Thanks for family, friends, football, and baked mac & cheese!

Sister "food-lover" Kaye and her boyfriend Justin "food-lover" Diguilio came for Thanksgiving weekend. They are great to have around b/c they looooove eating! I like cooking and baking cookies, so it's a win-win for us all! Look how cute they are! And how short Kaye is! LOL

My contribution to Thanksgiving dinner was a health-if-fied Mac & Cheese dish from eatingwell.com. It was marvelous, melty, and tasty! Check the recipe link here (I did substitute one cup of cheddar cheese for pepper jack cheese, and as you can see from the pictures I used those twisty whole-wheat pasta noodles.) My family gobbled it up, just like a turkey!
The Clemson vs. Carolina game 2009 was quite memorable for those who attended the Johnson sister's oyster roast and backyard tailgate party. Apparently we got gulf oysters that were tainted with... the NOROVIRUS! It was awful. At least six of us suffered the wrath of the NORO.

THANKFULLY the NORO was NO-MO this year! We are very thankful for virus-free (local) oysters and A BIG WIN FOR CAROLINA!

Tough crowd of Carolina fans!? WE WON! get up a cheer guys!

Oyster Roast 2.0 Success!!

Sisterly love!

Sorry Amy, at least you have your wedding this weekend to look forward to! Can't wait!

Lots of Love! NJ

One Pound Gained For One Happy Holiday Season

DO NOT let this happen to you! According to dieticians with MUSC, the average person will gain one pound from Thanksgiving to New Years!

MUSC, Trident Health System, Roper Saint Francis, East Cooper Medical Center, and SC Hospital Association, and my TV station, Live 5 News are now all part of the "Healthy Holidays" campaign. Medical professionals are making a public push to remind people to eat healthy this holiday season. I interviewed MUSC Chef Fred Bennett, and two dieticians at MUSC who gave me some expert tips to cut the calories and make recipes a little healthier. Any other tips? Please share in comment section below.

SUBSTITUTE:
*Olive/Canola Oil for Butter
*Herbs, Spices, Citrus Zest, Citrus Juice for Salt
*Reduced Vegetable Stock and Seasonings for Gravy

CUT CALORIES:
*Exercise portion control
*Remove skin from turkey
*Only eat about 3 oz of turkey, the size of a lady's hand
*Eat lean cuts of meat
*Avoid deep fried foods
*Cutback on carbs (stuffing, mashed potatoes) and switch to fresh fruits and veggies

During a live demonstration Chef Bennett of MUSC whipped up split pea/butternut squash soup, mahi mahi with braised fennel and couscous, thai turkey salad with rice noodles, and chicken with garlic and fusilli pasta. It smelled amazing, and I got to eat it! DELISH. Very light, but flavorful. Sorry you can't eat it, but you can look.




My full report with Live 5 is here. For the holidays we will feature recipes by chefs at all the partnering hospitals on Live 5's website! (including above recipes)

HOW SWEET! Someone special sent me these lovely flowers to the newsroom! What a lucky lady! :) Please note the pink colors! My faves. Sadly I think I'm allergic to lilies!

Have a safe, healthy weekend! I'm off to celebrate girlfriend Amy's Bachelorette party! This is from my Bachelorette back in May. Congrats AMY!



Lots of Love! NJ

Truly an art form - paint, food, makeup!

BIG CONGRATS to Suzy Shealy, my mother-in-law, who's fine art creation has won the First Federal Bank's Purchase Award. It was featured in the the Charleston Art Guild's annual People's Choice Exhibit. In case you checked out my previous blog, yes, she won! Suzy's awesome!

"Tradd Street Window Boxes" will now hang in the lobby of the Broad Street bank. Suzy's creative work was skillfully painted with watercolor paints on rice paper. The soft colors were a quite complimentary to the almost rough texture of the paper. The imagery evokes a true Charleston feel - from the overhanging floral decor in the windows, narrow sidewalk, and detailed wrought iron fence design - all too familiar to the locals here.

Last weekend we had a road trip down to the Bluffton/Hilton Head area. Husband William had to work, so I shopped around and ate some delicious food! USC Journalism school friend Holly Bounds and I experienced art, in the form of food! Cute pic!!

Wise Guys is a charming tapas lounge with an extensive wine list and intricate, tasty dishes. Chef Russell Keane whipped us up the creamy yet light, risotto with shrimp and lobster. It was a very comforting dish and highly recommended by Holly and myself, if you make it out there. The Mediterranian Vegetable pizzetta, while delicious, was quite the contrast of flavors from our first dish. The bold flavors of feta cheese, salty olives, and sweet caramelized onion truly stood out. The eggplant added a good balance to the more robust flavors, while the flatbread added a nice crisp! Here it is saying, "I'm yummy, drink me with white wine such as a reisling!"

