Let’s Eat!

Happy Friday!

I had a great start to the morning, whipping up a cinnamon crepe… duck, apple-jack brandy sausage…and a special filet! Actually I was only helping…it was the unique chef’s touch of Chuck Allen at Sacha’s 527 that I have to thank for the fabulous breakfast!  At Sacha’s on 527 North Charles they’re prepping today, for tomorrow’s “Let’s Eat, Charles Street!”

It runs tomorrow from 12-6 in the Read Street block off Charles. It’s free! And it’s not only Sacha’s, but about a dozen different Charles Street restaurants and bars participating….places like Cazbar, where they’re bringing out the belly dancers for tomorrow’s event. And, it’s not only food, but “revitalizing” drinks…everything from specialty drinks to classic wine and beer.

So foodie, or not, check it out and the other shopping and entertainment the picturesque neighborhood has to offer! The weather’s going to be great!:-)

Have a great weekend!

Sandra

Halloween High

We’re still coming down from the sugar high from Saturday…I know it’s Monday!

My boys ate candy all day yesterday and I’m not sure there were even any meals in between. We had a blast, though. My 8 year old was “Batman” and my 5 year old was a ninja and the way they each approach Halloween always makes me laugh. Felix is the older, more cautious one. The younger one, Max, had to pretty much push his big brother up the neighbors’ steps to say “Trick or Treat”. Why is it that the neighbors houses are only “scary” during Halloween? God forbid they have creepy music playing!!

After seeing the fear in my older son’s eyes, I accompanied them up to each door. I was the one saying “trick or treat” most of the time which definitely made me feel like I needed a costume.

Fun times! And the start of many more as we begin the holiday season. I love this time of year!!

Enjoy,

Sarah Caldwell

The making of a prank

Dear Viewers,

Every now and again we have the opportunity to have a little fun on the morning show – and Friday was one of those times.  And if it involves scaring one of your work mates,  so much the better.

A few weeks ago Tony Pann made the mistake of mentioning he was afraid of spiders. (I totally understand, I’m an arachnophobe myself).  The rest of the morning team filed this information away in our brains to be used at a later date.  The Friday before Halloween became the perfect opportunity to scare Tony live on tv.

But finding the right prop became a challenge.  I knew my daughter had a fake spider – but it was lost somewhere in the deep recesses of her room.  I figured it would be easy to find one at the store the week of Halloween. Wrong. I went to four different department stores, drug stores, five and dimes — the proper prop was nowhere to be found.  But we weren’t going to give up – oh no.  At the 11th hour, it was Jennifer Franciotti to the rescue.  She remembered her daughter had a rubber spider (named Squishy) that just might work – and came up with the idea to tie it to the end of her daughter’s princess fishing pole.   Brilliant. 

Now it was a matter of execution.  Jim McKinnon was the floor director that day and with the deftness of a panther moved a huge ladder behind the green screen “weather wall” during one of the commercial breaks without Tony noticing.  We conspired with the producer to pick just the right moment to “launch” our prank. And then it was up to Sarah to climb the latter and do the honors.  The placement was perfect and the resulting squeamish jump by Tony was well worth the effort.  If you didn’t see it, you can check it out on our website. Just click here!.

He was genuinely surprised – and amused… a great sport.  Our prank added a moment of levity to our day – and hopefully yours too!

Hope you had a happy Halloween

Mindy Basara

 

Teething Torment

Dear Viewers,

Pardon me if  I seem a little sleepy on the set lately.  It seems my two-year-old son’s molars are coming in and he is miserable.  He was up much of the night – grabbing the side of his head,  crying “mommy, hurt, hurt”.   I alternated doses of Motrin and Tylenol which would help for a time, but just wasn’t quite doing the trick.  I wish there was something more I could do. 

Both of my kids had trouble with teething, but my son is worse than my daughter was.  Thank goodness these are the last to come in.  I have friends who think I’m nuts because their children’s teeth came in totally unnoticed.  Not so much as a wimper.

