back now with more of "today" on a wednesday morning, the 22nd day of july, 2009. great people lining our plaza this morning, as we are now just a little bit more than a month into summer. june here, basically didn't -- >> it was like seattle. >> and half of july, too. >> not so great, either. but the weather has turned nice, as you can see. and we've got a couple of months ahead so we're looking forward to that. out on the plaza, i'm matt lauer along with al roker and amy robach who is filling in. natalie is on assignment. and coming up, more with susan boyle. do you remember when she first was on the scene? >> oh, yeah. >> everybody was talking about her as part of that "britain's got talent" show. unfortunately, as is often the case, she was judged by her appearance when she took the stage. and then she opened her mouth and started to sing, and wow, did she change the world. well, meredith sat down with her

for a worldwide exclusive interview to find out how she's coping after a little bit of a misstep there. how she's coping with all this newfound fame. we'll hear more about that. >> and then a little bit later on, if it's wednesday, it must be time for our money 911. we're going to be helping you, if you find out your credit card got canceled. what you should do. taking advantage of new tax deductions. our experts have it all. >> also we're going to tell you what you can learn from the budgeting skills of a family with 12 children. >> wow. >> a lot, i would imagine. >> yes. a lot of hand me downs. >> a lot to get to. ann is standing by with all the headlines. good morning again, ann. >> good morning once again, matt. good morning, everybody. also in the news this morning, lawmakers are saying president obama may not get the new health care legislation that he wants passed before congress in august, as he wants. earlier on this broadcast, republican senator john demint said that it would be a mistake to rush to meet the president's deadline, and he accused the president of going on aspending spree. at the white house on tuesday,

key house democrats also expressed concern about the pace of the plan, and the cost to taxpayers. and for his part, the president remained hopeful, saying quote, we are going to get the job done. the president makes his case for health care reform in a news conference that will be broadcast nationwide tonight. nbc news will carry it live at 8:00 eastern, 7:00 central. the world's first human testing of swine flu vaccine started today in australia. two different companies are injecting hundreds of healthy adult volunteers. if the vaccines work, they could be ready for distribution this fall. secretary of state hillary clinton warned today that north korea's only real option is to demilitarize completely and irreversibly. she said chinese and russian delegates at a security conference in thailand also support that position. earlier, she also put iran on notice saying that its pursuit of nuclear weapons is unacceptable and could forced u.s. to arm its persian gulf allies. harvard professor henry louis gates jr. said that he

wants an apology from the police officer who arrested him on his own doorstep. the renowned african-american scholar was arrested last week by a white police officer answering a burglary call at gates' cambridge, massachusetts, home. police say gates yelled at the officer and accused him of racial bias. prosecutors have now dropped a disorderly conduct charge tuesday and called gates' arrest regrettable and unfortunate. chaos this morning in south korea's parliament where hundreds of lawmakers screamed and scuffled as they argued over a media reform bill. at least one lawmaker had to be hospitalized. and a rare spectacle in the sky over parts of asia this morning. a total solar eclipse turned daylight into darkness. for more than six minutes, the longest one of this century. and there will be not another total eclipse lasting that long for another 123 years. beautiful.

it is now four minutes past the hour. let's go back outside to matt and amy. >> makes people do crazy things, ann. like the politicians in south korea. >> all right, let's get a check of the weather. al roker is on the plaza. al, good morning. >> thank you very much, amy and matt. we've got some folks here. where are you guys from? your mom's getting in your way? >> we're from little rock, arkansas. >> what's your name? >> lylely. >> nice to see you. you having a good time. >> yes, sir. >> oh, how polite. very nice. let's check your weather, see what's going on. show you for today, got a lot of wet weather, a lot of wet -- we're looking at from new orleans all the way up into the great lakes. rainfall, rainfall amount generally about one to two inches. then as we move to the west, even heavier rain working its way in. el paso, lubbock, odessa, in between, some areasas >> they lot more she met today, and let warmer, high of 86 degrees.

