Cup or Bowl?

Hey there! I had a great weekend and hope you did as well! I'm back in the kitchen working on the finishing touches of my menus for the next season of shows. Basically, I'm doing my recipes for the last time before I turn them into Food Network. I've made these several times over my lifetime or they are recent loves of mine. After I've made it plenty of times for fun at home and enjoy it, I begin to actually write down what I'm doing so I can share it with you. So, this testing is more so making sure I wrote everything down correctly in my notebook. I'm a lefty, so things I jot down today look like hieroglyphics tomorrow :-). Here's some cups of the stuff I'm working on today ... It's beefy and it's comforting and it's a bit left of the norm for this kind of dish. Wish I could eat the whole pot, much less a cup or bowl. I can't tell you exactly what it is, but you're a food person, so I'm sure you can figure it out pretty easily :-). Then I cooked up a pot of something perfect for a cook out or family reunion ... (can't wait to tell you about my two family reunions last year, hilarious)
That pot looks crazy on top, but like the Four Tops sang ... Still Waters Run Deep and beneath the caramelized film on the top was something tasty below ...

Deep flavor and it's so simple you'll be very upset you ever bought it pre-made in the can! Plus most people buy the can and "hook it up" anyway, so I feel you might as well hook the whole situation up yourself. It's easy and if I can do it, you can do it :-). Ok, I'm taking a break then heading back into the kitchen.

A special hi to the ladies I met at Petite Abeille this weekend!!! Hope you guys find the blog and enjoy the pics!

Ready for Kick-Off!!

Hey!!! I am so excited! I don't know what it is, but this year Super Bowl seems to be bigger and better as far as the entertainment value. I just finished watching people walk and be interviewed on the red carpet ... is that a first? I just finished all the major spokes in my party wheel, take a look ...The chicken wings are dunking in a water and salt brine. I'll take em out 1 hour before kick-off, pat em dry and dredge em. Then, I'm gonna start frying around 30 mins before kick-off. I have 3 different ways I'm making them, honey mustard, honey BBQ and the final is a BBQ rub that tastes like sweet BBQ potato chips. So two sticky, one dry. Then ...That's a 4 layer queso dip for plunging corn tortilla chips and later fingers :-). It was pretty simple to assemble, then I covered it and put it in the fridge. That will come out of hiding around middle of the 1st quarter and go in the oven to get bubbly around the end of the first. I expect it to be done a quarter of the way through the 2nd. Then the chili I made last night is in the fridge, I'll take that out when the nachos are done and it should be done around halftime. This morning we dined on lighter fare to manage the day and I made some ground chicken tacos ...I know, no official breakfast, unless you count chocolate yogurt at 7AM. I haven't done tacos on the show yet, so I may start with my ground chicken taco recipe. Very simple and the light sour cream on top is just blended with cilantro, lime juice, a shake or so of hot sauce and onion powder. That's a great multi use blend for sour cream. I had one taco then got back to work on every thing above. Up next, I'm working on the drink! I have ingredients and I don't know where they'll take me! I'll share! Ok, now since I've been watching pre-game all day a little bit of musical inspiration ... Can you tell me why I'm playing this video football fans???!?!!!!?
Enjoy the game!!

Chili's Done! Bring on the game!!

Well, I'm done prepping for tomorrow's game! On my menu, Beer Punch, Nachos with an Irish Cheddar-Horseradish Cheese Sauce, Fried Chicken Wings tossed with a BBQ Rub and Wine and Dine Chili. Most of those are new recipes I'm currently developing in my kitchen. Here's tonight's work ... the chili as it begins ...That's the flavor base full of veggies, spices, herbs and tomato paste. Things got a bit hot in the pot, so in a hurry instead of adding the planned stock in the fridge a few steps away, I had to pour on the closest thing to deglaze and it was a bottle of wine. I was just enjoying an 8oz pour while prepping the chili, love it when these little things happen to take a recipe down a different avenue. That's when I decided to call it "Wine and Dine Chili". I added the rest of the ingredients, let it simmer for a bit then took this pic before I covered it and put it in the fridge ...It tasted great an hour or so ago, but I can't wait to taste it during half-time tomorrow!! I just thought I'd post this late right after I finished just in case you are up like me tonight working on your party tomorrow and looking around on the internet between stirs. Have fun and enjoy the games and the commercials!!

