Dinner with the Great Chef Darius!!!

So...

I have my stalkerish ways, you know... I like to stalk some of my favorite bloggers.

One of my favorites has been Master Chef Darius of EverydayCookin.com.

We ooooh and awwww over his videos and food posts. And I've cooked a few of his dishes, and they are always easy and wonderful and DELICIOUS.

Our favorite was his special Tequila Lime chicken Fettucine.

Talking about GOOD. And QUICK. And Cheap and EASY!

I am crazy about Darius. I stalk him on twitter. I've told him, if he was 15 years older, and of the heterosexual persuasion, and lived in ATL instead of Chicago... I'd be on him, stalking him HARD. He'd have to have me locked up!

So, when he said he'd be visiting Atlanta sometime in November, and wanted to have a dinner party...

You KNOW I got all giddy.

*turning to cubicle mate, the Cowgirl Cre and hollering "Darius is coming to town, and he's gonna cook!!!!"*

There was much discussion about him looking for a house to cook at. If you've ever been to my crib, it is TOO small for a party over 5 people, lol. Cowgirl Cre said he could cook at her house if he wanted.

Someone in another cubicle, who'd requested for Darius to come up with a sesame chicken recipe a couple of years ago, called my work phone and whispered "He can use my house if he wants to."

As a matter of fact, The Cowgirl Cre has been telling him for a couple of years that he should come do a tour, and cook at a different house each night.

We would eagerly show up wherever he would be, you see.

Anyway, the date of the party was to be November 20th... at his friend's house in Buford, Ga.

Waaaaaaay the hell up in Buford.

The Cowgirl Cre and I looked at each other.

"Whatever man. We're going. Gonna take us an hour to get there. Whatever!"

Darius was like "I understand that's a little far!"

"Dude," I replied. "That's like Denzel Washington saying he was having a party way up in Buford, and he knows it's a little far, but..."

BUMP THAT.

He also said let him know if we have dietary concerns or requests, because there would be plenty of pork and beef and butter!

"Whatever," I told Cowgirl Cre. "This here is Darius. I'm eating it ALL."

That boy could've cooked some chitlins soaked in lard, with a side of fatback... LadyLee was gonna get her eat on! And just be inflamed and sick as a dog later.

LOL

We were going. Gas up the car. Steal some gas. Steal a car, man. We're going!

Cowgirl Cre printed out the directions... even secured a emergency phone number, just in case we got lost in the backwoods of Buford.

(Yes we were that serious. Come hell or high water, we were going to FIND Chef Darius!)

So, we sat out to Buford Ga. Took me 30 minutes to get to The Cowgirl Cre's house, and it took us another 45 minutes to get to Buford.

We parked and walked into a most lovely townhouse.

And there he was... Chef Darius... in the kitchen... cooking up a storm!

*Lee screaming uncontrollably deep deep inside*

"It's him," I whispered to Cresha. "It's really him!"

He gave me a hug. And he went back to cooking.

We all stood in the kitchen... watching and talking.

We drank Pomegrante margaritas. OH THEY WERE GOOD!!!

Chef Darius made some eggrolls, but used rice paper, and he was hollering about he wasn't going to cook them, because the rice paper was coming apart.

Uh, uh... we convinced him to cook the eggrolls.

And they were the BEST I've ever tasted. Yep!

Then there was dinter!!!

OH MY!!

Braised Beef Ribs!!!



OH MY!! I had to really gear myself up to eat some red meat, but I had a rib. (There was someone there who hadn't had beef in 8 years. She had some too. We picked on her something terrible. She was gonna be all jacked up the next day. We told her husband to get ready to help her in some kind of way!)

Macaroni and Cheese!!!





Very cheesy! Party in your mouth! He must've used 100 differnt cheeses in that mac and cheese! Best I've ever tasted!

Green Beans!!!


Sauteed with some scallions, sundried tomatoes, garlic and pancetta.

GLORY!!!!

A brave soul inquired about the pancetta. Darius said it was italian bacon.

We all saw *crickets* with that one. He could've said it was regular old bacon. WHATEVER!

The beans were great. Cooked perfectly, not undercooked, not overcooked, perfectly tender.

And you know me... keenly interested more in veggies than anything else.

"I'ma hook this up," I said to Cowgirl Cre. "I'ma leave this bacon off. I can hook it up with the sundried tomatoes, scallions, and garlic, man!!!"

LOL

Then there was the cornbread! All cheesy, with corn mixed in.



WOW.

I think I was suppose to just cut a small piece, but I got a whole block of it.

GOOD EATING! I don't eat much cornbread, but this reminded me of how my grandfather use to cook it... with the corn kernels all throughout the bread!

Good stuff.

Then... Darius, proud owner of the Cupcake gallery, brought out the cupcakes!!!



He made 2 types for us: banana and red velvet.

We all stood back and listened quietly as he gave a little speech about the cupcakes. You would've thought he was reading Shakespeare or something!

He'd whipped up some cream cheese icing, and we were to ice our own cupcakes.

He demonstrated to us how to ice the cupcakes...



He showed us how to peel the paper cup away from the cupcake.

(We stared in amazement.)

He showed us how to eat the cupcakes...

I don't think we need to know all that. We were willing and eager to work that out.

And as you can see, Cowgirl Cre peeled her cupcake perfectly.

I didn't eat my cupcakes until later. I was having TOO much fun with the crowd of people that were there, including Jermaine Sellers from last season's American Idol, shown here with the Cowgirl Cre.

Man, I was having TOO good of a time. Darius has some HILARIOUS friends.

Cowgirl Cre whispered "Girl, get a cupcake before they disappear."

I got a banana cupcake. And WOW!!!

Best cupcake I've ever had.

Darius did not make that cupcake.

Jesus made that cupcake!!!

That cupcake. I can't describe it. It was full-bodied banana. chunks of soft banana throughout. And topped with that cream cheese icing, which was suprisingly light and almost mereigned-like (yeah, I spelled it wrong)... MAN IT WAS GOOD.

Now I'm not a fan of red velvet, but this was a GREAT red velvet cake. Very moist and flavorable.

Go DARIUS!!

I spent a couple of hours having a good time, and whispering to the Cowgirl Cre "Girl, I got the itis! I need to lay out on the sofa!"

I think we left around midnight. I dropped Cowgirl Cre back off at her house. And I arrived home at 1:30 am.

I immediatley went to sleep. With a smile on my face, lol.

I woke up the next morning, to my phone buzzing from Miss Celie's tweets.

She called me and I relayed (very animated, I must say), the details of the food and drinks from the night before.

She thought I was still tipsy.

No, just giddy! (And headachy and discombobulated from liquor and meat, too. I was JACKED up for a good 48 hours. Just say no to liquor, pork and beef is all I got to say... well unless Darius hooks it up. My body hated me for a minute. And I'd probably scream and faint if I saw another piece of red meat on my plate anytime soon after feeling like crap!)

I was happy for a good meal, from the best Chef on the Planet -- Chef Darius.

Darius, thank you for such a great meal. Like that tat says on your arm, man... Food is your life, and life is your food!

Yes indeed.

So if Chef Darius tours a town near you, BE SURE to get to a dinner party! Man... you will NOT regret it!

Darius... feel free to come back to the ATL anytime! You hear me? Really!!!

Here's one last tidbit... One of my favorite videos by Darius!!! Enjoy!!!