William and I also enjoyed Truffles Cafe. (Holly gave it raving reviews!) It was a perfect Sunday afternoon lunch spot. The bread course included a spectacular lightly whipped sour cream and chive butter, that William had to take away from me as I was gobbling it all up! Then we had a beautifully designed tomato bisque - the perfect balance of sweet, creamy, and savory from the tomatoes! We ordered our sandwiches (a cheeseburger and a turkey and cheese croissant) with fruit, which was all made to order fresh with tasty ingredients. Can't wait to go back! Located in Bluffton and two in Hilton Head.

Working with internationally trained makeup artist Andrew C. Petersen has truly made me realize how much of an art makeup is! The face, a canvas, is accentuated ever so slightly with various colors, and it is transposed into something that makes the beholder look again, not just because of the makeup, but because a woman's true confidence and inner beauty shines out even brighter. We had two weddings with almost one dozen lovely faces to accentuate. Here's Andrew at work with Amy, who works in the Charleston area in sales and marketing!

In other news, CONGRATS TO THE GAMECOCKS WHO SURFED THAT TIDE! What an awesome win over #1 Alabama.

Lots of Love! NJ

Free art exhibit, check it out!

Who: Charleston Artists Guild

What: People's Choice Exhibit, go there to vote on your favorite!

Where: First Federal Bank, Broad Street, Charleston (white building with columns, right near Blind Tiger Restaurant/Bar)

When: Oct. 1 - Oct. 14

There are a number of fabulous artists featured in the People's Choice Exhibit! The artist with the most votes gets cash prizes and awards. I took a break from reporting news to walk around the First Federal lobby downtown, along with my photographer Gene. Here's a sneak peek!

My personal fave went to... #82! It shows a Charleston home with the window boxes and wrought iron gate. The medium is quite unique, it's watercolor batik on rice paper! Here's my vote, the ballot box was in the middle of the lobby.

Admittedly, one may say I am biased. I know the artist personally. She's like a mother to me! That's because she's my mother-in-law! Her work it amazing. You can check out her work at Suzy Shealy's Fine Art website.

Be sure to check out the exhibit, and vote for your favorite piece... or you can just vote for #82! ;)

Lots of Love! NJ

Great tailgating treats!

Yes, the Gamecocks sent the Georgia bulldogs right back tothe doghouse! Awesome game! We had a great big tailgate with friends in our secret tailgate spot (it's VERY close to the stadium, and there are always many spots there and it's only 25 bucks!) 17 Cocks, 6 Dawgs final score! YEAH!

It was a noon game, so that means we leave Charleston bright and early... 6 a.m. wakeup call! Ashley Dean comes over the night before the whip up some tasty treats. Some help Ashley "I love napping" Dean is! haha!

RAINBOW FRUIT SKEWERS:

Okay so first treat was quite simple, we took some of our favorite colorful fruits, cut them up, and put them on a wooden stick. they were easy to make, fun to eat, and I loved all the colors!

MINI DAWGS IN A SLEEPING BAG:

Aka "Pigs in a blanket." We renamed them because we knew the dawgs would be sleeping on the field. We used the Pillsbury Crescent rolls and mini turkey/beef hotdogs. Ashley cut each roll into fourths, wrapped them all up, baked them and voila! Serve with yellow mustard!

BOPPER'S FAMOUS BUFFALO CHICKEN DIP:

Okay honestly it is the Frank's RedHot Buffalo Chicken dip recipe, which you can find on their website. Only thing I do different is cook and cut up my own little chunks of chicken! It is a fave among my co-workers at Live 5 News because our news producer Nikki V., who we fondly call "Bopper," makes it for all of our events!

ASHLEY'S MOM's 3-4 INCH ARTICHOKE DIP:

So we used a cup of shredded parmesan, a cup of olive oil mayonnaise, an 8-ounce can of artichokes (cut up the artichokes), and two - three garlic cloves pushed through a press. Mix it all up in a bowl and microwave it in two minute increments until you can see it brown along the edges. So we call it 3-4 inch artichoke dip because that's how tall of a can Mrs. Dean says you should purchase! hehe.

So here's all the good stuff in action at our tailgate, along with some of my fave pics from the fun day! Also check out these sea turtles cookies William and I bought for his sister Elizabeth's birthday. Super cute! Thanks a bunch to Laurie Lu's!

Birthday gift for sister Elizabeth

Trista having a turtle baby in her pouch

Thumbs way up!

Trista tatting me up

Ashley and Frank

Hez with her parents, reminds me of the college years!

Wacky Will!

Friends since college! Me with Julian and Jacob. Jacob is now engaged to Elizabeth! Congrats!

Hez, Frankster, Nick

Our best best John, Ashley, Me, William, Heather

Lots of Love! NJ