Rachael Ray, Cubed

Hi there! Well, just last week I got the chance to make another appearance on The Rachael Ray Show! So that's 3 times, and at the infancy of my food television life, I'm totally counting. :-) Before the show airs tomorrow, I thought I'd give you some behind the scenes stuff like this ....
That's Jeanette, she works in Rachael Ray's in-studio kitchen and greeted me with a smile and early morning calories. She asked if I Tweeted, I said no (while feeling very wack) and then told her I do the snail-mail equivalent ... blogging. Anyway, she says I should give you the link to the kitchens, I agree .... Rachael Ray's Show Cooks Tweet! Please, if you do this thing called tweeting, let Jeanette know in 140 characters or less that I loved the mushroom soup! Here's a better view ...
From the left, pea soup with ham chunks, my fave- the mushroom soup, pumpkin soup, then beneath them are lil focacia paninis. That's my coffee over there and ... i used all the sugar packets. I remember having a chat about my muddy coffee practices, here's proof. Did I really need 4 sugars? Nope, did I use them? Yep. Anyway, I've blogged about RR Show food for the green rooms, it is hands down the best guest food I've ever had.

When Jeanette came to greet me with the tray of food, I was sitting in the hair and make up room ready to get presentable. This is the before photo ...
Look at all that make up!!! That's Robin Watson, if you watch the show, you may have caught one of her make-over segments. In the background is equally talented Randall Tang. We had such a good time chatting and gossiping. They should also get credit for calming jitters. The small talk really helps take your mind off the task at hand. Totally like going to the hair salon. Then it was time for me to get to work. Here we are when Robin is done with her magic ...
Oh wait, did I tell you what the show is about? It's the Daily News' 5-Alarm Cook-Off finale. The finals were held right in her studio kitchens, but it began a while back with the preliminary contests. I was asked to participate and judge a few months back, but then Rachael Ray's team decided they wanted to put the firefighters on a national stage instead of just the local judging. Our time came to judge and we were summoned to her set to tape a show. Who is we?? Well that ends the post, it's the last picture I have ...
That's fellow judge Iron Chef Michael Symon and another chef, whose name totally escapes me and I hate myself for it. EDIT! :-) ... I'm so sorry I forgot his name, but upon watching my DVR, I have it ... It's Stanton Social owner and chef, Chris Santos. He was really funny and guess what? He is allergic to shellfish, but still took bites of everything, it seems most of us really thought we'd have 5 bowls of chili to judge that day. Tough guy, but a nice one. This is a shot of us mid-deliberation. Each borough of NYC was represented by one fire fighter and the competition was pretty stiff. Those guys eat pretty good stuff, I'd say if you are a single, non-cooking type, find yourself a firefighter. They are brave and can cook!

The Rachael Ray Show airs tomorrow. Check here to find your local listings. In NYC it's on ABC at 10AM. Congrats to all the firemen, what a brave profession and I am more than thankful for your service! May the best cook win!!!

Catch Me On Rachael Ray!

Hey there! Well, I have the airdate for the recent episode of Rachael Ray I taped and blogged about. I'm not alone on the set ... Bobby Flay, Adam Perry Lang and Rocco Dispirito also hung out the entire hour and we all had plenty of laughs. It's called Rachael Ray's All-Star Summer Entertaining Guide. It's a full-hour roundtable of summer food discussion dotted by recipes, tips and Q&A. I was too excited to return, so I hope you catch it!
DVR or watch it 'live' :-)! 

It airs this Wednesday, May 20th at 10AM est in NYC. Or click here for other listings.

The Dimwit Twit ... or tweet, whatevs (My Rachael Ray Return)

Hey there! So, as mentioned in my last post I got a second invitation to be on Rachael Ray's show last week! Do you know what goes into being on a show like hers? I'll give you the run-down ... aka my Dimwit Twit ... or tweet, whatevs

1) Weds 4/9/09 - On my birthday, my assistant (she's really my bff that asked if she could help de-stress all my scheduling and stuff when it got crazy last year. I really should talk about her more ... she has a full-time career wrangling a-list recording artists and more and she just slid me right into her program, very nice and effective.) Anyway, she gets an email from the p.r. department at Food Network asking me first if I'm available (yes) and then telling me the planned theme of the show (secret). Because I was busy that day (celebrating my 34th!), my girl, knowing my schedule and of course that I would never say no to Rachael Ray, confirmed me ... but I didn't know yet. No biggie, she knows when I need to know stuff. 

