Pioneer Woman visits SLC

Last week (Wednesday November 4) I had the privilege of attending a book signing for The Pioneer Woman's new cookbook 'The Pioneer Woman Cooks-Recipes From An Accidental Country Girl' at The Kings English Bookstore right here in Salt Lake City. It was quite an evening! Ree Drummond (The Pioneer Woman) was speaking at The 15th Street Gallery at 7PM and signing books immediately following. Several of us Utah food bloggers made plans to show up early (we knew it was going to get crazy), get a spot in line, have some dinner and enjoy the evening. We met at 4pm and ended up being the first group in line! We decided to get take out from Mazza and had a picnic style dinner, together, on a blanket right in line (by the way... thank you Mazza for great service and excellent food!). Our dinner party consisted of Cristie from TheTableRunner (she's front right bottom corner in the green sweater) Maria from TwoPeasAndTheirPod (she's front left bottom corner in the black jacket and green shirt) Barbara from BarbaraBakes (she's upper left corner in the black coat) and myself (I'm upper right corner in the black sweater). We just noshed on a little appetizer sampler and sandwich while we waited happily in line and chatted with other girls anxiously awaiting Ree.
It started to get chilly! We were finally let into the gallery at 6:50PM and thrilled to be in the front row! The gallery was packed and busting at it's seams. Wall to wall women (with a few men sprinkled throughout) squeezing in as tightly as they could to hear this "accidental country girl" talk. Ree arrived and that room came alive! Women were whistling and screaming like mad! It was kind of funny but I am sure Ree is honored to have such a warm response from her readers. She spoke about 25 minutes, answered questions, told jokes, did impressions and entertained the crowd beautifully. She is a real jewel. She is sweet and confident but not in a self righteous, proud way... she is humble and gracious. I am in love with her cookbook (which made #1 on the New York Times Best seller's List! Woo-Hoo!... well deserved), I think she is a smart woman, a loving wife, a caring mother and a very down to earth fun person! I thoroughly enjoyed everything about her that night.

After she spoke, she made her way to the bookstore to sign books. We were all given tickets, while waiting in line so our group was allowed in first ("A" tickets). We all got our books signed, chatted with Ree and Missy a bit, snapped photos and had a nice time.
We were told that we would not be allowed to snap any photos with Ree, that there were too many people and there wasn't time. Ree took the time to stop, chat, sign books and take a photo with each and every person who had a camera. I thought that was very kind and speaks volumes for her character. She really is a sweetie!

After the signing, Barbara and I met Becky from Vintage Mixer at Gourmandise (The Bakery) for dessert. We had a nice late visit and treats. I feel very blessed to know the women I have mentioned in this post. I had the opportunity to have dinner with them, as well as a few other great gals, last week and attend a food photography class and we are planning other get-togethers as well. They all have great blogs as well as great personalities. They are all unique, beautiful women with wonderful food knowledge and skills and I am loving sharing these experiences with them.

If you do not yet have the cookbook... go get it! I made the Chicken Spaghetti for dinner tonight and it is delicious! The pictures are gorgeous, the stories are fun and the food is to die for! A+ for the book, A+ for the book signing!