chance of a late day showers and thunderstorms. best chance over t got some folks from perry, georgia. what's your name? >> donna in >> debbie. >> joy. >> connie. >> sheryl. >> all right, nice to see you all. georgia peaches. and that's what's going on. now let's head back inside to ann. >> al, thanks. now to meredith's exclusive interview with susan boyle, a middle-aged woman living with her cats in the house she grew up in. no one would have ever guessed that her name and her life would one day steal the spotlight. ♪ i dreamed a dream in time gone

boy. ♪ i dreamed that love would never die ♪ >> reporter: from anonymity to superstardom. >> reporter: thanks to the internet and youtube, susan boyle's voice was heard around the world. within days her 90-second clip of "i dreamed a dream" had been viewed 20 million times. >> easily the hottest piece of video on the web, in the world. >> now susan boyle is one of the most recognizable faces in the world. >> there is no controversy when it comes to susan boyle and her golden voice. >> reporter: when susan boyle took the stage on the popular british talent show, the judges rolled their eyes. the audience laughed at her. but no one was laughing when she began to sing. ♪ i dreamed that love would never die ♪ >> reporter: this unexpected, unlikely star, quite simply

brought the house down, becoming one of the most recognizable faces in the world. >> somebody very unlikely in the shape of susan, who by her own admission is, you know, never going to win a beauty pageant. she's not a size zero, age 19, singing some sweet pop song. she's a 48-year-old lady, from a tiny village in scotland. >> reporter: in an instant, the world fell in love with susan boyle. and her golden voice. i caught up with susan boyle in london, where she's been recording her first album. i'm one of those millions of people that fell in love with you in mid-april when i heard you sing "i dreamed a dream." you look gorgeous. >> thank you very much. >> i'm loving the hair. it's a little bit different. a little bit of a slight makeover? >> a slight one. you know, i brush up quite well. >> you do brush up very, very well. the journey you have been on, everybody around the world suddenly saying who is this susan boyle? are you having a good time?

>> it's just been unbelievable. it's indescribable. it's a bit like popping out of obscurity. >> reporter: obscurity is right. three months ago, susan boyle was living with her cat pebbles and performing in her church. but susan spent most of her adult life caring for her mother bridget who passed away two years ago. you spent a lot of your adult life taking care of mom. >> i did, uh-huh. >> reporter: if she was here now, what do you think she would say to you? >> keep going. >> reporter: keep going? >> keep going, you're doing really well. >> reporter: why do you think she has so much confidence in you? >> i was her little girl. >> reporter: you were the baby of the family? >> the baby, yeah. forget that. but i have to get up there and prove to everybody that i could do it. so i applied for "britain's got talent." and the rest you know. >> reporter: and the rest of the world knows, actually. so when you walked out on that stage and the audience responded the way that they did, it was, i guess, a little bit of snickering, is that fair to say? >> well, never judge a book by

the cover. >> reporter: susan boyle has become somewhat of a pop culture phenomenon. with a book deal in the works and multiple movie offers and now there's even a susan boyle doll. you know how you know when you've really made it? when they have a doll in your likeness. i just so happened to have the susan boyle doll. here, take a look. >> ♪ isn't she lovely isn't she beautiful ♪ ♪ isn't she lovely isn't she wonderful ♪ >> reporter: for the first time, susan boyle describes just how overwhelming being thrust into the spotlight can be. >> it was like a demolition ball. >> reporter: it felt like a demolition ball? >> the impact. like a demolition ball. >> reporter: it's been some roller coaster ride for susan. from the highs of superstardom to the lows of brutal headlines and public outbursts, to talk that she was backing out of the

talent show. >> she was completely and utterly exhausted. she wasn't having some crack-up as people said, she wasn't boiling over. >> it was very hard. you put on a front. you've got an audience to please. you get on with it. you have to. >> reporter: the fast track to celebrity and the media frenzy that goes along with it began taking its toll on susan. she spent five days at the priory mental health clinic where she was treated for exhaustion. and though there was a little rough spot, a little bit draining obviously physically and emotionally. spent a few days in a clinic. was that good to get away from the craziness? >> oh, i think it was necessary at the time. i needed a rest. i needed to get away. >> reporter: i was there the night of the finale. it was very, very exciting. you looked beautiful. but you didn't win. diversity won that night, their night. was that a difficult experience for you, susan? >> not at all. because actually they're a very good act. i nice bunch of guys.

