Jamie was AWESOME!

OK so the weekend came and went and I didn't update this damn thing. Oops!

SO - the lowdown on the Jamie Oliver "Art of Cooking" Food Network presentation.

Firstly - Jamie Oliver is an incredible public speaker. He's funny, quick, and very...disarmingly charming but not in a pretentious way. Of course he could be a total dick and we'd never know BUT as a presenter he was fabulous.

His passion for cooking and *teaching* people to cook is contagious and I went home wanting to:
a) watch his new show "Jamie's American Roadtrip" (or something like that); and
b) buy his new cookbook "Jamie's America"
c) sign his Food Revolution petition

Which I guess was probably the point of the presentation. But I'll get to that later.

So the night went sort of like this:

We arrive. Huge lineup of people winding around the convention centre. There are 3500 people in the audience.

We run upstairs looking for "free stuff" and are saddened to see only water & those cone-shaped paper cups (seriously?), and little shot glasses of President's Choice apple cider. Saddened by lack of free stuff (remember - we got the tickets for free but they cost $90 otherwise!), we go to get our seats.

BTW our seats are folding chairs. Folding chairs with padding - but still ugly folding chairs.

On our chairs is a piece of paper to write questions to Jamie on. And a President's Choice "Insider Report" with all their new pre-made dinners/desserts/products for the Holiday 2010 season.
The irony is not lost on me that they are the sponsor of the man who started the "Food Revolution".
*ahem* I digress...

OK so our "Host" Bob Blumer goes on-stage. You might know Bob from "Glutton for Punishment" which is actually a pretty entertaining show - but his voice is really annoying.
Bob is a fellow Canadian now residing in LA. He's okay but his voice is even more annoying in person and his jokes fall flat. Oh and Bob's segment dragged on forever. He talked about the new episodes for the show & cooked something. His piece de resistance was grating a tomato to make quick tomato sauce in a frying pan with shallots & garlic (which was pretty clever actually!)

*there is a break & clean-up - about 10-15 minutes*

Jamie comes out. Women squeal. Cheering, whistles & happiness.
(did I mention the audience was like, 98% women? *Ha!* Men who cook are so f'ing hot!)

Q&A with Jamie (audience submitted questions). Bob Blumer reads the questions to Jamie, and Jamie answers them. It works pretty well.

Highlight of the Q&A for me is Jamie talking about what he looks for in a good knife. Including 8-9", good girth at the base...all kinds of giggles & hollers. Jamie says he only has this problem with Canadian audiences.
(Somehow I don't believe him. The bit seems a bit rehearsed and I know that women are a dirty bunch that it is not restricted to the great white north!) However it comes off as charming and I'm sure the cult of Jamie Oliver claimed a few more converts.

Jamie talked about a recipe that he learned in an illegal restaurant in New York (Peruvian ceviche)
We watched a clip of the show re: this recipe.
Jamie made this Peruvian ceviche. It looked reaaaaaaaaaalllly good.
And I've never even considered making ceviche before so. I was impressed.
Sit there trying to think of how I can get DJ to eat fish "cooked" with acid (lemon juice).
Decide it will never happen and that it will have to wait for a girls night.

More Q&A.

Jamie talks about a recipe (with steak) he learned in East LA with ex-gangsters.
Jamie makes steak. Steak smells FANTASTIC. Sauce smells good. Served with this fresh salsa.
OMG I want this.
Jamie talks about how he spanks the steak with rosemary and demonstrates his spanking method.
The women hoot & holler again. (I swear they're worse than men!)
I decide I must buy this book and try the recipes because the look/smell so good and seeing Jamie Oliver on the cover is not a bad thing (eye candy > no eye candy on cookbook).
Meliss talks me out of buying book for $40 because I can "get it on amazon cheaper) - a *LOT* cheaper.
I can get it for $25.07 (with free shipping). F. Yes.

We sneak out a bit early - Jamie is going a bit rambly, it's 10:00pm, we're both exhausted and don't want to fight with 3,000 middle aged women trying to get Jamie's signature/buy his book/hump his leg/whatever around the escalator so we quietly get up & leave.

On the way out we see some FREE STUFF at the President's Choice table, so we run up and are handed a bag of "Mini Fudge Melts" which are like, chocolate chips for baking, but are actually little chunks of fudge.

I can't eat them so I can't tell you how they taste. But once again, not really the creative "healthy" inspired kind of cooking that Jamie Oliver preaches...

To sum it up - it seemed a lot like a "Promotional" tour for Jamie's new book/show, which is kind of annoying because it wasn't advertised as such. Had I known this is what it was going to be (and had they not charged $90 - $150/ticket) I probably would have been more impressed.

HOWEVER

I had a really good time & loved watching Jamie Oliver cook and interact with the audience.
His enthusiasm for cooking was apparent, and he made me excited to go home & cook some *new* recipes (from his book but whatever) *hehe*

So in conclusion, I wouldn't have paid $90 for it - but thoroughly enjoyed it for what it was. :)