Meeting the Cake Boss

Today is the day in which all prior buffer is lost due to the fact that I GOT TO MEET THE CAKE BOSS!!! Somehow I'm totally not sad about losing my lead.

Yup, met Buddy Valastro boss of TLC's Cake Boss series as a relatively recent fan, and more recently an obsession with baking cakes. He is the sole reason I took the Wilton's Cake Decorating course, and made Josh and Christabelle's wedding cake. I was so floored by what he was able to do that I knew that would become my next hobby.

I waited in line for about twenty five minutes to meet this guy. The last thing I waited in line that long for was to go into the Kube93 haunted house three years ago and I was steadily becoming more drunk the entire time, also a rare occurrence for me. I was with a group of friends then and it made the time go a lot faster. At least until we got to the front of the line and then realized that no one had bought tickets. Woops.

While i waited, i put my super speed reading skills to work and read through about forty-ish pages of his book. Two things jumped out at me right away.
The first being when he was introducing how his father and mother met. As it would just happen to turn out, Buddy's Mother came from the same city in Italy that my family hails from. Small world right?
The second was the story about how he came to start working in the Bakery when he was young. He described a scene that could have come straight out of my own childhood. Starting a fire in the cul-de-sac and what happens when your very Italian father finds out. They put you to work because then you're too busy to think up crazy stunts like that.

I bought the book, and though it was a little on the expensive side at 26$, After reading a bit more i find it was worth the money. Mostly because of the Carlos Bakery recipes in the back.

My initial impression of Buddy was somewhere along the lines of traditional squealing fangirl noises in my head. I do not do that often and usually it's only around puppies. Thankfully, i managed to hold onto my poise long enough to untangle my tongue.

"Hey there, how you doin?" Buddy asked me smiling warmly. He didn't sound at all like he felt he had to be there. The impression i got from him was rather the opposite. If i had to guess, i would say i was left with the impression that he genuinely enjoyed being there and meeting the fans.
"Not too bad, and yourself?" i heard myself ask as though we were casually meeting on the street. I thought to myself what the heck Anne? Tell him how much you love his show! my subconscious screamed at me. Thinking he probably heard that all the time, as we posed for the camera, I thought up a question I had always wondered.
"I got one question for you." i said as i held out my hand to shake his. He took it and firmly grasped it with his charming smile.
"wha da ya got?" he says in his Jersey accent.
"Do you actually like the taste of Fondant?" i asked as i reached to retrieve my camera from the lady.
"well when i roll it out, i roll it really thin so that it doesn't mess with the flavor." he says but he's got his look on his face like when he's caught off guard.
"oh ok." i said as the woman ushered me along. But he kept talking.
"But you aint gonna find me eating it straight out of the bucket. So no way." he said as he smirked and used his hands to pantomime the action of eating something. A common thing that i see in my own family.

In the brief seconds that i got to meet The Cake Boss, i instantly liked him. It's nice to meet celebrities who are first and foremost nice people and don't behave as though they're a gift from god. Seeing as how I've met two that are like this...i was glad to find my most recent idol was friendly and charming and seemed like a real down to earth guy. I'm excited to read the rest of his story and try out some of his famous recipes.