back now with more of "today" on a monday morning, the 4th day of january, 2010. as we mentioned a couple of times, we've got frigid temperatures here in the northeast. and arctic blast being felt really in many parts of the country. so we can't whine too much. we should also thank these people for sticking it out. welcome to the new year, i'm matt lauer, along with natalie morales and al roker. >> happy new year to you. i haven't seen you all in two weeks. >> coming up, you're going to talk about some new details or new developments in the tiger

woods story? >> that's right. reports that tiger's wife, elin was spotted in the french alps at a ski resort over the holidays. the question remains, where's tiger and speculation mounting over whether they're going to stay together. we'll bring you the latest on what could be in store for the couple in the new year. >> did you guys make resolutions? a lot of people did resolutions. well -- >> you guys are animated. i love it. >> it's estimated only about 19% of the folks actually keep those resolutions. if one of your resolutions was getting healthy. losing a few pounds, we've got tips and it's not all about exercise. >> cool. also 2009 was a tough year for a lot of people financially with the economic downturn. jean chatzky has dished out an ful lot of advice during the past 12 months. this morning, we're going to catch up with some of the people who were the recipients of that advice to find out how it worked for them. >> hopefully it's paid off. >> otherwise jean's in trouble. former "today" financial

consultant, jean chatzky. >> it's tough in new york. ann is standing by at the news desk. >> thanks a lot, matt. good morning once again, everybody. in the news this morning, starting today, passengers flying to the united states from yemen, nigeria, pakistan and other countries, the government considers high risk, are facing increased airport screening, including pat-downs and searches. the measures are an attempt to respond to a failed attempt to bomb a passenger jet in detroit on christmas day. on sunday, there were massive delays at newark airport, meantime, after a man bypassed a security checkpoint, flights were grounded for six hours and all passengers had to be rescreened. the man who walked through security was not found. the military says four u.s. troops were killed on sunday by a roadside bomb in southern afghanistan. they are the first u.s. combat deaths in afghanistan this year. bitter cold grips much of the nation this morning, with temperatures way below the normal for the rockies to

florida. we've got nbc's jeff rossen in new york's times square on this. good morning. >> reporter: hey, ann, good morning to you. freezing on the streets of manhattan. just checked the wind chill. it makes it feel like nine degrees, an improvement from a couple of hours ago, when it was only five or six. we were thinking we had it bad, but then we looked up, international falls, minnesota. with a wind chill right now of negative 31. some cities, like new york, dealing with the bitter cold. others are dealing with heavy snow. and some are dealing with both at once. as snow piles up in the northeast and temperatures dip well below zero in the midwest, you have the winter weather lovers -- >> it's like a winter wonderland. >> and the haters. >> it's unreal -- it's a blizzard. >> reporter: in indiana, it's so cold -- even the street salt won't melt the ice. >> the roads are in poor condition.

the roads are snow-packed, slick and hazardous. >> reporter: in buffalo, new york, fans could barely see sunday's bills-colts game. near whiteout conditions on the field. and the brain-freeze in the stands. in minneapolis, firefighters struggled when stores and homes went up in flames. the fire hydrants were iced over. in detroit, an nbc viewer took home video of this ice rescue. three teenagers were stranded when their boat got stuck in icy waters. and in new york city, the thrill of new year's eve seems like an after-thought. bundled up with wind chills in the single digits. >> this is ridiculous, this is too cold. >> if you have exposed skin and you go outside, you don't have all your skin covered, you can get frostbitten in some ten minutes. this is dangerous cold. >> reporter: dangerous for drivers, too. >> ice, a lot of cars in ditches. we missed florida. we miss the south. >> reporter: it's not much better there. temperatures in jacksonville,

