I Cooked with Bobby Flay (and a fractured wrist)

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.

I Love The Winter Olympics

I'm on the LA Moms Blog today, I Love The Winter Olympics.

Lunchables – Roar & Score with Jeff Corwin of Animal Planet - Giveaway

Congratulations to Heidi from Oregon, #39!  The winner as chosen by Random.org.  Thanks to everyone for entering.

So, I was supposed to interview Jeff Corwin, best known as the star of The Jeff Corwin Experience on Animal Planet.  But, there was a timing issue and I wasn’t able to do it.  I was really bummed because Jeff grew up just a few towns away from me in Massachusetts and lives there currently.  I figured I could throw that out at the beginning of the interview and we’d be practically related.  Maybe one day I’ll get the chance.  Here’s the cool thing though, the whole point of the interview was to announce a sweepstakes that might allow you to travel to Boston, MA and hang out with Jeff for three days!  The Lunch, Roar & Score Sweepstakes from Lunchables Lunch Combinations allows kids between ages 6-17 to enter for a chance to win an all-expenses-paid trip to Boston with their family where they’ll spend three days with Jeff Corwin, learning about their favorite animals. Entering is easy – simply log onto www.lunchables.com between now and May 3, 2010 and answer an animal-themed trivia question. Ten lucky winners and their families will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the New England Aquarium and Franklin Park Zoo as well as an exclusive welcome dinner with Jeff Corwin.  I love the New England Aquarium and the Franklin Park Zoo.  Those were the places I went for my elementary school field trips.  I wish Chip and Lulu were old enough to enter the sweepstakes.

Although I couldn’t interview Jeff, I did get a photo “shout out” to you all and a quote:  “My fascination with animals started when I was very young so I’m excited to help other kids discover their inner animal expert ,” said Jeff Corwin, animal enthusiast and star of the show, ‘Corwin Quest.’” “This sweepstakes offers families a unique chance to see the world of animals through my eyes. It’s an awesome opportunity.” Yes, this is an awesome opportunity.  Did I mention that I’m sad that Chip and Lulu are too young to enter?  My pal, Caryn, over at Rockin Mama got to interview Jeff, see her interview and write up here.

Here is another cool thing, Lunchables has generously provided a giveaway for one of my readers: a Lunchables’ Lunch, Roar & Score gift pack complete with Jeff’s new book and an Animal Planet “Growing Up Baby Animal Adventures” DVD set.  Here is how you enter: Contest period runs from Tuesday, February 16, 2010 at midnight (Pacific) until Wednesday, February 24, 2010 at midnight (Pacific). Enter by leaving a comment stating what your favorite animal is (have fun, be creative, your answer has no bearing on your chances of winning), and leave your e-mail address OR sign in to comments using your Blogger ID, make sure your Blogger profile is public and includes your e-mail address. If you don't leave a comment that includes your favorite animal and your e-mail address or public Blogger profile, your entry will be disqualified.  One entry per person.  I reserve the right to extend the contest period.  Winner must provide a US mailing address. At the end of the contest period, I will utilize Random.org to randomly choose a winner. Winner will be contacted by e-mail.  Winner has 72 hours to respond to my e-mail. If winner does not respond within 72 hours, the prize will go to the second place winner as decided by Random.org. Good luck!

“Pretty”

I’ve always been moderately disturbed by the world of child beauty pageants.  Not disturbed in the sense that I would, oh, do something like picket against it.  I just don’t get it.  I don’t get the whole world of it.  I’m a parent, but I can’t relate to child beauty pageant parents.  At.  All.  They live in a foreign land—and a land I don’t want to visit.  Yet, those things that freak you out, often intrigue you as well.  So, when “Pretty” the series was recommended to me as “a delightfully offensive new web series about the world of children’s beauty pageants”, I couldn’t wait to check it out.  The series premiered on February 1st and is online only in the form of webisodes.  The thing I love about webisodes is that they are short.  As a crazed mom, constantly pressed for time and with my attention in about 10 directions at once, 4.5 minutes is the perfect length for a show.

“Pretty” centers around Michael, a “Pageant Dad”, who is obsessed with his 5 year old daughter, Annette, competing in pageants.  It gets weirder: the daughter is played by a full grown woman, her mother is a professional smoker who is hot and heavy with her brother-in-law…And it gets weirder.  I’ve seen the first two episodes and am looking forward to more.  The 4.5 minutes are cleverly delivered and include pop culture references that kept me chuckling.  “Pretty” fits securely in the mockumentary category, one of my favorite genres.  It also reminds me a bit of The Office in feel as well as the fact that it is a series.

