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 - NBC, Tents, Bubbles & Q!

Hey there! It was day two of my time down here at the SoBe Food and Wine Festival and I woke up early to get ready for an appearance at the local NBC station here in Miami. The building is a bit of a ride from South Beach, but the complex is huge. Take a look at the news room ... this is only a teeny portion.

We walked past this bank of cubicles and newsroom activity then hung a right to reveal a pretty huge set for a news station. I immediately walked over to the weather green screen and did my best Mike Woods impersonation.

Mike Woods is my local weather guy in NYC and this whole week I've sung his praises to everyone that asked how I got down here without a hitch, considering the weather. My response? "Mike Woods told me the snow wasn't going to hit until mid morning, so I took the first flight out!". I always like the first flight out anyway because if it gets canceled, I have a full day to work with. If you follow Mike Woods on his twitter page, please, tweet him and tell him thanks for the good weather report and I'm trying out for his job in that picture! He'll know I'm joking.

Then over in the corner there was a group of gals hanging out and I just haaaaaaaad to get a picture! They have a stage show that is in town right now and besides being hilarious and great in-character actors, they really had the nuances of each character in the popular sitcom ... have you guessed it yet?
Yes, the Golden Girls! These ladies call themselves "The Golden Gays" ... hilarious and I love it! The show I was on started at 11am, but I wasn't on live until 1140ish. So, before we went live I stopped to take a picture with my on-set culinary team, Bianca and Nathan. Cool thing is we worked together last year at the festival aaaaaaand they aren't just a working team, but a team in life ... for 7 years. Cute!
Next thing you know it was go-time! Here I am talking to the host live about the festival, the Viva booth and my South Beach Chicken Wings available at the festival.
As soon as we were done the crew stormed the chicken so I backed up to let them at it and bumped into one of the nicest chefs around, Art Smith. He has such a zest for life and you can tell by just a quick hello and a smile. We were both recently featured in People Magazine talking about how we try to keep pounds off when eating is our gig. He looks grrrrrreat! We chatted quickly about food and life then I asked him if he'd take a pic for my blog and he obliged ...
After this we had to rush out to get back to South Beach so I could hand out the very wings I was promoting at the Grand Tasting. Traffic was bad, but I got back just in time for me to do what I call a Superman booth change and head right back out. They have little golf carts to take us to and from the hotel and the events and they all park right behind the venue so when I pulled up, I caught another friendly face about to leave...
I just love how Sandra Lee looks in white. Those are some of my favorite shows ... when the whole set is just pure white. Very clean and only a chick with a flawless body can pull off an all white outfit lol ... goooooo Sandy!! She's always been so sweet since I started and has said some pretty nice things to me in private moments. If you are a fan of hers, I'll have you know ... she's worthy of you and she's a sweetheart!

After we chatted, she sped off to the hotel and I walked on over to the Viva Booth. I took so many pictures with other people and forgot to get one of my own lol. I had fun though and after I was done at the booth I realized it was 4pm and all I'd had to eat all day was some strawberries from the fruit bowl I got with room service, a wing on the set of the NBC show and a wing at the Viva Booth. To say the least, I was hungry. Good news - I'm at a Food & Wine Festival ... Bad news - the tents closed at 4. That's the same time I was done working. So we rushed through the tent to see if we could find any one still serving food and I ran into some beef!!!
That's Chef Roy Mitchell of the Buckhead Beef Company. He saved my day!!! While everyone else was packing up because it was quitting time ... his crew was still churning out the juicy beef. Uhhhh I'd have a picture of it, but honestly I ate is so fast, I mean inhaled it!!! Thanks Roy!!!

