I Met Iron Chef Michael Symon!

I’ve been lucky enough to have either met or bumped into a celebrity or two since moving to LA. Actually, I’ve met some pretty cool people. But one of my coolest experiences was this past Thursday when I met Iron Chef Michael Symon.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch party for the upcoming Cook or Be Cooked Wii game (created in partnership between Namco Bandai and the Food Network). I’m a casual Food Network watcher – we regularly watch a couple shows and then we casually watch a couple others.

One show we do watch regularly is Dinner: Impossible. I loved the short session with Chef Michael Symon and his pork-focused craziness (my husband on the other hand is a Robert Irvine fan). So to me, getting to see Chef Michael in person, and watch him give a cooking demo was pretty cool. He was so cool and joking the whole time while cooking and making sure to answer any questions we might have (and you better believe I asked questions).

As for the Wii part of things. Well, I’ve never been much of a gamer. To be honest, I don’t seem to have the necessary eye/hand coordination needed for these things when it counts. So I’ve never felt the need to buy any sort of gaming console myself.

That said, I’ve played a few Wii games with friends and family and have always had a good time. Cook or Be Cooked was no different. Once you got the hang of it (and that damned coordination thing), I was really cooking – pun intended. I had a blast.

Since they had four TVs set up for the event, the sound was actually turned off until the cook-off challenge between Chef Michael in the kitchen, and Chef Mike on the Wii. Turns out, this game can actually teach you how to cook.

You learn about real world cooking times, basic knife skills, and other cooking tips and techniques. It really was quite cool. If you don’t believe me, check out the pictures below.

Oh and that Michael Symon…he can cook! We loved his mother’s meatballs and the BBQ duck confit, corn crepe tacos (OMG! these were awesome!)

The Cook or Be Cooked game before we starting cooking