cecelia

Ted Allen!
He was in the Mall of America today for a book signing, he just wrote a cookbook called "The Food You Want To Eat" and was promoting it here today. I saw him on the news this morning and thought I'd give it a go and try to get my copy of the cookbook signed.
He did a cooking demo first, made some kick ass pan-friend Salmon, it looked yummy. (Luckily that recipe IS in the book). He was telling the crowd that he wanted a signature saying like Emeril's "Bam!", and someone from the 2nd floor overlook yelled out "Say 'Boo-yeah!'" and Ted says "Um, that's a little too hetero for me, but thanks, man." After that was the book signing, and it was so neat that it was not as "secure" as I thought. He took time to chit chat with everyone and it was awesome. He came over to me and Jace, in the stroller, and said "Wow, what a beautiful child!" I was so pleased. He asked his name and said Jace was a really cool name and asked how old he was and I said 16 months and then he asked if he was talking yet and I said that he said a lot of words. So Ted bends over the stroller (and Jace is just blankly staring at him) and asked "Can you say tszuj?". It was hilarious. (If you watch the show, you know what that word is and how to say it. It's a bitch to spell.) And he signed my book, WITH an XO, I might add! Maybe he thought I was hot. Wait, he's gay. Cripes. But it was a really fun experience to meet him and talk to him, not just be rushed along. A couple of us also talked to him a bit more later. There was a gay couple there, and one of the men was a teacher of gay theory and culture and we talked about the great GLBT community we have in Minneapolis/St. Paul and I suggested he bring the rest of the Fab 5 to out Pride Festival next summer and he said he'd have to "talk to the guys". Riiight. Nice thought anyway.

But that was my day, hanging with a celeb...you know, the usual.

God, these guys just rock my socks off....