That's cool meeting Weather Channel people... but you probably could've done without the hurricanes

Meeting Alton was awesome, I posted about it last night on another thread. He was so nice. I know I was gushing when I met him because he is my absolute favorite tv chef He looked the same in person as on tv and he is so quick witted. He had me laughing almost the whole time.

How neat! He is a rather cute guy, in a nerdy sort of way!!!

I met Fannie Flagg one time at a book signing, she was such a gracious and beautiful lady! The event was sponsored by one of our local book stores, and boy did they "Put on the RITZ" for the event, we got to eat finger foods, and drink wine all compliments of them! I cherish that book! I had taken some money my Mom sent me for my Birthday and used it to purchase the book. So the whole way it turned out was super special to me!

RE: Earlier this year on a trip to Asheville, NC I stopped in a used bookstore and found a copy of Mastering the Art of French Cooking and in was an edition from the 60s no less! I paid $4 for it!! I was so happy. My find of the year!

(I love Ashville and want to retire there in several years, mise! But that's another topic all together!)

I have a great cookbook-find story. Julia Child has been my FAV since I was a l'il guy watching her on PBS in the early 70's. Nearly 20 years ago when her monumental "The Way To Cook" came out- of course I snatched it up- my first Julia book. Inside the cover were listed her remaining books- I instantly wanted every one of them! Of couse that was before the internet and easy ordering- so I went from bookstore to bookstore learning that all of her books were out of print and at that time, the resurgence of her books' popularity hadn't begun yet, so unless one could happen onto a used copy, they were hard to come by.

Well, I was working in beautiful St. Charles, IL. where treasure shops abound. One afternoon, dressed in my chef's whites I stopped at an antiques market on my way to work. After rummaging thru several booths, I found a big box marked "Cookbooks". Low and behold- right on top of the stack inside the box was Julia's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking Vol. Two". I was really taken aback! I then noticed that the WHOLE BOX was priced at something ridiculously low- like ten bucks! In a hurry to get to work, I didn't really have proper time to wrestle with sorting thru the others in the box to see what might be there, so I hoisted the box onto my shoulder, threw my ten bucks down and went to the car w/ all of them, figuring- even if the rest were trash- Julia's alone was worth MORE than ten bucks!

I got sidetracked and it was like a week before I remembered the box in my trunk and so I made some time to get it out and start to go thru it to see what other cook books I now owned. Can you imagine how I felt like the LUCKIEST man in the world when I discovered that ALL of JULIA's books we in the bottom of that box? WOW!

Another neat looking extra-large volume was also in that box along w/ all of Julia's that instantly became another treasured favorite, full of all kinds of incredible vintage recipes, menus, photos and travel journals: "A Treasury of Great Recipes" by Mary & Vincent Price (yes- the actor).

Amazon.com: A Treasury of Great Recipes: Price Mary & Vincent, Fritz Kredel: Books

Working at hotels and resorts, I've seen some celebs- and have met a couple too- though it can be tricky 'cause at most work-places in the industry it's really frowned upon to approach a famous guest from any sort of "I love you, I've seen every one of your movies- can you please sign my bare butt?" attitude! Ha!

In fact, I've worked at places that forbade contact- and another actually provided a short segment of training at orientation regarding celebs- the thing I recall most is we were told to never address famous guests by their presumed names- as many times a guest will check-in to a hotel using a name unfamiliar to us, and that name they use may by a false alias- OR it could in fact be their real name, versus their more common stage-name. For instance, The famous country music mother/daughter duo once stayed at a hotel I worked at and they signed their food-chits "Diana Ciminella" (Naomi) and "Christina Ciminella" (Wynonna). And actress/country singer Reba McEntire signs her married name: "R. Blackstock". I only saw these celebs from a distance and never made contact... But over the years I've also seen, walked near, or rode elevators with folks ranging from "Laugh In" commedienne Ruth Buzzy to "24" star Dennis Haysbert.

There are two famous folks who I did get the chance to meet and actually work with in an interesting, but very small capacity, though.