and the best people won. >> reporter: but it wasn't long before susan was back on track. doing the live tour of "britain's got talent." and now with the help of simon cowell, recording her first album, due out this fall. how's recording going? >> i'm not going to tell too many secrets. >> reporter: well i happen to know that it's not show tunes. >> something of a surprise. >> reporter: you're not going to tell me, are you? ♪ i dream >> meredith with susan boyle. and you can see more of that interview tonight on "susan boyle: daring to dream" as part of a special edition of "america's got talent." it begins at 9:00, 8:00 central time. and we'll have more of "today" tomorrow on "today," meantime coming up next -- story. what you should do if your credit card is canceled and other critical financial advice in today's money 911. and then later, how to create a

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time now for "today's money 911." answers to your most critical financial questions from a team of experts from dealing with debt owed to the irs to what to do if your credit card is canceled. "today's" financial editor jean chatzky. finish rich dotcom founder david bach and carmen wong ulrich, the host of cnbc's "on the money". amy is at dean & deluca with some members of our crowd. how you guys doing? >> great. >> we're going to go to the phones first. we have melissa on the phone from hampton, virginia. melissa, good morning. what's your question? >> good morning. my husband and i owe $38,000 in taxes due to 401(k) liquidation. can we or a third party negotiate with the irs to reduce this debt? >> and is that one of the reasons why we say don't

liquidate your 401(k)? >> don't borrow from your 401(k) plan, don't do liquidations. you need to go to the irs directly. go to the irs website, irs.gov. there's a form there. write this form number down, 9465. that is the irs installment form that you fill out, to ask the irs -- you've got to tell the irs, look, i'm late. i haven't paid the taxes because they will find you. when you don't pay taxes to the irs, they can come in, they can force you to sell your home. they can force you to liquidate the rest of your retirement account. they can come in and take your paycheck. you cannot avoid the irs. but they have an installment form, 9465, fill it out. ask to receive the option to pay over time. because your debt is so high, it's over $25,000. they're going to require you to fill out a whole big form that will tell them where your money currently is so they can decide if you qualify for the installment program. on a worst-case basis, the last thing you can do with the irs is you can actually ask for a compromise.

they have a form where you can go in to the irs and ask if you can actually get a reduction, but that's a last alternative. the irs does not like to do that. get those organizations to tell you they can negotiate with the irs. you should be negotiating directly with them. >> all right. good luck, melissa. we wish you well. now let's head across the street to dean & deluca. amy, what's your question? >> we're with debbie from tuskegee, alabama. >> how will the health care reform provide hope and help to the citizens of tuskegee and surrounding areas with 24-hour urgent health care? >> that's a tough one. >> this is a tough one. in your area is considered rural, right? so there are specific guidelines, and moneys that are going to be dedicated to building up rural communities. the problems with rural communities and health care tend to be no access to doctors. doctors also don't want to move there. the medicare coverage in terms of the reimbursement is not so good. a lot of doctors don't want to

go into rural areas. so there's not enough access to health care and not enough access to good insurance choices. insurance premiums tend to be very, very high. the usda has ear marked billions of dollars to go directly to building community health centers and putting a little more money into medicare so that you have better reimbursement. you can attract better doctors and also have better insurance options and coverage. >> okay. it's going to take some time, though. >> absolutely. >> all right. now let's go, we've got an e-mail question for you from jean. my 85-year-old mother took out credit cards lured by the low interest rates and then they went sky high. she's making minimum payments but is about $12,000 in debt. she'll need to go into a nursing home soon and 50% of her income goes to paying off credit cards. what can we do. jean? >> stop worrying is the first thing. that you can do. because, in this situation, your mother is quite likely going to be okay. when your mother needs to go into that nursing home, the nursing home is going to take a

look at whether she has the assets to pay for it or whether she'll qualify for medicaid. she'll fill out a bunch of forms, as david said about the taxes, go through the process. there are always fors. you can't get away from them, and then essentially they'll look at what she's got and they'll make a decision about how much money is going to come to them, how much money is going to be allowed to her to pay for her personal expenses, and they may or may not decide that she has the money to pay that debt back. if they say no, money for debt repayment in general the debt is going to be forgiven. so stop worrying. we'll be fine. >> that's the first stop worrying. back to amy with i believe a "today" money 911 first. identical twins. >> that's right. doublemint question here. they have a question about student loans. who's going to do the talking? >> both of us. >> where can we find cheaper student loans? >> and when should we start paying them off? >> all right, david? >> first of all, do you have student loans right now? >> yes.