Ok, after that, I headed back to the hotel for a nap and dinner. Yes, a nap ... I feel old. Teeheehee. All this activity makes you a bit tired though. After dinner, I headed out to one of the best parties of the weekend, Bubbles & Q. It's all about champagne and BBQ. What a combo, eh? I walked around a bit and bumped into two of my favorite ladies ...
That's Susie Fogelson, marketing wiz, judge on NFNS and most recently she's made several appearances in my living room when I play Cook or Be Cooked, the Food Network Wii video game. On the other side of me, Ingrid Hoffman. I was just down here a few weeks ago and as I was watching the news I caught a piece about a new food truck she has roaming the city. I emailed to give her a quick congrats and she invited me to check it out and chat with her about the festival when I returned. She's doing correspondent work for NBC, so today after I'm done serving wings I'm heading over to chat with her. I'll let you know when the piece runs. She is such a fun person to hang around with and again, very nice. Ok, then I turned around an bumped into the newest addition to Food Network ...
Marcela Valladolid! Mexican Made Easy is my new favorite show to watch. I wake up on Saturdays just to watch and I really like the authenticity of her recipes. Plus, my time in San Antonio, Texas primed me for a love of Mexican food. Tex-Mex for sure at first, but then after a few trips deep into the country ... I'm on board for it all! Marcela and I chatted real quick then I turned around in the same immediate area and bumped into an icon ...
Ok, I know this sounds cliche, but I wish I could jump back to my young self and say one day I'd meet the guy that hosted Double Dare. A few years ago I read his book, it's a biography and it is reeeeeally a good read. He's such a hard worker and reminds me of my dad, without sounding weird. Anyway, great guy and such a pleasure to meet and chat with him. Then things got even sweeter and I ran into Mr. and Mrs. Fondant ...
That's Geof and Mary Alice from Ace of Cakes. I feel like I know Mary Alice because we have a common friend in Jacob from Food Network Addict, so when I met her I yelled "I love you through Jacob" awkwaaaaard lol, but she got it. Ok, then the best part of the night ... as I was leaving the Bubbles & Q tents I bumped into someone I haven't seen in years ...
Now, maybe you're thinking it's Isiah Thomas I'm talking about ... and you are right, I haven't seen him in years. But the person I'm referring to is his son, Josh. When I worked at HOT 97, he got an internship with us and many of my coworkers ribbed him and some just acted like he had a charmed life and wasn't going to work as hard as he needed to. Well, they were all wrong and he turned out to be one of the best interns we had. Always on time and ready to work and learn. Fast forward to now and he has a record company and a artist he just signed to Universal Records in addition to a heavy schedule of touring as a DJ!!!! GOOOOOOOO JOSH!!!

Then, I went back to my room and fell asleep .. I'm headed now to the tents to hand out more wings today! If you are here, come on by to say hi!!! Please excuse the typos, I did this blog while getting ready. I'll clean it up later and take more pics to share!

SoBe it! IV

Hey there! I'm still enjoying my first-ever SoBe Wine and Food Festival! I'm recuperating in bed as I type this because boy was yesterday a long day! I have a cooking demo on Stage B today at 2:15 and I am nervous as all get out. That's a phrase my family uses, hope it translates teeheehee. Ok, so yesterday started with a call from my bloggin' buddy Jacob aka the Food Network Addict. He'd just arrived and made a bee line to the beach! He's covering the event on his blog and has some great flicks up. I had some extra passes because I'm here solo ... yes, solo. Which seems normal to me, but to everyone else it seems crazy? When people find out I'm here solo they get the look in their eyes like I'm a 6 year old that just scraped her knee lol. Like poooooor little girl, are you ok? Uhhhh, yup! Just fine! Most people here have a group of people with them and I've never been one for groups and honestly don't think my lifestyle and position calls for one. Right? Let's be real, I'm new and nothing has gotten too complicated yet. Even when it did in my radio career, I preferred the minimalist approach. So anyway, good thing about being here solo? I had those extra tickets to share!

