braving the weather

"emmalee, if you were in new york and people saw you dressed like that they would probably throw quarters at you because they would think you're homeless." - my mom, on the way i chose to bundle up today.

layering is key: madrag tights, dad's old levi's, dollar store hiking socks, thrift gray sweater, thrift plaid poncho, thrift scarf, dollar store beanie, thrifted rain boots. the shovel is a prop, my brother really did it :)

finals

Finals week is here, and I could not procrastinate more.

Last night I saw Miss Pettigrew lives for a day. Fail, Fail, Fail.

I honestly don't know why that movie was even made. It lacks a climax, it lacks any major plot... it lacks excitement. Plus, half the time the actors are talking in such high pitched noises you can't even understand what they are saying. (notice cameo from that myrtle character from Harry Potter) And you don't even become invested in the love stories. The sets were beautiful though.

And for the girls out there, don't watch PS. I love you if you don't want to be utterly depressed and consumed by your feelings for the rest of the day.

Paula Deen

Little did I know when I was writing before about guilty TV pleasures that I would actually make it to see Paula Deen!!!

My friend Jackie is actually an intern at Paula's Party at the Food Network, and she let me know that Paula was coming to NYC to film for her new season. She let me know that we could apply for tickets and I asked my roommates and went right ahead.

Unfortunately, I needed to finish a paper for one of my classes (bad timing) and after 1 1/2 hours of "napping", at 4:30 in the morning on April 22nd... Kelly, Brian and I hopped on a train and two subways in order to get to Chelsea Market. We stood on line waiting go on the set, and lo and behold, Paula Deen herself, her signature gray hair pulled back in a ponytail and covered with a black baseball cap and dark sunglasses came walking past us drawling a southern "Good mooooooorning, ya'll!". At that moment I knew my lack of sleep would be worth it.

And it was.

Besides one minor blip of setting off the defibrillator outside the Food Network kitchen, the entire experience went off without a hitch.

After we were given a set of rules (never look at the teleprompter, if she feeds us... even if we were allergic to something- we needed to shut up, pretend to love it and they would epi-pen us later, and always look excited) we entered the set and were led to our seats. Somehow, we lucked out to be sitting in the "cafe" area, and that put us smack in the middle of every single one of the shots that Paula was in.

Her guests for that episode were Donny Deutsch (steak and deep friend potatoes), Isaac Mizrahi (deep fried bagel complete with cream cheese, lox, deep fried green tomato, and deep fried capers) and Donald Trump Jr. (deep fried canolis). For the record, Paula does NOT like the taste of capers, and when that deep fried bagel was passed around, one woman in front of me DEVOURED the entire thing.

Watching Paula was a treat. She was EXACTLY the same off camera as she was on- sweet, saucy and extremely sincere. Not only did she joke around with the audience members, she was able to make fun of herself and also make the guests feel at ease. ( When Isaac Mizrahi asked if he was allowed to say "sucks" on the program, Paula replied "If I can say boner, you can say sucks!") She was full of anecdotes and southern phrases and it seemed quite possible that I could listen to her talk for hours. Brian (who is the producer and director for Make it Work) mentioned to me that he thought they would hardly have any viable takes for the episode- Paula kept ignoring the cues she was being given, and seemed to hardly cook as much as she was talking to the guests. I know that they will end up making it look great because we all genuinely had an amazing time. I'd go back in a heartbeat.

The episode is called "Deep Fried NY" and I will post here when it will be on the Food Network.

Until then ya'll,

Best dishes.

E

getting started (again)

So, basically gmail decided to delete my account and therefore render me helpless in accessing the old blog. Fairfield said they would be on the case, but I decided to speed the process along and just create my own instead. This one will be better anyway.


So I'll just dive right in.

We have a new episode of Make it Work!!! ( It will be on the Ham Channel soon)

Because of Brian, Liz's and my busy schedules, we have a hard time getting together when we can all film. This year, the Ham Channel started putting the segments for the shows on youtube, so you can catch up on what you missed there. I'm always surprised (and somewhat embarrassed) when people say they watch the show all the time. I'm happy that they say they like it-even if they are lying to me- but I'm embarrassed because I would like to keep them happy with new material.

It really made me smile when someone actually said they took my advice and ebayed "estate jewelry lot" to see if they could find some awesome cheap pieces. I just want to say- even if you can't find anything at first, ALWAYS check back- that stuff gets updated like you wouldn't believe.


So before I leave, I want to leave you with another "Make it Work" tip. This summer, deep-v neck shirts are going to be BIG. I have a whole bunch from american apparel, and I absolutely love them. Since they run about $18 a shirt, I suggest that you go on ebay and search "lot of american apparel deep v necks". You can get about three shirts for the cost of two. And you won't believe how many colors they come in.

E