Alton Brown is a terrific guy!

It is hard to believe, but it was two weeks ago that I saw Alton Brown in Washington, DC. What is even more difficult to believe is that I have neglected to tell the best tale of the whole experience!

Right after the early reports came back from the Smithsonian there was some active chatting about the lapel pin Alton had on his sports coat that evening. In case anyone is still curious to what it was, let me explain. This photo is the best shot I had of the item in question. And what AB has on the lapel is an airplane pin. A Cessna airplane pin.


The reason I know what he wore was because it was a gift from his #1, uberfan... aka ME!

That morning at the Sur La Table book signing in Arlington, Va., I brought the gift. It almost a regular thing now for me to bring Alton a little something a small way of thanking him for being such a great culinary teacher, creator of fine television programs and books and everything else!

So this time I pondered what to bring. As with any gift I give, it is important to me that my recipient's interests, likes, etc are as much a part of the selection process as the gift itself. So I knew it had to be something Alton likes or uses. After some thought, I knew it had to involve an airplane.

With luck I found something that would be perfect. A pewter Cessna airplane pin from a website and knew that would be what I brought along.

At the morning book signing, after Alton ribbed me about coming to see him yet again, signed the books, talked about big city driving the last thing for our interaction was to present the gift. I pulled a square red box out of my bag and told Alton I had something for him. He took the box, looked it over and I said open it! He did and when he saw the pin he said, "It's a plane." Then something about it being a single wing something. At that point, I hadn't a clue what he was talking about all I knew was the place I bought it said it is Cessna and it kind of looked like the plane I saw AB using in a few episodes.

Alton continued to talk about the pin and his own plane. He told me he had a plane that looked like it and flew it there the night before from Boston. I told him I knew about his plane and that's why I bought that for him. He smiled at me, thanked me and told me it was cool. Then I told him about coming the evening's show. He so had to ask my mom if she was coming to the show. She said yes and we left.

After adventurous time between the morning book signing and the evening event, I was happy to be at the Natural History Museum, in a good seat (heck of a seat front row, dead center!) and ready for a fun time.

When Alton appeared on stage at the Bard Auditorium he was dressed in different clothes from the morning. He now was wearing a patterned tan sports coat and a blue button down dress shirt. I caught the glimmer something shinny on his left lapel. Mom also spotted it and poked me. She then said, "he's wearing your pin."

I probably had the biggest, dopiest grin on my face knowing that Alton was wearing the pin I gave him. And that he was nice enough and thoughtful enough to wear it. Even if he never wears it another time, he did once and that's enough. Just that one thoughtful act made me smile.

I know Alton doesn't read this blog, but I sure want to thank him for wearing the pin and making me smile.