2) Sun 4/12/09 - I get the email forward from my girl letting me know she got the request last week and knew that I would say yes, so she confirmed. Now, reading the email I begin to stress out! It's what I do ... I stress out. Lol. The theme of the show was commonplace and I knew I could speak to it, but the stress is getting my thoughts together for the audition ... what kind of audition you say? Well, it's called a pre-interview, but to me it feels like an audition. Like if I don't say the right thing or have the clever ideas, I won't make the cut or something or I won't get a return visit. I gotta tell ya, this is pretty honest. I always just want to do my best and I get scared that I won't. Ick. Things usually turn out ok, but you can't tell me that beforehand and the funny thing is I know this and still can't chillax. Ok, so the pre-interview was set for that Friday. In a pre-interview, the segment producers talk to you about the flow of the show and ask pretty much the questions that Rachael could ask to see what your response would be. Now, to add to that, I've learned of the other guests on the panel and they are all chefs ... argh ... I'm not. So, will my responses be good enough? Sound crazy? Who knows? I was also told in the email that each host will demo a recipe and mine was a certain course. All week all I could do was day dream about that course in the meal and what I would do for that in the circumstances given for the theme of the show. Follow? Alright, so if you are in a creative field, you know what it is to have to be creative on a timer ... scary. Will my brain get in gear? Can I say the right things? Anyway, I was a bit stressed hoping I'd have it together by Friday. Good thing is I've been gardening lately and it gives me plenty of thinking time. 

3) Thurs 4/16/09 - I get an email with the conference call information for the pre-interview set for the next day! Surprise! Looks like the show theme has changed a bit, but I still need to be prepared with recipe suggestions and answers to questions I don't even know yet. Exciting and a teeny but stressful because I still am not sure my ideas are original and will stand up to the chef's answers. I start thumbing through my old recipe journals for more ideas and then I just do some quiet time. That helps me, just sitting and thinking and letting the brain relax ... If I were new-agey, I'd say I meditated. I went to sleep a bit nervous, but again, excited to get on the conference call.

4) Fri 4/17/09 - I call into the conference call number on time and greet a party that has already started. There are two producers from Rachael's show and my p.r. rep from Food Network. After the hellos, we got to work and the producer's begin by asking me general questions that I wasn't expecting ... I had to think on my toes and was very happy with what my brain spit out. Then we got to the questions I was expecting and those went well too. Really, this all felt like a conversation among friends. Rachael has a cool staff, really. We were laughing and I was doing my best to stay on topic because I can ramble, but before we knew it 40 minutes elapsed and we were at the end of the questions! They told my p.r. rep that they would get back to her after discussing my answers and let her know what my part in the show would be and what recipe they would use for the show. So now, the waiting and the second layer of stress ... did I give them something they can use? All I know is the show tapes in 5 days and I have to get ready.

5) Mon 4/20/09 - I find out from the p.r. department about which recipe they want to use. Turns out after stressing for a week about a particular course, my answer about another course was so good, they decided to use me for that! Yaaaay! So, now all I have to do is develop the recipe. All that entails is writing it and getting it perfect. Then naming it, which is tough, that too I feel is creative and hard to do on a clock. I immediately sat down after getting the email and began to work. Luckily, one part of my recipe was a part of another one if that makes any sense? So, all I had to do was the other half and bring to life the description I'd given over the phone of the recipe in my head. I had a deadline of getting it in by the next morning and I went to sleep that night feeling good because the work was done.

6) Tues 4/21/09 - I got my toes done ... a super-pedi ... and a mani. This show airs in the summer and has a similar theme so I was told to come looking summery. I thought, I think I'll wear some sandals or something, so just incase I wake up in the morning wanting to, lemme get my feet in gear. I forget about them in the winter months, lazy yes ... also cheap as well :-). I'm still nervous because this is the day they see my recipe and they have the right to kick it back and make changes. So when I can't take it any more I ask for progress and find out everything is ok, they loved the recipe and want no changes to it! Yaaaay! I go to sleep wondering what exactly I will wear and hoping everyone likes my new hair cut.

7) Weds 4/22/09 - Today is the day! I got up at 6:30, threw on my outfit and headed to my girl Hadiiya Barbel's studio to get my hair done at 8:30. Then at 9:40 I hop in a car to the studios. I get there and go right into make up to get my face hooked up. It was nice seeing the same staff as last time and catching up a bit. Then after I headed to the green room to chill and wait for the other guests arrive, I realize why I saw Ken Paves and Benny Medina in the hallway ... J.Lo is in tha building!! She's so cute and I sit watching her live stream in the green room. Minutes later our segment producers come visit and go over the pace of the show we are about to tape. We find out where we will sit at the table ... I'm Joy Behar, if ya dig. Then we are reminded of what we said to them on the conference call and that we have to pretty much say the same thing on the show so no one overlaps information. Very choreographed, but they produce the show so well it looks very natural. The rest you'll have to see on television, but I left the building at 3 something and headed back home. I don't have an airdate yet, but here are some flicks ...

