My Day Grilling with Bobby Flay! WITH Photo!
19th Mar 2009
I could hardly sleep the night before I was so excited. But I managed to get some sleep and felt very pumped when I got up and got dressed.
I work just north of Hollywood and Highland (which is where the Kodak Theatre and the Oscars are held) and since the address for the shoot was in West Hollywood, I asked to be picked up at my work address.
The driver assigned to me (Chris) got to my office early and since you never know about the traffic in LA I decided we should go. I guess we got to the absolutely beautiful home in the Hollywood Hills overlooking the LA basin (you could see the ocean and it was a spectacular view) about 11:00am PT. The Grill It show is shooting two shows a day there and I was to be the second person of this particular day. When I got there Rae, the producer in charge of me, met me at the driveway and escorted me up to the house. We couldn’t go in because the guy grilling pork chops ahead of me - his show with Bobby was running overtime. So Rae and I chatted and hung out for a while. I’m not sure of the time when they wrapped that episode but it was an hour or so easy and then the crew broke for lunch. They had every kind of food you can imagine set up buffet style for everyone to eat. I saw no really low cal stuff so I got an egg roll and a water and sat and ate. (I don’t like to eat much before I do anything that has to do with performance anyway. It makes me sleepy.)
I think I had been there for two hours when the makeup gal and the wardrobe gal and I squared away my look. I had arrived with my makeup done and I was wearing the top I wanted to wear but when the wardrobe gal asked me about my pants I told her that I really wanted to wear the black ones that I brought. I couldn’t believe it but she let me - so I felt very good about my look. I thought about how just a few short years ago I would be stressing out about how fat I was going to look on TV. But not this time.
First we shot me saying how glad I was to be there and how excited I was to meet Bobby. I think I must have been too excited because the director told me to bring it down a notch or two. HA! Hey I get excited!
They took me to the set and Juliet, the “on set” producer in charge of me took me to the kitchen where they had a question about my grilled biscuit. Morgan, I think was her name, had prepared all of my recipes based on the recipes I had submitted and the biscuit for the grilled strawberry shortcake was very loose. She really wanted it to be right and so I took the dough and threw some flour on the table and then plopped the dough down on it and was able to make it work. Morgan was a real peach the whole day by the way. She was behind me at every turn making sure things were right. In the middle of me kneading the biscuit dough I heard someone say “Would you like to meet Kitty?” so I looked up and two feet in front of me was Bobby Flay. I know my mouth dropped open - and I said “Oh my gosh - Bobby Flay!” He thanked me for coming and we talked a minute or two (about what I can’t remember - too excited!) and then he said he’d see me soon and he left. How exciting to meet him before things got underway. And I had been working with the biscuit dough explaining how I make it so I was glad he saw me in action - cooking.
So then the crew broke for lunch. I had already eaten my egg roll so took a few pictures and soaked everything in.
Then we began the Grill It Show.
I want to begin by saying that Bobby Flay is a complete and total gentlemen. My food didn’t always turn out like I cook it when I’m at my condo but he smiled and winked and gave it a thumbs up. If you are a fan of him in any way - just know that as much as you like him on screen - he is even nicer off screen. You know when you are in the presence of a star. Bobby Flay is a star - and I still can’t believe I am a part of his series “Grill It”.
So Rae, turned me over to Juliet, the producer in charge of me on the set. She took me to my cooking station and showed me what’s what. And I used to think I had some sense but March 17th at exactly 1:30 my good sense left me. HA! I have been on TV shoots and have even been the focus of a shoot, but this was pretty overwhelming. The person ahead of me had run so far over that I think there was a tad of anxiety that the day was about to get really long. I was told a certain camera to look at but there were many cameras and they all looked the same once the shoot got underway so I’m not sure if I ever looked at the right one. A suggestion to the crew would be to put a yellow (or some loud color) flag or marker on the top of the lens the guest is supposed to look at. But I think they are probably used to that, so I think it will be all right.
Bobby was getting his mic on and he looked at me and said, “How are your grilling skills?” I said, “Not nearly as good as yours”. He said, “Are you good?” and I said, “I think I’m pretty good.” I think he winked at me but that might be wishful thinking. HA!
So Bobby got behind his station and he introduced me. I ran on set and we were off to the races.
I did get a chance to ask Bobby a couple of good questions.
1. If you were on a desert island and you could only have one spice with you - what would it be? (You’ll have to watch for his answer)
2. What is your favorite meal to cook for your wife? (again you’ll have to watch)
3. What’s the difference between a yam and a sweet potato? (another interesting answer)
And I asked him to show me how he makes that garlic paste with fresh garlic. Which I did on set.
At one point I told him about how my brother Louie had first introduced me to his “Throwdown” show. I told him he could throw me down anytime and he laughed (and so did some of the crew so not sure they can use that. HA!)
He made a shrimp dish that knocked the socks off of my shrimp dish, but I think my grilled salad was very good. I told him about losing 60 pounds two years ago and I think that floored him. We talked about cooking light and I told him I created these recipes to help me keep my weight off. He tasted my grilled strawberry shortcake and I felt a good reaction from that (meaning I think he really liked it as opposed to my shrimp which I could see with my own eyes were overcooked) I made my Sangria and we toasted. I had written a parody to Michael Jackson’s “Thriller” titled, “Griller” and I sang it as part of my farewell to the camera - “Cause he’s the Griller - I’m here to say - no one fires up a grill like Bobby Flay - yes he’s the Griller - I want to learn, from the Master Chef himself creating perfect, perfect - burn!” . It was 4:50. And the day had flown by.
I brought the crew my laughing CD Laffy Laughing All the Way that I recorded a few years ago as a thank you gift and Louie’s good buddy Seth Kent from Winona, MS, who roasts and distributes Southern Aroma Coffee made me a “special Blend for Bobby Flay” so I wrapped it up in green paper and ribbon for St Patrick’s Day and asked Rae to give it to Bobby as a gift, so she did. I asked her if I could get a picture and I could see that she was a bit hesitant - it had been a long day for Bobby (and everyone - they were all SUPER nice but you can tell when people are tired) but Rae asked the director, Lauren (who was very encouraging) to see if I could take a photo. She went in and I could hear Bobby say “Of course!” So he came out and Rae took this great photo of us.
My driver (a different guy named Charles) was waiting for me at the end of the driveway and so I told Rae good-bye and off I went. I called Neil (my husband), my father L.V. Harrison in Winona, my boss Dave Bell in Australia and of course my brother Louie who is totally responsible for this entire day. I had not heard of Bobby Flay two years ago. Louie, who is a big fan told me that since I love to cook that I needed to check out his show “Throwdown”. The rest is history.
I hope you enjoyed reading about this day as much as I enjoyed living it. I love you all.