florida, dipped into the 30s overnight. shelters have opened their doors and beds. >> i think we're hovering around 50 or 60. but they keep coming in. so it's, it's going to be a long night. >> reporter: and a long week to come. the cold isn't going anywhere. >> it's fabulous. we love it. >> it's beautiful. >> reporter: beautiful she says. you know, it's not so beautiful, when the cold wind hits you right in the face. in fact, winds were so strong, ann, in the northeast this weekend, there were major flight delays from boston down to d.c. of two hours or who. >> well jeff rossen, i hope you can get inside now, thanks so much for your reporting. also in the news, the manhunt is over for a suspect accused of killing four family members on thanksgiving in florida. paul merhige, accused of killing his twin sisters, an aunt and a cousin was booked on sunday, ordered held without bond. and a big money milestone for "avatar," which held on to the top spot of the weekend box office, it took in more than $68 million. and became only the fifth movie ever to bass the $1 billion mark

worldwide. "sherlock holmes" was second. let's go back outside to matt. thank you very much. mr. roker is right here with a check of the weather. >> got a 14-year-old birthday girl. who's the birthday girl? what's your name? >> lexi. >> where are you from? >> colorado. >> happy birthday. >> thank you. >> get in and get warm. >> let's check your weather and see what's happening. we've got the cold air in there. let's take a look. you can see freeze warnings from iowa all the way down to florida. it is cold and you can see the temperatures right now, 35 below in international falls, four above in st. louis. factor in the wind chill, look at that, it feels even worse. then the high temperatures, single digits throughout the upper plains. only 19 in chicago. that cold air spreads all the way to the eastern seaboard. you can see 40s and 50s down through florida. in fact florida, having a lot of problems, they've got upper 20s in jacksonville, only 45 in

miami. wind chills make it feel worse. high temperatures keep that pretty chilly. and the jet stream, the band of air 20,000 feet above the earth's surface, nothing is changing today, wednesday, on >> cold and blustery is the rule of the day to day. we will see a high of about 31 degrees. mostly cloudy by this afternoon, with a chance of maybe a natalie? >> al, thank you. now to the whereabouts of tiger woods. the golf great hasn't been seen since he crashed his suv outside his florida home back in november. but over the holidays, his wife,

elin was out and about with her friends and family. nbc's george lewis has more. >> reporter: the scandal-hungry british tabloid newspapers are feasting on the tiger woods story. his estranged wife, elin nordegren, spotted by paparazzi on the ski slopes in the french alps. reportedly staying with her sister and close friends at an $8,000 a night chalet under heavy security. >> it does look like elin is moving on. the fact is that she's not just sitting at home, crying. she's out with people who love her, who she loves. and she's spending time there. >> reporter: it's a vacation that nordegren can easily afford, especially if the stories about her demanding a $300 million divorce payout from woods are true. >> by all accounts, it looks like this couple is not going to go the distance. we're hearing more and more frequently rumors that elin is actually looking to plan a new life without her husband. >> reporter: woods, meanwhile, hasn't been seen lately. the blogosphere buzzing with

rumors that he's either in rehab in arizona for sex addiction. at home in florida, or off somewhere with one of his mistresses. >> there are rumors that tiger is everywhere, from new york to dubai. right now he's keeping a low profile and no one really knows where he is. >> reporter: and no word on when tiger woods will return to the pro golf circuit. his critics saying while he may rack up more major victories in the future, his mystique as a superstar player is gone now. and while barring a reconciliation, his wife, elin, may wind up as a very wealthy divorcee. for "today," george lewis, nbc news, los angeles. so will tiger and elin stay together? with more insight on that, bernie hazlit who writes the scoop column on msnbc joins us. we heard in george's spot, a lot of speculation and sources indicate it looks like their marriage is over. but over the weekend, people.com had a picture of her where she was spotted wearing her wedding ring. is there any indication from

your sources that there is some sort of reconciliation in the works? >> there's absolutely indication from my sources that there's a reconciliation that's at least being attempted. to say that's in the works, that might be overstating it slightly. to note there's been a lot of improvement on the state of their marriage. i'm told things are still very, very dicey. now with elin being spotted photographed, wearing her wedding ring, listen, this couple, you have to remember, was, they were masters at staying oust of the spotlight when they wanted. they were masters of their own public it up to the point where they lost control of it. they got that control back. that's why you see these photographs that are very carefully planned. first without the wedding rings, and now with what appear to be wedding rings. >> and these pictures of her being away in the alps, with her children there. spending time away from tiger. does this give any indication as to what is going on with that relationship. is there any reports of them actually talking? >> yes. definitely reports of them talking. they're working on this marriage, according to the people that i know who know the

