ArcaMax

My First Live Interview...

My husband is an author and a public speaker. He’s the real pro in the family. He’s been speaking and being paid for it for almost 30 years. He’s accustomed to being on the stage, on camera and even doing both at the same time.

I’m the novice.

Saturday was my debut as Zola the Diet Expert. Ha. That sounds funny. Now that The Zola Diet is debuting, radio stations and TV stations are beginning to contact me for interviews. I was “on the air, live” this past Saturday. They want to talk to me about the diet, how it works, how it was developed and how successful it is.

I was a nervous wreck as the day approached. I did everything I could to do my homework and be prepared. I sent a list of questions to the moderator of the show. If he would just walk through those questions I’d be fine, I thought.

But you never know what those folks are going to do. They run the show and you are in their hands.

The guy who interviewed me was young and pleasant. He was covering the show for another guy for the weekend. He was not only the interviewer, but he also had to run the control board at the same time. That’s a bit trickier for him. The one thing he did that distracted me to no end was he looked at the clock a lot. I kept thinking that he needed to go to commercial so I better get a move on and make my point so he could announce the commercial break. Sometimes that was the case. Sometimes he was just looking at the clock.

I had a sidekick in the studio that helped me immensely. The Morning Man on the radio station is on The Zola Diet, so he was there to give testament to how well he’s doing. He lost 11 pounds in six days so he’s very happy. He’s a comedian in his “other life” so he’s good at cracking jokes and I could play off of him pretty well. That made things feel a bit more relaxing.

My husband was in the studio too. Used to be that if my husband was in the room I was totally frozen. I could not speak publically without that jittery tone to my voice and my knees would turn to water. Why I’d be so uncomfortable talking around the person I love more than anyone on the planet, is the craziest notion, but it was true. I’m over that now. Now I see him as a comforting force behind my public speaking. Whew. I’m glad I’m over that. Going forward with this project and not being able to talk around him was just not going to fly.

After the hour-long interview was over and we were out of the studio and into the car I asked him to tell me how I did. I asked if on a scale of 1 to 10 I was any better than a three. He gave me a 7.5 -- a 7.5. That felt really good. I could work with that. I could be satisfied and maybe even a teeny bit proud.

So as I approach my Thanksgiving holiday I have new things for which to be thankful.

I am thankful I didn’t pass out and fall off the chair in the radio studio.

I’m glad most of the words came out in the right order. I did have a few bitty flubs.

I am happy to be helping people find a thinner, healthier existence.

I am happily surprised by the early success of the diet marketing plan.

And I’m happy my husband is here to support me in my new endeavor. This is going to be a good Thanksgiving.

If you are entertaining all weekend and want something really light to eat to counteract all the celebrating and turkey leftovers, this dish is marvelous.

Wasabi-Ginger Crusted Mahi Mahi With Baby Bok Choy
Remarks: Mahi mahi is often mistaken for dolphin. That’s because it used to be called “dolphin fish”. Mahi mahi looks nothing like Flipper. Flipper is a mammal. Mahi mahi is a fish. The fillets look sort of like tuna or swordfish. They taste a bit like a fish steak. Meaty texture and great for grilling. Don’ t be mistaken if you decide to try this dish. It’s remarkably fun to eat and this preparation is very different. Wasabi (Japanese horseradish) gives it a bit of a kick, but you can really make this as mild or spicy as you’d like. Even I was remarkably surprised at how good this dish tasted. So take a risk. Get out of your comfort zone. You’ll be proud you did.
Serves Two

Ingredients:

2 6 oz pieces of mahi mahi

1 lime. You want to remove the zest from one half of the lime. Then cut it in half and remove the juice from the zested side and put it in a bowl along with the zest. Then cut the second half in half again so you have two wedges for garnish.

2 tsp of grated ginger. You can use fresh or jar ginger

1 Tbl of wasabi powder. Wasabi powder is available in most grocery stores in the Asian section. It will be a small can or bottle. If your grocery store has a sushi section you can usually pick up fresh wasabi in little plastic containers or if I ask for it from the sushi chef they usually give me a small container for free. Not sure, why, but they do. This recipe is designed for powder for convenience, but it doesn’t have to be used. You can use fresh too. Wasabi is hot. Be careful if you taste it straight.

1/3 cup of mandarin or fresh orange juice

2 baby bok choy. Trim off the major green leaves and trim off the bottom. Separate sections.

8 cherry tomatoes cut in halves

1/3 cup of Bragg’s aminos (instead of soy sauce)

Directions:

Combine the lime juice, zest, wasabi, ginger and orange juice in bowl. Mix. Put your mahi mahi in a shallow container and pour HALF of the marinade over the fish. Turn a few times to coat. Let sit for 15 minutes to soak in some of the marinade before you grill it. Set aside the other half of the marinade. You can put it in little cups so you can use it as a dipping sauce (see picture).

In a large sauté pan pour in your Bragg’s aminos. Then place the baby bok choy in the pan. Heat til boiling and then turn to a slow simmer. The bok choy will cook while your fish is grilling. If you run out of Bragg’s while the bok choy cooks you can always add a bit more. Whether you will, depends on how hot your burners run. Just before you take the fish out of the grill pan (or off the grill), add the cherry tomatoes. You only want them in there long enough to get warm.

When you are ready to grill, take the mahi mahi out of the marinade and toss the rest. Spray grill or grill pan lightly with olive oil. Grill the mahi mahi on all sides at medium high until you get some nice grill marks on each side. The seven minutes per inch of thickness rule for grilling will apply so this dish should not take you more than six or seven minutes to cook.

Plate your fish and your bok choy and enjoy a wonderful Asian meal. As you are eating your mahi mahi it should separate easily from the skin. Don’t eat the skin. Toss that after your meal is finished. Toss in the garbage. Disposals don’t “like” fish skin.

Cheers
Enjoy,
Zola

Send email to Zola at dinnerwithzola@hotmail.com.