They Aren't Joking When They Say Early Morning Show

guest blog by CBS, well I basically cut and pasted what the kind people at CBS said.

I did have to get up at 5:30 am...it was worth it! Shout out to Harry and Maggie, very cool anchors.

While you might not be able to attend a fancy inaugural ball, you CAN host your own party!

On The Early Show Monday, Washington chef Spike Mendelsohn, whom you might remember as a contestant on "Top Chef," season four, served up recipes, and contributor Laura Schwartz suggested ways you could bring a little of the inaugural spirit to your own soiree and make it "presidential."

Mendelsohn turns out delicious comfort food he turns out at his restaurant, "Good Stuff Eatery" and had plenty of party foods on his Early Show menu, with fun spins on many of the fancy finger foods that will be served at parties around the capital.

On Mendelsohn's menu:

Lemongrass Shrimp Skewers (instead of shrimp cocktail)
Mini Jalapeno & Nacho Cheese Quiches (instead of ham & cheese quiches)
Chili & Cheese Phyllo Pizzas
President Obama Sliders (instead of roast beef canape)
Toasted Marshmallow Spiked Milkshakes (OK, OK, it's a bit cold for ice cream, but this item has a cult following at Chef Spike's eatery, and he's added some Kahlua to help warm it up!

In early October, Chef Spike put both an Obama burger and a McCain burger on his menu. As you might guess, his goal with each was to capture the candidates' personalities. The restaurant also kept a tally of how many of each burger sold. Just as in the election itself, the Obama burger wound up on top.

Chef Spike explained why each item in the "Obama Slider" burger belongs:

Blue cheese represents Obama's sophistication
Red Onion Marmalade for his sweetness and kind heart
Applewood-smoked Bacon represents the feeling of comfort and safety he's bringing to the country
Horseradish Sauce represents his attitude and swagger

Check out recipes.

I Made It On Oprah...kinda

I'm on oprah.com but that's pretty HUGE right?

I was very excited to be hosting a Burger Ball (during Obama's Inauguration), which went superb. The DJ - DJ Butta-was off the chain! People were dancing till 2am, eating, drinking and just overall enjoying the moment. The undescribeable moment in history, that I know I'll never forget, along with the feeling of actually being in front of the U.S. Capitol that morning.

That's right, I woke up at 6am and walked down to get a view. It was a great view and yes, my feet are still defrosting, but it was worth it. To be hanging out with all these people that braved the freezing cold, looked at their alarm clock and actually got up that morning, stood in line till 9am to get to an entrance and then again till the ceremony started. The vibe, the people, the feeling of change and that yes, everything is going to be alright...amazing.

Then I huffed it back to the restaurant, busted out 2,000 burgers with our outstanding staff and at 5pm got ready for the Burger Ball...am I insane? Yes.

So in the middle of the Burger Ball who walks in? Stephanie, Producer for Oprah.com with her crew. They happen to be super cool, awesome and thank goodness, loved the food!

So check us out on Oprah. I take you through a tour of the Good Stuff Eatery kitchen, you meet all the boys behind the line and my shakistas. You'll also get the secret recipe to the Obama burger and other awesome dishes for hosting your own party.

Now...please email oprah and let them know how much you love the good stuff at Good Suff!

lovin' oprah,
Spike

Me & Whoopi

So Tuesday morning I went to NYC and hanged with barb, joy, sheri and whoopi - ladies of The View.

I was in a competition with Lisa Fernandez and Stephen Asprinio on how to cook for a family with a budget. I still can't understand why the win went to Lisa...I mean how can you beat Greek Pizza and Greek Yogurt with Honey? but it did.

Also reunited with Padma...for every guy (and girl) that has asked me...she IS even more beautiful in person!

The ladies were amazingly sweet. A shout out goes to Rachel, the show's producer who was in charge and made sure everything was perfect AND she was funny as hell.

I got a dressing room, moving up in the world, am I? It was pretty slick.

In case you want to recreate the best recipes.

Think You're a Top Chef?

Ok, so, one of the coolest things to happen this week...I'm a spokesperson for Quaker® Oats in Washington, DC. That's pretty cool right? I mean I should be their spokesperson for the world - Ambassador of Oats - but that's another story.

Part of this amazing job I'm spreading the word on the Quaker® Oats Quickfire Challenge.

You want a free to trip to New York? Enter a recipe, made with Quaker® Oats and not only can you watch the taping of a Top Chef episode but you'll have some serious bragging rights.

Interested in cooking with Quaker® Oats, find more than a hundred recipes here. Just make sure you submit an original recipe. I've come up with a few of my own that I'll post once I tweak them.

So run out and grab your stash and start your own test kitchen.

Enter to win and hopefully we'll be hanging in the Big Apple!

oats and love,
Spike

All Stars...All Me?...All Carla!

If you were smart enough to head to Good Stuff Eatery this Wednesday for our Top Chef viewing party - you must have been seriously surprised.

That's right...you got to watch the show with this season's awesome Chef and DC girl - Carla.

No one though, was more surprised than husband of Top Chef Season 5 Contestant, who surprised hubby with two tickets to the Super Bowl after she revealed that not only did she win the elimination competition but she won two sweet ass tickets to Super Bowl.

It was a great night with over 100 people packing into the restaurant to watch Andrew and I duke it out - can Andrew be anymore hilarious and inappropriate in a totally awesome way?

I was up against Fabian...oh no wait, Fabio...and guess who lost? Do you really have to even ask?

Coolest part of the night was seeing the surprise in Carla's husband's face when he got two tickets, for him and his son, to head over to Tampa.

He's not the only one heading to the sunshine state though - make sure you tune in to the Super Bowl Pre-Game show to see who wins in that competition. Andrew, Richard, Antonia and I head to Florida this weekend for a Top Chef Challenge.