Chili Chili Bang Bang

I got to D.C. this morning via Amtrak and made my first stop!
Ben's Chili Bowl!! I fell in love with Ben's a couple of years ago and even blogged about it. Every time I hit the nation's capital, I get myself a chili fix. (except when I was here for the 2009 presidential inauguration, the city was too crazy!). That's a "Halfsmoke" with everything. You can't see the onions, but they are under there. It only took me a few minutes to turn a full basket to a half empty one ...
I felt so good about ordering water to drink with my chili dog and not eating the side of chips that I did what I do best ... foodie sabotage! I then ordered chili cheese fries ...
But didn't finish them ...
My eyes are always bigger than my stomach. Plus, halfway through eating them, a Michael Jackson set started playing on the sound system and if you've ever been to Ben's you know they love to sing and perform behind the counter while making your plate. So, I got distracted and entertained by the happy staff. I really like eating there not only for the food, but boy are the employees a huge draw! If you ever go, skip the line and sit at the counter for immediate service. I always get mistaken for a local when I do that, and I love it!

So now, I'm back at my hotel room about to succumb to a lil post-meal nap. When I buried the lead about going to D.C. in my last post, I forgot to say the "when". Well, it's tomorrow! I meet the Vice President and get to serve military veterans for a pre-Memorial Day cook out. I brought my camera and have a flip cam on the way so I can capture some video for the Food Network website. Hopefully, security will let me tape and take pictures for the blog. This trip was organized by the magazine so they'll have an official photog there to get photos for the magazine. I'll let you know what issue if you are interested. They'll print my menu along with other stuff from the day. As I told you last week, the organizers suggest I wear jeans and a nice top to the cook out tomorrow, but I feel like jeans are too informal to meet our VP and the Second Lady. I also feel like if I wear a sun dress like some of you suggested in comments, that I may be over dressed and I don't want to show up in a dress if Mrs. Biden is rockin' jeans, you know? Like you aren't supposed to out dress the hostess. So, I'm stuck. Take a look at what I packed ...
That's a long summer dress on the left, then 2 shorter ones. Then a color block top I'd pair with jeans and few other tops for options. I really think the color block top is at the front of the list to wear with jeans. I also packed an apron (far right) for kitchen prep time with the Navy chefs and it actually matches the color block top, so that's a plus. The long dress on the left was at the front of the stack, but it feels a bit too dressy. The dress next to it is nice, but I feel a bit mature when I put it on. It's really pretty though and the one next to it is the same shape, but a lighter, younger feeling pattern. I have heels and flats and belts for all the options, but think I'll just wear flats. If this is boring you, welcome to my world. Because I must admit, after years and years in radio, where I'd roll out of bed and put on a t-shirt and jeans ... this visual part of media I'm in now is a trip! I really love to cook and eat, if I have to dress nicely to do it .. so be it!! If you can imagine, being in the military was great for me because I knew everyday what I was wearing the next day. I love a uniform job! If you wear a uniform to work ... lucky you!! One less thing to worry about!

I've been eating ...

Hey there! I've been on the road a bit so I haven't checked in for a couple of days. I left Detroit so full of midwestern goodness! Take a look ...
That's my favorite bowl of chili. I got it in my old neighborhood in Detroit at National Coney Island. I've talked about this chili on Cooking for Real when I shared my recipe for Interstate Chili and I think I've mentioned it here before. It is soooo good. If you can believe me, it melts in your mouth. No joke. I like mine topped with onions, cheese and a squirt of mustard. They even threw in an extra scoop of ground beef on top. That's just how they served it to me when I visited with my bff last week. She was nice enough to drive past my old place on the way to eat and I got out to snap a pic ...
I almost didn't recognize it when we drove by because the current owner cut down all the shrubs :-(. I used to get out there on a Saturday morning and trim them with my electric trimmer thingy. Such zen time, they were so pretty and green. Ever do that? Drive past your old place and get a lil misty? I don't get that much because I move so much, but to see my old place without the greenery made me a bit sad. Luckily I had 3 scoops of this in my belly ...
That's the sundae they sent out after my chili at National Coney Island. I didn't order it, but things have a way of finding themselves at my table these days and it's hard to refuse ... almost seems rude. So, woe is me, I had to power through some vanilla ice cream suffocated by gooey fudge syrup and pastry, it was soooo hard :-( ... can you hear the sarcasm, cuz it's there. :-) Thanks to the guys and gals over there, they fed me hot chili on many frigid Detroit days. It was nice to go back.

I also went to Michael Symon's Roast and didn't snap a pic at all. Wish I had, it was great, but I was there catching up with 4 friends from Detroit, so there wasn't room to say ... "hold on! lemme take a photo!". We were all just chatting and talking about the good ol days. Rest assured, the food was gooood! I actually enjoyed the drink menu as well and suggest a lemony fruity drink called "No Name" and if you like a dirty martini, he has something on the drink menu called a "Hot Dirty Bird" with Cholula and olive brine that I had and loved as well. I started with the beef tartare and ordered the bacon wrapped trout for an entree with the roasted cauliflower on the side.

