Life.Style.Live!
In promotion for NASCAR: Race Day Eats and in anticipation of the Brickyard 400 at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, I loaded up my tongs for the Hoosier state and made an appearance on WISH-TV’s Life.Style.Live! show.
Long-time readers of the blog know I am a proud Purdue Boilermaker, so it’s always a treat to take I-70 west. While in school, I knew every bump in the road between Dayton and West Lafayette. After making the drive for the show, I think the number of bumps has tripled. I love Indiana. Their highway maintenance? Not so much.
My appearance on the show came through “the back channels.” My good friend Tara is a daytime meteorologist at WISH after spending several years at WDTN here in Dayton. Funny story, years ago, when I was still on the job, I was called into work because of a possible tornado sighting. I found this odd, as it was a perfectly sunny day with only a few passing clouds. As tornado sirens clanked and people were ushered into grocery store freezers for “safety,” I called Tara at work to find out what was up. She quickly dismissed the tornado sightings as a harmless cold air funnel. I called off the cavalry, as she literally saved the day.
Anyway, when Tara saw I was doing Living Dayton, she made the pitch to the producer of Life.Style.Live, and before you knew it, I had a segment booked. Better yet, Tara came in on her day off to be on set and take pictures!
I was teamed up with co-host Felicia Michelle, who was a blast. She brought a laid-back, playful vibe to our time together. I’ve never had more fun doing live TV.
I did two segments with two recipes from Race Day Eats. The first, which is a variation of my classic grilled bananas, was prepared in the set kitchen to show you could use an oven as much as a grill. This new recipe includes peanut butter, which I managed to take a big bite of during our taste. Note to self, do not use peanut butter on live TV. I was unable to talk as I tried my best to swallow the rather thick dollop I managed to spoon out of the peel. If anything, it made for good TV.
Forty or so minutes later, Felicia joined me in the alley as I grilled up pork tenderloin sliders with a tangy coleslaw. If there is anything I’ve learned through my time around newsrooms, it’s to bring food, or in this case, leave food. I plated all of the sandwiches after the spot, and by the time I was ready to go, the first tray was already gone.
I cannot say enough about how friendly everyone at WISH was. The morning was truly effortless. Best yet, it was great to spend some time with Tara and drop off some grilling “presents” for her husband, Brent.
On the way home, I made one quick last stop: Sun King Brewery. Sun King has always held a special place in my heart, ever since they sent me a beer care package way back in the pre-influencer days of 2013. At the time, they had only been open for four years and only distributed beer in Indiana. A lot has changed since, but one thing has not, their great beer!