couple as a couple. not just sources who might know elin or might know tiger. but really do know the woods family as a family unit. i think it speaks volumes that elin woods was skiing for days before anybody knew about it once word got out, that's when they took control of the situation again. and you saw a photograph. and also, you're not seeing her out gallivanting with a bunch of girlfriends, she's with family. she's with her sister and her sister's husband. this is something they're buckling down and trying to see what they can reconcile out of the situation. >> her twin sister, josephine and they were out on new year's eve and day together. what does it say about the support system that's surrounding her right now? >> a tremendous support system around elin i think is very interesting as well. that she was close with tiger's mom. this isn't a family that was estranged from the parental units. tiger's mom was very involved in the upbringing of her grandchildren. would spend weeks at a time in their home in florida. tiger is a guy who traveled a lot, elin needed some help and they turned to family for that and they're turning to family

again right now. >> the million-dollar question for the paparazzi is where is tiger woods. what are your sources telling you about his whereabouts. >> he's here in the united states. i'm told he's not in florida where his home is. >> not in rehab. >> and reports that he's in some sex clinic i'm being told by family and friends, that's not true, either. tiger will reveal himself when he wants to. at this point i think this is an interesting example of a team completely losing control of a situation and quickly getting it back. when we see tiger again, i suspect it will be 100% of his own doing, not a paparazzi photo. >> over the weekend, we learned that at&t has ended its relationship with tiger woods. is there concern from his camp that as we've seen more of these responderships start to drop off that this is going to add up? >> the at&t sponsor, that didn't come in the midst of the flurry of the people dropping their sponsorship. it came after we had heard some of them. it was surprising and it did raise the extra question. and "golf digest" saying they

were going to distance themselves from a very pricey contract they had with tiger. i don't think you're going to see sponsors come back until he proves he's got his game back. >> who is sticking with him? >> nike. their deal is intricate it involves clubs and apparel. more than just putting a logo and having tiger be the face. that's why they're definitely sticking with him. >> thanks so much as always. coming up, your money questions answered. jean chatzky gets you on the right track for the new year and follows up with past callers to see if their financial advice has helped out. tips to keep your mind and body in shape for 2010 right now after this. it's simponi,™ and taken with methotrexate, and swelling of ra with one dose a month. visit 4simponi.com to see if you qualify for a full year of cost support. simponi™ can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis.

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this morning we're kicking offer a new series, "new year, new you. every year millions of americans resolve to stick to a new diet and get healthy. how do you beat the odds? today's nutritionist and author of "your inner skinny" joy bauer is here and dr. gail saltser. >> as a diet and health coach, this is my absolute favorite time of the year. because ambitious health intentions. they beev in their capabilities and believing you can do something is the key ingredient to success. >> so gail, what happens? >> what happens is we feel overwhelmed at the task. no one likes to feel overwhelmed so they go into a state of denial. i don't really need it. and what's a big factor is, a lot of dieting is emotional.

and if you don't understand the unconscious motivation for eating, for you, or for not exercising for that matter, for being generally unhealthy, then it's very hard to move forward. >> so what's the first step? >> you really need to deal with the issue of, do i need this or don't i need this. to not go into denial. to say it's not just that i like this or want this but that i need to do this for me. and take a look at what the unconscious motivations might be for eating and try to address those as well. not just what your diet will be. but am i sad, am i angry, am i having difficulties in some arena that propel me to eat. >> in a sense, what's the motivation for eating. >> yes. and to know sometimes it's going to be uncomfortable to sit with those feelings without numbing it with food. >> joy, you say one of the first things you should do is be a copycat. >> right, because you want to come kopppy the characteristics of successful losers, so to speak. this is what we know, thanks to the national weight control

