</em>When <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/chefs/melissa-d-arabian/index.html" title="Melissa d'Arabian">Melissa d'Arabian</a> was cast on <em>The Next Food Network Star,</em> and during her entire time on the show, she lived in Keller with her husband and four preschool-age girls. In late June, about the time the fourth <em>Star</em> episode aired, she and her family moved to Kirkland, Wash., where her husband has a new job. D'Arabian says that the family is still getting settled there, but that it was the right move for her family.</p><p>On Sunday night, d'Arabian was revealed to be this season's <em>Next Food Network Star</em> winner, and here new show, <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/ten-dollar-dinners-with-melissa-darabian/index.html" title="Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d'Arabian">Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d'Arabian,</a> will debut at 11:30 a.m. (Central Time) next Sunday on Food Network.</p><p>D'Arabian talked about her win, her new show and her move during a 15-minute phone interview.</p><p><strong>Could this year throw any more life changes at you?</strong></p><p>[Laughs] That's what my husband and I were saying yesterday. You know, when it rains, it pours.</p><p><strong>The new show premieres Sunday. How many episodes do you have in the can?</strong></p><p>We've got six episodes ready to go, and I think that your viewers are going to love them. The show is <em>Ten Dollar Dinners,</em> and it's really about celebrating -- to me, it's a victory when I serve an amazing meal for not a lot of money, so I think people are going to be really surprised at what you can eat, and how well you can eat, for $10.</p><p><strong>How close is this to the pilot we saw on the <em>Next Food Network Star</em> finale?</strong></p><p>The pilot presentation [on the finale] is condensed into just about four minutes. Whereas in my actual show, we have the full show length to develop the dishes, to take the recipe and to take the viewer from A to Z. In the pilot, we really had to condense and edit out [but] make a logical story but do it quickly. So I think the feel is a little bit different. It's a little bit more conversational, it's not quite so edited, and I really do, as much as possible, do real-time cooking of the recipes.</p><p>That being said, I think the spirit of being a survivor in the kitchen, because sometimes it feels that way, certainly will come through. But the piece that I'm really excited about running with is, making people feel good about eating well for not a lot of money. Because I think even if you're not on a budget or you don't have to be on a budget, who doesn't want to save money if they can?</p><p><strong>When we talked before the show premiered, I asked if you and your husband would be willing to relocate for the show. Now you're even <em>farther</em> from New York. So how's that working out for you?</strong></p><p>What's so great about the Food Network is a lot of Food Network stars don't live in New York City. They make their lives in other places, have restaurants, have families, have lives in other cities. Of course, New York City will become increasingly a bigger part of my life, and yes, I have added a couple of hours to the flight, but y'know, I [would have] had to get on a plane anyway. So those two hours just means to me that I'll catch another in-flight movie, and we'll make it work.</p><p><strong>You had also talked, before the show premiered, about your high energy level and adjusting that for the camera. And you really did seem to get it under control during the course of the show. How difficult was that adjustment?</strong></p><p>One of the good things about being 40 -- the bad news is, I've got wrinkles. The good news is, I think that I've developed enough self-confidence and sense of who I am so that I can take the constructive criticism and in fact now I really welcome it. So if I can just get my ego out of the way and sort of get past, you know, "What is he talking about? I'm not frenetic, I'm fabulous!," then I can actually make that work for me.</p><p>It comes down to this: I really trusted [the <em>Next Food Network Star],</em> Selection Committee. They were so thoughtful, they're so smart, they're kind people, their hearts are in the right places and their heads are full of knowledge. So frankly, I would have been a fool not to take their feedback and really give it some thought, you know, "How can I make that work?" </p><p>For me, it's all about not focusing on what I'm doing a bad job of doing, but really kind of turning it around, so I didn't walk around thinking "Oh, I have to stop being frantic!" Instead, I really started coming up with ideas of what I could do differently. One was, and you saw on the show, was "You know what? I will just speak slowly, and the rest of my energy will follow." A lot of it was nerves, and the more I kind of got in touch with that, the more I was able to rein that energy in. Not stifle it, because that was not going to work either. I don't think people want to see someone who's being inorganic and not true to themselves. It's all about finding that balance and getting my ego out of the way so I can really hear people's criticism and make adjustments, instead of get defensive.