That was SO worth it!

[offbalance]

I sent a text lj post that doesn't seem to have arrived yet. Ah well.

Anyway, OMG. So I met Alton.

And he's awesome, truly.

I got to B&N about half an hour before the event, and it turned out to be good timing. I bought a copy of the book (I haven't done that in awhile, since I mostly get them for free. Buying one makes me incredibly grateful to those of you out there who are buying books and paying my salary. Yipe!) I am happy to say that it's a really cool book, though. It encapsulates Season 2 of Feasting on Asphalt (aka known as "The River Run.") I'd had two questions prepared to ask Mr. Brown, but after reading through the book, I'm pretty certain that his favorite St. Louis donut shop is World's Fair donuts (zyll, take note!). There was a Gaiman-like line, but it moved quickly, as he was only signing books and there were no posed photos (boo!). I was super impressed by his varied fan base, though. All races, creeds, ages, walks of life - the love of Alton crosses all lines, it would seem. I chatted with a guy on line whose 17-year-old son is obsessed with Good Eats, and his wife, a food scientist!, is impressed by the science level in the program.

After a not long-wait (only about 45 minutes or so), I finally had my turn. He looks exactly like he does on TV, only he's sporting some rather funky new specs. He shook everyone's hand and said, "Hi, I'm Alton!!" Eee. So cute. Anyway, he introduced himself to me, and told him that I loved his work, especially Feasting on Asphalt, and asked if they were going to do another season. His response? "We leave sunday."

And now a pause, so I can flap and squee. ::FLAP FLAP FLAP, SQUEE SQUEE SQUEE::

(please note that I didn't do this in his presence, but I choose to do this now, instead.)

He continued "We've traded in the bikes for sailboats and we'll be heading to the Caribbean."

Another pause as I: ::FLAP FLAP FLAP, SQUEE SQUEE SQUEE::

It will air in September. "I'm probably going to get eaten by a shark," he joked, "But there you have it." <3 him.

Granted, I was Spazzle von Spazztic of the village of Spazzington, but I so don't care. He had a whole store full of people beyond me to sign books for, and I didn't want to take up more of his time, but I'm still sort of annoyed to have gotten lockjaw. *sigh* Still, the mild annoyance is totally trumped by the fangirl glowy-ness of it all. AB FTW!

It was so very well worth it.

Comments

[firynze.livejournal.com]

Pardon me while I join you in flapping and squeeing.

*flapflapflapsqueesqueesqueeflapflapflap*

Is it sad that one of the reasons I'm currently prepping a cookbook for submission somewhere is so that maybe, someday, I'll have an excuse to meet Alton? And his awesome specs collection?

(also, fair warning. leopard_lady and I bumped into each other today elsewhere in LJ-land and have decided that I must, at some point, come visiting and we must have a Fry Fest that involves an insane variety of french fries, all homemade)

ETA: Also also? Curse you and your free books. I just get copies of the magazines to check for post-printing fuckups.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Nothing like a good flap n squee. :D

There are many more reasons to put together a cookbook, but that's as good a reason as any! The easiest way would be to do a book about food science, as that's his raison d'etre.

Fry fest? zomg. I am so in favor of this plan.

Maybe we can combine it with Death by Dumpling - this idea I had ages ago, where you gather dumplings from all cuisines (China, Japan, Thailand, India, Poland, etc.) then compare and consume.

And as a recipient of some of those freebies, I wouldn't complain too much if I were you. ;)

[firynze.livejournal.com]

*flapflapflap*

I should email you about my cookbook. You'd be a goooooood person to run it past in the development stages. :-D

And yes! Fryfest! Oven-roasted 'tater fries, oven-roasted rum sweet potato fries, fries with rosemary, fries dusted with lavender salt...SO MANY FRIES.

And I'd totally be down with a Death By Dumpling. I'm inept at making proper pirohy, but I make a damn fine samosa and I just found a recipe for manti that I reeeeally wanna try out.

(and heee, no, my bookshelves aren't complaining. You just get better freebies than I do! Also, I'm still cranky that I didn't get to go on the field trip to the auto show last week, because that would've been a pretty damn fine job perk)

[valjean615.livejournal.com]

Yay for meeting Alton! *jealous* and yay more Feasting on Asphalt (though I guess it's not Asphalt, if he's going to be on a sailboat...Feasting on the Open H20?)

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

It was awesome. And he's also going to be at the Penn Plaza borders at 5pm today, if you want to try to catch him.

It's going to be called Feasting on Waves! I so can not wait to see it.

And OMG - I left out the funniest part!

He said, "We traded in the bikes for boats. I'm probably going to get eaten by a shark, but there you have it."

[firynze.livejournal.com]

"He got eated by a shaaaark."

*cracks up*

[penmage.livejournal.com]

Hey, I was there too! I also thought it was hilarious when he introduced himself. :fangirls:

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Hee. I thought it was adorable, and so him.

[rubytramp.livejournal.com]

Faints. Is jellus like you wouldn't believe.

My husband doesn't understand my lurve for the Alton.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

He may be going to Michigan, too! You should check his website!

[erratic0101.livejournal.com]

World's Fair Donuts are in fact his favorite. I have eaten said donuts and they were incredible. They were sold to me by an incredibly nice old lady with a St.Louis accent who rang me up on a register older than the Shroud of Turin (seriously, the buttons were in Aramaic)

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

Hahahaha.

I think the register tape is the Shroud of Turin. I'm going to be going there during my time in St.Louis, most definitely.

Nice seeing you the other night, btw!

[erratic0101.livejournal.com]

Same here =)

One tip about the donut shop. Go during the week.
I went on a sunday and i think the donuts were made the day before.
Still amazing, but i can imagine how much more amazing if they were fresher =)

[trappedinabay.livejournal.com]

Heeheehee! That sounds so fun. I'm still kicking myself for missing it.

When I met Ira Glass a month or two ago, I totally clammed up. It was awful. Instead of saying something clever or charming like I meant to, I just turned bright red and squeaked "thank you!" when he signed his book for me.

[offbalance.livejournal.com]

It was fun! I'm sort of kicking myself for not going to meet Ira Glass. I would have spazzed out even worse around him - he's soooo my nerdcrush. I barely would have managed a few vowel sounds before I had to go away.

[trappedinabay.livejournal.com]

Oh my god, he's so freaking cute in person. He's so charming and articulate and funny. Gah!

[(Anonymous)]

omg that is hilarious; avi texted me about this event on thurs and i couldn't go because i had to go to a former coworker's retirement party, bit i'm so glad you went and i got to hear about it! i love him. like, love.

[whtegrlwthehair.livejournal.com]

omg that is hilarious; avi texted me about this event on thurs and i couldn't go because i had to go to a former coworker's retirement party, bit i'm so glad you went and i got to hear about it! i love him. like, love.