See Neighbor Auria Abraham Compete On Chopped Next Tuesday At Highbury Pub

You might know Auria Abraham from the recipes she’s generously contributed to our site, her always entertaining blog, or that time you gobbled up all of the Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen grub at the Flatbush Frolic. It looks like she’s about to gain a lot more fans and followers, though, because she’ll be appearing this coming Tuesday, April 22 on The Food Network’s Chopped!

Ahead of a viewing party at Highbury Pub (1002 Cortelyou Road on the Corner of Coney Island Avenue) on Tuesday, we asked Auria what she could tell us about her Chopped experience without giving too much away. Here’s what she said:

1. Put a camera in my face and ask me questions about my lovely mother, the source of everything cooking-related in my life, and I WILL cry.

2. The hardest thing about competing on CHOPPED is not being in your own kitchen. “Oh, I need a micro plane – let me spend two minutes searching for one. Red wine vinegar? Okay, I’ll just look through the pantry’s thirty-five bottles of generically-labeled vinegars for the one that I need. Ooops, there goes another 3 minutes!”

3. When one is born and raised in Malaysia, 90% of life-or-CHOPPED situations can be handled with something spicy.

4. Being on-set was the wildest thrill ride of my life. It felt like a dream and a nightmare rolled into one adrenaline-packed day.

5. The notion that time is relative is augmented a thousand-fold on CHOPPED. 30 minutes in real life time roughly translates to about 12 minutes during competition. How do they do that?

6. It was FUN! After my wedding day and the day of my daughter’s birth, my day on CHOPPED was probably the most fun I’ve ever had.

Auria was initially contacted by the show in April 2013, and the process turned out to take a whole six months–probably due in part to her resistance. “My immediate reaction was a very emphatic NO,” Auria says in her latest blog entry, which covers the first half of her Chopped account.

“I mean, wouldn’t yours be too? Someone has to be absolutely nuts and a complete masochist to subject themselves to that particular brand of madness. What followed was a series of emails – me explaining why I wasn’t interested, and them countering every excuse with another good reason why it made complete sense for me to come be on their show.”

You can read about what finally persuaded Auria to be a Chopped contestant here, and keep an eye out for when she posts the second half of her account on Wednesday. You can also email Auria at auriasmalaysiankitchen@gmail.com to congratulate her and let her know if you’ll be attending the 9pm event (show starts at 10), and hopefully we’ll see you Tuesday night!

Photo via Auria’s Malaysian Kitchen