Monday, April 19, 2010

Pioneer Woman came to Seattle!



On Saturday Heidi and I got to meet THE Pioneer Woman!


(her she is with her adorable punks, photo from her site)

For those of you that have been living under a rock, Pioneer Woman (aka Ree Drummond), is a city girl turned domesticated ranch wife and mom to four punks.  She is an amazing photographer, cook, and story teller.  She shares the happenings of her family's working cattle ranch and the life that surrounds it on her website.  

Check it out sometime!  If for no other reason than the great Chicken with Mushrooms and Artichokes recipe she posted today!  Her recipe posts are amazing with step by step pictures of how to prepare a delicious meal.  Not too long ago Ree (yes, we're on a first name basis now!) published her first cookbook, The Pioneer Woman Cooks.  It is filled with good ol' country cooking and tons of pictures of the food and ranch life.  My wonderful sister pre-ordered the cookbook for my birthday last year and I got it around Thanksgiving, I think.  It's a great book and I've cooked a few things out of it so far.  So when Heidi and I heard that the Pioneer Woman's Spring Cookbook Tour was bringing Ree to Seattle we made plans to go meet her and get our books autographed.

The weekend began Friday night.  Heidi came over for dinner and to hangout with Ryan and me.  We were inspired to cook something from PDub's cookbook for dinner Friday night, but by the time Ryan got home from his motorcycle ride it was late and we were all hungry.  So we had pizza.  Saturday morning we had a yummy breakfast and lattes.  A breakfast pile made up of hash browns, ham, cheese and eggs.  Something Ryan thought up based on a breakfast dish he's had at Luna Park before.  It was a relaxing Saturday morning.  


my wonderful husband and my wonderful sister!


After breakfast Heidi and I got right to work.  She wanted her hair straightened before she met Pioneer Woman.  Heidi had this permanent straightening kit that she heard about from a friend.  It took a long time and didn't smell so good but it seemed to work.  After we finished Heidi's hair we grabbed PDub's cookbook and whipped up some potato skins.  They were so yummy.  (sorry I forgot to take pics, bad blogger!)  By now it was time to get ready and get on the road to the book signing.   

Our cookbooks and tickets are all ready for the signing! 

And here we are all ready to go!  I HAD to wear my cowboy boots!  After all we were going to see a real country girl.  Sydney really wanted to come but she was disappointed to hear that dogs weren't allowed to go to the signing and that Charlie wouldn't be there for her to play with.  :o)  Sydney is certain she would like Charlie a lot!

The cookbook signing took place at Third Place Books in Lake Forrest Park.  When we left home it was partly sunny but the further south we drove the darker the sky got until it was pouring down rain.  Welcome to the Pacific Northwest Ree!  It's raining.  It always rains and I love it!  Thank goodness Ree told me later that she likes the rain too!  She said she's happiest when it rains.  My kinda girl.  


Heidi and I got to Third Place Books just a little bit before the event started.  The book store had a corner of the store blocked off and there was a table and chair set up.  That's where she would be signing.  So we staked out a spot behind a display table and waited for Ree to make her appearance.  

Here we are in our spot.  Behind us is where Ree will be!

Just about 5 o'clock a store employee came over the loud speaker and announced that Ree was running late.  She must have gotten stuck in the rain and traffic.  So very perfect for a trip to Seattle.  Not long after the announcement Ree came out of a back room and with a bit of applause she took her seat to began signing.  



Heidi and I were in group D, so we knew there would be a little bit of time before our group would be called.  T.P.B. actually had a great system for this book signing.  Everyone who had a cookbook and wanted an autograph got a ticket.   The tickets helped the bookstore staff control the crazed Pioneer Woman fans.  They would call one letter group at a time, there were 50 people per group so there were no more than 50 people in line at one time.  It worked out great!  Heidi and I stayed in our perch enjoying some great people watching until group D was called. 

Here we are in line!  

I know this picture doesn't look very different from the picture of us not in line but boy did it feel different.  We were on our way to meet Pioneer Woman!!!  While we were standing in line we got to meet and chat with Ree's oldest punk.  She was wandering around the bookstore carrying the second book in a series that Heidi has already read.  So Heidi bonded with her over how good these books are.  (The first book is called The Hunger Games.  I have not read it yet but probably will after glowing recommendations from my sister and PW's daughter.)  Waiting in line didn't take too long.  Maybe about an hour, but it felt a bit longer because it was so frickin' warm in the bookstore.  I guess all the hot PDub fans warmed the place right up! 

We're up next!

Here we are with Ree!

It was great to meet her but it went by in a bit of a blur.  She asked if Heidi and I were friends and we said in stereo, "No, sisters."  To which she replied, "I can see it."  That was surprising to me because not many people can.  She told us that she knows how that is 'cause her sister has black hair and she had red hair.  Heidi and I continued to mutter silly things about hair straightening, being short and stalky, and the rain.  She kindly paused for a picture and then chatted with us while she signed our cookbooks.  We thanked her and wished her a fun time in Seattle.  Then we picked up our cookbooks and headed out.  We were both so wrapped up in the moment that we almost forgot our purses that we had set down in the corner.  Wouldn't that have been embarrassing!


After we said good by to Ree we realized it was 7:30!  We had been there for 2 and a half hours!  We took our cookbook to the car so they would be safe and went back inside to find something to eat.  We had the most yummy nachos and ate them down while a swing band performed.  It was a great end to a great day!  The only thing that could make it better . . . ice cream!  (You thought I was gonna say cupcakes didn't you!)  We each got a soft serve cone and we headed home.  :o)


Thank you Pioneer Woman
for making the trip up to the Pacific Northwest!  

Thank you to my wonderful sister
for the cookbook and the fun adventure!

3 comments:

Holly said...

How fun! I guess I live under a rock because I've never heard of this woman but she sounds interesting. :-)

Holly said...

I randomly clicked on your link from PW's site. Loved living vicariously through you...also I figured you needed a Holly to comment that HAD heard of Ree. :)Sounds like you had a ton of fun. Wish she was coming near me.

Tammy said...

What a fun weekend you had!

Thanks for posting about it. :)

(I came here from PW's site) :)

Tammy
http://www.tammysrecipes.com