For those of you who don’t know, the Delicious Food Show took place this past weekend in Toronto.  My husband and I were thrilled to attend (and also thrilled to have a weekend off thanks to the babysitters, I mean grandparents!).

The Delicious Food Show, was hosted by an old friend, Mike Chalut (host of Proud FM in Toronto).

I was looking forward to tasting the delicious food and roaming the kiosks, but our main reason for coming to the show was to make my Food Network dream come true!  Basically, some of my favourite chefs and TV personalities doing LIVE demos (Food Network fanatics will understand where I’m coming from here!) all under one roof!

There was one in particular, whom I was dying to see do the live demo…but little did I know that I would also have the opportunity to meet him AND chat with him in person!

Before I go on I think it’s important to preface this post with the fact that Chuck and I actually had a ‘twit-versation’ this past summer while my husband and I were in a Italy. Long story short, we wanted to prepare a North American inspired meal for our family and friends so my husband tweeted Chuck, requesting a recipe for chicken wings. To our complete surprise Chuck answered us AND he also posted a comment on the picture that I tweeted post-dinner.  (You can read more about it HERE!)

Fast forward to Delicious Food Show.

You know when something incredible happens to you and you keep replaying the scene over and over (like 25 times a day) in your mind? Well, I’ve been replaying our conversation over and over and over….(I can’t help it!). Chuck is the SAME guy that you see on TV…down to earth, sarcastic, a killer sense of humour and so genuinely friendly (that’s my kind of guy!).  I kid you not when I say that he was so humble that I actually felt like we were shooting the breeze as if we were longtime friends (but then again, we did meet 4 months prior on Twitter!).

The SECOND best part of the experience was when I nonchalantly asked Chuck if he had remembered our twit-versation, and he said, “Yes!” It must have been all the adrenaline bottled up inside because I actually had the nerve to ‘inform’ him that I wasn’t impressed with the “basic” recipe he had sent us and then went on to boast, “I also know how to cook so I tweaked your recipe and the chicken wings turned out delicious!”(SERIOUSLY??!!) (I think) Chuck got a good laugh at that and to my delight we went on to have a photo shoot (THE FIRST best thing about the experience!).

Hmm…do you think my excitement was too obvious?! 

Did Chuck seriously pose like that with me? (Did I seriously pose like that? I’m all over him!)

Still smiling! (Can you tell that I was hanging onto him as if I was never going to let go?!)

Ok, it’s not over! Fast forward to the beginning of the live demo. There’s MY man! 😉

Seeing that we had passed the first impression stage in our “friendship” (and he was more than willing to answer questions from the audience) I decided to ask one, which he proceeded to refer to as “one of those questions that people ask when they already know the answer.”  When he looked out into the audience and saw yours truly, he actually smirked and called me “smarty pants.”  O…M…G! Chuck actually gave me a nickname!!!!!!

Ok, back to reality and time to breathe. (*sigh)

Chuck has probably forgotten about our “friendship” but I certainly haven’t.  It’s not every day that you meet a renowned chef who exceeds your expectations and reminds you that they too are real people, with a real sense of humour, and are as humble as any other person out there.  (Chuck, if you ever read this…MERCI!!)

(Back to the Delicious Food Show)

For the rest of the afternoon we strolled by all the kiosks and food trucks….

Munched on tons of delectable samples, savoury….

…and sweet. (Handmade artisanal chocolate…need I say more?!)

Not until the adrenaline died down from chatting with Chuck did I realize how hungry I was!  Lunch were these tasty Korean rice balls (similar to Italian arancini, with a Korean flare.

We love arancini and we loved these! (If you want to try making the traditional arancini recipe, check out THIS post).

What a great event, a fantastic day, and an unforgettable experience! I can’t wait for Delicious Food Show 2014. By the way, in all my excitement, I forgot to mention that we were also up close (but not personal) to THE Martha Stewart! (Sorry Martha, it’s all about Chuck!).