I'm so Excited! Get to See Someone Live!!

[chefann]

I'm just about jumping out of my skin right now. A clustermate sent me a note Friday afternoon about a lecture at a local University. They bring in speakers for the students, and this speaker was highly requested - came in first in a vote for who they should get this year.

The tickets are available to the public, too, so I drove up there this morning and got a pair (one for me, one for my clustermate).

We're going to see Alton Brown!!

He's my absolute FAVORITE Food Network celebrity! I just hope they have time set aside for autographs, so I can have him sign one of his books.

 

[ChefBeckyD]

I am GREEN with envy!Take pictures and notes and post both. You will have so much fun!

 

[BlessedWifeMommy]

How exciting! Enjoy yourself...

 

[NooraK]

That is so cool! He recently did a live event here in the ATL to mark his 10th anniversary. If I wasn't so darn broke, I would have gone to see him.

 

[pamperedpals]

So cool. DH and oldest DS love Good Eats!

 

[Ginger428]

WOW!! How cool is that! Have A GREAT Time!!!

 

[ChefJoyJ]

That is so awesome!! I'm so stinkin' jealous! I LOVE Alton Brown!! :love: :love: Like you, he is my all time fave FN celeb. Take lots of photos and post them please!

 

[chefann]

Becky- it's Wednesday. I think you'll need to take a trip to this side of the state that day. (I can go up and get you a ticket.)

 

[BethCooks4U]

lol I keep reading this thread title as "Get to see someone alive".

 

[Nanisu]

As long as he doesn't show you how to kill a lobster....we watched that show and laughed/cried/wanted to throw up/wanted lobster thermadore when we were done! have fun--we saw Guy Fieri last month and it was hilarious

 

[ChefLoriG]

I'd love to see him live, he's my favorite

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

lol I keep reading this thread title as "Get to see someone alive".

I was thinking that seeing someone live is much better than seeing them the other way.

 

[etteluap70PC]

OMG!!!! You lucky girl!!! Have a blast and fill us in!

 

[chefann]

I've already resigned myself to the fact that, if there is an autograph opportunity, I'm going to be one of those gushing über-fans, much like the costumed freaks, um... aficionados, at Comic Con.

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

Oh, now THERE'S an image!

I see Carmen Miranda with an autograph book!

 

[chefann]

I've got AB's newest, Good Eats: The Early Years, which supposedly includes all the recipes from the first several seasons (although they call them applications, not recipes). But I've already noticed one missing.And if I knew there would be other freaks there in costume, I just might consider throwing together a costume reminiscent of an episode or two.

 

[legacypc46]

I really like the miranda idea, rattle shakers and all. Do you still have your tropical fruit hat? Just think, you'd probably end up with the camera crews filming as you explain to AB why you're wearing that get-up...more publicity for PC*!

* I can see the conversation at HO:
Marla: Jean, did you see the clip with the gal in the fruit hat plugging PC?
Jean: She's not one of ours, is she?


Luv ya Ann!

 

[AJPratt]

Have a great time!

 

[The_Kitchen_Guy]

I really like the miranda idea, rattle shakers and all. Do you still have your tropical fruit hat? Just think, you'd probably end up with the camera crews filming as you explain to AB why you're wearing that get-up...more publicity for PC*!

* I can see the conversation at HO:
Marla: Jean, did you see the clip with the gal in the fruit hat plugging PC?
Jean: She's not one of ours, is she?


Luv ya Ann!

Marla: [loud sigh] Yaaaaasssssss.

 

[chefann]

OMG! It was amazing!! No autograph session, though. Darn. It was the largest crowd for a speaker at this University ever. The basketball stadium was full - including chairs on the court.

There are pics on my FB: Ann Szwarc's Photos - Alton Brown | Facebook

Professor Brown's Thoughtful Thoughts on the Cooking and Consumption of Foodstuffs
(Based on my notes, which are a little sparse in some cases.)

1. Beware Chinese chili.
   There have been instances in the US of exploding cans of chili. They exploded from bacteria in the cans. All of the affected cans were imported, and had been made in China. Why? Because it's cheaper to make food there and import it.
   
   The chili in question retailed for about 79¢ a can. That sounds cheap. But most people don't know that you can make homemade chili for about 50¢ for the same quantity of chili (based on a large batch).
   
   A nation that puts more value on "cheap" than on "good" deserves exploding chili.
   
   
2. Chickens don't have fingers.
   By feeding children only chicken fingers, we're raising a generation of people who will only eat chicken fingers. The highly processed nature of this and similar foods furthers the disconnect between Americans and their food.
   
