#HSNCOOKS Part 2 with Scott, Kelsey, Jessica, and more Curtis and Donatella!

**This is the #HSNCooks Part 2 recap, but you can view Part 1 here.**

So it was Sunday afternoon and Megan and I were headed to the HSN studios (for my second time of the weekend) for a day with Curtis Stone, Donatella Arpaia, Scott Conant, Kelsey Nixon, Jessica Seinfeld, and Debbie Meyer. After the first day of the #HSNCooks event, I was so excited to get back to the studio, it was almost embarrassing.

Our schedule included an HSN lunch featuring recipes from the chefs, meet and greets that pretty much made my LIFE, and a live cooking demonstration with Curtis Stone and Donatella Arpaia. It may seem silly to dedicate a couple of sentences of this post, what with all the rest of the amazing, to a salad, but I’m about to do so. My favorite part of lunch was the salad we had, a Curtis Stone recipe. I point it out because I can remember every single last detail about it- how it tasted, the colors, even the smell. Best salad ever? Perhaps. It’s extremely likely. In fact, Megan has an adaptation of this recipe on her blog today. It looks spectacular and I can promise you’ll love it!

We sat through about an hour of a live cooking demonstration, with Curtis showing off his Chop-Chop and Donatella showcasing her veal shallot meatballs. We also got to try food from Curtis and had Donatella’s meatball sliders and bling cupcakes. And fun times- Megan got to demonstrate the Chop Chop live on air!

After, we took an HSN selfie. You can see me in the spot right above Donatella’s head and slightly to the right.

Then, we got goodie bags that included Curtis’s cookbook and tote bag, bags of Donatella’s pizza dough, and a booklet of recipes from all of the chefs I met throughout the weekend. It was such a great thing to witness from the audience side. I mean, being at a front table, Curtis Stone was mere feet from us. Sigh…

Also, sitting at the table behind us was Scott Conant. SCOTT CONANT. Allow that to sink in for a second. We will come back to Scott in a second.

After the live cooking, we were able to take pictures with Curtis and Donatella.

I have made Donatella’s pizza on several occasions and have been happy with them every time. I suggest you try it too!

The day before, when speaking with Curtis, I had suggested a local Tampa restaurant for a Cuban sandwich and turns out he followed my advice and loved it! Do you know how awesome that made me feel? He talked to me about the ambiance and how there was a couple who had just gotten married there which he thought was pretty cool. He told me he drove to Tarpon Springs afterwards to hang out. It was a very casual and fun conversation, although shorter than the day before since other people were in line.

As soon as I got home, I read through Curtis’s cookbook, “What’s For Dinner?: Delicious Recipes for a Busy Life“. The book is broken up into chapters for Motivating Mondays, Time-Saving Tuesdays, One-Pot Wednesdays, Thrifty Thursdays, Five-Ingredient Fridays, Dinner Party Saturdays, and Family Supper Sundays, as well as a Something Sweet chapter. With beautiful pictures and recipes I feel confident in, I’m excited to continue to try the dishes in this book.

After, just when I was starting to meander around the studio like a crazy person, we were introduced to Scott Conant and if I wasn’t nervous about looking like this complete weirdo, I would have pinched myself. Who doesn’t this happen to? Certainly not me…right?

Well, yes, it did. I owe HSN big time for this opportunity. It was one of the best days of my life thus far. Not even playing. If that makes me a total dork, I’ll wear that title proudly.

Anyway, we sat and chatted with Scott for a long while. We covered everything from his restaurants (Scarpetta and D.O.C.G) and his newest cookbook (The Scarpetta Cookbook) to what’s it’s like being a judge on Chopped and the foods he will not eat (Durian, insects, and rodents). We also talking about a gross Gorgonzola gelato he once had, and an internet troll he had to answer to. It was seriously so much fun!

Next up: Kelsey Nixon!

Kelsey is a new mom, host of Kelsey’s Essentials on the Cooking Channel, and one of the most adorable women ever. I want to be her in only a slight creepy way (haha, just kidding). But, really, she got her start by cooking in her dorm in college and filming it. Now, she works with the likes of Bobby Flay and has her own TV show. Talk about awesome. Her advice to me was to start a YouTube channel, and that’s exactly what I’m going to do, but with a twist. Stay tuned!

Kelsey also wrote a pretty great cookbook that I can personally recommend: Kitchen Confidence.

Throughout the day, I also had the opportunity to chat with Jessica Seinfeld and Debbie Meyer. Jessica Seinfeld has come out with a new book, The Can’t Cook Book, where she encourages those who feel intimidated by the kitchen. Her first book, Deceptively Delicious, is something I think all you moms will enjoy. It’s all about the secrets to getting your kids to eat real food. Brilliant.

Last, but certainly not least, we hung out with Debbie Meyer. Debbie has made a living in making our lives easier. As the inventor of many useful kitchen gadgets like Greenbags, Greenboxes, and the famous Cake Kut’r, Debbie is one to watch, especially as she continues to come up with these items that I need in my life.

The weekend of March 8th will be very hard to top. Thank you to HSN for everything! You have a customer and fan for life!