The one where I meet my girl crush

Oh, what's that?  That blurry photo right there?  It's just me and Carla Hall from Top Chef hanging out.  No big deal.

LIES!  It's a HUGE deal!  I just met Carla from Top Chef!  Insert all kinds of girly squeals here.

She happens to be doing some cooking demonstrations at a tradeshow that I'm attending this week. I knew she'd be doing demos in the exhibit hall and I was just hoping I'd be able to catch one in between the chaos that is running my company's booth.

But when I came in to check on something during set up today, she was just quietly preparing her station.  So I seized the opportunity to snap into starry eyed fan mode and went over to say hello. 

And confess that I have a girl crush on her.

She was amazing.  So nice, so sweet.  Happy to accommodate my gushing over how much I adore her and her concept of cooking with love and how the world needs more Carla Hall!  She even indulged me with that blurry photo.  The only way it could have been better is if I was actually eating some of her food.  She rocks.

Unfortunately, the exhibit hall is calling my name so it's back to work.  New recipes coming next week!

xoxo

Three Things I'm Loving - Spring edition

Talk about a bait-and-switch...  I finally take this little blog public to all my friends under the guise that I'll be sharing recipes and then I switch it up with a post like this. Apologies for the brief interruption but there are plenty of recipes to keep you busy until this weekend when I have time to write up a few new posts.  If you're new to the site, try the sweet potato chipfries and my new favorite snack.  They are reader tested and approved!

In the meantime, I wanted to share some of the food related things I'm loving right now.  A little bit like "Oprah's Favorite Things" only minus a few 0's at the end of my bank statement and without the high priced goodies.  Sorry friends, raw deal!

1. Garlic Twist - this little gadget peels, crushes and minces garlic faster and better than I ever could.  Garlic is tricky for me.  I love cooking with fresh garlic but I can never mince it as finely as I'd like and it makes everything sticky.  This is a winner of 6 industry awards and is my most beloved kitchen gadget next to my food processor.  Pick it up on Amazon for about $15.  Then pick up some more and give them to your friends.  This photo is awful, check out the website to see it in all it's glory. 

2. Fran's Sea Salt Caramels - Bless the person that thought up combining sweet and salty flavors.  And double bless Miss. Fran Bigelow, the artist behind my most favorite truffle (cheesy yes, but these really are a work of art).  They're like a little piece of heaven.  If heaven was a caramel filled truffle with the perfect smattering of salt.  I can only get these in Seattle so I always grab a package of the gray and sea salt caramels when I'm in town.  During my last trip I grabbed the economy sized package and have been nibbling on them ever since, which I tried to conceal in the photo below.

3. Jack's Special Salsa - the Royfriend's sister introduced me to this a few weeks ago and I'm already on my second container.  It's like fresh restaurant style salsa, but right in my fridge whenever I want it!  Which unfortunately is quite often.  They have a bunch of different flavors like mango-peach and sweet onion that I'm dying to try.  This is a serious upgrade for taco night!

Be back later this week with some new stuff.  Happy Eating!