I also had some soul food while I was in Detroit, but I couldn't tell you where it was from, my bff showed up two days in a row with it at my hotel room and when faced with hot fried catfish, you don't ask questions, but you do take pictures. :-)
It was soooooo crispy! And you can tell, even though it was fried, not a bit greasy. That's when you know the oil was at the right temp. Good stuff! I only ate one filet and ate greens and mac on the side.

Well, I Just wanted to let you know what I've been eating while on the road. I'm back in Brooklyn now and today I have another event with True Child. Remember, I just did a cook off with them last week in Chicago? Just as we wrapped the event coordinators asked if I would help out with the event here in NYC. I have the time and love goal of the organization, so I said why not! This time I'm judging the food instead of cooking and the event is tonight at the I.C.E. in Manhattan. Here are some pics from last week's Chicago cook off ...

My weapons of choice in the kitchen, the 10"-wide and a smile :-).
That's Dale (Top Chef), Myself and Natalie, Chef Chris Lateano, Casey (Top Chef) and Carlos. Dale and Casey were both runner's up on the same season of Top Chef and have done this event for the last couple of years. Natalie was the kid chef for the ladies. She takes part in another local charity, Common Threads, that Chef Art Smith runs. He is such a joy in person and it was so neat working with one of his students. Next to us is a local chef at helm of South Water Kitchen, Chris Lateano. He was introduced as the winner of Bacon Fest 2009, so I knew I had to give his place a try. The next morning, I checked out his place for brunch and enjoyed it before I hit the road to Detroit. The Chilaquiles were grrrrrreat! I usually like green sauce, but his was red and I didn't care a bit! Ok, next to Chris is Casey, runner up from Top Chef. She's opening a restaurant in Texas soon. Next to her is Carlos, another kid chef from Common Threads for the guys team. Here are us girls planning away with Natalie leading the way ...
We only had 5 minutes to plan, then we all dug into our secret ingredients ...

30 minutes later we were done and the judges had the guys edging us out by a tight margin. It never really felt like a competition, but tonight when I judge ... I'm leaning towards the ladies to avenge Natalie's loss! Just kidding! I'll be fair. If you are headed there tonight, stop and say hi! I don't bite!

OH WAIT! I forgot to share a quick touristy shot I took in Chicago ...self explanatory ...

She's soon ending her show and it takes years to get tickets, so I guess this is as close as it gets to being on the Oprah Winfrey Show, eh? Luckily my bff lives down the street and didn't think I was corny for wanting a picture. Oprah is responsible for her quitting the texting and driving craze, which I was happy to hear before our road trip to Detroit! Good stuff!!! Ok, hope you are having a great Monday so far!

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!

What Lies Beneath

Hey!

So I know I still want to post some pictures from the latest Cooking for Real taping, but I had to share this...

Foodies are great people! Just a week ago a show aired where I made my Interstate Chili. I based the recipe on all the great flavors from Texas and Detroit chili and talked about it's origins on the show. Well, if you didn't catch it I talked about a neighborhood spot that I frequented when I lived in Detroit and how great it was to get it sent in the mail when I moved to NYC. Well, it only took a few hours, but email started coming in to my website from Detroiters and others that have since moved from Detroit, but still enjoy the chili ... via National Coney Island's website! I am an idiot!!! For years I tried to figure out how to get this chili without having to find someone there to buy it, freeze it, then mail it. For some silly reason I never even thought to do an internet search.

So now, just a week after pining for chili on television, life imitates art and I got a Coney Kit care package from the great city of Detroit! Beneath the Detroit hat and cool National Coney Island hoodie, are hot dog buns, hot dogs, mustard, chopped onions and the reason for the seasoning ... CHILI! Thanks to everyone for the heads up, what a great community of foodies. And just in time for game day!!!

If you need some help doing stuff for the game tomorrow, here are some links to some of my recipes that may fit into your trough for tomorrow. :-) These are all easy and most of them, if you have the typical pantry and fridge, are easy to prep without a major addition to your shopping list.

Interstate Chili

Wings 3 Ways

My Hot Chicken Wings - Emeril Live! style :-)

Caribbean Chicken Wings

Cider-Brined Fried Chicken

No Fuss Peel & Eat Shrimp

Cerveza Battered Fish Tacos with Quick-Pickled Onion & Cucumber

Curry Pork Burgers with Spicy Ketchup

Tequila Sunrise Sangria

My Hard Lemonade

Orange Sugar Fried Donut Holes

Blueberry Peach Cobbler

Party Popcorn

Have fun tomorrow and hope you enjoy the game!!!

It's Chili, Ben's that is ...