The press release states: “Pretty” is an online mockumentary series that's shamelessly offensive, completely hilarious and ready to take on the "Toddlers & Tiaras" and "Living Dolls" of the TV world. Season One of “Pretty” will include five original episodes, a three-part behind the scenes documentary and a blooper reel, with a planned rollout over February, March, and April 2010.  Viewers can check out photos, read the “Pretty” blog, view cast bios and much more on the series’ web site: www.prettytheseries.com.

January Party Week

The past week was 4 parties-full.  This week I have NO PARTIES.  Feast or famine on the circuit, for sure.  So here is the week that was:

 

Got Milk?

I was invited, along with Chip and Lulu to a party for Got Milk in The Backyard at the W Hotel in Los Angeles.  The event was really like being in someone’s backyard, complete with ice skating!  Rebecca Romijn was unveiled as the new Got Milk mom.  She was there along with her husband, Jerry O’Connell.  Also in attendance was Anita Renfroe, who, to be honest was someone I “knew” but didn’t know her name.  She is a real mom who became a YouTube phenomenon singing the Momisms song to the tune of The William Tell Overture.  I got to speak with Anita for quite a while, and she shared with us some of her tips for building strong families.  The main reason for the event was to kick off the “Great Gallon Give” campaign.  This campaign will give away 200,000 gallons of milk online at whymilk.com and at 19 events across the country.  Rebecca spoke to our gathering and asked us to encourage people to pass a “virtual” gallon of milk to Facebook friends. (For every virtual gallon passed on Facebook.com/MilkMustache, $1 will go to Feeding America, America’s largest network of food banks, up to $100,000.)  This was a really nice event with activities for the kids and yummy bites that fit the theme of the event: chocolate chip cookies, milkshakes and grilled cheese sandwiches.  The highlight for Chip was the ice rink, Chill, which is not real ice, but you can wear regular ice skates and skate on it.  It is some sort of synthetic ice-like surface….I’d never heard of such a thing, had you?  Chip had to be dragged off the “ice” at the end of the event, he was having that much fun, his first time on ice skates.

Go to whymilk.com to find out if the Great Gallon Give is coming to your town.   Local events are planned for 20 markets from coast-to-coast.  In total, more than 200,000 gallons of milk will be distributed.   While there, you can register for a chance to win a year’s worth of free milk.  The first 125,000 people to enter the contest will receive a downloadable coupon for free milk with purchase.

Suave Salon Professionals Party

When the Suave team contacted me and asked if I’d like to have a Suave Style party at my house, invite 10 friends and a professional hairstylist to do all our hair, I couldn’t say, “Heck, yeah!” fast enough.  So this past Wednesday I threw my Suave Professionals Party.  Suave did a blind test with salon professionals and they were all surprised to find out the products they were using were Suave.  They have just rolled out a commercial showing the test.  They have also relaunched the line and are adding several new products this year.  There is a cultural shift afoot in the US: the move to value in consumer products.  Everyone is looking to get the best possible products they can and they aren’t willing to spend a lot of money for it.  Enter Suave Professionals.  I was first introduced to Suave Professionals when I was at BlogHer in Chicago and met with Luke O’Connor of Lukaro Salon in Beverly Hills, which is the same salon where I get my eyebrows done.  Luke is a celebrity stylist spokesperson for Suave and he stands behind the products.  If the owner of a high end salon is pro-Suave, I started to believe I could be too.   All this to say, I was really happy to get a chance to check out the new line. 

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I’m really pretty lame about doing my hair, I think I’ve written about this before.  With two kids and my crazy life, I frequently just comb my hair wet and let it air dry—which is fine.  It works most of the time.  But, I do need to look a little more pulled together on occasion and was really looking forward to getting some tips on how to use the latest Suave Professionals products.  Hollywood stylist-to-the-stars, Shannon Hughey came over and showed us all how to do our hair.  The really interesting thing about the party was that all of us at the party had totally different hair: long, short, curly, straight, colored, dry and the list went on.  Shannon handled each of our heads like a pro.  Some of our favorite products were the Suave Professionals Healthy Curls Mousse, Volumizing Root Lifter Spray and the Weather Protection 365 Hairspray (available in stores this Spring).  The hairspray smelled so good and went on so lightly yet really held the style, that was the one I was most interested in trying on my own.  We also received a sampling of the new shampoos and conditioners soon to be available in a store near you: Rosemary Mint, Almond & Shea Butter, and Aloe Vera & Ginseng.