>> okay. so your student loans actually tell you when you need to pay them off. so assuming that they're government student loans, most student loans you don't have to start paying until you actually get out of school. if you go back to school to get a graduate degree you can defer. if you've got a government student loan you've got very cheap student loans. if you've got a private student loan, you're out of luck, because it's the government student loans you really want. eventually you'll see the prices of these coming down. right now it's very difficult to prefinance student loans. >> carmen -- you were like twins. >> you're going to find lots of lots of resources in terms of applying for loans. make sure like david said you've got to go for the government loans first. stay away from private loans. >> also with the government loans, don't rush to pay those loans off, in many cases you've got 10, 15, 20 years. the rate is so low. it's like free money. i always tell people don't stress about them. >> do you always dress alike or did you just do that for us? >> do you always dress alike? >> no.

>> but they always answer alike. very nice. >> thanks a lot. we're going to take a break. but you guys are going to be back in our next half hour with a lesson everyone can learn from a family of 14. all of that coming up. why "american idol" champ jordin sparks has packed her bags to be why "american idol" champ jordin sparks has packed her bags to be with the jonas brothers. female announcer ] sometimes, you can get so much out of so little. the same is true with bath tissue too. introducing new charmin ultra soft. its new ultra soft design is softer than before. and it has so much absorbency, you can use 7 sheets vs. 28 of the leading value brand. so your family can get more mileage out of less. [ horn honks ] new charmin ultra soft. america's softest bath tissue. but i've got a warm, fresh baked strawberry toaster strudel. see the difference? mmmm. i do. (announcer) pillsbury toaster strudel. the one kids want to eat.

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his condition is not known. a psychiatrist testified that a mother accused in the death of 43-year-old daughter was so depressed she could not stop yourself. the testament was at a hearing to determine whether she was legally insane when she poisoned her daughter. she poisoned her daughter in december and then tried to kill herself with pills. she is pleaded not reasonably responsible for reason of insanity. >> we will see a mix of sunshine and clouds today. pop-up afternoon and evening showers and storms. 84 to 87. we remain dry, with trace amounts of precipitation in. we are all around the bermuda high off shore. incoming minister, a high dew point. typical july weather. best chance of showers and storms late in the day tomorrow.

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♪ put your money where your mouth is ♪ ♪ that's what you get for waking up in vegas ♪ ♪ get up and that's what you get for waking up in vegas ♪ >> katy perry, ladies and gentlemen. she's a party all by herself. she sang a song called "a kissed a girl." she'll be performing live on our plaza this friday right outside our window. so come on down and join our party here on "today." meantime, inside studio 1a, we've got lots going on, i'm airk, al roker, amy robach. we should introduce ourselves. >> i'm trying. for example, how do you budget with a family that has 12 kids? we're going to continue our conversation with our expert panel on how you can learn things from these folks for

handling your finances. >> learn to juggle? >> one of the things, really, juggling your books. >> you don't juggle? >> i don't. >> also ahead we're going to tell you if you're looking for something new to wear, how about putting the old scarves stuffed in a drawer to good use. we're going to show you how to put them into some very funky pieces of fashion. >> that's a good idea. because if you learn thank you tie them, we can wear them as tops under our jackets. >> make a secure knot. >> i can make a brooch or a hat or a pterodactyl. >> you don't want a pterodactyl in your kitchen. >> you do want to learn how to make a great plate of fish. guess what? you might need some interesting salt to do that in an exceptional way. there are some salt tea food dishes. that may not be attractive to look at raw. but you should take a look. let's get to the salts. because the salts are unbelievable. >> ann curry, director. >> and even a little further,