registry. 78% of successful dieters eat a healthy breakfast every single day. they also weigh themselves at least once a week, as sort of a reality check. they watch less -- >> or like me, once a day. >> they watch less than 10 hours of tv per week. and on average, they exercise about an hour a day. and i realize, that 60 minutes seems daunting to a lot of people. but remember that 30 minutes of exercise, is more than zero minutes of exercise. and it doesn't have to be continuous. it can be bite-sized pieces. ten minutes in the morning, ten minutes in the afternoon and ten minutes in the evening. >> but gail, a lot of people i think, when they look at this, they start to panic. they can't deal with it. >> you need to break it into bite-sized pieces. >> no pun intended. >> exactly. >> i'm so glad you said that, because i would have kept going. you have your long-term goal. but you want to have a weekly goal or maybe even a daily goal. and a really useful thing is to write it down. it's very easy to fudge it with

later. it's easy to say no, in is too scary, never mind. if you write it down, yes, you really said it. this is my weekly goal and you don't have to look so far out, it's less scary. >> and i love the idea of making both short-term weekly goals and the long templ goal. the long-term goal might be, i want to lose 60 pounds. but the weekly goal could be, you know what, i'm not going to eat after dinner, every night this week. >> people look at 60 pounds, that's such a big number. but if you average it out, that's a little more than a pound a week, maybe. >> that could be another short-term goal. i want to lose one pound this week. >> and joy, you say become a fidgety person? >> right, you want to move more in general. in other words, walk when you talk. pace around the kitchen when you're on the phone. instead of having your kids be the errand boys, so to speak, fetch the phone, the mail, the remote control yourself. >> park a little further from the mall entrance. >> and don't be so official with your groceries, instead of

bundling five or six big bags in your arms, take one or two into the house from the driveway at a time. you know, it's going to make you work a little more so. and it's going to extend the time getting the groceries into the house. but you're going to burn calories. and also, while you're flopped on the couch watching tv, during those commercial breaks, get up and move. march in place, do some jumping jacks. we've got this tv workout for free on our website that people can download. >> good advice for people who want more information, they can go to our website, todayshow.com and get that information. joy bauer, gail saltz, thank you so much. how to get rid of the unhealthy belly fat, we've got tips, but first, these messages. that put you in charge of your world and hungry and the online tools to help you face any situation. which means 'darn right you can go to the dinner party' and still loose weight. and learn how to keep it off. join for free now. sorry hungry, you're not invited. but you are, join for free today and change your life.

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so coming up, we have this money 911 series, we'll check in with some of the people who called for advice to see if we've helped them or hurt them. plus chef extraordinaire ming sai. well, that and boston crème pie, white chocolate strawberries, ya ya - oh! and key lime pie i've already lost some weight [ female announcer ] yoplait light - with 28 delicious flavours at about 100 calories babe, what are you doing?! ♪

>> live, local, latebreaking. this wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> good morning. i am mindy basara. despite the judge's orders, five jurors who convicted baltimore mayor sheila dixon on a misdemeanor embezzlement charge continued to talk to each other on facebook. last weekend, judge dennis sweeney ordered the jurors to appear at a hearing for a new trial and were asked not to speak to anyone until after the hearing. wbal radio discovered that three of the jurors were communicating on facebook, joking about their

relationship as recently as new year's eve. defense team argued that the post denied the mayor a fair trial. the fact state commissions close -- state commission compensation commission could seek attend as a dollar perret's for the governor and an increase in the salaries -- $10,000 pay raise of inkatha and an increase and the salaries of government workers. the first homicide of 20 can believe it or not could be a sign that the plan is working. a man was shot and pronounced dead at the scene. the murder comes on the third day of the new year, compared to this time last year, when more homicides had been recorded. >> things are really cold today, colder than normal. we're only going to make up to 31 at best. there is a chance for snow flurries developing this

afternoon as well. mostly cloudy tonight as well, flurries still lingering around. 18 in the outlying area, potentially 24 downtown. it will remain cold all week. highest temperature on the seven-day is 38 on wednesday. by friday, a coastal low again. >> we will have another update at 9:55.