Duh, food first :-). Like before, the green room food was delicious. I took a flick before we all dug in. It didn't last long. I mean only on Racheal Ray's show do you get pizza with quail eggs. I haven't been on many shows, but due to my radio background I've been privvy to many green rooms and the fare served there. Rachael's staff has everyone beat. Everyone. Everything was so good. Just like I'd mentioned before, it's a panel discussion again and on the panel this time ...

Ooops ... too close up, lemme see if someone else will take the pic ... maybe one of his several p.r. reps from his publisher!? That's smarter ... 

Now you can see it's Throwdown king Bobby Flay! He's in the Whoopi seat on the panel. He's just still one of the nicest dudes and hilarious. I told him I'd make a tough face, and he did too for a sec until someone told him to smile. Btw, he is eligible for dad of the year because he told such a cute story of getting his daughter face time with the Jonas Brothers for her birthday. Pretty hip daddy if you ask me. Then another panel member is ...

That's Rocco Dispirito (aka Elisabeth Hasslebeck on the seating chart)leaving the green room area in search of some more food, really ... he said he was going back for seconds of something we ate on the show ... it was Rachael's recipe and in her words, I must co-sign and say it was yum-o. So, I have to say kudos to the man that departs light conversation in search of seconds.

Then, I met this dude for the first time ...

This is Chef Adam Perry Lang, today's Sherri Shepherd in the seating chart teeheehee. (Of course Rachael is Babs). Ok, lemme tell ya ... the book I'm holdin' ... AMAZING!!! It's in stores soon and on first look the recipes are amazing and the pictures to accompany are equally beautiful. I've done plenty of time in the South on some good ole BBQ and his book brings it all together. We talked backstage at length about different types of BBQ and I told him how proud I am that I have an upcoming episode of Cooking for Real that deals with North Carolina BBQ, which doesn't really get much play. People always debate over rub or sauce, but no one ever talks about vinegar based BBQ. I mean, we just chatted away ... cool family dude and he cooks!!! If you are a meat eater, this is a must-have cookbook ... really. Aside from meeting him, if I were in the store thumbing through books for purchase, I'd buy it. You can pre-order it here on Amazon and it's in stores May 5th. Good Father's Day or birthday gift for the protein lover in your life. Ick sounds like a commercial, but really ... there's a full chapter on lamb, several recipes for roasting a full-hog, I dunno, it just lit up the southerner in me. I'd totally buy it and feel wack now I didn't ask for two so I could give one away. Luckily ... I took this one from him and in return he invited me to his restaurant, Daisy May's BBQ. 

Now, if I had a Twitter account, I could've told you all of this in real-time, but I gotta tell ya ... I don't think I am going to begin twittering or tweeting or whatever the proper terminology is. I'm afraid it's the next generation Myspace, then Facebook ... eventually something will eclipse Twitter. I dunno, still on the fence, but I also know there is something to be said for a little privacy. I don't think anyone cares about my day to day and I know how much work I put into just blogging and replying to everyone here ... I ain't leaving this anytime soon, which means I can't take on new stuff. I can't follow the flock on this one ... thoughts?

SoBe it! V

Hey hey hey! Well, it's over for me. I'm sitting in the airport waiting on my flight. It's a bit delayed, but I'm never the one to get mad at that. Some people are angry! Good time for me to throw up the rest of my SoBe flicks. Boy, looking back, I sure had a great time. During all the cooking demos they had volunteers that from what I understand get a grant from the festival proceeds for culinary education. I gotta say a big thanks to Stephanie for being my assistant on stage. Here we are after we finished.

It was soooooo hot and there I was frying oysters and broiling shrimp in the oven! I was sweatin' to the oldies up there! The Neely's came by to watch and support along with Jacob and a few of my girls from the promotions department at Food Network. Team solidarity! How about in all my years of radio, I have to really search for the great "teamwork moments". They are there, but few and far between. I am so happy to be where I am today. Can't say it enough and hope you know you are a part of it if you've caught the show or tried a recipe. Then to add to that the crowd there was great. Thanks to everyone that joined us under the tents!

