My Food Network Experience in New York

I just about fell out of my chair when I received word that my audition tape had been selected! Never in my wildest dreams did I expect to have the experience I was about to have.I’ve always enjoyed cooking for my family, with 3 boys ages 18, 15 , 8 and a busy husband, I have to juggle schedules, nutrition and tastes in a way that gets everyone to the table.Cooking has always been a passion of mine, I love to experiment and write my own recipes. Guess you could say I am a foodie from California. 

I was contacted by the Food Network’s production company, Reel Life Film, letting me know I’d been selected to participate in a taping at the Food Network Kitchen in New York City. I also got a call from a food stylist to go over my recipes, emails were suddenly flying between Kathy and Liza from Recipezaar, Dria at the Food Network and John and Joan of the production company. I was told 5 of my recipes were selected for the videos and included Chunky Guacomole, Shrimp Ceviche, Mexican Lasagna, Chile Verde and Chile Relleno Casserole. I couldn’t believe I was leaving for New York in a week. I had a million questions and they answered all of them, what do I wear, how does it all work? When? I quickly made appointments for my hair and nails to be done. I wanted to call everyone I know and tell them. I was ecstatic and nervous at the same time; I couldn’t believe this was happening to me.

Are You the Next Online Cooking Star?

A couple of weeks prior, I had seen Recipezaar’s call for audition tapes for the next Online Video Star. I jokingly told my family that I was going to do it and to my surprise, they encouraged me to do it. We sat at the dinner table talking and joking about it. My family wanted me to make their favorite, my Chile Verde. My 15-year-old son raised his hand and said “I will tape you Mom, we can do this.” Encouraged by their response, I decided to go for it.

Now my task was, how was I going to make this dish that cooks in a slow cooker all day and video tape it—within 2 minutes? I got busy the next day getting everything together. I figured we could always re-tape if needed and decided to just wing it. We set up the camera, the food was ready and my son, Colin was now taking his role as the director, producer and stylist very seriously. He told me what to wear, where to stand and how much time I had for each part of the video! At the end of day after 8 hours in the kitchen, we finally had a video that was just one second under the 2 minute requirement. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to do this, but I was exhausted. Happy with the outcome of my son’s work, smiling at some of the bloopers and the way I was dressed (T-shirt, shorts and my hair a mess), we were done. Colin spent a lot of time editing, and regardless of if I was really taking it seriously, I felt it was important to see it through for both of us and to submit the video.

The Friday before we were to leave, I received a call from Angie Ketterman, the food stylist. She was so much fun to talk to. We discussed my recipes and the grocery list. Angie would be getting everything together for me to cook. She was concerned she wouldn’t be able to find the chile peppers I needed for a recipe and asked if I could bring them. It was funny to think I would be packing a couple of one-pound cans of whole green chile peppers in my suitcase! Emails about every detail was flying between all of us, including a call sheet. My name was on the list as the chef, right under the producer‘s name! So amazing!

We started making arrangements with the airline to fly to New York in a week to star in my own series, taped in a Food Network Kitchen for the whole world to see. Wait, go to New York by myself? I’ve never been to the big apple, and the folks at Recipezaar agreed I should take a guest—of course, I wanted to take the one who encouraged me the most, insisted on uploading the very first video on the site, who came home every day from school asking if there were anymore competing videos uploaded, how many views did “ours” get, watched every video uploaded. Colin had never been on a plane or even been out of California, and he was just as excited as I was. This was going to be an adventure and something neither one of us would soon forget. Kathy and Liza were so gracious and included Colin in every plan scheduled. I received an email from them asking if Colin would choose the restaurant we were to dine at the night we arrived. After viewing the links to all the fabulous cuisine choices ranging from Thai to Mexican, he chose The Lure Fishbar, which specialized in seafood. 

Colin and I drive to Los Angeles to stay a night with my sister who lives there. Our flight leaves at 6:30 a.m. which meant we needed to be at the airport 2 hours prior to check in. I can’t sleep, I’m excited and nervous and this is beginning to feel surreal.

Fortunate enough to have window seats on the plane, Colin was amazed by the view from the sky, he snapped quite a few photos. He compared the take-off to a rollercoaster ride and enjoyed the entire flight.
When we arrive in New York, it’s hot and humid. You could immediately feel the dampness in the air and on your skin – weather we are not accustomed to. But hey, we’re in New York City, and happy to be there. We immediately found our driver, and Kathy standing next to him.

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6th February 2010, Gießen: Christer and IA testing their newest invention – and force feeding the audience with rhythm knowledge. The quality is awful, but it sounds like techno – like it