Monday, March 17, 2008

Housewares Show Chicago

Thanks to E'CLEC, I was able to score my Mom and I passes to the housewares show. We went yesterday and it also happened to be my cutie Mama's birthday. When we got there I said "this is going to be boring, I should have stayed home". And then we found the kitchen aid stage and I was oooooootay.

First up, Michael Chiarello


The crowd for Paula Deen was crazy so I ended up sitting on the floor in the aisle. I took video which I will post on youtube soon. Paula brought her husband along and they were super cute together.



I took pictures of Rocco Dispirito because I dislike him so much. I used to watch his show on nbc and yell at the tv because he is such a jerk. I texted my friends yesterday and told them if they hear about someone getting arrested for assault at the housewares show, it's probably because I attempted to beat up Rocco. Seriously, he's probably my least favorite person in the world (Rachel Ray comes in a close second).



Emeril was there too.



Cat Cora



There was a misunderstanding and Ming Tsai thought Karen was trying to flash him. It does look that way doesn't it?



We got cutting boards signed by Ming Tsai and then we all took a pic with him. He was ridiculously nice and funny. Love him!



We were getting ready to leave but I saw Curtis Stone would be on stage in a few minutes so I asked if we could stay a bit longer so I could just take a few quick pics of him and then we could leave. Well, my Mom and her friends found seats while I stood in the back and we ended up watching his entire set. He was hilarious and charming. Gotta love a chef who calls himself a "dickhead". Love Love Love him!



At the end of his set he announced the booth he would be in and that they were going to have a drawing for an entire set of kitchen appliances if you stopped by the booth and dropped in your business card. He also said you can make your way over there or you can wait for him and his crew and walk over with them. My Mom and her friends got in line to wait for Pam Anderson's cookbook and told me to go to the booth to drop in the business cards. It was in another hall and I didn't want to walk alone. My Mom told me to go and I said I would wait for Curtis and walk over with him. She said "just go, they probably took him the back way" and so I started walking. I had no idea where to go so it took me a while to get to the right place.

I finally got there and took my place in the line, which was not very long. A little bit later I hear someone say my name and I look up. About 5 people ahead of me is my Mom. "whaa? how? huh? where? why are you here? i thought you were waiting in line over there". She kinda looked down and then said "well, a few minutes after you left, um, Curtis came out and I walked over with him". I think my jaw dropped and I immediately asked for details. "Well, he was walking by and saying hi to everyone and so I said 'you know, it's my birthday and I really would have thought you would have something for me' and he told me to come with them and he'd give me a cookbook. So I walked over with him." I believe my response to this was "you bitch!". We keep going over the story because she can't get over how nice and sweet he was. I guess he kept making sure that she didn't fall behind and the group would make sure she was still with them when people stopped him for pictures. When we got up to Curtis, my Mom introduced me to him like they were old friends and he had a laugh with us because I told him how upset I was that she got to walk over with him. He was super sweet and took pix with all of us.





I got the generic signing in my book, but my Mom got "To Barbara, Thanks for the escort! Curtis Stone". So it looks like my Mom had a great birthday =)

1 comment:

What's Cookin Chicago said...

Hi Jenny! I must say, your summary of the H&H show was awesome and it's great you took some pics! You definitely highlighted some of the great food celebs there. I don't know what I loved more... snagging all the freebie cookbooks from the food celebs or having a reader of my blog/member of my What's Cookin Chicago group recognize me & introduce themself. You made me feel pretty special and I'm glad I got to meet you! I hope you're able to attend some of my future events. Keep up the great work on your blog! :) ~ Joelen