After my cooking demo yesterday I headed into the Grand Tasting tentsssss ... yes, plural. So much terrain to tackle, but I made it through both, including the un-tented areas between the two. Everywhere you looked there was something. I just took my time sippin' and noshin' all the way. Here's a look at the scene ...
Can you see the blue waters in the background? Right on the beach, the only way to go.

On the way out, I saw a HUUUUUUGE crowd outside of stage A and knew it had to be Rachael Ray gettin' her demo-on. Here's a flick ... the crowd was boisterous and she gave them so much of herself. That's her hubby on the left ... (click to enlarge flicks)

So, the heat was killing me, I knew if I didn't retreat to the room, I'd probably be found on the beach passed out from too much wine and not enough food lol. Anywho, I went back to the room, but really wanted to get a bite. After I got fresh I headed downstairs to dine at Emeril's Restaurant within the hotel only to find out they'd just closed to reset for dinner. Boy, was that a let down. I really wanted to eat there and Emeril and his chefs all invited me to as I was heading up to my room, but I think it may have taken too long for me to come back down. So, anyway, no worries I thought, I'll make a reservation for later and go find something to eat now to hold me over.

I left the telly for a walk and about 8-9 blocks away I saw a sign on a business that simply said "Hot Dogs" in red block letters. I thought ... ok, I can do this. I have a theory, places that only do one thing tend to do them well and although I'd walked down Collins Ave. passing various upscale eateries, something about the sign caught me. I went in and was very pleased to see this small menu. My other theory is small menus are good, because chances are they really do everything well. I looked up and decided what it would be.

I decided on the "Lincoln Road Dog" with promises like - spicy mustard, onions, relish, tomatoes (a fave on hot dogs for me), pickle, sport pepper (huh?) and celery salt. After I ordered that I asked for some "chili on the side". I quickly asked her if there were beans and she said yes with such confidence that I said to myself, ok ... even though I don't like beans in my chili, I'll give it a go. So, I reiterated, I'd have it in a bowl ... she turned her back to get my order started and when she turned around, she presented me with this ...

I don't see no bowl! (excuse the double neg) But it smelled so good, I really didn't care. Do you see the cheese under there?? What dog did she make me?? So lemme tell you what was on it, and take a look at the menu and please ... tell me what you think happened lol. I had tomatoes, onions, fresh jalapenos, ketchup, cheese and chili. It was flavor overload, so I can't say that I tasted any celery salt nor the 'sport pepper' whatever that is. Lemme tell ya, the dog was BANGIN'!!!! I didn't complain ... I was hungry! I gathered napkins and a plastic fork and knife, but after sitting down at the bar/stool setup outside of the store I decided to have some hand-to-hand combat with the dog. It was finger lickin' yummy.

After that, I was zonked. I walked back to my room and made later reservations for dinner that I would later sleep through. Before I knocked out in the middle of the afternoon, I took this flick out the window cuz I thought the sky looked nice.


Ok, so I knocked out, it was totally one of those naps where your body wants it more than your mind, so it took over and before I knew it I was in dreamland. I woke up and I'd slept so hard, the dark of the room made me think I'd slept right into the next morning. I missed so much, dinner reservations, parties, etc., but my body got it's rest back. I watched television for a bit and ordered room service from the late night menu and went back to bed.

Then, today I headed back out to the tents for my last cooking demo. Before I got started though, I had to repay the Neely's for hanging out during mine. As I sat waiting for them to come on, I got a chance to meet so many people and even met people that have commented on this blog! Take a look at me and Lys, she has her own blog called Cooking in Stilettos and just has such a huge passion for food, so of course the place we'd first meet would be at a Wine & Food Fest!

She drove like 4 hours to hangout and catch the festivities. That's foodie dedication!

Here's the Neely's during their demo, they are such a great team!

The entire crowd was smiling and laughing and along the way we got to see deep-fried deviled eggs, mac and cheese and key lime ice cream courtesy of a Kitchenaid stand mixer attachment! Who knew?? I gotta get that!

Up next, my final demo ... and the cool people that they are, the entire backstage kitchen crew hooked me up with a nice little welcome at the side of the stage ...

It was a huuuuuge zen-garden-raked circle with "Welcome Sunny" in the middle ... it was sweet, I walked around it and threw some rays on it and snapped this pic. Thanks guys ... if you ever happen to stumble upon this blog ... it was a sweet thing to do.

Alright ... this was a marathon post, eh? So, I have 2 more flicks left to post, I'll drop them tomorrow ... and I'll give ya a tease ... Iron Chef Michael Symon's legs! Yes, it is totally worth the wait!

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.