My Visit to Food Network

O n Thursday morning, Eric and I met Kelsey Nixon and some employees of Food Network in Chelsea Market.

Part of the prize I won was lunch with Kelsey and a tour of the Food Network. Kelsey was a contestant on the fourth season of the Next Food Network Star. She also has several culinary degrees under her belt and has worked with Martha Stewart Living and Real Simple. She is currently hosting a cooking show on Food2.com, with Top Chef's Spike Mendelsohn. I like their cute show - I couldn't stop watching. Those two are great on camera together.

It was great meeting Kelsey; She was cute 'n tiny, down-to-earth, friendly, and had a lot of valuable information to share. The culinary school she went to in Hollywood had an emphasis on food media, which piqued (thanks dad) my interest when she told me that. That's what I'm interested in going into. I would like to work with a food magazine, food company, network etc, with recipe testing and food styling. It seems like a nice school. But I think I'd prefer a baking & pastry program.

So we were given a tour of Chelsea Market by Chloe and Jonte (Food Network employees), and learned a little bit about its history. Did you know Chelsea Market is actually in an old Nabisco factory?

They had a mustache art exhibit going on while we were there. Can you believe our luck?! Eric actually fainted because he got too excited.

We walked by many familiar restaurants and shops that I had explored when Mom and I came there to film Ultimate Recipe Showdown - including Amy's Bread, Bowery Kitchen Supply, Buon Italia, Chelsea Thai, and the Lobster Place. Oh! I can't forget Ninth Street Espresso. They have the best coffee ever... seriously. I had a beautiful latte there once.

Finally, towards the back of the market, we entered the elevators to take us up to the Food Network studios and kitchens. In previous trips in this elevator, I was a nervous wreck. This time I was relaxed and had no need to worry! It wasn't like I was about to compete for $25,000 or anything.

Here we are! Whoo whoo!


Then we took a stroll through one of the studios. The other studio was being used for a top secret show! Ooooh. I know what it was... but I'll never tell. Teehee.


This is the studio where Rachael Ray films 30 Minute Meals. I can't remember what other shows are filmed here. Many of the cooking shows are filmed in the chef's homes, or they rent out homes. Sunny Anderson, maybe?
Here I am! I look quite happy.


Kelsey and I.


I had her sign my magazine. :)


Eric and I.


Then, we toured the kitchens! This is where the Food Network crew tests their recipes. This is also where Bobby Flay films Throwdown.





I always wear this sweater! I can't help it. I get chilly.



Then we explored some other areas of Food Network. We walked by several green rooms, makeup rooms, and hair rooms.




This is the Food Network library, and it contains every cookbook imaginable. The Food Network chefs come here to do research for their recipes. Um... I could live here.


Food Network has a line at Kohls, and they have to test the kitchen equipment before they can sell the products. This was a room with a bunch of the used equipment.
I want.


A stroll through an office-y area.


Is that Bob Tuschman's office? Why yes it is! I met ol' Bob back in 2008. We're good buddies.


Food Network board room. I've never been to a meeting in a board room. I bet it's intense.


Kelsey gazing at the beauty of Food Network. Look at all of those TVs!!


Careful going down those stairs, Eric!


This is where the Food Network's website is maintained, as well as Food2.com. I think I'd like working here. Look at all of those computers!


The tour took about an hour, and then it was time to break for lunch. Brandon Johnson, a blogger of Food2.com joined us. We chose to eat at Friedman's Lunch in Chelsea Market.

Funny story. Eric is chewing pulled pork in this picture. It makes me laugh every time I see it.

That's his sandwich on the left. The pulled pork had papaya barbecue sauce and pickled red onions on top. I tried it and it was very, very good.


Kelsey had an open-faced steak sandwich with blue cheese and a spinach salad on top.




Brandon and I ordered the fried chicken with a side of macaroni and cheese. I thought it was soooo good. Like, I wanted to eat every single bit. I didn't, though, because we were going to Daniel later. Brandon said her mom makes better fried chicken, so I guess I'm going to have to try it someday. I LOVE fried chicken. I love mac and cheese more, though. I'm obsessed. Mmmm I could go for some of these bites right now.


Kelsey and Brandon said Eric and I had to try Amy's devil's food cake, so we walked down to Amy's to grab a slice... or three.












Love, love Amy's Bread. So was this the ultimate chocolate cake?


Yes, yes it was. Perfectly chocolate and moist. It really doesn't get better than this.


I had a great time touring Food Network and meeting Kelsey, Brandon, and all of the employees of Food Network and Food2.com. Thank you so much Food2.com and Pyrex!


Why is my arm at that angle? I'm so awkward.

New York, New York

W ow. Sorry it took me so long to post. And sorry for not stopping by and visiting your blogs lately. I'll have to play catch-up soon.

So what took me so long was uploading and editing 200 pictures. Yeah. But that's finished, and now I can blog. So this first post I think I'll just show you some of the things we did on our trip + some food - it's going to be a lot of randomness. Then we'll move on to Daniel, Food Network, and bakeries in the next posts.

Okay, herrrrre we go!

Eric and I flew from Springfield to O'Hare, bright and early in the morning - 7:00 AM to be exact... meaning we had to wake up 5:30. Ugh. But we were in good moods because we were so excited! This was Eric's first trip to New York.

If you don't remember, I won an appetizer recipe contest sponsored by Food2.com, back in December, and the prize was a trip for two to New York City, plus some other sweet stuff. Thanks Food2.com!

