Good Day, with a chance of meatballs

I just finished prepping and packing for a cooking segment I'm doing tomorrow morning on our local Fox station's Good Day morning show. On average, a 3-minute segment costs me about $100 in food and edible props, 2 hours of evening prep, and then 2 hours of on-set prep. Then, it's all ad-libbed and fancy-free once the cameras are rolling.

Sometimes the producer is in the room, for which I'm both nervous and thankful. It's a challenge to smile and cook, to cook and talk, and to talk and watch the producer for cues and countdowns. It's almost like you have to split yourself in half. One half is cooking/smiling/talking as if there isn't a care in the world, and the other half of you is focused on time management and the producer. You can never let the time management side show on your face, which is difficult.

I'll be making comfort food -- meatballs to be exact, so I've prepped the recipe X3. I'll get to the set early enough in the morning to cook everything there and then have the "scenes" set up: (1) infused bread crumbs (2) meat + mixing (3) frying + braising (4) tasting. While all of this is happening, I'll be talking about the cookbook I'm promoting on the air. I just hope I can get everything in before my 3 minutes are up.

After that, I've got to book it to my daughter's school for a macaroni and cheese cooking class.

Then, I have to book it [sorry, for those not from New England, "book it" means to haul your butt as fast as you can] to my freelance job half way across town.

It will be a busy day, but a fun one. Maybe if I had a set of brand new Electrolux appliances, I could whip through the day like Kelly Rippa? Electrolux, I'm game if you are.