where i’ve been

I had recipes lined up the wazoo for you this week, but alas, none of them came to fruition. You see, I’ve been a little preoccupied. I told you about my new project Will Bake for Food, a Seattle food blogger bake sale to benefit Northwest Harvest. Jenny and I have been knee-deep in bloggers (we now have over 50 blogging bakers!), logistical details, and trying to get the word out to the public (you hear that, Seattle Times? Email me back. Pretty please. With donuts on top.).

Additionally, this past weekend The Belly and I (that is its official name—soon it will be its own planet so it at least deserves a label) were invited down to channel 9 to do a little cooking on air.

The station lies quite literally in the shadow of the Space Needle, if you can see it through those pretty fall leaves. It’s a public television channel and they air some really interesting educational programs, from cooking to home improvement to children’s shows.

The live “family favorites” cooking show was part pledge drive, part recipe demonstration. Here’s the pledge drive half of the set, with the cooking set in the background.

On the cooking set, the crew wheeled in a cart with each cook’s supplies on it. In between each demo, it was a whirlwind of clearing out the old demo and getting the new one set up, all during a quick 5 minute break. I got about 120 seconds to set up all my ingredients where I needed them, meet the hosts, and get settled on the set.

And here I am beginning my segment, in which I cooked one of my all-time favorites, cuban pork. I had to arrive at the studio with two versions of the dish: one already cooked and one with all of the individual ingredients to be prepared on air.

Live television is a little scary. It’s a good thing I was wearing black because I was sweatin’ up a storm. And it’s hot under those lights.

Luckily the hosts (Carol Dearth on the left, George Ray on the right) were incredibly cordial and engaging. If I got stuck explaining something, they jumped right in and saved my nervous butt.

Apparently I really like hand gestures.

See the belly? It will be officially discovered as a planet in the weeks to come. Scientific studies will be done. Astronauts will explore it’s vastness.

My grandmother told me I looked like Martha Stewart on air. I don’t know if that’s a compliment.

Once I got over my nerves, I had a ton of fun. I even joked with George a little bit and got a few laughs.

Before I knew it, it was over and it was time to de-mic and go home. The microphone lady is laughing at me here because my maternity jeans go halfway up my back.

The crew whisked in and cleaned up the set to get it ready for the next cook. They were so nice—they washed all my dishes, helped me out to my car, and were generally welcoming and cheery. It was a day I’ll never forget. As much as I dreaded being on television, I think I could do it again.

Thanks so much to KCTS 9 for having me on the show and putting my recipe in their cookbook! And a big thank you to my dad for coming along and being my chauffeur, photographer, sous chef, porter and armpit sweat-checker. You’re the best dad and pal in the whole wide world.

I’ll put up a clip of my television appearance when I can find one. I’m too scared to watch it, but I know some of you would enjoy pointing and laughing at me pretending to know what I’m doing.

-RDG