I got to meet Alton Brown!!

As most of my readers are aware, I’m a HUGE Alton Brown fan. HUGE. I DVR Good Eats and I’ve seen most of the episodes. The engineer in me loves how he mixes science with cooking and baking. He talks nerdy to me. And I like it!

I’ve learned more from AB about being in the kitchen than from anyone else. And I’ve really enjoyed the recipes of his that I’ve tried. The Chewy is by far my favorite recipe from this blog. I recommend it to everyone who will listen. So you can imagine the excitement when my friend K emailed me about his book tour coming to Boston. Not only was he coming to Boston, he was going to be speaking at our local non profit movie theatre and signing books – just a few blocks from our house! I literally think I squealed (and I am not a squealer).

Now I’m not a big cookbook person. I prefer to just find recipes on the Internet because 9 times out of 10 when I use a cookbook I get it all messy. But I knew if I was going to an AB book signing I needed to have at least one of his cookbooks… After all, the whole reason for his book tour is his new book Good Eats, The Early Years. So I ordered the new book and his baking book from Amazon, got the tickets to the show and waited for the day to arrive.

Finally the wait was over, or, as we soon found out, it was just beginning… Hubby and I left work early to get in line. We lined up around an hour and a half before the show started. Luckily it stopped raining although it was a chilly evening. We were about 10th in line at the time. Little did we know, all the people in front of us were saving spots for people, so we actually ended up in the 3rd row, but that’s ok.

Once we got in the theatre, we waited about 10 more minutes for him to come on stage. He didn’t give a speech or anything, just jumped right into the Q&A. He was just as funny and quirky in real life as I imagined he would be. I had a question I was going to ask, but I got too nervous and chickened out.

So after about an hour, they announced that the book signing was going to be across the street at the local book store. WHAT!?! They didn’t tell us that ahead of time!?! So basically it was a mad dash. Luckily someone up front found a side door we could all go out. There was a huge mass of people running over to the bookstore and it was pure chaos. The employees were not helping people get into an orderly line and it was just crazy. We finally found the end of the line, which was winding throughout the store.

At that point, our friend L and K decided they didn’t want to wait. So K’s boyfriend A stayed with Hubby and I to wait it out. About an hour later we were almost to the front of the line. Hubby went first and opened with “It’s nice to meet the man who all the women in my life love more than me” (his mom loves AB too). AB laughed and made some joke and signed his book. Then I went up with two books and he asked who the man taking a picture was, so I explained he was my husband and AB said so you’re one of his women I could take away from him!

Then I told him I love the Chewy and he said most people love that one best, but there are a few Puffy fans out there… We talked about my blog for a minute and he said he would never blog because no one would read it. I told him that people would love to read his blog. Hubby snapped one more pic and then it was A’s turn.

A’s post-it said to make it out to K&A. So naturally, AB asked where K was. A explained that she didn’t want to wait in the line. So then AB goes into this elaborate story that at the time I didn’t realize he was actually writing in the book. He almost forgot to sign his name after the story and said it was the longest inscription he’s ever written in a book. Then A wanted a pic and AB pulled some random girl out of line to be in the pic with them. It was hilarious. Everyone who could witness what was going on was laughing.

Overall, I had a great night meeting a great guy. And don’t worry Hubby enjoyed it too. Good Eats is the only Food Network show Hubby will watch with me. And if you love Alton Brown as much as I do, be sure to tune in tomorrow because I’ve got an AB giveaway that you won’t want to miss!

Don’t forget about my Power of Pink Challenge going on all month.