After we linked up, we headed over to the hospitality suite at the Sagamore hotel for free drinks and there was even a little gift suite there. Funny thing is it was divided into His and Hers rooms, but I didn't notice from the start. Right when we walked in someone said something to me and Jacob like "Welcome, we have something for you, you go in here and Sunny this room is for you". Felt weird, like why can't he go into my room and vice versa? So, I go into the room I'm directed into and there are some real pretty shawls. I take one and exit. Just at this time Jacob exits the room he was directed to and me being nosey, I look in and see cigars and stuff. I take a step back to look at what the room says on the outside and realized I totally missed the sign that read "His", so then a glance at mine and it reads "Hers". Next thing out of my mouth was "So chicks don't smoke cigars? Is that what you guys are saying??", then Jacob said he was wondering what the separation was about too, thinking there were better things in the room I went to because I'm on the network. Needless to say, my dude is gonna be happy when I bring him home some cigars and I'll go ahead and enjoy one with him as well.

Here's Jacob, Lisa (Food Network co-worker) and a yummy drink that was missing only one thing ... a shot of vodka, so after the first sip and thinking it was alcoholic, I ordered a shot of "wodka" as I say and stirred it in.


Here's the view from the terrace at the event. Notice the band ... soon, I'd be in a band of my own ...


Look, I'm a gamer, but a PlayStation gamer. In fact, I won't buy a PS3 until God of War III comes out on it. So, here I am at an event that has a room set up with a Wii and everyone looks like they are having fun. I bowled a bit and liked it, but when they set up the band thingy, I LOVED it!!! I can't tell you if it was Guitar Hero or Rock Band, but what I can tell you is I loved it, will buy it as soon as I get home and will fight to the death every time I play to be the drummer. I had too much fun. Really. I just don't think I'll ever be able to do the fitness game though ... very funny to me that the problem with video games is that they keep us indoors and sedentary and their solution to the sloth is to make a workout video game. I'd rather take a walk ... after playing the drums to Livin' on a Prayer and then No Sleep Til' Brooklyn! Boy, can you tell ... I really liked that game!? Check me trying to getting my color-coded drum on!

That's the aforementioned shawl I'm rockin' too ... pretty color huh?

I pretty much hogged this thing until the end of the event once I discovered it, I'm such a kid. My apologies, but the gamers feel me. My PlayStation is all the way back home. I look forward to playing this and having arguments much like I envision a real band when one member doesn't hit the right notes lol.

Ok, then later on Gina Neely and I headed over to the tents for the BubbleQ party. Take a look at the scene...

Me, Ingrid Hoffman and Gina Neely

Red eyes and all, me, Ingrid, Pat and Gina Neely and my girl Sandra Lee. Lemme just say for the record, coolest chick around miss Sandra, coolest chick.

After that, we headed over to Paula's Poker Party, where I linked up with Guy and his crew, then we headed to Rachael's party, then from there many of us walked over to a private party where it seems we were the last to get in. I searched out Jacob and only got to chat to him for a few minutes when were were kindly, and I do say kindly, not rudely interrupted. Seems as though someone wanted Jacob gone, so I stood and watched my buddy Jacob get asked to leave because he was a blogger and this was to be a no-press event ... to that I said to the guy removing him ... "Well, I'm a blogger too, do I have to leave????" I tried for the blogger solidarity, but it didn't work. But like he says on his blog, the fact that he even got in lets you know what type of guy he is. He got the job done! Soon after, I left with a co-worker from the pr department and called it a night. Boy was I tired. 

Back at it today, check in later for more flicks if I get 'em ...

I survived my 1st Food & Wine Fest!

