My celebrity chef run-ins
August 30, 2010A couple years ago, I had the pleasure of attending two celebrity chef cooking demos at the Macy’s on State St. The first one was…. drumroll please…
Tyler Florence!!! Yes, he is as charming and ridiculously handsome in person as you would expect. Here he is answering my question… do you see me in the background??
So thrilled that I got to meet him and have him autograph my cookbook 
This was actually taken the day before I ran my first half marathon, and so the entire weekend stands out in my mind as one of my favorite memories.
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I also saw a cooking demo by Cat Cora. She may not be as handsome at Tyler Florence, but she’s very sweet, and I love that she is part-Greek (like Mike) and thus has a lot of Greek recipes in her cookbooks.
My friend Vanessa has always been my partner in crime for chef demos! A few weeks ago I attended a cooking demo by Karyn Calebrese, a prominent figure in Chicago’s vegan circles. While it would be doing a disservice to Tyler Florence and Cat Cora to lump her in the ‘celeb chef’ category, it’s true that she is very influential in the Chicago restaurant world.
Karyn answered a few questions, and then her chef prepared some bite-sized samples for us. This pulled pork sandwich was amazing!!!
The raw peach cheesecake was good, but wasn’t my favorite. I prefer my own raw cheesecake 
but at the same time, I wouldn’t turn down a second piece…
After the demo, I went up to introduce myself to Karyn. I think I stuttered and stumbled a bit while telling her that she was an inspiration to me, both for opening three successful vegan restaurants and because she has a cookbook on the way.
I hope that I can follow in her footsteps and have my own cookbook one day!
Have you ever met a celebrity chef? Who would you most like to meet in person? Who would you most like to have cook for you?
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9 Responses to My celebrity chef run-ins
I’ve never met a celebrity chef before, but I will probably faint if I ever meet Ina Garten. I’ve been creeping on her website and have looked up all of her favorite things from cooking tools, stemware, place settings, pots… you name it. I even looked up where she buys her shirts ::hides from embarrassment::.
.-= Lin´s last blog ..Karyn’s Cooked Awesome Eats =-.
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I’ve seen Duff and Paula on stage but I never got to meet them. I would love to meet Paula face to face. She’s raunchy and hysterical when nothing’s being recorded.
so cool! i’d freak out if i met nigella. she’s the reason i’m a foodie now!
.-= lynn @ the actor’s diet´s last blog ..Sunday Sunset =-.
I would love to meet Tyler Florence. But I think Giada is up there, too!
Oh we love Tyler, so cute!
We got to meet a few of our raw vegan chefs that we admire.. Ani and Matthew. I hope our cookbook is as good as theirs
.-= Pure2raw Twins´s last blog ..Sunflower cheez zucchini cucumber lasagna raw- gluten free =-.
I’ve never met a celebrity chef – but I could die a happy girl if I ever met Alton Brown – he’s my foodie hero!
I met Giada at at book signing at William Sonoma. She’s pretty and actually short and tiny in person. Not much interaction though, pretty much stand in line, say hi tell her your name so she can sign your book and a picture too. I wish it was more demo and audience participation type of event. But I’ll take what I can.
.-= Lea @ Healthy Coconut´s last blog ..Blue and Navy =-.
How cool to meet such inspiring cooks!!! I bet the food was wonderful. That raw cheesecake certainly looks amazing.