Today…was a really great day. A LONG day, but a long day. My two children were absolute rock-stars (and were well rewarded for their efforts!) We left the house at 10, and didn’t come back until 3:30, with multiple destinations in between. First, it was about two hours of visiting to ladies in the congregation. The children knew that if they were good during the visits, they would each have a Snickers bar waiting at our next stop – Costco!
We came WELL prepared, because I knew we would be there for quite a while. We were there for a book signing, and in my experience those can be a lengthy endeavor. We were smart. I grabbed a cart, and padded the bottom with a blanket. The kids both had small bags packed with toys from home.
The line was outside of the building, and we were all pretty grateful that the morning’s drizzle stopped, and the sun came out for a bit.
When those lost their luster, I pulled out the iPad. Where’s Waldo to the rescue!
I bought my book a week in advance, just to make sure I would have it for the signing.
The line was a well-oiled machine. We lined the outside of the building. As we came through the side door into the warehouse, a man checked our receipts and marked our books as purchased. A few feet along, a woman with a Sharpie carefully wrote my name on a hot pink sticky note, opened my book to the right page and sent me along to the short line near Giada. Once I was about three people away, I was instructed to put my camera away. My book was taken from me, and set on the table. My cart was taken from me (with my children, natch). When my turn came, Giada greeted me by name, smiled at my compliments, signed the book, and that was it! (By the way? She really is as gorgeous in person as she is on TV. Her smile lights up the room, even in a fluorescent-lit warehouse. I was oddly pleased to find her signature décolletage covered up – the drizzly Seattle weather is much more suited to the lovely turtleneck she was wearing!) I was reunited with my cart (and my children *grin*). There was an area set aside directly across from Ms. De Laurentis for snap-happy customers to stand and try to get a good shot of her. (The reasoning behind prohibiting photographs with her is undoubtably to speed up the process. She signed probably 200 books in an hour!) With my unwieldy cart, I couldn’t get a great vantage point…and I had forgotten to bring a zoom lens. So.
There were bouncers set up along the main aisle to keep rubber-neckers moving.
Tonight, I just had to test out the latest addition to my cookbook library. Success! (Not a great shot…but I was so hungry, I didn’t think I could wait while I staged the food. So. Voila.)
Quinoa cooked in chicken broth. Fresh baby bok choy leaves from the garden. And Giada’s contributions – a carrot and sweet potato mash that was really tasty, plus a broiled tilapia filet in a lemon, green onion, yogurt sauce. Delicious! It’s a different style from what I usually cook, so the meal took an hour to prepare, instead of the advertised 30 minutes. However, I think this could be a delicious way to eat, so I’m going to try to get a little more organized and make a few more recipes from this cookbook! The directions are simple and the ingredients are very easy to obtain. In the introduction to the book, she gives some great ideas for tailoring her recipes to your own personal diet (subbing quinoa for rice, removing meat from the dish, and other healthful and helpful options).
Giada’s cookbook is currently on sale on Amazon.com for just about the same price I paid at Costco!
Looks amazing! (I’m hungry.)
I still have some of the puree left. It was a good call to only make two fillets – I had to twist Lo Gung’s arm to get him to finish the last half of the second fillet.
I’m hungry too. hahaha
How fun! You really nailed the whole Line With Kids thing. I wonder if she’ll be in my neck of the woods anytime soon (I’ll have to check her itinerary). I love her cooking.