So, I'm slightly back in blog biz :-) ... We had a security issue and hopefully that's good enough to explain my absence, I just didn't want to disappear without an explanation, but then again it is hard to say what happened and maintain some privacy. Wack right? Things aren't better since the event, but I have time to get back to some fun stuff here and there so I thought I'd give ya an update. A week ago, we packed up and went to Washington D.C. in need of some rest and relaxation. Before we went, I got recommendations about where to eat and 2 people I respected told me I must do Ben's Chili Bowl. Well, well, well ... after eating there twice in two days, I can surely say I'd take a flight or train to D.C. not only for the food, but the atmosphere. Take a look ...


This is just a feel for the decor ... super diner-like with a back room for larger groups. Why wait in line when you can dine at the counter with no delay? So we did ... here is my half of the damage ...

That's a Half-Smoke as recommended by my bloggin' buddy The Food Network Addict and D.C. area dweller, Jacob. Then to go with it, of course the chili cheese fries. It was all so good and then the next day we went back and were treated to just the most lively set of cooks dancing in the kitchen I've ever seen. The music was blaring Gap Band and all kinds of music from that era ... and almost every single one of the line cooks and servers was singing the words and dancing ... we didn't want to leave. It just made us happy to be there and see people just happy without apology. We kept waiting for the next song, like a nightclub. It was a beautiful Sunday and boy will we repeat it probably every visit to D.C. from now on. We left full, smiling and singing.
Here's one of the dancing guys and another shot of the menu in the background.

I was really trying to get a shot of the sign on the drink machine thingy, it read something like "People that eat here for free: Bill Cosby and the Obama's". Very cute and it also left me smiling.

Today, I got up early and pre-taped a segment for Good Morning America. Here's me and Chris Cuomo.


As usual before snapping away and looking crazy ... I told him it was for the blog and he said "sure". As I've said before I really like his ability to make you smile and handle tough stories as well. Being on GMA is pretty neat because they are the ones I watch regularly in the morning. Sure, I look around, but they are my home. How surreal to be asked to participate in segments and stuff. I have more pics and will either post later this week or the week the show airs ... btw it airs New Year's Day, which is why we pre-taped. Who wants to get up that early on New Year's day? I did and didn't mind when they asked me to come on for the occasion, it's GMA for goodness sakes! Then, a few weeks later I found out that they would pre-tape to save all the other anchors the early wake-up as well. Hope you are enjoying the week.

What I Had For LINNER: A Texas Chili Dog!!

Ok, so this past weekend me and my dude went out searching for home stuff. You know, rugs and furniture and knick knacks. Even though I live in Brooklyn, there's something to be said for New Jersey's lower sales tax, so when making big purchases, the $10 trip over the Vary-Vary, that's what I call the Verrazano Bridge, is worth it. It was Sunday, so we did our best to leave early to catch the full abbreviated shopping day, which meant skipping breakfast. Why, I dunno. What I do know is my smile decreases as the hours increase with no food intake, same with my dude. So, we agreed to not get short with each other while shopping if we felt hunger pains come on. Here we are hungry, but not so much that we'd eat over shopping and right when we pulled into our destination in Vauxhall, NJ, I saw what was for lunch! I have never heard of this place before, but the outdoor sign said "Manny's Texas Weiners", there's no website, but another location has one. Now, just in case you don't know ... anytime you are in a Texas-style place, there's no beans in the chili. I haven't been able to get over-the-counter chili without beans since my days eating at Coney Island Restaurants in Detroit. In fact, in a new run of shows I did my bean less chili recipe and gave love to both Texas and Detroit during the show. All I could think about while shopping was, 'I know it said Texas dogs, but I wonder if the chili is made without beans?'.

When we could take the shopping no more, we crossed the street and headed inside to be greeted with the most overwhelming menu I've ever seen other than the Cheesecake Factory (what is up with the 1000 menu items??) Take a look ....


Luckily, we sat down and got a hand-held menu that was less overwhelming, but still crazy packed. I asked our waitress and was very pleased to find out the chili was bean less, so I ordered a chili-dog with onions and mustard, fries, a side of chili and shared onion rings with my dude. He had fries, half the onion rings and a burger he kept commenting on after each bite, good stuff. Said it tasted like a cookout burger. The onion rings aren't seen here because after we thought for a second, we ordered them and they arrived a bit after everything else. They were real onion rings, which made the former Sonic worker in me happy. I gotta go here again take a look at how dark and non-tomato-ey the chili was ...
My hot dog had a great pop from the casing, which is totally a love/hate thing for some hot dog lovers. Needless to say, it was my one and only meal Sunday. We got back home and neither of us got hungry the rest of the day which is so true to the word Linner, our Texas meal was lunch and dinner combined ... even breakfast ... what would that word be?

Hope you are having a good day so far ... I just came back from the city. Finished up a voiceover for Dear FN, a holiday series that begins airing I think next month??? It was plenty of fun, so when I get word on the actual air dates, you know I'll share :-) ...