I'm a Culinary Groupie!

I know what you're thinking, "What the heck is that?" That's a perfectly valid question. A question I will answer in this post. However, I do so with a bit of trepidation. By retelling the story behind this photo, do I REALLY want to expose the enormity of my craziness (and the craziness of the people I know) to the abyss that is cyberspace?

*sigh* Why not?

The question, "What the heck is that?" Well, my friends (sorry I'm channeling JMac), that is a picture of Anthony Bourdain sitting in his car taken from the PASSENGER seat of my friend's car with my Blackberry. *sigh* I know that your next question is probably, "Why?". That question is a little more difficult for me to answer. Thinking long and hard, it boils down to the fact that I'm a Culinary Groupie! There! I finally said it.

So, my willing accomplice and I were on the 405N headed back home after an afternoon of playing racquetball in Redondo Beach. I was completely spent and decided to nod most of the way back to Culver City. I decided to rouse myself from my exhaustion-induced stupor and enjoy the remainder of the ride. Well, when I looked up, I saw a car with an interesting license frame. However, I only saw the bottom half of the frame that read, "Support A Chef". Of course, I perked up. I asked my friend to speed up a bit so that I could see the rest of the plate. OF COURSE, my friend sped past the car. As I looked over to my right, I noticed that the driver was none other than Anthony Bourdain. Ok, I lost it! I started screaming. It went something like, "Omigod...omigood, that was Anthony Bourdain...SLOW DOWN!" Seriously, all of that. So, my road dog, who encourages my madness said, "Nuh uh!" As she attempted to slow down (for all you Angelenos--yes, on the 405), he decided to slow down as well. I looked in the side mirror and caught a quick glance of him. What was he doing? SMIRKING! He totally knew what we were doing and intentionally slowed down. What a jerk! Oddly, at that moment, I started to love him even more. What did I start to do? Like a LUNATIC, I started to wildly wave my hands out the window and scream "I love you". I know...I know. Clearly frightened, he managed to stay behind us a safe distance. That was all well and good. We didn't want to get shot for slowing down traffic, so we decided just to keep driving and take our exit.

But, WAIT! He got off at my exit!!!

In the back of my mind, I'm wondering why he's going to Culver City. But, hey...I love Culver City, so why not! A part of me also thought that this was meant to be. Exactly what "this" entailed, I can't tell you. Anyway, we both arrived at the stoplight at the same time. So, there we were. Me and Anthony...side by side. Now what? Of course, in all of the excitement, I never thought about what I WOULD do if we caught up with him. Inside the car, there's a bit of back and forth about whether or not I should take a picture. After all of that, we have a minute long back and forth about "to take a picture or not take a picture". The light, not caring about the weight of my dilemma, turns green. Realizing, that it's now or never, I quickly reach over and snap a picture as he starts to drive off. The very picture that precedes this little story.

So, there you have it. I know. Wow! Ok, that happened a couple of months ago. I thought the craziness factor would diminish with time. But, it really doesn't.

By the way, I did finally get a chance to read the rest of the frame. It said, "Support a Chef...Eat Out Often". I couldn't agree more.