Brown's a nice color

Alton Brown. Who would've ever thought that I would travel about 6 hours, round trip, to see a chef cook; and then wait another two hours for him to sign the cover of my (his) book. If asked this question when I was 18, I would have scoffed at the notion that, someday, that person might be me. And so it was. Shortly after my return from Baco Raton FLA, feeling weary and cringing at the thought of more driving (I had driven to and from FLA), I commenced the journey. To say that I almost did not go would be understating the truth. I was essentially not going. Though I had looked forward to this moment for months, the long hours in the car to and from FLA had left me road weary. As I was talking to my faithful traveler - who's always up for more travels - I had a moment of gestalt-like insight. Of course I was going. I had to go. I'd been planning this for months. I knew the timing was going to be bad - knew that before I even left for FLA. The fact of the matter is some things only happen once in a great while. And if we don't take advantage of those opportunities we wind up kicking ourselves in our collective rears. And so I went.
It was a dark and stormy night. No really, it was. Read show 1 of my peter gabriel road diaries and you'll see why this seems to happen to me. Anyway, we finally made it - about three hours one way. Back to my old stomping ground - NJ. I remembered then why I could not return to NJ for any extended period of time. Everyone's in a rush to get somewhere. I swear that most people are just going out for a quart of milk. But in that short time, they make 8 cell phone calls, drive with their hands off the wheel more than on and honk, curse and flip as if it's some sporting event.

Alas, we arrive. Early. Plenty of time for good seats. Probably us two and maybe 40 other folks there. Alton is a self described geek. As I look around I see a lot of folks, myself included, that are just plain quirky. We're a fun bunch. Spirited. And happy. Happy that our teacher and mentor will be arriving soon. None of us really know what to expect. And as we theorize about various cooking this-n-thats, the entire store slowly fills up. I look behind me as we close in on the TIME and realize there must be 400 or so people there.

Alton arrives. Black chef's jacket. Nice. Hair everywhere. Cool. And he is in command of the entire production. He does not miss a beat. His diction and speaking abilities are superb. His wit as sharp as a Cutco. He peforms for about 70 minutes. I think I learned something. But really I was totally mesmerized by him. I had this weird, giddy smile on my face the entire time. It was like that old fairy tale - the one where if you make a face and someone slaps on the back that face is frozen. I think someone slapped me on the back that evening. And I found myself enjoying - savoring - every moment of that experience. When the line formed for the book signing, pretty much everyone got in order. Lemmings. I stood by his table. For me, the thrill was watching him interact with others. He was truly humble, thankful and gracious. He stayed and took his time with everyone; signed every last book; took every picture requested. It was a great night, very pure and very fun. And I'm grateful that I took that opportunity.