you may just have to hit road, jack in the new year if you're looking for a real estate bargain. coming up tomorrow here on "today," the top ten towns to check out to get the most bang for your buck. some pretty homes there. speaking of bucks, coming up in this half hour, we'll be looking forward to the new year with our financial editor, jean chatzky, she's been part of this money 911 series we've been doing every week on this broadcast. this morning she'll be taking a look at and listen to some of the people she's given advice

to, to hear whether or not her advice on pay things like paying off student loans, whether or not it's helped or hurt the viewers, we'll be checking it out. and also ahead, getting rid of stubborn jelly fat. while a jelly belly can be endearing on santa claus, it's a serious and dangerous problem for many. so our fitness expert will be here to show you what your ideal waist measurement should be. and eating plans. yes, you can have ice cream, believe it or not, made a certain way. >> talking about belly-friendly, how about seared scallops with ginger? that sounds pretty good. ming sai is here, he's going to show us who to make some lighter fare. with some asian flair. it sounds yummy. but first, a check of the weather. >> and as we take a look at today, we can see the week ahead, we've got rain in the pacific northwest. snow in the plains, snow around the great lakes. much below-normal temperatures

for the eastern third of the country. mid-week period, light showers through the gulf coast. light snow through the ohio valley, and toward the latter part of the week, the cold air is back, entrenched in the eastern half o >> today is going to be a very cold day. right now it feels like the low teens outside. winds aren't northwest league, a 15 to 20, and could and that's your latest weather. coming up next, battling the bulge, some ideas about how you

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this morning on take it off today, the battle against belly fat. two-thirds of american adults are overweight or obese. and many of them carrying the extra pounds in their midsection, and that can be dangerous for your health and fitness expert jorge cruise has more in his new book. why is it so bad for you? >> all the research has shown it's connected to the biggest killers out there. coronary heart disease in particular and cancer and type ii diabetes. so it just doesn't make us not look good. which is important, because we want to have good self-esteem and confidence, it robs us of

that. and it really can hurt our health. >> how does it build in the midsection. it's not so much about counting calories or eating less, but being aware of what causes insulin. when it's chronically high, what happens is we lock in belly fat. we keep the belly fat. we never get rid of belly fat. that's so important to realize that what causes insulin to go ut is what we have to avoid. and that tends to come from eating the wrong amounts of sugar and carbohydrates. so it's being aware of that, not so much the calories. >> you have a way to help us measure? >> now at home. you probably have one of these at home. i'll do a quick demo. you just do a measurement. you suck in, if you want to find out if you're at risk for belly fat, you want to suck it in. for the guys out there, i'm lucky. i'm okay. >> right above the belly button, right in that area. you want to make sure you're 40 inches or less if you're a man. and if you're a woman, 35 inches or less as a goal. that's what the american heart association is recommending.

this is so much more powerful than even getting on the scale. so if new year's resolution, can you actually not use the scale as much. use the tape measure. >> let's tackle a day's worth of your menu choices out there. a lot of choices will surprise our viewers. >> starting off with breakfast. what an example of a belly-bad breakfast. looking at it i was, are you kidding me? >> most people would have a yogurt and a piece of fruit and a banana. >> not bad, but it has 45 grams of sugar. that spikes your insulin immediately. i tell your clients, you want 0 stick to 15 grams of sugar or less total for the whole day. so right there you surpassed it. >> you do the yogurt without sugar. >> 31 grams, i'll show you in a minute how we can do that over. is that the next example? >> what would be a good belly good breakfast. >> a vegetable omelette. imagine three eggs, you can have the yoke, that's not going to cause a spike in insulin. you can put a little feta cheese, a little spinach, zero

sugar. huge difference, healthy meal and you won't have to starve. >> it's not calories in, it's all about the sugar, okay. moving on to lunch, another example of a belly-bad lunch. a smoothie, which i think is -- >> 0 or it could be a meal replacement. some sort of shake. they're usually fat-free. but what the research says, if you can get something that doesn't have the issue, and it's more about the sugar for example, instead of doing a shake or a smoothie, which is 84 grams of sugar, you could do a grilled cheese sandwich. >> that's craziness to me. >> i can have grilled cheese? >> and you want to check the bread. there's a lot of great whole whaet breads with no sugar. >> your midday snack, a lot of us would think 100-calorie packs, not so bad. >> they think because they have less calories. but 18 grams of sugar. and most of these little calorie packs, these cookies.

