the end of the beginning

"the next food network star" series
entry number three: the end of the beginning

i ended entry number two by saying, “the next few weeks following that email were going to be like nothing i had ever experienced.”

and i’d have to say, nothing could have prepared me for what would happen over the weeks that followed that email. it wasn't long before the pressure began as i had to turn around 24 original recipes and answers to a lengthy, lengthy questionnaire about myself and cooking in a very short amount of time. so for four days, i sacrificed my sleep and sanity in order to complete my work while trying to meet this deadline for all my food network materials. i would come home from work with a hodgepodge of ingredients, throw them together and pray they turned into something good. all cooks have original recipes – dishes we can make in our sleep but ask us for recipes, and we can probably offer you only estimates. to come up with real recipes that had exact measurements was a huge challenge. dishes i made on pure intuition suddenly needed to be quantified. was it a quarter cup of red wine versus a half cup? my answer would have to be, “i don’t now – just keep adding more until it tastes good.” however, “salt until it tastes right” or “sugar till it tastes good” were not acceptable forms of measurement by food network standards. between the saturday when i first received that email and the wednesday deadline, i came up with 24 original recipes (2 breakfast; 5 appetizers; 3 drinks; 1 dessert; 4 quick and easy; 4 signature; and 2 date night menus to include appetizers, entrée and dessert) and answered 65 questions about myself and my thoughts on food. even if i wasn’t selected as a finalist, i had a great time just getting to think about food and what it seriously meant to me.

shortly after turning my materials in, i was called by the producer who would be producing my backstory – sort of a “week in the life of jess dang” segment – for the show. it still wasn’t definite if it’d be one of the eight finalists, but they were going to start filming anyway because of their short timeline. so just days after turning in my materials, neil regan a freelance producer came out to film me for two days cooking in my teeny kitchen, working, biking around my neighborhood, volunteering with habitat for humanity, grocery shopping, cookbook perusing in my favorite local bookstore, planning my weekly menu, throwing a small dinner party for friends. we went through hours of interviews related to the answers on my questionnaire. i spent most of the time squirming in front of the camera, a habit i never really grew out of . . . you’ll see when you watch the show.

but even my backstory was filmed, i still did not know for sure if i was going to be on the show. finally, on november 21st just 9 days before filming was to begin, i got the final ok from sue. i was “in” and on my way to new york. work had been closely informed during this whole process and when i received the final ok, they were incredibly supportive in allowing me to take a three week leave of absence. i got calls from food network to arrange my travel to new york and from wardrobe to tell me what i could and could not wear on the show. it was all starting to become real, but i still had no idea what to expect. in the days after neil left and before i had to be in new york for the taping of the show, i tried to prepare myself for something, as i said earlier, that could not really be prepared for. i practiced what it might be like to be a cooking show host by borrowing a video camera from a friend and videotaped myself cooking while trying to entertain. they definitely make it look a lot easier on tv than it actually is in real life. definitely no hand-held cam would compare to what i would soon encounter on my first day of filming and my first challenge on the show.

remember to visit next monday, march 20th for my personal recap of episodes 1 and 2. and of course, tune in on sunday, march 19th at 9:00 pm for the two-hour premiere!