Thank you everyone in St. Louis, inspiring to be around people in other fields who love to cook! I feel now there was so much more to say!
The Atlanta Viking event is sold out, I'm told, but I'll pop into the Borders right near it between 5 and 6 if anyone wants a signed book or to discuss chicken fried pork belly caesars.
And thanks everyone for the good comments.
UPDATE: In respose to rockandroller. These are cooking demos in viking's very nice teaching kitchens. I do three a course meal, very much home cooking food, talk about cooking, a lot about the fundamentals and making cooking at home better. so i focus on base recipes, recipes that teach fundamental techniques so that once you know the base, you can take it any direction you want. Talk, cooking, questions, and food, that's what the demos are all about.
rockandroller
Can you tell the blog readers a little about what happens at the Viking classes? Someone asked me, and I wasn't sure. Are you doing the same thing at each one? Is it more talking or a cooking demonstration or hands-on, or what?
RMW
you going to hang out with Alton why you are here?
Fellow foodie in the ATL...getting your book tomorrow
kurt
I'll call your chicken fried pork belly caesars and raise you my tacos de chicharrón that will be increasing my girth ten fold tonight.
Paulie [eatl/ga]
Aw crap, had I known that you would have secured a spot for a book signing I would have held off buying it until tonight.
ruhlman
alton, as fate would have it is in CLEVELAND when i'm atlanta. he's doing the fabulous food show there.
french tart
DAMMIT, and i'm at work! what time do you anticipate being at Borders? sorry we put so much pressure on you. but inquiring minds want to know. thanky!
french tart
well crap. if i learned to read, i'd be able to see that you posted the time. duh. sorry.
Sakurako
Cleveland, Cincinnati...no one ever seems to want to come to Dayton. 🙁
ruhlman
i'll be in dayton week from monday! books and comapany i believe...
rmw
too odd about you and alton in the 2 cities. Enjoy our state and can you muster up a rain dance?
Sakurako
Excellent! The one at The Greene, I take it. I'll do everything I can to be there; thanks for letting me know.
Kay
Do you make more money if we pay full retail at the shop or if we buy through your Amazon affiliate link?
Erin
Ugggghhh, I SO want to be there. The Viking School was a but pricey and out-of-the-way for me. Next time, come hit us up in the city proper! We're all stoked.
rebecca
I lurked at Borders for a while, but I seem to have missed you. Rats. Better luck next time, I guess. Hope you enjoy your stay in Atlanta!
rmw
so how did the south treat you???sweet i hope...did you do the rain dance??
safe travels...
One Bum Knee
Unfortunately I missed your signing today. Any chance you had dinner with Alton and will be hanging around our fair city (Atlanta) another day? Oh, good luck, BESH!!! No way Symon takes the title. How many shows has Food Network tried to give him over the years? If we wanted to see him on tv, we might have tuned in four or five years ago...
doodad
I am just cursed. I found out way too late.
Maybe next time Michael.
david
I attended the Atlanta event on Friday and had a really good time. The food, wine and demo/discussion were all terrific. I can post the menu if anyone is interested.
kelvin holland
In general I am inspired by your writing. It's not as entertaining or amusing as Bill Buford's "Heat," or as free flowing and exhuberant as Bourdain's, but it is direct and sincere on a level the other two don't match.
But! "The Elements of Cooking," I don't get it. If you are not a serious cook, all of the professional terms are of little or no interest. If you are a serious or trained cook the book is just way to elemental.
"The Next Iron Chef" seemed to me to be a failure. Forget the Besh - Symon controversy. The real question is why even the final showdown didn't generate the energy or the imagination of a regular season "Iron Chef."
"Top Chef" has been much more entertaining. The cooking may not be as refined, but they manage to pull off some sense of suspense.
I don't really think you should get sent to the office for calling a watermellon soup a consomme. It's just your work on "The Elements of Cooking" has made you a little pedantic American cuisine has always been about exageration - that's why we love it. Besh's problem was hubris. He was too convinced from the beginning that he was the one. The sad part of it is that I, like Andrew and Donatella, think he really was. His humility seemed faux and that's a faux pas.