When I was at the International Home and Housewares show last weekend, I had the pleasure of being invited to a private party being held by Calphalon. Now let me stop you right here and tell you that Calphalon is THE MOST FAVORITE brand that I work with but also my FAVORITE cookware by far. I’ve reviewed a lot of cookware in my nearly 4 years of blogging but my Calphalon cookware still reigns supreme! (right align pic of badge)

Before other guests arrived I got the honor of meeting and talking to chef Symon and he is just so down to earth and personable. I told him I didn’t like that I am getting my culinary start at a less than great community college and he told me it doesn’t matter, that I will still be great. I also took a sec to tell him I had met his fellow Iron Chef Cat Cora earlier in the afternoon. My darling husband was on hand for photos and video!

At this party, my husband and I were delighted to be in the company of Iron Chef and Co-Host of ABC’s The Chew, Chef Michael Symon! He was there supporting the brand entering their 50th year and also to talk to us a little about food, feed us delicious mouth watering food and show us how to make Cherries Jubilee. Before we got to the food though we took the time to meet others and talk to execs and I told this exec that his cookware “baby” is the best cookware ever and told him why. He then made my day by saying the cookware is now going to be dishwasher safe!

I then was led to a couple of very cool appliances that are slated to be released later this year, a coffee pot with a built in grinder and a powerful blender. I coveted that coffee pot though and I told him it will be hard to wait for that one!

I also had time to meet a special blogger in her own right, the CEO of Mom Central with whom I work with ALL THE TIME, Stacy DeBroff! I told her it was such an honor to meet her in person I had no idea she was coming to the party. I was awed! Then she floored me when she told me that the staff at Mom Central LOVE me!

Then it was time to get excited about food! Chef Symon went through the menu telling us about what inspired it, some hometown stories. There was also a sommelier on hand to tell us which wines he chose to pair up with the food

I didn’t make it far past the delicious Pierogies, I am telling you they were so perfectly seasoned and cooked so perfectly! But I would like to mention that I tried the wines paired with the foods and it really did match well, even though I am not a red fan usually. The dessert wine was my favorite though, and it is probably because I am a huge fan of Moscato!

Speaking of dessert, my husband took this incredible video of the Cherries Jubilee presentation, everyone loved the flambe, I knew to step back (since I had flambeed things in class) but they loved the results!

This video shows the pre-interview time and meeting and then the dessert demonstration (All video shot/edited by my husband)

Chef Symon had to leave to catch a flight to New York to host his show the next day so we all mingled. I hung out with my dear friends and bloggers; Paula from Frosted Fingers

And Elizabeth from Table For Five

Then it was time to head home but not before we were handed SIGNED copies of Chef Symon’s newest book, Carnivore, in which all the food we ate at the party, recipes were to be found! I got to ride back to the hotel in a fancy car and the evening was just the absolute cherry on top to a perfect weekend in Chicago! Thank You Calphalon and Chef Symon!

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