The first was singer Patty LaBelle (who I'm a huge fan of!) I was the sous chef at Peoria's Hotel Pere Marquettte. Ms. LaBelle was doing 3 shows at the nearby Civic Center and she reserved the whole top floor of the Pere- including the Presidential Suite- which has an elaborate kitchen- for 3 days/nights. Ms. LaBelle checked into her suite- and her people into the other rooms and suites also on the same floor, and she had several pieces of luggage that contained pots & pans and such. She made it clear that she would be doing some cooking- and she used a bell-hop to do her grocery-buying for her from lists she herself wrote-up... (and the bell-hop enlisted LUCKY ME to tag along with him, since he didn't know Old Bay from Salt). Anyway, 3 times during her stay the bell-hop and I went to Kroger's to pick-up items ranging from pimento cheese, whole hens and roundsteaks, to vanilla wafers/bananas/vanilla pudding. We heard reports from bell-staff and housekeepers for 3 days about the fantastic aromas wafting through the corridors and elevators during their stay!

Next story: in May '94 I worked at the Kenai Princess Lodge on the Kenai Peninsula when "Good Morning America" traveled north and televised their show from various Alaskan locales for a 2-week period. They were the exclusive lodge-guests, buying every cabin for that period- so they had the run of the place. I recall 3 huge semi trailers were parked at the bottom of a bluff down a winding road from the lodge- later we learned those trailers contained computers, satellites and filming "stuff" and that particular spot gave them best sending/receiving reception in the mountianous area.

The group of over 100 folks were fun to host- including the 3 best-known celebs among them: broadcasters Joan Lunden, Charlie Gibson and weather-dude Spencer Christian.

Two things stand-out about their visit- 1.) some GMA big-wig executive had a birthday while the group were with us and I made a huge decorated Baked Alaska that I ignited and marched into the dimmed banquet-room carrying all ablaze, presented it to he & his wife and the group, and then started the round of "Happy Birthday to You"... and it took the group forever to join in, so I sang like half the danged song all by myself- talk about self-conscious!


2.) During a filming segment on an outdoor deck of the main lodge building with a mountain as a back-drop, there was a moment where they were filming short takes of quick news blurbs with serious faces, that evidently would be edited for potential use as break-away pieces to news segments, later. During one solemn moment, Joan’s concerned face reported “…and now, back to New York for more on the death of Jaqueline Kennedy Onassis”. I remember finding that bit interesting, especially since the ailing former first lady had not yet died. Of course she had been admitted to a hospital days before, and had since returned home to be with family in her last days, but to my knowledge she hadn’t yet passed (she did in fact die the next day). I can just recall finding this bit of preparedness and forethought by the news staff a bit telling of all the other bits and pieces they had likely prepared for well in advance over the years- that a quick turn in fate may have caused to be scrapped to the editing room floor. Interesting!

I'm not a particularly celebrity-conscious person. As a kid I worked at Yankee Stadium, when baseball players counted. And I worked as a set-designer/stage manager all over the Northeast.

To me, these are just people, doing their jobs. Or not, as the case may be. And usually I'm only conscious of them when they do something that, to me, isn't right----such as the disdain and disrespect many of them have for their fans.

An exception, though, was Sam Eliot. At the time they were filming Gettysburg (originally to be called Killer Angels, btw) the first Battle of Brandy Station reenactment was being held. There were some interesting parallels between the re-enactment and the actual battle. For instance, the battle was the largest equestrian fight in North American history (something like 19,000 mounted troops) and the reenactment was the largest equstrian reenactment held to that date.

The important one: The battle was held during a period when it was unusually warm in northern Virginia. So, too, the reenactment, where the thermometer reached as high as 105F.

Gettysburg was also the last film in which reenactors were taken advantage of by Hollywood. But that's a different story.

At any rate, several of the Gettysburg cast were slated for special appearances, including Sam Eliot. He was suppossed to make a speech, and then spend a half hour signing autographs. However, he refused to leave so long as one fan was waiting for him to sign something. So picture this: four hours later, in that heat, with Sam dressed all in wool, and he's still signing autographs and greeting everybody with a smile and a kind word.

Later on, at the press conference, he posed for a picture with his arms wrapped around Friend Wife who is cuddled against his chest. Her girlfriends are all impressed by that photo. But not us. We're more impressed by his actions earlier in the day.