Saturday, February 27, 2010

I Cooked with Bobby Flay (and a fractured wrist)

IMG_3181_edited I’ve fractured my wrist exactly twice in my life.  The first time was a few days before the start of 4th grade.  The second time was a few hours after I got a call to do a cooking video with Bobby Flay.  Yeah, I know.  Earlier this month Hellmann’s invited me to be the first blogger to shoot video content for their new initiative, The Hellmann’s Real Food Project which will be on their website in late March.  What a fun opportunity, I thought.  Later that afternoon I fell (story for another post) and headed to my orthopedist.  Crying, not from the pain, but from the frustration that I had blown my chance to do the shoot.  Bad news: my left wrist is fractured, good news: It’s not that bad, but I need a cast.  When I explained that in just eight days I’m supposed to shoot a video with Bobby Flay, my doctor says, “we can make it work and, I love Bobby Flay!”  With those words echoing in my head, his assistant put me in a cast that went from mid-hand to just before my elbow.  He asked me if I wanted to choose a color for my cast.  “Black,” I said.  The wrist felt fine all week and at my follow up appointment one week later the doctor said he was thrilled with how well I was healing and I could go into a splint that I could take off for the shoot the next day.  “Just be careful” he said “And say hi to Bobby for me”.  Since I’m right handed, I knew I’d be able to cook on camera, I gave myself a pep talk.  Still, I realized I had added an element to the situation that really raised the stakes.  Who doesn’t like a good kitchen drama?

The next day I woke up feeling great and headed to the shoot location in Los Angeles, a fun place called Hipcooks West.  I’d been there before when I met Michael Symon who, coincidentally is an Iron Chef along with Bobby Flay.  When I arrived I was escorted to my trailer and hung out.  Trailers are pretty much just mobile dressing rooms with a couch, make up table and bathroom.  I’m terrible at waiting and really wished I could go to the set and see what was happening.  Having worked in Hollywood all these years, I prepared myself for a lot of waiting around and brought something to read.  Surprisingly, time flew by and people from the Hellmann’s team came by to chat and I met with the director to go over the shoot.  Then there I was, unvelcro-ing the splint, walking into the kitchen and shaking hands with Bobby Flay!  Bobby is such a great guy.  Really interested in knowing about me and my blog.  I’m a fan of spicy food and told him about my mom being making tacos with sloppy joe mix when I was a kid.  Since we are both Irish-American from the East Coast, we commiserated about bland cooking.  Bobby said that was one of the main reasons he decided he needed to learn to cook.  Then we were off and cooking.  You’ll have to check back in a few weeks to find out exactly what we cooked, but, I assure you, you will want to the recipe.  It was so good and easy to make.  At the end of the shoot, Bobby gave me a signed copy of his cookbook, “Grill It!”, and told me we are family now.  Aw, shucks.  What a blast I had!  Stay tuned for the launch of The Hellmann’s Real Food Project and my online cooking debut.

6 comments:

Rockin' Mama said...

You ROCK! I can't wait to see the video! I'm so glad you're all healed!!! : )

Caryn

Leah said...

so jealous that is awesome! how in the world did that come about? and i want to know about michael symon. alex and i are both fans.

Ouidad Blog said...

I love Bobby Flay too ... his cooking and his curls! Hope your wrist is all better!

Organize with Sandy said...

Just watched your video! How fun it that? I am going to be doing a post for MomSelect for the Hellmans food project and I will link to your blog. You did great and I never noticed your wrist. LOL
Isn't it great some of the opportunites we get as bloggers?

agirlsmusthaves said...

Just saw your video on and thought I'd look you up. How cool is that!!!!! Glad you had such a great time.

Mandy

Joyce Rocks said...

OMG! I was watching Medium online yesterday and I saw the commercial with you in it! OMG!!!