Familiar Food Network face

My wife loves the Food Network. I merely “like” the Food Network.
Suffice to say, it’s on a lot in our house. So I’ve seen the commercials for this year’s “The Next Food Network Star” dozens of times, and not once had I ever realized I knew one of the contestants.

Lisa Garza.

Of course, she wasn’t Lisa Garza in high school, and until she’s a big star, I’ll refrain from dishing out too much about her maiden name, etc. And Lisa wasn’t the “fashion diva” brunette she’s known as on the show. She was, like all the students who attended tiny little Como-Pickton High School in the early 90s, far from the world of fashion. Plus, she had long blonde hair, sometimes curly.

So you’ll understand my shock when it was pointed out to me last night that Lisa Garza, who’s still very much alive and doing well through five episodes of this season’s reality show (think “Survivor” or “Project Runway”, only dealing with food), was an old classmate.

I considered Lisa a good friend in high school, as we were both “fish out of water” at the mostly rural, mostly agricultural school in northeast Texas. She was far more popular than I was, though, considering I was a giant nerd (and still am). We both transferred to Como-Pickton (a total of 200 kids, 50 in our class) while in high school, though she transferred back to the Dallas area late in her junior year … never to be heard from again. Until now.

I wish Lisa the best of luck, and I’ll actually watch now and pull for her. If she wins, I may even scan the old high school photo.

“The Next Food Network Star” airs Sundays at 10 p.m. on Food Network.
Click here to visit the Web site and here to see Lisa’s profile page.