Good Times Getting "Good Food"

Jeremy loves cooking shows.

In fact, he always says that, had he not met me, he'd have married Giada Whatever-Her-Name-Is, to which I always respond, "You probably should have, because she's way richer than I'll ever be, and I'm pretty sure she doesn't swell up like a hog in August in the latter months of her pregnancy." He's too sweet to agree.


These days, Jeremy's more into the Pioneer Woman than Giada (personally, I think she's far funnier on Twitter than TV). We also watch a lot of Trisha Yearwood's (my hero!) Southern Kitchen. Jeremy's favorite foodie, though, is Jamie Deen.

Imagine my excitement when, as I scrolled through the headlines, while drinking my morning Coca-Cola, I saw that Mr. Deen was heading to Easley! THIS VERY DAY! I thought about picking Jeremy up from work and whisking him away to a surprise encounter at the new Sam's Club on 123. But I'm as good at surprises as Jones is at going without milk at bedtime, so as soon as Jeremy came downstairs this morning, I told tentatively told him my plan.

Turns out, he was as excited as I was. Sure enough, at 5:10 p.m., I picked him up, and off we went. We got there about 20 minutes before the booksigning was supposed to start. Not only was there already a line, but Jamie was already signing, so we got our copy of "Good Food" and queued up for what we assumed would be a long wait.

It wasn't long at all. Even though Jamie signed every book and took every picture asked of him, the line moved really quickly. Then came our turn. I was honestly ready to snap a shot, get a signature, and get out of his way, but as soon as we got to Jamie, he held out his hands to take Jones.

When Jeremy introduced us, he said, "I'm Jeremy Pressley. This is my wife, Kristin. This is Jones, and we've got Freddie on the way." Jamie said, "So Freddie's coming?" It just shocked me to think that he was really listening enough to repeat his name.

After Jeremy's introduction, Jamie talked to us for about ten minutes. Jeremy asked him to "settle a bet" between him and me about whether or not the kitchen on the show is in his home (it's not; I was right!). We also told him how, a month before Jones was born, we'd seen an episode where he talked about (his son) Jack's friend Jones coming over, and I ended up screaming, "Jeremy! There's another Jones." He told us he'd had his bachelor party up around Asheville. And when we left, Jamie asked when Freddie was due and offered his congratulations. All in all, he held and loved on Jones the entire time (said Jones made him miss his boys) and treated us, as if we were the only people in the building, let alone the long line that was getting progressively bigger behind us.

I was absolutely amazed.

This wasn't Jones's FIRST celebrity encounter ... remember when he met Nerlens Noel in the Qdoba parking lot last January? ... but it was definitely his best, and given the way we were treated by Jamie Deen, it's gonna be a hard one to top.

In honor of our awesome experience, Jeremy decided to make Jamie's chili recipe for Jones's birthday party instead of his own. I hope it ends up as tasty as the time we spent with the wonderful man who made it up!

We'll see this weekend ...

UPDATE!!!!!! (10/05/13)

Last nite (Friday), a friend posted on my Facebook page that Jones had made it onto the local TV Magazine - "Scene on 7 (WSPA - CBS)."  Click here to see the video, because I'm not savvy enough to figure out how to embed it.