what you'll see is all those are salts. isn't that surprising? >> oh, wow. >> mixed with different kinds of spices so that you can really flavor your meats and your seafoods. to be delectable. now let's take a check of the weather. >> okay. what video source should we go to? >> i think we should go to the map. >> okay, joe. >> thank you. for the weekend, sizzling conditions for the western half of the country. rain through the ohio river valley. rip currents along the northeast. then sunday -- sunday! -- more rain in the northeast. sizzling in the west. and hot weather from oklahomama >> basically partly cloudy skies today. slight chance of an isolated or scattered variety of showers and storms this afternoon. other than that, i is warmer,

and that's your latest weather. >> all right, al, thanks so much. coming up next, lessons on keeping your family on a budget for a family with 12 kids. what do you see? what do you feel? sadness. loss of interest. what do they see? what do they feel? depression hurts. cymbalta can help. cymbalta is a prescription medication that treats many symptoms of depression. tell your doctor right away if your depression worsens, you have unusual changes in behavior or thoughts of suicide. antidepressants can increase these in children, teens and young adults. cymbalta is not approved for children under 18.

people taking maois or thioridazine or with uncontrolled glaucoma should not take cymbalta. taking it with nsaid pain relievers, aspirin, or blood thinners may increase bleeding risk. severe liver problems, some fatal, were reported. signs include abdominal pain and yellowing of the skin or eyes. talk with your doctor about your medicines, including those for migraine, or if you have high fever, confusion and stiff muscles, to address a possible life-threatening condition. tell your doctor about alcohol use, liver disease, and before you reduce or stop taking cymbalta. dizziness or fainting may occur upon standing. side effects include nausea, dry mouth and constipation. ask your doctor about cymbalta. depression hurts. cymbalta can help. i eat anything that i want. key lime pie, pineapple upside down cake, raspberry cheesecake...

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we're back with more of "today's money 911." we're going to get back to our expert panel in just a moment. first for one missouri family making ends meet is just a way of life. having 12 kids, that just means a little more fun. >> my name is matthew. this is my wife jamie. >> we've been married 27 years and we have 12 children. our old child is mike ka. he's 26. our second child is jo elle. she's 23. virginia is 20. mathias is 18. lydia is 16. gloria is 14. cora is 13. eliza is 11. levi is 9. sadie is 7. hope is 5. and junior is 4.

>> having a large family has definitely taught us many lessons. we've had to learn the hard way to stretch our dollars and be content with less when it comes to things. but more when it comes to relationships. >> we've always been able to put food on the table. >> every car we've ever had has been a used car. jamie is really the one who has given her girls a real passion for buying good clothes but buying them cheaply or making them themselves. >> they've learned that money is not what's going to buy their style, creativity is. >> setting the right precedent with a large family is very important. >> got my first job when i was 16. >> i worked for the ymca. i taught tumbling. i'm 15, i'll be 16 on june 29th. i can hopefully get a job as soon as i can so i can save money to buy my own car. >> they can begin to have more money to take care of their own needs. >> we never run out of things to be thankful for. and that's made us feel very rich.

>> so no matter how large or small your family, chances are you need to figure out a better way to budget. our ka-ching team has stuck around. jean chatzky, finish rich dotcom founder david bach and carmen wong ulrich. good to see you this morning. the takeaway from this, david, seems to be you have to be a little bit creative. you have a budget but you have to have a certain attitude. >> they're living rich. it's not just the money. when you look at 12 people in the family, by giving serious, as you say, they have to follow where the money was going. and they had to have a plan. and i think you don't have to wait to have 12 kids to have a plan. if you can do it with 12 people you can do it with two people. >> jean, what are the key components to a budget breaker? >> essentially it's a pie chart and you've got 35% of your money that goes for housing. 25% for daily living, 15% for

transportation, 15% to repay your other debts like your student loans and your credit cards, and 10% for long-term savings. and my rule is that that 10% is set in stone. you can borrow from any other category to feed any of the others. >> carmen, in the housing, what's included in that? >> what's really important to know about the housing, this is your most important expense in the sense that it takes the biggest part of your budget. the decision you make regarding your housing is going to affect the rest of your budget. jean said 35%. this includes not just your mortgage payment but your home insurance and your property taxes, and in some states like new jersey for example, your property taxes can be as big as your mortgage. so you've got to make sure these are all wrapped up together and fall below or around that 35. >> transportation. >> again, it's not just your car loan. it's the money to put gas in your car. to pay the insurance on the car. to maintain the car, and if you live in a very expensive place, housing-wise, you may find you don't need a car and you take some of that money and shove it over. >> and student loans?