If anyone has any suggestions to ease my son’s discomfort,  I’d love to hear them.

One another note – hope everyone has a fun and safe Halloween! 

Take care,

Mindy Basara

 

 

 

Where’s the common sense?

Dear Viewers,

Fresh off  my rant about a lack of civility – let me spew about the lack of common sense exemplified in two recent news stories. 

First, there’s the infant in Colorado who was denied medical coverage because he was too fat.  He’s a few months old for crying out loud!  Just because he’s a big baby does not mean he’s going to be an overweight/unhealthy person.  Lots of children start out as chub-a-lubs (cheeks so fat you just want to squeeze them – too cute!), but slim down in due time. In fact my godson was a roly-poly baby in the top percentiles and now he’s a long and lean first grader. The Colorado baby story is a glaring example of the obtuseness of the insurance industry.  To the company’s credit, they did see the error of their ways and changed the rules (after negative national media exposure of course).

Then there was the story out of my hometown of  Newark, Delaware.  It was on the Today show this morning.  A first grader innocently brought a set of camping utensils to school with him.  The set included a knife of course.  He says he brought it to school to eat lunch.  Not only was the child suspended, but relegated to a reform school!    I understand the reasoning for strict rules when it comes to weapons in schools, but shouldn’t the age of the child, behavior history and intent come into play?  Suspending him is one thing, but reform school??!!! Give me a break.  The child was interviewed on the Today show and couldn’t have been more adorable, intelligent, well-mannered and well-spoken.  His mom says there’s no way she’s sending him to reform school.  She’ll home school him instead.

Since when did our society become a set of one-size-fits-all rules and regulations, devoid of thought?

Thanks for letting me vent – I feel better already

Mindy Basara

Marathon Motivation

It’s one of my favorite times of year working at WBAL-TV., the Baltimore Running Festival.  We are a sponsor and one of only a handful of television stations across the country that cover a marathon from start to finish.  As a runner, I love organizing the station’s coverage.  To me, it’s about much more than the elite finishers.  I also like to focus on the middle-of-the-packers who are running their first race, or the elderly runner who still laces up each year. 

This year we’re working on some great inspirational stories.  Today, I met a 25-year-old marathon runner and law school student.   Last year, he was training for the Baltimore marathon when he collapsed during a training session.  Turns out he was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor.  One year later and John has undergone surgery, radiation and chemotherapy and is gearing up for this year’s marathon.  All this while still attending law school.  Oh and he’s helping to raise money for Johns Hopkins and the doctor he credits for saving his life.  Just one of many great stories we’ve found this year.

You can watch John’s story the week leading up to the October 10th Running Festival.  Maybe it will inspire you to lace up for a good cause and get in shape at the same time.  He definitely inspired me.

 

Stacey Wright

Executive Producer

Lamenting a lack of civility

Dear Viewers,

What is it with the lack of civility these days?  First a United States Congressman heckles the President of the United States in the middle of  an important address in an appalling demonstration of disrespect.  I don’t care what party you belong to, or what your political leanings may be,  you just don’t do that.   He’s the President for gosh sakes. 

And then there’s Kanye West.  His behavior at the Video Music Awards was reprehensible.  What made him think that brazenly interrupting Taylor Swift as she accepted her award, and publicly dissing her was a good idea? 

Have people always been this rude?  I try to teach my kids “do unto others”,  but when people in the public eye behave in such a hateful manner  it makes it harder to get the message across.  I guess they are good examples of how not to behave. 

Can’t we all just get along?

Mindy Basara

Ocean City Vacation

As you may have read in previous blogs my husband and I debated for weeks with what to do for our summer vacation.  We talked of a cruise, and Key West.  I’m thankful we didn’t pick the cruise since Hurricane Bill made for some rocky waters.  I KNOW I would have gotten seasick.  I do regret not going to Key West, but with the in-laws in the area I’m sure we’ll get another chance.  Instead we settled on good ole Ocean City.  We’d never been there together and we liked the idea of staying closer to home. 

