If you are curious to see what happens behind the scenes when I’m cooking live on television - as part of the morning news broadcast - here it is. I brought along my super cool point-and-shoot camcorder, the
Flip Video Ultra
Behind the scenes at the TV studio: Mussels in Lemongrass Curry Broth from Jaden Hair on Vimeo.
And now broadcast…
And then, if you’re interested in seeing what people saw on television, come over to ABC7’s website and click on “featured video” - the recipe is on their site.
To improve
- GET MORE SLEEP! Waking at 4:15am just doesn’t fly for my body. Esp if I go to bed at 1am!
- Gotta watch those ‘um’s’ - since it’s live, there’s no DO-OVERS. I find that if I rehearse what I’m going to do in my head beforehand, I flow much more smoothly and I’m not thinking about “ok, what do I need to talk about next?” What I normally do is on the drive over to the studio at 5am, I go over my main points, but not necessarily rehearsing sentences. I just don’t want to sound like the
Kelseybot. BUT that being said, my delivery is not smooth. Props to Kelsey though - she’s great when she’s just Kelsey - actually I really like her in the last episode. I’m not scared of the camera, and I do talk from my heart. The “um” is just a superduper bad habit that’s hard to get rid of! - Engage more with the camera - I’m doing much better looking directly at the camera, but it does feel sorta unnatural having someone next to me, talking with me and then responding to both her and the camera. Will have to work out balance.
- My timing sucked on this one - I ran out of time because I didn’t cook and talk at the same time! I should have started the curry paste way earlier, in fact I should have started it the moment that I first picked up the can! The past times that I’ve been on, I’ve been really good on timing, just this time I was off. But gotta remember to cook and talk!
- But I’m still really happy with everything - I’m learning bit by bit and I love that I have a chance to practice my TV skills each month!
***
Thank you Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food!
Deb Puchalla, editor of Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine, just added Steamy Kitchen in their “Sites We Like.” Go check out their site- they’ve got some wonderful, easy recipes!
June 27th, 2008 at 1:34 pm
Hey Jaden,
Very cool! If you ever need lemongrass or Thai basil, it is growning on my side yard! As a matter of fact, I need to cut down a lot of the lemongrass, I sell it at Wong Kai………
June 27th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Soon you will rivaling Martha, Rachel, etc al. I think your adorable on screen. I saw the behind the scenes clip. Practice , practice. But you so ahaead of the pack now. Good work.
June 27th, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Jaden… you’re doing great on camera! Keep it up:)
June 27th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Jaden,
it is really cool to see the behind-the-scenes look at your tv appearance. It’s so hard doing all those things at once, especially when you’ve got the host talking in your ear. I wonder if it would be easier to have the kitchen set up like your classes - with people standing around that you can interact with instead of a robot.
Just be yourself, but quicker. I recommend triple espresso with a Red Bull chaser.
June 27th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
Wow–that’s so exciting! Congrats on landing such a great job!
June 27th, 2008 at 10:09 pm
That was fun!
June 28th, 2008 at 1:12 am
I can’t believe you took the time to make your own little video while on TV! haha.. I would have been too petrified to even move! This was great.
June 28th, 2008 at 2:10 am
Very cool! Did I miss it (I looked away for a couple of seconds) - is it ok to eat the rest of the food if there are some mussels in there that didn’t open up? Just discard the muscles that aren’t good?
June 28th, 2008 at 6:59 am
Oh boy making this video while engaged in a TV show? You are my hero Jaden! I was kind of suprised because I always pictured TV studios as being full of agitated people running from one corner to another, while here I actually got the home-like feeling.
June 28th, 2008 at 11:10 am
That’s awesome! Its great to see the behind the scenes and to see you on camera. You did really well
June 28th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
wait, hey are you the girl from the food buzz ads???
June 28th, 2008 at 12:58 pm
Hey I have flip cam too.
A MySpace-branded ones. 
June 28th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
congratulations
happy weekend
June 29th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
You did great…you looked fab! how did you manage to do all that and film on your own? Love your website…You’re and inspiration!
June 30th, 2008 at 12:16 am
Now that’s what I call multitasking. Cooking, talking to the person next to you, watching the camera and making a video all at once!
June 30th, 2008 at 2:27 am
Jaden, you look grrreat! even though you said you had to improve next time, cooking in a tv show is never easy!
June 30th, 2008 at 9:53 am
Nice candid angle of a newscasts. Doing these used to be great fun… except for the early early morning show times… especially when dinner service the night before ended at 11:30pm.
Is that your usual brand of fish sauce, or were you just using it because of the Thai dish theme? I always find the Vietnamese ‘3 crabs’ is smoothest.
You didn’t show the best part at the end when all of the camera guys, studio hands, lighting techs, editors, secretaries, janitors, and whoever else is in the studio run out of nowhere and bum rush the food! Being at work for 4am sure makes people hungry!
June 30th, 2008 at 11:44 am
Thanks for the behind the scenes viewpoint. You crack me up with your captions!
July 7th, 2008 at 5:17 pm
Redbull at 430am fixes everything!
July 10th, 2008 at 9:11 am
Hello Jaden
First time here to ur webpage….awesome ! i will keep coming here more often from now on!
u have some gorgeous pics of food here in ur webpage…
Regards,
Veda