'Would you like to be on Martha Stewart's show?', the folks at International Enterprise (IE) asked.

SHOWDOWN: KF Seetoh relishes his meeting with Martha Stewart whom he describes as smooth, deliberate, curious and genuine. PICTURE: ANDERS KRUSBERG

'Would I like a 300gm grade-12 wagyu steak with white truffles to go with a fine Chateau wine?', I thought to myself.

The IE folks, in collaboration with the Singapore Tourism Board (STB) in New York, thought it would be good to pepper a bit of our flavour, culture and language onto goggleboxes America-wide.

So, what am I to cook on her show?

Suggestions came from every quarter (there were at least 10 in each).

'Cook something western with an Asian interpretation, because they don't like strange-sounding dishes.' (Hello, what about pizza, tom yam, sushi or mugugaipan?).

'Westernise a Singapore dish for them and make sure they can get the ingredients in America, especially in the ulu mid-west,' or 'Don't even mention hawker street food, they'll go yucks!' were some well-intentioned bits of advice.

But the best came from, ahem, me - 'Aiya, just do what you do best la. They like and accept people as they are'. Another piece of good advice came from the PR agency that organised it: Be very accurate and sharp with your recipes and message, Martha will eat you if you are wishy-washy.

I sent a few local recipes and they chose laksa.

The planning took over six months.

It started with my slot on Ms Stewart's radio show hosted by two cheerful and dishy deejays last December.

They also asked many questions. I suppose they just wanted to know that my incessant banter on our food culture indeed arose from some homework I did.

It also helped that they actually understood my Engrish.

Then it was fixed - showdown with Stewart on 15April this year.

Custom toner for face

The studio prep work needed half a day just for an eight-minute segment with her. The fussing over script, styling, recipe checks and the overall professionalism around it was like hair gel - shiny, deliberate, smooth and slick (they custom-blended a toner with colour powder just for my patchy face).

I even had my personal head chef to check, test and confirm my recipe and ingredients. They obtained everything, even fresh laksa leaves and buah keras - all just so I can pour coconut milk over laksa rempah for Martha Stewart on America's national TV.

Ms Stewart began with a catering company and grew it into an empire with a very respectable lifestyle TV show, books, magazines and products. She has a brand, a name, a reputation and a personality that the normal adore and the envious love to hate.

You rarely mention the word lifestyle and not associate it with her - she practically owns the word. She is the lifestyle goddess.

That day began at 11.30am at her downtown Manhattan studio. Even the reception knew who I was (they Googled for my face and had a guest fact sheet).

I bumped into someone very familiar for a snapshot there - comedian Jimmy Fallon was there filming a segment too.

Then the producer ushered me into a guest-holding room and asked if I liked juice or beverage to go with a platter of cheese and strawberries before she went into detail on what might happen with Ms Stewart.

Their head chef was at my call, so was the stylist and kitchen coordinator. There was even a stand-in for MsStewart during my rehearsal.

The real Ms Stewart was nowhere to be seen till just before filming when she turned up in the kitchen just beside the stage, for a quick hello.

At about 3pm, 'meet KF Seetoh', Ms Stewart said to the crowd of about 180 cheering live audience.

Up close, I realised how radiant this lady, looking like she's in her late 40s but actually pushing 70 (born in 1941), was. She came across as smooth, deliberate, curious and genuine.

The largely American auntie crowd adored her and was very responsive.

When Ms Stewart asked what KF in my name stood for, they guffawed to my answer 'king of food'.

They were also delighted when a goodie bag which included a pre-packed laksa paste and brown rice bee hoon was offered to them, courtesy of IE Singapore and partners.

Ms Stewart said on air that 2010 is the year she plans to visit Singapore, to which I sung in response 'I'll be waiting'.

So , STB and IE, please pounce on this opportunity.

Check out the clip here:

www.marthastewart.com/recipe/laksa-kf-seetoh  Back to Columnists