   AB had a couple of stories about this one, too. In one, he envisioned a fancy wedding at which the main food was a pile of chicken fingers.
   
   The other involved an aggressive action by him to wean his daughter and her friends from chicken fingers. He went to the local Asian grocery store and bought 4 packages of chicken feet. Yeah- they look like fingers. He prepared them several ways, stir-fry, steamed, fried… When the little girls came in and asked for chicken fingers, that's what he served them. There was much screaming. Within a couple of hours, he had received calls from 18 parents (far more than the group to whom the "fingers" had been served), indicating that their children had sworn off chicken fingers. One even swore off chicken completely.
   
   
3. Eat more pretty colors.
   Getting more color in your diet by adding fruits and vegetables is healthier. AB added a personal example that he's lost 50 pounds this year by just adding color or his diet.
   
   
4. Nothing you can buy is as good as anything you cook.
   Ronald McDonald is not your Dad - he has no responsibility to see that you're well fed. Take responsibility for your own nutrition by cooking your own food.
   
   When someone cooks for someone else, love becomes an ingredient/flavoring agent. AB mentioned that he has no more respect for anyone than those who work all day, come home, and cook a meal for their family.
   
   
5. Words like "diet," "lite," "reduced," and "-free" were made up by guys who look like this (cue picture of accountant-type suits)
   Foods with those modifiers are not real food. They've been modified to sell, not to be healthful. AB cited Snackwells cookies - not tasty, not real food; but you can eat the whole box! It's better to have a big, gooey, sticky chocolate chip cookie made with real chocolate and butter than a whole box of modified food.
   
   Packaged foods are also modified for the package, not for you. If something is in a box on the shelf and isn't rotting, it's because there are things in it to keep it from rotting. Those things aren't food.
   
   
6. Never mix strawberries and watermelons.
   This one's related to forced and greenhouse growing. Strawberries and watermelons naturally ripen in different seasons (spring and summer, respectively). If you buy them at the same time of year, then one of them was forced, and will not taste the way it should.
   
   We're so accustomed to foods (produce most specifically) being available year-round with no regard for its seasonality that we no longer know what those foods really taste like. To reconnect with seasonal produce, visit local farm stands. You'll get fresher, riper produce that has more aroma and flavor.
   
   
7. "Fresh" and "Raw" are not the same.
   In the push for more fresh ingredients, many people confuse fresh and raw. Raw broccoli in the produce department is not necessarily fresh, if you live far from where it was grown. It may not have been cooked, but the minute it's picked, it starts decaying. For many foods, the freshest option may actually be frozen, which stops deterioration. If you're not in Alaska, go for the frozen Alaskan salmon, not the so-called fresh.
   
   
8. Eat more little fishes.
   Predictions and forecasts indicate that if current fishing continues, the world's oceans will be essentially fish-free between 2048 and 2068. Much of this is because we (Americans) love large fish - we can serve a steak (just fish instead of beef), and we don't want to see a face on our food (this is related to the chicken fingers, too). If, however, we reduced the number of large fish consumed those populations would be better able to maintain themselves. We would then put more focus on small fish, which are better able to replenish their populations quickly after fishing. And they're more healthy, because they tend to have higher levels of healthy oils.
   
   
9. No government can keep our food safe.
   In the US, there is too much regulation and not enough accountability.
   
   The USDA was started as an agriculture promotion group, not a control agency. The FDA oversees thousands of products, from food to cosmetics, to drugs - way more than a single entity should. Consumers keep getting longer and longer lists of things we should do to our food, but if the manufacturers/distributors were held accountable for mistakes, they'd take care with the food and we wouldn't have to do as much with it ourselves.
   
   
10. Grow something… anything.
    With the addition, "edible." That got a big laugh from the college crowd.
    
    There's no longer a sense of self-reliance in this country. Growing one's own food not only reconnects us to the soil and the seasons (see #6), it gives us a sense of self-worth. The current economic situation has pointed out that Americans are no longer equipped to cope if they're somehow severed from financial/shopping establishments. Growing food is less expensive than shopping. Unfortunately, we're losing the knowledge, sometimes because of bizarre regulations that affect people's ability to have a personal garden.
    
    
11. Try being a little thankful sometime.
    Show gratitude for food, service, etc. In Europe, waiting tables is a career, not something to be done as a fill-in job, like in the US. Recognize that all aspects of food production (cooks, waiters, grocery store workers, farmers) are important and help nourish people.

There was a decently extensive Q&A session.

 

[NooraK]

Thanks so much for those notes, Ann.