Curtis Stone Cooking Demonstration - Rolling Pin Brandon

Happy Friday! If you know me personally or follow me on twitter, you are probably aware of my sick obsession of reality food TV. I am a Food Network and Bravo junkie. I know more about the personal lives of TV chefs than I do about Hollywood stars.

When I saw Chef Curtis Stone was coming to the Rolling Pin Kitchen Emporium in Brandon to do a cooking demonstration with his new cooking line, I promptly picked up the phone and called my friends Katie (Ruffles and Truffles) and Leslie (Dash of Les) to purchase tickets. Glad we did - they sold out right away.

We were right up front to watch Chef Curtis show off his new tools. Removed from the industrial kitchen, while cooking at home, Chef realized the issues home cooks face. "I was thinking to myself, 'I thought it was so much easier,' " he said. "The whole cooking experience is actually quite daunting. So we developed products to help people with problems they face at home." His cooking line truly is home chef friendly.

From his line, I purchased the Bump & Grind with full porcelain pestle. I almost bought a mortar pestle the other day but all the ones out there are bulky, heavy and ugly. He created one that is slim and counter top friendly with features such as a spout for pouring wet marinades. Plus he signed mine so it makes my pestle the best one in the world.

Here are photos of Chef Curtis demonstrating the bump & grind & cooking a healthy easy stir fry with ingredients found in your refrigerator (Take Home Chef anyone?) :

And now the photos of us meeting Chef Curtis

Megan & Curtis

Signing my Bump & Grind

Curtis & Leslie

Katie and Curtis - Notice that both are laughing. Katie came up with the brilliant idea to have him sign her cookbook - I'm glad you love my bump and grind (what he named the pestle that I purchased).

Curtis & Katie

It was quite comical, to the point that all my creativity went out the window. I had him write something similar in my book............

Thank you Rolling Pin and Chef Curtis Stone for putting on such a great event. Afterwards, the three of us decided we will be coming back to Rolling Pin soon for a cooking class. If you are in the Tampa area, check out their class calendar. Katie recently attended a macaron class and she informed me that the classes are a lot of fun and they give you wine :)