what we recommend instead is dark chocolate, has only five grams, you want to make sure it's 86% of dark chocolate. you get a really indulgent snack ha has good bioflavins, good anti-oxidants and only five grams of sugar. >> and dinner. again another surprising one, i think a lot of us would say grilled chicken strips and barbeque sauce. >> not even any carbs, you say that's so healthy and i'll have a little sauce. but that's one of the places that sugar hides. barbeque sauce has 17 grams of sugar for the average amount. what i would do is carb-swap it. for a chicken alfredo pasta. which has no sugar at all. >> lots of fat. >> it has fat. but that helps to satisfy your hunger, so you'll eat less of it so you don't have to count the calories. for dessert, fat-free chocolate milk, 54 grams of sugar, and it's fat-free. >> you can substitute with ice cream. >> i have a home-made ice cream that's been downloaded on our

website, 300,000 times. made with a special ingredient called mallitol. it's like real ice cream. people love it, it gives you the ability to satisfy the sweet tooth without all the sugar. traditionally one scoop of ice cream has 54 grams of sugar. this one on our blog, people loved it. it was easy to do. >> it was at jorgecruise.com? >> yes, or the bellyfatcure.com. >> the book is called "the belly fat cure." thanks again, happy new year to you, jorge. coming up next, financial editor jean chatzky will check in with some of our money 911 callers. there are as many paths to good health...

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"today" financial editor jean chatzky doles out advice. now in "money 911" jean puts the answers all in one place. what is the one question you say you get more than any other? >> this year the big question has been revolving around debt, how do i get out of it. how do i improve my credit score. we all took on a little bit more than we wanted to. now we're trying to dig our way out. >> is there an answer to that that's easy? >> there are many answers to that. if what you're looking to do is paying offer your credit cards, you want to make sure you're paying off the highest interest rates first, and then move on. that will get you out of it fastest and cheapest. >> that makes sense, basically you were saying there's something from all of the things, people get overwhelmed. we've all gotten smarter listening to your advice. it still is sometimes overwhelming. what's the one thing, if we could just understand one idea, what would you recommend it be?

>> when i put pencil to paper or my fingers to the keyboard to write this book, i did it because when we want answers to our financial questions, we want them right now. and we want them from somebody that we can trust. and yes, there's a lot of information on the internet. but sometimes there's just too much. and you need to have that dr. spock at home, that you can go to and say, all right, here is the answer and i know it's correct. >> so, jean chatzky, aka dr. spock. >> i'll be a vulcan. >> you got a call from a woman named wendy last may. she and her husband at that time, were about $90,000 in credit card debt. she has no children, they're both employed. they wanted to know how they could get out of their credit card debt. what was your advice? >> i told her to talk to the consumer credit counseling service. she was interested in debt settlement. which is potentially a dangerous area for some people to go down. you should try credit counseling first. i suggested that to her. >> we actually have wendy on the

telephone. >> wendy, did that work? hi, good morning. did jean's advice help or hurt you? you want to slam her or give her a hug. >> caller: jean's advice helped us a lot. it helped us understand our options and how to manage the $90,000 debt load we had. we did take her advice and we sought out a consumer counseling service. and we filled out a budget worksheet. and the director did a budget summary on us for the debt salvage program. after the consultation, reviewing the budget worksheet that the director advised us to seek legal counsel, because we'd have it pay 30% interest on top of the $90,000 we owed over a five-year period. and we couldn't afford to do that. then so what we did is we filed chapter 13 and we are now paying 100% of our debt load back to the creditors with no interest over a five-year period. >> the credit counseling services, and wendy, that is

exactly the order of operations that you wanted to follow. the credit counseling is a step before bankruptcy. in fact, everybody has to go through it. it's mandated by law. and if it can help you, if you can be helped by credit counseling, then you don't have to file bankruptcy and it doesn't have to stay on your credit report for such a long time. >> this is one of those kinds of bits of information that most people don't even know. we've also got lana. she called us in december and told us that one of her credit cards was about to start charging a monthly fee. she's had the card for ten years, she didn't want to have to pay an additional charge. this is kind of common. people are getting these charges. >> it's so common lately that people are seeing these charges. what i told you, i think, lana, was that you could opt out of paying this fee by telling the card company that you weren't going to use the card any more. and you were just going to pay off the balance at the current rate with the old fee. but that you should be very careful about doing that. if you wanted to take on a mortgage entitle next year or a car loan. >> did that help you, lana? >> yes, definitely.

