Sunday, December 16, 2012

Christmas Wishes

Hi Retro Weight Watcher Pals!

I know I have been absent for the past few weeks from the Land of Blogger and Twitter as well as the Book of Face. And I know you have all been wondering, "Where is Mimi?" I am sure you have all been asking yourself the same question - "Has Mimi fallen off the Retro WW Wagon? AGAIN???"

So I just wanted to drop by to let everyone know that I am alive and well.

I have just been a little busy.

And I haven't fallen off the wagon. But I did gain 2.3 pounds.

Yes - 2.3 adorable, furry pounds of puppy love!!!

Meet Oakley!

I adopted a new puppy and he has been keeping me very, VERY busy! I really had no idea how much an 8-week-old puppy was going to cramp my fabulous style. Goodness gracious! But it has been totally worth it.


It is very hard to Tweet while holding a puppy

Anyway...I plan to get back to my regular blogging and Retro Weight Watchering in the early part of 2013. But in the meantime, I wanted to wish everyone a very Happy Holiday Season!

Mimi & Santa in 1972

Hope Santa treats you very well this year! Merry Christmas and all the best in the New Year!

Saturday, December 1, 2012

In Which I Become a Food Stylist

Update: I still haven't met Jean Nidetch.

But recently I had the chance to meet and work with another really fantastic Weight Watchers Superhero, and that was almost as cool.

Last month, when the amazing Hungry Girl (Lisa Lillien) stopped in Pittsburgh on her book tour, I got a call from her publicist asking if I could help her out. Since I do some work at one of our local TV stations, the HG peeps got my name from a producer and heard I might be just the right lady to whip up some delicious dietetic food for her to display at her appearance on the local morning show - Pittsburgh Today Live.

That's right. I was Hungry Girl's "food stylist" for the day.

What a blast.

In many ways, Hungry Girl is a lot like Jean Nidetch.
  • Jean started Weight Watchers in her living room with six friends. Hungry Girl started her HG empire with a small daily email service.
  • Jean has lots of chutzpah. Hungry Girl has tons of spunk.
  • Jean literally wrote the book on finding ways to enjoy your favorite foods in a diet-friendly way using lower-calorie ingredients. Hungry Girl takes it to a whole new level.
My experience as Hungry Girl's food stylist wasn't too much different than my usual food adventures. For example, I made some HG "Cowgirl Onions Rings" using onions, Low-Fat BBQ chips and Fiber One Cereal. As a Retro WW snack - I once made some French Fries out of Italian Green Beans. Also--For Hungry Girl, I made a cake from a box of yellow cake mix and a can of diet creme soda. My all-time favorite Retro WW cake was made of cornmeal and strawberries.

OMG. Hungry Girl is like Retro WW with a modern-day twist!

Anyway, the whole experience was terrific, and Hungry Girl couldn't have been sweeter or more appreciative towards me. And she even let me take a few pics at the studio...

Gratuitous Nerdy Fan Photo
Hell yes, I got my book signed. Holla! 

Girlfriend was NOT playing around with hair and makeup
 



Here is the final segment with all of the completed dishes all plated up nice and pretty. I made them all! You might even recognize some of the serving plates I used. I was soooo tempted to throw in a gelatin mold just to see if anyone would notice, but I thought better of it. Enjoy! And go buy her cookbook. It kicks ass!


Uh Oh! If you cannot view the video here, please click this link:
In The Kitchen With Hungry Girl « CBS Pittsburgh