 
While my friends and I took turns getting new ‘dos, we sipped “Suave-atinis” and dined on salads, pizza and pasta courtesy of Suave.  Shannon was really awesome and brought an info board where she showed us the latest trends and looks for Spring 2010.  One trend I found interesting was very blonde hair—I think I may have to go platinum by April or be left behind?  I encourage everyone to keep your eyes open for these new Suave Professionals products as they hit the shelves.  It’s now been proven to myself and my friends that Suave Professionals are really good products for a really great price!

Discovery Channel 25th Anniversary Party

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I was invited to the 25th Anniversary Party for The Discovery Channel this past Thursday.  This party was part of the Television Winter Press Tour and held in the Horseshoe Garden at the Langham Huntington Hotel in Pasadena.  Now this party was a total hoot.  Stacy London and Clinton Kelly of What Not To Wear (TLC) was there.  Stacy chatted up my friend Kate and even promised to take her shopping the next time Kate is in New York.  Myron Mixon of BBQ Pitmasters (TLC) catered the food….It was reality meeting reality and mighty tasty.  I saw Matt & Amy Roloff of Little People, Big World (TLC).  I had a really fun chat with Bill Nye, The Science

Guy who is best friends with Ed Begley, Jr. and often appears on his show, Living with Ed (Planet Green).  Speaking of Planet Green, Homaru Cantu and Ben Roche of Future Food on said network, were there, too.  An “interesting” interpretation of sushi as futuristic real food was served.  Hard to explain, but it was fruity and sweet foods made to look like sushi.  I ran into a college friend of mine who I hadn’t seen since college who is working for Discovery, that was a total kick to catch up with her.  On the way out I was given a really nice Discovery Channel 25th Anniversary messenger bag which is definitely the nicest swag bag bag I’ve ever received. 

Australian Chefs, Food & Drink

My last party of the week was co-presented by KCRW and Tourism Australia exploring the essence of food and drink Down Under. The event took place on the roof of the Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills.  I had such a great time at this event.  It started off with KCRW’s Evan Kleiman, host of Good Food Live! hosting a cooking demo.  Evan and renowned Aussie chef Curtis Stone conducted a rooftop cooking demo featuring lamb.  I’m a fan of Curtis’ ever since I started watching him on his show “Take Home Chef”.  Next, fish expert and restaurateur Pete Evans stepped up and made a really tasty Australian Panzanella (Italian bread salad) with seafood, and Senior Brand Manager for Wine Australia, James Gosper, gave us some great tips on Australian wines.  The main point he wanted to convey was, it’s not all Shiraz!  I really love Australian wine and often find some really good ones that are really inexpensive.  The event featured so many different Australian wines.  I wish I didn’t have to drive or I would have tried more of them.  The cooking demo was a really entertaining, I always find that Australians have such a fun attitude and great sense of humor.  After the demo, my friends and I got to speak with Pete Evans who owns several restaurants in Australia, all part of his Hugos Group.  Pete was a really great guy to talk to and although he’s not really well known in the US, he is a well known tv chef in Australia.  One category found in most of his restaurants is pizza.  Not just ordinary pizza.  We talked a lot about all the different kinds of pizza he makes.  I told him I’m not a fan of pineapple.  Pete convinced me that he uses only the best, most amazing pineapple.  He really did convince me.  Now I want to go to Australia and take Pete up on the offer he made to us to come visit him and try his pineapple pizza.  Surfer Guy would love to go to Australia.  I would love to go to Australia.  So, this is my new travel goal, Australia, and soon!

Storm Watch 2010

I'm on the Los Angeles Moms Blog today: Storm Watch 2010

Minivan Song

Last year I had the privilege of performing in Expressing Motherhood along with an amazing group of moms.  One of those moms was Mona King who opened the show with her awesome Minivan Song.  Last night I attended opening night of the latest production of Expressing Motherhood (if you are in Los Angeles this weekend or next, I encourage you to attend) and Mona was again part of the cast.  I caught up with her after the show and asked her if I could put her Minivan Song video on my blog because, well, it totally fits the theme.  She said, “sure!”  Herewith I present to you Mona King singing her Minivan Song: