The Turkey That Led to a TV Show

Every Christmas morning after our traditional evening at my sister's with the entire family, we wake up early to open gifts and enjoy an elaborate morning meal my husband, Tony, prepares and has dubbed "the best breakfast in the world ever!" Then, we clean up and Tony, our daughters Alexandra and Arianna and I head up to Montecito, California, to have Christmas Day with our friends, the Reitmans.

It's because of that very reason I ended up with a cooking show on OWN: The Oprah Winfrey Network. Yes, it's true. For the past 10 years, the Reitmans have ever so graciously let me make Christmas dinner because, basically, I can't stay out of the kitchen! And so a new tradition grew.

After Oprah moved to Montecito, she became great friends with the Reitmans as well. I had the opportunity to be on her show twice with books I've written, and I knew Oprah just enough to say, "Hello, nice to see you."

About eight years ago, when I was getting ready to start planning the Christmas Day meal, Genevieve Reitman told me that Oprah and Stedman would be joining us for dinner. Yikes! Oprah and Stedman were coming! I prepared the traditional turkey dinner Genevieve requested. On that particular Christmas Day, we ended up with about 60 guests at dinner. Over the years, the head count as gone up and down with the highest at 80 and the smallest at 20 (with Oprah there at least six times), but no matter what the head count, I am always so happy to be able to prepare the meal. So it was like a dream when I received a call from The Oprah Winfrey Show asking me if I would appear on the show to make the turkey dinner we have at Christmas for Oprah's 2008 Thanksgiving episode. Being there previously as an author—as wonderful and exciting as it was—didn't compare to this experience. It was definitely one of the highlights of my life walking out onto that stage to do what I love the most: cook!


Bringing the turkey dinner to The Oprah Show