</p><p><strong>What was the toughest challenge during the competition?</strong></p><p>Aside from the huge, overwhelming feeling I had the first day, when I had flour everywhere and I felt overwhelmed making those apple tarts, I think for me my toughest challenge was the <a href="http://www.foodnetwork.com/the-next-food-network-star/fn-star-miami/index.html" title="Nikki Beach challenge">Nikki Beach challenge,</a> because it was really a catering challenge. It was more experience-based, and it's also not my strength. And that kind of getting food out quickly also plays upon my weakness, which is letting my nerves turn into frenetic energy.</p><p>On the flip side, I'm also the woman who can have four screaming children, and I can buckle down and get that food on the table if need be. So I tapped into that resource during Nikki Beach to try and get out as much food as possible. But it was just really stressful. Caterers, I'm telling you, I have a whole new respect for them. Their job is hard and stressful, and I admire them.</p><p><strong>What about the toughest judge?</strong></p><p>The judges were all tough in that they set very high standards. That's one of the things I love about the Food Network, is they're not going to lower their standards because they don't want to hurt somebody's feelings. But on the flip side, I thought that they were always thoughtful and constructive. It was never unkind [or] mean. ... I think the judge that, going into this, I was a little intimidate by was Bobby Flay. Just because he's so protective of the food quality, and I was nervous that that would be my weakest area. But I'll tell you what -- he's just such a generous, thoughtful, helpful man to work for. That intimidation factor dissipated over the weeks on the show.</p><p><strong>Michael Pollan had <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html" title="a piece in Sunday's New York Times">a piece in Sunday's New York Times</a> about how food television has created a culture where more people watch cooking shows than actually cook [reporter's note: guilty as charged]. But your show seems designed to get people back <em>into</em> the kitchen.</strong></p><p>Now I'm going to have to get the newspaper. We just moved, so we don't have TV, we don't haver Internet, we don't have anything. ... It's interesting, in business school, they talked about how they'd done studies about cookbooks. I'm not sure how they did this, but the result of this particular study was that most people actually read cookbooks to dream and browse about a life that they wish they could have, not so much to get recipes. I thought that was interesting. So it doesn't surprise me that a lot of people are watching cooking TV not necessarily to get into the kitchen and to cook.</p><p>I really wanted to do several things with my show. One, I did want to entertain and give people a place to tune in. I want them to enjoy the 30 minutes that they're in front of the TV watching <em>Ten Dollar Dinners With Melissa d'Arabian.</em> I want them to feel like they're having coffee with a girlfriend.</p><p>Two, I want to give them some recipes. I want to give recipes for people to say, "You know what? I could do that for very little money. This is a clever, creative way to create this meal for my family." I want to give recipes that are memorable and doable in the kitchen, and that are still delicious enough to appeal to the more advanced cook who might say, "Holy cow, I never though I could make <em>that</em> for $10!</em></p><p>The third thing is, I really want to give people some techniques and ideas that they can just carry away, and help them in the kitchen, no matter what they're doing. So if they can be in the kitchen making something completely different one day, and be in the grocery store shopping, and suddenly an idea or a technique that they see on my show pops into their head, I'll feel like it's a success. So I really want my recipes to encourage people to not just turn on the TV, but also to get in the kitchen -- maybe not that minute, and maybe not even with my recipe. But certainly with my tips and techniques and the motivation behind my recipes.</p><p><strong>You're still getting settled -- are you missing Texas?</strong></p><p>Any time that you have big life-changing event, something as exciting as winning <em>The Next Food Network Star,</em> certainly you can imagine I'm dying to hug all my friends who have been so supportive throughout this whole process and who have been supportive in my life even before <em>Food Network Star</em> was even on the radar. So absolutely, I'm missing my friends tremendously.</p><p>That being said, I had such a great time last night in Kirkland with the finale party. There are so many wonderful people here in Kirkland who have welcome me with open arms. I'm really looking forward to developing deep relationships here.