So, this weekend I had my first Food & Wine Festival experience. About 2 months or so ago Foxwoods asked if I'd join in and of course I said yesssss! After saying yes, omg, the emails, the recipe submittals, the conference calls, press photo emails and the like went down at a fast pace. At the time, I was still on the road taping How'd That Get On My Plate?, I had just been offered to join in on Dear Food Network, and I was in the process of finding a new place so I could get a better kitchen. I didn't even know if I was going to get picked up for more episodes, but I knew I needed to first invest in myself, before I expected anyone else to. So plenty was going on when I got the request to participate in my first Food & Wine festival. I have only my good friend Natina, to thank for helping me through all the scheduling mess. I talked about her on one of the Cooking for Real episodes, if ya caught that one. One night we were chatting on the phone, I was in some city after a long day on the farm taping and got back to the hotel room with a ton of emails and plenty of requests for time. I think she heard the panic in my voice and offered to help get my schedule in order. What a life-saver. No way I could've even gotten the paperwork done for the festival and everything else that hosting a cooking demo involved. Alright, so kudos to my girrrrrrl.

Me and my dude got to Foxwoods tired and exhausted, but still made it out to a party that night for the event. It was open bar with free hors d'oeuvres . . . uh, sign me up! We left early and then the next day found out it got crazy after we left! Dunno if I was happy or mad about that lol. Saturday morning we woke up to a neat lil fog blanket ... check it out ...

Enough of the scenery, I had to head to the kitchens there to chat with the head chef Vincent and go over the mise en place for my demo. Uhhhh, you know I'm not one for fancy food words, but just in case you don't know . . .

Mise en place: (MEEZ in PLAHZ) "Put in place." The preparation and assembly of ingredients, pans, utensils, and plates or serving pieces needed for a particular dish or service period.

Alright, so the mise en place was good to go, then I sat and got nervous about my first ever cooking demo! Oh, yeah . . . didn't tell ya? Neva done it before and here I am at a Food & Wine fest about to pop my grape ;-), not cherry. Only real hitch was the induction cook top took forever to heat up my oil, so I had to fill time like crazy waiting to fry up some oysters. Gas cookin' is where it's at!! It was funny internally, but I kept saying to myself, don't laugh . . . just fill with a story. Which I did . . . foreverrrrrrrrr. Only one oyster came outta that oil done lol. I give myself a 5 outta 10 on that demo :-(. Here I am filling time ...


That's ok though, cuz the next day I'd have another chance. So, I made sure the oil was preheated and then got to work ... turned out way better and I had more fun. Not a 10, but I can see improvement before next year's Food and Wine festival in South Beach. Werrrrd ... they asked me to participate, so I'm getting all my kinks out for that. Can't wait to go in an official capacity. Just earlier this year I thought, how am I gonna get there? I really wanna go ... then, I got a call from the head organizer. Pretty neat. Wanna know something else pretty neat? As we were leaving that party Friday night at the casino, we were walking and out of nowhere I see 3 familiar faces. Turns out my former 3 bosses from my gig right before I started taping Cooking for Real, were at the casino just to chill. Here I am, leaving a party early because I'm tired from a long week of taping and I'm all woe is me-like. You know? Good problems, but I was still internally griping about the long week and the "work" that weekend. Really wack when many people are out pounding the pavement looking for a job. No sooner I think the thought and SMACK! Right in my face were the people I used to work for when all this was a dream. I quickly took the hint from the coincidence and decided being tired was okay. What a chance run-in.

Another neat run-in was with Ingrid Hoffman! She is such a cutie pie! And teeny too! She was heading in to her cooking demo, when I was outside signing cards and stuff and she came by to say hi. It is such a good family and friendly feeling with everyone. Anne Burrell and I were watching Guy do his demo and he brought us up to say hi to the crowd, just a total all inclusive feeling. Here's me and Miss Simply Delicioso ...


Can't forget the Grand Tasting. This is like an eat/drink fest. You walk through and the various vendors have a table set up and you get free samples until your heart desires. Check the scene...


I must've sipped about 20 wines, and just scratched the surface there. Not to mention the food on display as well. I think my fave was a fizzy wine and this lil bite ...


Pretty neat weekend. Ok, not to complain :-) ... but I'm tired. Hope you had a great Monday! Only 2 more days left to shoot the new Cooking for Real episodes, stick around for some flicks n stuff.