Jan meets Ree Drummond

So, you know Ree Drummond, right?

She’s the dastardly woman with the great web site, the waist-busting recipes and the the great cookbook that is out just in time for Christmas?

The woman you want to hate, because she cooks stuff like chocolate truffles with sea salt and looks like this?

One wants to hate her, and yet…and yet…Jan has met her at a book-signing, and well…she sounds like a living doll:

…finally, there we were at the table!

Ree is everything you think she would be – she has a genuine, joyful radiance that just beams from her. Lynn told her that we had come a long ways – she seemed sincerely surprised that people would drive any distance just to see her. She asked how many children I had, she asked how old my sons were, and she smiled when she said “they didn’t want to come?”

Ree had us all gather around her for a picture or 3 , and she said that she hoped we knew we were all friends! Ha!

But here comes the kicker – my cheeky little 14 year old, freshly signed book in hand, asked Ree if she could have a hug. That lovely lady said to my girl, “I would love a hug.” And as a mom, I felt in that second that Ree was missing her children. But as a fan, I TOOK A PICTURE!! And, Ree asked me to send her a copy!

Sadly, we missed the Ethel Merman imitation. Didn’t actually know she was going to speak. Or sing.

Okay, I admit it; I’m a fan-girl. Anyone who can cook like that, take great pictures, run a ranch and impersonate Ethel Merman, that’s my kind of woman!

By the way, this sandwich is a hands-down winner.

So is the cookbook!