We flew into La Guardia airport sometime in the early afternoon. Speaking of La Guardia - does anyone know why they hardly have any food in that airport? Everyone is forced to eat Auntie Anne's pretzels there. Also, does anyone know why the employees are so rude? We had a woman yell at us when we were checking in to go back home, because we didn't print our boarding passes before we went to check our luggage. There weren't any signs or any people directing us to do that, so we didn't know. She yelled at us in front of the long line of people that we had stood in for twenty minutes.

Anyway, so then our shuttle took us to our hotel - the Dream Hotel, to be exact. The Dream Hotel is where magical things happen. Let's take a little looksie.

Here's a blurry picture of the outside.


This is the lobby.


Fish tank thingie.


Our hotel room... there were blue lights everywhere.


One day we went out and housekeeping cleaned our room. We came back, changed, and went out to dinner. When we came back to our room there were oranges on our pillows!

It was magical.




Yes, Eric is wearing a suit. And a mustache. This was after Daniel.

I bought these macarons from a little bakery close to our hotel. These were my first macarons I've ever eaten. They were just okay, I thought. The flavors were pistachio, orange and raspberry. I think there are much better macarons out there.


We walked everywhere in New York. I think we did just about everything!




We went up into the Empire State Building. I've only been once and wanted to go back.


It was windy, but very, very beautiful. I loved seeing all of the lights of the city.


Haha.


One morning we went to Sarabeth's for brunch. I remember going here a few years ago with my friend. I'll never forget the spinach-goat cheese omelette that I ordered. It was SO good. I think I just spelled omelette the French way. I do that.



Sarabeth's is right by the park, and we sat outside to enjoy the view and the nice weather. I love having brunch in the city!



I ordered the farmer's omelette; it had diced onion, potato, bacon and bell pepper in it, along with Swiss cheese. The omelette came with a side of wheaty-seedy toast and orange marmalade. Meh. The omelette wasn't that good. It just didn't have a ton of flavor. The toast and marmalade, however, were very, very delicious. The orange marmalade was incredible. I wish I had some right now.


Eric ordered the French toast with strawberries and really liked it. I ate some of it and it was very good.


After brunch, we walked over to Central Park and walked around. I never get very far into Central Park when I go. I can't believe how huge it is.
Look at the family of ducks! (They're hard to see)





After two days we switched hotels to the SoHo area. We stayed at the Sheraton Four Points. The location was good because were in the SoHo/Greenwich area, which I love, and we were close to Little Italy and Chinatown. The hotel was okay. Well, except for the brown water that was running from the sink for a while.
I know... gross. It was gross. I should have taken a picture, but I didn't.


We walked over to Little Italy on two occasions. The first was to dine at Lombardi's! Mom and I went back in September and loved their white pizza.




We ordered a large pie with pepperoni, roasted bell peppers, red onion, fresh mozzarella and basil.

Very, very tasty. I love their crust. Their white pie is better, though. I think I still think I prefer John's over Lombardi's. Should have gone to John's.

The second time we went to Little Italy was on our last night. We wanted to eat dinner on Mulberry Street to end our fabulous New York vacation.





There are so many restaurants on Mulberry Street, we didn't know which one to pick. We picked a promising-looking place called Casa Bella. It wasn't but a few minutes into the meal that I started to feel uneasy. Our server kept asking us if we wanted wine and we repeatedly had to tell him no. Eric ordered chicken alfredo ($20) and I ordered a special where you received an appetizer, entree and dessert for $16.50. I ordered the bruschetta for the appetizer and eggplant parmigiano for my entree.


This is what my bruschetta looked like. Not impressive, right? The taste wasn't impressive either. Old sliced bread (the same kind of bread was in the basket on our table) was topped with canned tomato, a tiny bit of olive oil, and chopped basil. It had absolutely no flavor. I ate only one slice and pushed it a side.

This was my eggplant. It was sooo mushy and soggy, and I couldn't even taste the breading. It was heavily coated with a bland tomato sauce. The cheese was so thick and chewy, I couldn't eat it. The whole dish was bland, and frankly, disgusting. I didn't eat it. I think I've been spoiled by my dad's eggplant parmesan. I'm convinced it's the best in the world.



Eric's alfredo wasn't much better. The pasta wasn't homemade and he said the chicken was microwaved.

So my question to any New Yorkers or people who eat in Little Italy regularly, is, are there good restaurants in Little Italy? Or is Little Italy a tourist trap? I mean, I feel like we were duped into eating at this place, thinking it would be authentic Italian cooking. It just wasn't good at all. It was really disappointing to me, to be honest.

We were still hungry, so we stopped into a pizza place a little later. They had a deal: One slice of pizza and a glass of wine for $6. Sold!

We had to push a side the fine china to make room for our paper plates. This experience made up for the bad meal at Casa Bell. We couldn't stop laughing.
Also, that was the harshest wine I've ever had. It burned.

Let's see... what other things did we do?

We rode the Staten Island Ferry!

That was a crazy experience.


It was worth the wait and fighting the mob. It was kind of relaxing, riding the ferry and taking in the sights.

We saw Lady Liberty.


We also snacked while we walked around Battery Park.

I had this very salty pretzel...


While Eric had a New York hot dog. Turns out, New York hot dogs are the exact same as Missouri hot dogs. Live and learn.


Candied roasted cashews. I would eat these every day if I lived in New York.


Get this - we walked from SoHo to Battery Park to ride the ferry, then we walked to the Brooklyn Bridge. That's a very long walk, we found out.


One more thing I love - the Brooklyn Bridge.


We were exhausted after walking so far, so we ended up riding the subway for the first time ever. It was scary and confusing. And the subway-ticket lady with one eye was mean to us. Also, we saw a large rat on the tracks.


Okay, that's enough for today. Whew, I'm exhausted. I'll try to get the other posts up soon, though. Hope you have a good Memorial Day weekend!