i'm going to, i'm keeping the card until i am able to secure a mortgage. a loan or a big loan that might come up in the next couple of years. >> well that's terrific news, so lana was helped as well. so jean, try as we might, we're not finding anyone who is really mad at you, yet. >> we'll do our best. i'm sure there's someone, somewhere. >> the book is called "money 911" we'll see you next wednesday for our regular series. coming up next, we've got chef ming sai,

who are better drivers, men or women? men don't merge. the woman will sit there and wait. this is what men do. you see where i am over here? and, ka-blam, and then we're all an hour late. depend brand. for women and men. this morning in today's kitchen, lighter fare for the new year. in you overdid it for the holidays, time for a fresh start. ming sai owner of ming's restaurant in wesley,

massachusetts, host of "simply ming" on pbs, scallops, nice and light? >> scallops are super-light, the thing i love about this dish. they've been seared on both sides. we then do a pan sauce in the same. so a pat of butter, right? you don't need a lot. just for flavor. i leave all the stuff in there. a little bit of shall otts, a little bit of ginger, a little bit of thyme and some carrots. this is the sauce. it's basically done. we deglaze with a little bit of white wine. let this come together and a little bit of chicken stock. and your one-pan sauce is done. >> chicken stock, not fish stock? >> chicken stock. in the cans is not bad. as that's reducing, let's make cous-cous. this is wheat-free tamari. this is boiling water. the ratio is three to two, three parts boiling water to two parts

cous-cous. it takes about ten minutes only and that's what you have here. >> the magic of television, tada. >> here we scrape it with the back of a fork. go like that. and i take some thai basil, hand-rip thai basil into this. and we can plate this up. what i did before you got here, al, is this asian ratatouille, which is a bunch of tomatoes, all good for you, eggplant cooked in olive oil. so let's plate this up. we're going to do a fancy plate up and you can look just like a chef. you push that down, expect to use a bottle to push it flat. we then take a little bit and put this on top. this is what you can do for your family. they'll be like, wow. and push that down a little with a spoon. and this dish is basically done. all right? and then you pull this off. and look at that. >> ooh. >> a little bit of thy ba thai n

top. and i like to did a little olive oil on top. how good is that? >> now look at our pan sauce. this is done. all right. so this you take and lay it right on. the carrots are delicious, right. put them all over the scallops and there's the one-pan dish. so you grab the cous-cous. and i'll meet you back here, al. we have one more dish which i love, it's so simple. this is a tapinade. but instead, we used edamame, soybeans. very healthy. these are a brown rice, whole-grain chip that's good for you. >> wow. that smells good. >> and all of this is from simply ming season seven. you just saw this, you cooked it. very easy. this is preserved lemons and edamame. you want to try a scallop? >> yes. >> tell me what you think about this. i'm not going to feed you, al, i'm sorry. >> i bet you you'll feed natalie. >> that's okay.

>> that is fantastic. >> chef ming, thank you so much. >> so simple. >> happy new year. coming up, hoda tries out her skill on skis, is she ready for vancouver? >> plus are, we ready for "real housewife" stephanie frankel? but first, the local news and weather. >> live, local, latebreaking. this is wbal-tv 11 news today in baltimore. >> could morning. i am mindy basara. several children were injured in an apartment fire in glen burnie. the fires started yesterday morning at warwickshire lane. a 2-year-old boy was taken to

pediatrics with life-threatening injuries and two young girls were treated for minor injuries. a burning pot o

>> the wind chill in the teens this morning, and the daytime forecast is below freezing for most of the area. cold all week long.

as a better chance for snow on friday. >> see you back here for 11 news at noon.