>> student loans, because of debt. most people don't have a category in their budget for credit card debt and student loans. and that's the extra 10% to 15% where people blow the budget up. you have to have in that budget a 10% to 15% factor for all the extra debt. >> jean chatzky, david bach, and carmen wong ulrich. you can catch more from carmen on saturday on "on the money." if you have questions, check out todayshow.com and we'll address as many of them as we can. coming up next, how to wrap yourself in style. introducing listerine® total care. everything you need to strengthen teeth, help prevent cavities, and kill germs. introducing 6 in 1 listene® total care. the most complete mouthwash. and to complete your oral care routine add superior plaque removal in places that are hard to reach with reach® toothbrush and floss. get the complete routine, reach® and listerine tot care.

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this morning on "today's style," how to tie the perfect scarf. that's right, go grab one from the back of your closet. we're going to show you how it will take you from day to night in a flash. "us weekly" contributor jill martin is here with a lesson for all of us. you're wearing a scarf in an

unusual way. this is very fashionable. >> this is a type of belt. but this is what i'm talking about. a square scarf. these are vera scarves. but you can take any scarf in the back of your closet, needs to be a square. this is 36 inches. if you need more coverage you go bigger. but this will take you from day to night in a flash. this is the classic way. i want to show you some groovy ways. >> this is the way we see it typically done. we've got models to demonstrate some of the more interesting ways. the first one is a little scary to me because i think it's all about the knot. we've got dana who is wearing the scarf as a halter top. again you've got to know how to tie this knot. >> turn around, just so you can see the back. this is a really sexy look. you can also wear it under a suit if you don't want to show such a sexy look. it's really easy to today and on todayshow.com we have all the instructions. you take the middle with the bull side facing up and just tie a knot. so you tie a knot in the middle. i'm going to do this on you,

amy. >> all right. so you tie the knot right here. and then you just put each corner around, you take this with the knot in the middle. you take one side here. >> and this is knotted right here. >> and the other side goes around your waist over here and that makes a halter top. >> but the knot in the middle gives you the little gather. >> the knot in the middle is key. right on the bull side make it right in the center. >> all right, janice, thanks so much. the next we're using the scarf as a belt. you have a couple different ways. you tied it one way. alice has a second look with the belt. very cute. >> this is another great way people are always asking how do you tie it? >> because it looks like there's so much material and yet it looks so streamlined there. >> you take a triangle right here and then you just coil it up. so here's the triangle and you just go like this and make a coil. it's very quick. >> and the length works for just about everybody? >> right. and if you need bigger and more

coverage. you just tie it around like this. >> very cute. i love that look. goes perfect with your outfit. >> i love it. >> perfect. thank you so, alice. our next look is kimiko and she is sporting this scarf as a purse. okay you've got to see this one. >> look at that! >> wow. >> isn't that great? >> how cute is that? >> year one loves this one. this is actually really easy to do. you take bull size facing up, two corners. tie a knot here. >> see this? >> yes. and then you take the top. >> no, you make it look so easy. >> and then it's a purse. >> that is such a great idea. you could pack it pretty full, i see. >> we packed it here just to show. >> that is so nice. and you can use the same scarf for all of these different looks. >> and finally we have, i've seen this before. i don't know if you have to be

maybe a little younger to pull this off, we have megan wearing the scarf as a headband. >> that's right. >> let's see what that looks like. very cute. i like it. >> this is great for the beach, too. a bikini underneath. and this is pretty much the same concept as the belt. you just tie the triangle. >> it's a little wider. >> and then you just fold it. depending on the width that you want and wrap it around your head. >> do you love the extra material there at the back? >> you can either have it, or you can have it hanging if you like that look. >> that is so great. >> can we have everybody come in and see all the different looks? these are great ideas and things that really take you about two minutes to do, right? >> you don't have to spend a lot of money to do it. >> i love it. jill martin, thanks very much. inspiring everybody. all right coming up next on "today," into "today's kitchen" for all of you who need to know about salt and why, looking at different cameras. this is "today" on nbc.

