I cook at home. For my wife, my kids, my angry dog. I DO NOT cook for a living. This past Monday, due to a scheduling snafu, I ended up on a cooking show. Now I am confident making sandwiches and mac and cheese…maybe even a roast chicken, but never in front of people except my family. The thought of cooking “fancier” food in front of cameras, a crew, a cookbook author and an audience? Well that leaves me looking for a drink, a pill, a combination thereof. Enter Jayni Carey. She is the author of several successful cookbooks and the host of a local TV show “
Jayni’s Kitchen.” Michael Beard, the chef extraordinaire of Teller’s had to leave for salami university the same day as the taping of a scheduled appearance on Jayni’s show. I thought, well, it’s about Mother’s Day brunch, I have a mom, I have kids…what would be the challenge? Oh my God. I had to write recipes, practice them, then cook them in front of Jayni and the crew and the future audience. I haven’t sweated so much since that night with Mary back in Iowa when I first…I’ll stop there. Anyway. I probably spent 25 hours writing, testing, practicing the recipes. I think it went well. Sure, I made mistakes and got caught in mic cables and nearly cut myself. Yes, and I could have put more salt in the filling, more milk in the dough more color in my cheeks and more product in my hair and maybe it would have turned out better. But I actually had fun! Everyone from Jayni to the crew to my coworkers who helped me with the food processor and oven temp during testing were so kind. Maybe they felt sorry for me. Maybe, because I am the boss at the restaurant they felt they had no choice. Maybe the crew is paid to be nice to the stumbling guest. It doesn’t really matter why. It only matters that I got through the taping. I got through the recipes without any MAJOR on camera screw ups. Hopefully the editing will find me charming and smart-or at least not an idiot. We’ll see how it plays out this next week when the show airs. Though the taping and adrenaline was exciting and new, the highlight of my day was getting to go out to dinner with my wife. She encouraged me to get ready for the show and I hope she’ll still love me after it airs.
