I haven’t spent much time on my blog this past week, but believe me… everything that has taken me away from this has had to do with food. Not only was it Thanksgiving, but I also took on the Kraft Cooking Video Challenge!

Please understand, I just started uploading instructional videos recently, and while I think they have gone pretty well, I do shoot them at night, after a good 10 hour (real job) work day, so I haven’t shown my face. I didn’t want to have to worry about how I looked, or my hair, or my bags, sags and wrinkles. Honestly, if I had to worry about that every time I filmed… Let’s face it… I would never film!

Kraft Foods forced me to change all of that. For the Kraft Challenge, 40% of the judging is about your personality and creativity while presenting the recipe, and even though I am just teaming with creativity and personality at all times, I don’t think it comes across in totality with just my hands.

Now, I could have made the decision to keep this little video all to myself. I could have kept all of my readers (Carolee) on the edge of their seats, hoping to catch a glimpse of the corner of my face… or an errant eye in my videos… but after cooking and filming the same meal three different times… After driving to the hardware store and buying lights… After getting over the bags, sags and wrinkles, and after hours and hours of taking all that film and cramming it into three tiny minutes… I actually want you to see it!

But not yet. First, I want you to know that I have had the fortune of working in film and video years ago, but I was always on the other side of the camera. I tell you this so that you know that I know, first hand, how many people are involved in shooting a commercial, a TV show, or a movie.

Also know that when food is involved there is an additional team of people actually cooking the food! There are a multitude of ‘the end product’, The Hero, just waiting in the wings.

That being said, Rachel Ray, Paula Dean, Bobbie Flay… you’ve got nothing on me, except, of course, a huge team of people, both in front of, and behind you. Oh, and make-up artists.

Things I learned throughout this process:

Three minutes is an (almost) impossible amount of time to show a recipe and a new cooking technique.

Being serious about cooking is not funny, or fun.

Lighting matters.

Did I say that three minutes is an incredibly, unbelievably short amount of time?

My bags, sags, and wrinkles don’t look as bad on film as they do in my bathroom!

Food Network… here I come!