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this morning in "today's kitchen," cooking with salt, with hot new chef govin armstrong of restaurant table eight at the coopers square hotel in new york city. and he's talking about salt. >> good morning. >> i want everybody to look at this salt because it's so incredibly beautiful. people may not know that this is salt. but why is it salt. what are causing these colors? >> basically this is a smoked salt. so that's why it's got that dark color. i'm sure you can smell it. it's really, really fragrant. it's a beautiful salt. we use this to finish plates. there's salts that are a little more coarse like the himalayan, the pink one. it's better for curing or making gravlax, things like that. they all have different textures, different meltability. so some are good for finishing, as well. >> i recently called something like a truffle salt. >> right. >> it was amazing what it did to

a pasta. a little bit of that. this morning we're making fish. >> we sure are. >> you've got a beautiful piece of fish. >> yeah. we're going to make a salt mixture with whipped egg whites and you fold that in. >> what did you put in there? >> that was a little bit of water. using a little bit of standard kosher salt and a bunch of different aromatics. we have fennel pollen, a little bit of lemon zest, bay leaves, crushed red pepper, fennel seeds and a little bit of black pepper. >> you're saying you can mix it -- this is a lot of salt. >> it's quite a bit. but the great thing is it's not going to take up any of the saltiness of that salt. it's going to infuse the meat. >> with all these flavors. because fish can be sometimes a little not bland but it can need a little something. >> it always needs a little bit of salt. we're going to give it that and then some today. >> okay. >> let's put a little bit in the base here. >> in the pan. >> exactly. >> okay. and we're going to put the fish on top. >> and then pan -- i see, make a

little bed. >> exactly. >> and you put the fish. >> you put herbs inside the fish. >> inside we have a little bit of fennel and some more lemon to just -- >> holy cow. >> i know. >> this is a salt-like hmm castle. tower. >> it's beautiful. it's something great. it's something that we do at the restaurant, as well, can a really beautiful porterhouse steak. >> holy cow. i think it's -- you need more? >> oh, dump it all. >> okay, there we go. you're kind of like burying it. >> exactly. >> this is going to make a really nice crust. when we put it in the oven. >> like that? >> yes, just like that. >> and then what have you cooked this at? >> maybe 400 degrees. >> how long do you cook a fish like that? >> takes about 17 minutes. and obviously depending on size. we'll put that right there. >> mm-hmm. >> what you want to do. >> smells amazing. >> you can smell all the rare

matics, the fennel comes through, the lemon. you want to lift off the salt. >> wow. >> and look at how beautiful that is. >> it kept all the moisture in. the flavor has gone in. the arehema is amazing. you put that at the table it's going to just smell so good. >> and the beautiful thing is that you need absolutely no sauce to go with this. >> but it's not salty? >> not at all. >> it's not salty. can you believe this? >> that's amazing. >> here. >> what else do we have? >> you have the salt-roasted porterhouse over there that you're familiar with. a little watermelon salad there with spinach. and a little bit of succotash, as well. in the corner we have the duck prosciutto. >> govin armstrong. a new idea. i thought nothing more would surprise me and there you go. >> all right. >> fantastic.

>> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. here's a look at some of our top stories. a pro-life group says they have been unfairly targeted by state police, but were their rights violated? last year, 18 protesters were arrested in belair. defend life, inc. says their message is controversial because of their use of graphic roadside posters. they say they are -- they are now suing for violations of their rights.

loyola college could bid on the senator theater, and they say they are committed to improving the surrounding neighborhood. if no one bits the minimum, baltimore officials will begin a nationwide search for a buyer.

>> now let's take a look at the forecast with sandra shaw. >> strong batch of showers and storms through the ohio valley

and the mississippi valley. nothing over baltimore. and in-between-type july day for us. a very widespread, hit-and-miss activity. humidity is going to feel much stickier out there. two points are going to rise, thanks to the inflow of coming moisture from the atlantic ocean. the humidity will stay with us for the near future. it will be warm weekend as well. though 90 by saturday. >> we will see you back here for 11 news at noon.

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