Tyler Florence's Crabcakes

One of my favorite celebrity chef's is Tyler Florence. I've had the pleasure of meeting Tyler on two separate occasions. Once was in Birmingham at a Southern Living Bake-Off on April 2, 2003. I know that was the specific date because he autographed my copy of "Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen". He wrote "Patti, keep on cooking", then signed and dated it. The autograph probably wouldn't have happened if my friend Michelle hadn't been with me. She is more bold than myself so took my book with her's up to the stage to get his autograph. I was too scared - can you believe that? Yep, I was.

The second occasion where I met Tyler was at a book signing (I should have figured there would be one in Atlanta). My neighbor at the time, Belinda, and I took off work specifically to be at the book signing and meet Tyler, once again. You see, Belinda had the honor of hosting Tyler and his film crew in her home once. Yes, she wrote in for his show, Food 911, about the perils of baking a duck and she was picked. A few months later Tyler and his crew descended on my neighborhood during the middle of the week to film the episode about how to cook an awesome duck. I only wish I had been there but, unfortunately, outsiders were discouraged from filming.

But, at the book signing, he recognized Belinda and we all chatted for a bit before he had to move on to the other fans waiting patiently to have their cookbooks autographed. I have to say I'm thrilled to have met him not only once but twice. What more could a foodie want?

Back to the point of this post - sorry, I get carried away sometimes! Tonight I decided to make Tyler's Crabcakes from the above mentioned cookbook. It's my favorite crabcake recipe and honestly is the only one I ever make. The only alteration I do is I bake mine instead of pan frying them. They are to die for!!

Crab Cakes (slightly adapted)

2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger
1 pound lump crabmeat, preferably Dungeness, picked over for shells
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 green onion, finely chopped, white and green parts
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1 1/2 teaspoons red chili paste, such as sambal
juice of one lemon
1 egg white
sea salt and ground white pepper

Place crabmeat in bottom of small bowl. Add remaining ingredients. Season with salt and pepper. Gently fold all ingredients until thoroughly combined. Using your hands, form the mixture into six crabcakes. Place on a cookie sheet sprayed with PAM. Place in refrigerator overnight or until crabcakes have set.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place crabcakes in heated oven, cooking 25-30 minutes or until browned.

Serve with your favorite mustard, cocktail or aoili sauce!

American Idol

Well, not exactly but she sure is my idol! And who do I speak of? Why, Martha Stewart, of course! Yes, as a fellow "foodie" she is #1 on my list of fav's . . . the top tamale, if you will! I've followed her career with all the ups and downs for many, many years now.

Yesterday I had the extraordinary opportunity to meet Martha in person (yes, we are on a first name basis). She was in Atlanta at the Georgia Aquarium doing a book signing of her Martha Stewart's Cookies recipe book and the Martha Stewart's Cooking School book. The deal was you had to purchase one or the other from the Georgia Aquarium website. The purchase included a ticket to the book signing which was to start at 12:30 p.m. I chose the Martha Stewart's Cookies recipe book and I am glad I did. It is full of fabulous cookie recipes. I can't wait to start trying some of them on my workmates!

Back to the book signing. My friend Michelle and I arrived at the aquarium around noon (yes, we both took off work for this). As I said, the book signing was scheduled to start at 12:30 p.m., however, it really didn't start until closer to 1:15 p.m. or so because Martha was busy doing TV spots, interviews, and greeting contest winners. But she finally did begin the book signing and the line started moving - slowly, very slowly.

While standing in line, we chatted with others around us, chatted about Second Chance Greyhounds, and we also reminisced about the day we drove to Birmingham to watch Southern Living's Cook-Off which was hosted by none other than . . . Tyler Florence. Yes, the hottie chef from Food Network's Food 911 and Tyler's Ultimate. That is where I obtained an autograph from Tyler on my Tyler Florence's Real Kitchen cookbook. Yep, I did, all thanks to Michelle (yes, the same Michelle who was at Martha Stwart's signing with me). You see, the Tyler gig wasn't really a book signing but I took mine anyway because you just never know, you know? Anyway, after the show was over, Tyler was milling about on stage. Michelle got his attention and asked him if he would sign my book. He said sure, he would, so he stepped away to get a Sharpie at which time he came back and signed my book for me. I was thrilled, to say the least. A few years after that I met him again at a real book signing for his other cookbook, Eat this Book, so I have both of mine autographed.

A few years later, my friend Belinda and I were in New York and we went to eat dinner at Mesa Grill. You would never guess who was in there. Yep, Bobby Flay himself, another hottie chef from Food Network who owns the chain of Mesa Grill restaurants. Belinda was able to get him to come over to our table. We chatted a bit, he kissed our hands and then he was off. WOW!! Again, I was thrilled!

Back to Martha - I think we stood in line for about three hours but we finally did make it to the front. By then, my feet felt like bloody stumps but I didn't care. I was about to meet Martha, in the flesh!

It was my turn to approach her table. I was a nervous wreck as you can well imagine. I handed her my book (hoping she wouldn't notice my not so fresh manicure) and said to her, "hi, it is so nice to meet you." At which time she replied, "nice to meet you, too." Then I stupidly said, "I bet your hand is about to fall off" and she replied "we'll see". Afterwards, I laughed at myself and at her response . . . "we'll see". Now, what the heck does that mean? Did she really expect it to fall off? Did it feel as if it were falling off at that time and moment? Who knows. By then she had probably signed 300 or more books so I imagine it was hurting quite a bit!

Anyway, Michelle was next in line. She handed Martha her two books and one of Martha's handlers told her, "there are only a hundred more people" or something to that effect. She looked up at Michelle and said "what they really mean is there are 300 more". Too funny. I imagine she was exhausted by then but she was a good sport about it.

We left there and hobbled down the street (well, I was hobbling with my bum foot I had squeezed into a boot so I would look half-way "normal" for Martha) to McCormick & Schmick's Seafood Restaurant to grab a very late lunch. We enjoyed our lunch along with cocktails to celebrate "Martha Stewart Day" as I had dubbed it. Michelle and I both commented about how fantastic she looked. Absolutely flawless and so young. I wonder what her secret is! :)

We finally left downtown and headed home. The fun was over and it was back to reality. I think I walked into my house at 5:30 p.m. What a day it was, for sure! But definitely well worth it. As you can imagine, getting Martha's signature and meeting her was quite a thrill for this foodie. Next on my list is Wolfgang Puck and, of course, Emeril and I wouldn't mind meeting Paula Deen and Alton Brown as well. All in good time, I say, all in good time.