That's Happy Alton Brown Day for those of you not down with the lingo. :)
And for those of you *really* not in the know - I love, love, love Alton Brown! I discovered his show Good Eats sometime in college and watched it religiously the first few years Matt and I were married. Most everything we ate was from Good Eats episodes and most of the kitchen gadgets I acquired were thanks to recommendations from the show. Many a gadget was purchased only after I assured Matt that Alton said I needed it. In all those years the only time he let me down was that Hot Chocolate! And technically it wasn't his fault, it was a misprint on the recipe booklet that came with the DVD (of which I have 27). Once we re-watched the episode and found that it was a "pinch" of cayenne, not "1/4 tsp" everything was right again in the world.
Except years later when Good Eats went off the air. Tragic. I could still catch Alton on Iron Chef America and recently on Cutthroat Kitchen, but it just wasn't the same as hearing all of his scientific explanations for how cooking worked and loving all of his crazy props like when he made a pie "bed" to demonstrate why the lemon meringue top doesn't stick to the filling.
Then Alton went on the road! His first tour completely bypassed Texas and it just didn't work out to fly to see him. Cue the 2014 tour schedule - he was coming to Austin! As soon as the tickets went on sale (yes, I sat there and refreshed the browser until the very first second I could buy!), I bought two VIP tickets to his show. This included front row tickets to the show (in the poncho required - splash zone!) and a meet and greet with Alton! I was so excited! I knew there was a slight chance we *might* be in Alaska, but I figured we would just fly back for it.
Except one small detail...
Airlines generally don't let you fly after you hit the 36 week mark, which happened a grand total of 8 days ago. I did this math long ago though and sadly handed off my tickets to my mom and sister. They know who Alton is, but they are nowhere near as obsessed. I'm sure they've both been forced to watch Good Eats shows while at my house, but that's probably the limit of their exposure.
However.
They loved the show and told me that Alton was super cool in person. And supposedly there is an autographed posted on it's way up here for me. I'm really glad they got to go and even better my sister found all the Good Eats shows available on Amazon Prime (the last 5 seasons!) and is a convert. Yes, really happy for them!
But this still makes me just a teensy bit jealous:
In order to ease some of the sadness, Brittney suggested that we have a Alton Brown dinner party that same night, so I could at least be there in spirit. Of course, Thomas comes down with the flu this same week, so the Hydens bailed on us. (Understandable - they have a trip to Hawaii coming up!) But Matt and I persevered without them!
I handled the soup, side and dessert while Matt cooked the main dish. And we chose the menu based on our most frequently used recipes. Trout was a little tricky to find up here in the land of salmon and halibut, but Matt managed to find a whole trout. After a quick YouTube lesson on filleting trout, we were ready to rock and roll.
There you have it - our AB faves! The trout is covered in a caper-lemon-butter sauce (When I tried to find it, the recipe is no longer available online! Luckily I have all three Good Eats cookbooks - feel free to ask for the recipe if you want.), cheese soup, and roasted asparagus. I might have cheated and bought the sourdough bread, but the bakery at our Carr's does such a good job, I figured AB would approve. :)
Oh and let's not forget dessert! One of our eternal favorites - Tres Leche cake! This was always a favorite at work and super easy to make. I hadn't made it in a long time though, so I swear it tasted even better than before. Absence makes the heart grow fonder...!
While I may have missed my culinary hero this time, I am hopeful that he will bring his Edible Inevitable tour out for another run and perhaps get somewhere closer to our new home. Seattle would be perfect, but I have nothing against flying to Hawaii as well. I'm pretty sure the tickets are about the same price. :)