I must say we had a great time.  We stayed at a hotel with a great pool and pool bar! (see attached picture)  We did ALL of the stereotypical things.. hit the boardwalk, ate Thrashers fries,  Dough roller pizza and Dumsers for ice cream. (Yes I’m now back on my diet)  But we also enjoyed sushi from a great restaurant neither of us had ever been to and we enjoyed an afternoon at Seacrets (must better than at night!)

Sadly, summer is coming to a close but we still have some fun things planned for fall.

I hope all of you had GREAT summer vacations!!

Stacey Wright

Executive Producer

Regis Review

Hey everybody!

One week ago today, Sarah Caldwell and I were on the Amtrak to NYC! And what a couple of days it was! I hope you got a chance to watch!

For me, hosting with Regis ranked as an all-time career high!(and I have YOU to thank!) The morning preparation raced by like a whirlwind! An ABC intern came to escort me to the studio(Sarah and photographer Pat Bourque in tow, filming)…then it was on to the dressing room(with my name on it–AWESOME!).  I swiftly changed into my dress and Kelly’s hairdresser and make-up artist went quickly to work! It was incredible how both could work simultaneously on different parts of me at the same time! They had that routine down pat.

   All the while, different segment producers for the interviews would stop by and “visit.” They’d brief me with some quick notes on the guests and format(things like the wakeup grande contest, etc). Their is NO script for the show…it’s all chat and just a few note cards held by the numerous producers. After my hair and makeup was finished—Gelman chatted with me briefly.

   Then, like the superstar he is, Regis entered the “house.” He’s as full of charisma as he is on television…we shook hands quickly and he entered hair and makeup(it was ten ’til.) He needs little prep. At 20 seconds to go…the live crowd cheering, volume at a fever pitch….producers came running back and counting down…19, 18, 17…(Regis was still in the dressing room…)!

But, with 5 seconds to spare, we were golden. He took my hand and we made the walk out onto the set! Things couldn’t have gone smoother after that. He put me right and ease and had me cracking up the whole show! It’s a spontaneous, fun, upbeat, fly-by-the-seat of your pants atmosphere! Imagine the scene…three jib cameras zooming around at all angles, producers running around, the live crowd reacting! I loved every second of it! Thank you again!

Lovie my Snuggie

Dear Viewers,

I am one of those people who is always cold.  75 degrees is comfortable for me, but our newsroom is more like 65.  So most days I wear a jacket, or wrap a blanket around me.  But the jacket doesn’t cover my legs, and holding onto the blanket makes it hard for me to use my computer.  So for months, maybe even years now, I have watched with keen interest the tv ads for the “Snuggie” – the blanket that has sleeves. Genius!  I finally broke down and bought one.

Immediately there was a problem. The “Snuggie” is one-size-fits-all.  That doesn’t usually work for me…I’m only 5’1.   I’m more like the size of an older child. So I seriously considered buying the child size. But the kids in the picture on the box looked smaller than me, so I went for the adult version.  That was a mistake.  My Snuggie is waaaayyyy too big.  The long sleeves weren’t an issue, I just rolled them up, but the length is another matter – I cannot walk in my Snuggie, it needs a 5 inch hem at the least.  Of course having a Snuggie altered is ridiculous, so I  “made it work” as Tim Gunn would say, by hiking it up and belting it.  I can’t decide if I look more like a monk or a character from Star Wars.  But one thing’s for sure…I sure am comfy!

By the way, an update on the mosquito situation….we’ve been using the Off Clip-ons and they work pretty well.  They look a little odd -  people wonder what that round blue thing is clipped to your waistband. But I really don’t care, it’s worth it.

Take care,

Mindy Basara