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The Today Show…

Last week I had the amazing opportunity to be on the Today Show!! Friends, it was SO fun.

I have been bursting to give you all the details!

Let me start at the beginning…

About 6 weeks ago we got the call from The TODAY Show. Before my book was published my team at Gallery/Simon & Schuster sent out lots of advance copies of The Cookies & Cups Cookbook to television producers, magazine people etc to be considered for promotion.

Luckily the folks over at TODAY asked to have me! I found out I would be on in the 10:00 hour with Kathy Lee and Hoda and I was super pumped. Of course my first thought was ok… how much weight can I lose before then?

Let me tell you the answer to that. None. Zero.

Actually how about let’s put on a few pounds, you know just for good measure. If making an appearance on national television isn’t enough of a motivator for me, well friends, I am pretty much a lost cause.

Anyhow, the week I was on was “Restaurant Re-Do Week” so the producers chose the Banana Blondie Cheesecake from my book to make…as cheesecake is a typical dessert people order when they eat out.

I had to go to the studio the day before to do a walk through, which was really great. It really helped me feel comfortable with the set up and how things were going to go. The food gals there and the segment producer were AMAZING and really made me feel relaxed.

Here I am talking it through…

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Of course I had four million questions.

The kitchen there is actually a decent size compared to the rest of the studio! Kathy Lee and Hoda do their show right in front of the kitchen (facing it) on the second floor of the studio.

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I was able to bring my family in the day of the walk through, which was fun. They told me that the day of the taping I couldn’t bring the kiddos. Of course they were bummed about that, but were happy they got a chance to get the inside scoop!

My 12 year old wants to be Al Roker when he grows up, so he was literally dying to meet him. He saw his dressing room, which I guess is the next best thing…Although he was confused as to why there wasn’t a “big star” on the door. HA!

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Here we all are in the kitchen after the walk through…

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After the taping we hopped over to Milk Bar and grabbed a milkshake and a few Birthday Cake Truffles. YUM.

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When I got back to the hotel I got a bit of a curve ball thrown at me…Apparently Hoda wasn’t going to be on the show the next day and REGIS PHILBIN was filling in! I found that to be the most hilarious news. Of course I had to call my dad and tell him…and he almost fell out of his chair.

I have to admit I was a tad nervous because the producer told me that Regis can be “unpredictable”. I didn’t really know what that meant, but it did not sound interesting to me. Turns out I had nothing to worry about, more on that in a minute.

The next morning my husband drove back into the city so he could come with me to the show (I stayed overnight). I got to the studio a little earlier to get my hair and make up done which was a real treat.

Unfortunately I didn’t have my phone throughout most of the process, so I didn’t get to snap-stalk celebs as they came and went. Such a bummer. I saw Jason Schwartzman (a very tiny person), Diane Kruger (a very gorgeous person) and Emily Mortimer (a very adorable person).

Also, of course I saw all the anchors there at TODAY who were SUPER friendly. They did an ambush makeover, and of course there was wine. Everyone has asked me if they really drink the wine…and it may be different when Hoda is on, but they didn’t even touch it. I was a little disappointed in the lack of drunkery, but maybe Kathy Lee was on her best behavior in front of Regis 🙂

Before my segment we went over everything again, which was nice.

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Also, they gave me a mug 🙂

The food gals made my cheesecake look SO GORGEOUS!

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When it was time for me to go on they were behind on time and literally rushing around like crazy! Regis even said to Kathy Lee in the commercial break, “Kathy Lee, I don’t know how you do this everyday….this is INSANE”. I thought it was funny he said that because it all seemed very hectic to me (and Regis), but to everyone else there it was fairly normal.

Also Kathy Lee is super nice too…warm and friendly. And really really pretty, obviously.

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Regis was SO NICE you guys. You could tell he was a little out of his element with all the rushing around etc. He told me that when he and Kathy Lee used to do their show they didn’t even use teleprompters, they just sat and chatted.

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I know I talked super fast, but there were so many steps to that recipe and I only had a few minutes to talk!

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And I may or may not have been a bit bossy with Regis! HE WAS ONLY TRYING TO HELP!!!

If you missed me last week on the show, here’s my segment for your viewing pleasure!

 

The full recipe for the Banana Blondie-Bottomed Cheesecake can be found HERE.

 

I was pretty nervous leading up to the show, but once the cameras were rolling I had a ton of fun.

As for my book, I have LOVED seeing pictures you are posting with your book, or of the recipes you are making from the book! Keep them coming!

AND if you haven’t picked up your copy yet, what are you waiting for? Join the fun!!

Thank you all again for all your support! xo

 

 

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