Shots II

Hey there! Well, it's taken me a bit to post the final shots from the SoBe Food and Wine festival because I took a few extra days in Miami to relax. I ate out, hibernated in my room a bit and went out to clubs with friends. If you are in Miami, Club Louis at the Gansevoort South is perfect on a Tuesday night for a good party! I went out with some friends and didn't even get to sleep before my 7AM flight. That's good for chef/restaurateur Donatella Arpaia, because I sat next to her on my flight home and slept the whole way. If I weren't so tired, I may have talked her ear off or at least gushed to tell her how proud I am as a business woman. I did get a chance to edit it down to just a few minutes while we landed. Turns out she watches Cooking for Real and she's very, very nice! I'm not saying it because she watches though, you can just tell from chatting with some people that it's all about the passion and not the ego of the whole thing. She's such a hard worker and has great things on the horizon. Nice to get a seat next to her and spread some smiles. Now I'm home and back to work! Tomorrow, I leave for a quick tour of Publix grocery stores in Florida and Georgia for some cooking classes I'm hosting. Yep, right back to Florida and I can't wait! Gonna see if I can get people Cooking for Real on the road! In the meantime, here are the rest of my pics ...

Back stage in the green room for the cooking demonstrations I caught a show being taped for Food Network. Can you guess which one??
I know you see Pat Neely in the background, but the crew is there to tape Ace of Cakes! Looks like they'll have an episode following the team to the festival and watching what happens when they take the stage for the cooking demonstration. After they cleared out and went on stage, look who got off stage and made their first stop the green room to relax ...
That's actually my first time chatting with Paula Deen! We've met very briefly, but she is always so busy and surrounded by friends and family that it's hard to chat. She is just as sweet as you can imagine though and after I told her about specific shows of hers I loved and how I can be brought to tears just by her tearing up over food ... she invited me on her show! I immediately said yes and I look forward to pulling all the loose ends together now that I'm home. If you would have told me a few years ago Paula would ask me to be on the her show, I would've exploded lol. It's neat to me that she comes on right before me on Saturdays too. A great lead-in as the TV people say! I just totally respect her path in life and it wasn't an easy path to where she is now, I'm happy all her efforts payed off. Ok, then I went back out to the fairway area and chatted it up with some more people at the Viva Towels Booth ...

The camera man behind me is shooting video for an internal Food Network video they'll use to showcase at the cable network up fronts. Ever hear of those? More on that later ... back to Miami! You can tell by looking at the different outfits in the pictures that it wasn't super warm down on South Beach, but it wasn't cold either. A very nice middle ground around the mid-70s all weekend was perfect for sipping wine. Last year it was about 20 degrees warmer and there were surely more people stumbling out than walking out. Heat just magnifies everything. Take a look at the tents on Saturday ...
I have to tell ya, it seems impossible to power through all of the vendors in one day and because of that many people bought tickets for the entire weekend. Wanna know the price of that?? Check Jacob's blog ... the saving grace for the ticket prices is the charity attached. Young culinary students get grants for school in exchange for working at the events. Pretty cool and each student I spoke with was super excited to not only get the grant, but to work side by side with people in an industry they plan to join. Here's someone I worked with side by side before I got on Food Network ...
Back then I was a radio DJ that catered for music industry even and he was ... well, Emeril Lagasse! Nuff said! He gave me my start here on Food Network when I cooked with him on Emeril Live back in 05 and every time I get to give him a hug ... I take it. He has a new cooking show on the way he told me about and I can't wait to see it. After I said hi to him, I let him get back to work. He was signing cookbooks and taking pictures for what seems like forever. I made that the last stop for the day and headed back to my hotel. Just as I was walking up to my room I caught a store in the lobby I didn't remember seeing last year. I think I'd remember seeing these huuuuuuuuge cupcakes. Or are they mini cakes???!!!
Well, it's not all about cupcakes ... the place is called SoBe Scoops and I tasted the purple flavor in the top right. It was raspberry chocolate and then I tried the cookies and cream, the peanut butter and then settled on not ice cream, but a 100 Grand bar, a Kit Kat and a bag of Poppycock popcorn - Pecan lovers.
Here's store manager Gianna and coworker Ebonique. Thanks for letting me sample waaaay too much ice cream ladies!

Here's a wide shot of the store ...
Colorful and inviting, eh? They've only been open a few months and I think it's a smart store for a hotel lobby. I always need a sweet note at the end of a meal and how many Key Lime pie slices can you eat? :-) Well, I could actually eat many so that's a bad example, but you feel me. Ok .... that was Saturday.

The next day, I started the same ... at the Viva Booth. Only this time I met the winner of the Viva sweepstakes! Take a look!
That's Randy and his wife. they both entered to win and Randy was the lucky one. They got a year's supply of Viva Towels and a trip down to the festival to hang out. I actually met them Friday night at the Bubbles&Q party so by time we took this picture ...we were old friends :-). I kept telling everyone they were the winners because don't you always wonder IF there are winners of those things?? We had a good time chatting and hanging out. Right after we took this we both had to head back to the hotel so we hopped in golf carts and sped off. Randy and his wife were headed home and I was checking into another hotel to lengthen my stay in Miami. My first order of biz was a quick birthday hello to one of the reader's of this blog ...
That's Heather, aka "Dolphinfanhq" on blog comments. I put the call out for bloggers that wanted to meet up while I was in town and she replied, so we met and hung out for a few minutes before I headed off to a meeting. I also met "reyna" that Sunday night at Guy's party. What a nice surprise that was!! The weekend was almost over and I hadn't really hung out with my bloggin buddy Jacob so I invited him over for a Monday brunch on my patio along with a couple other friends. Here he is right before he headed off for the airport ...
We're smiling cuz we made it through the weekend with out a hitch and we are full. Just look at my plate ...
Well, that's it! All my stuff to share from the weekend! Catch me tomorrow night on Best Thing I Ever Ate - Guilty Pleasures @10 pm ET. I won't ruin it, but mine is from New Orleans ... home of the guilty pleasure if you ask me :-).