The first copies of the book arrived on my doorstep last Thursday, just in time for a private book release party in my Los Angeles test kitchen. We chose to hold the party on schedule despite the fact that my co-author, Juan-Carlos Cruz sat in the Los Angeles men’s central prison held on $2,000,000 bail.

The party was lovely, thanks to my friends Annette and Anne who prepared enough food for an army from recipes in the book. (I actually stuck them with the work of not 2 cooks but 5(!) because I had broken my foot and could barely lurch my way around the kitchen and the two culinary students I’d booked for the event to assist were no-shows.)

I am proud to say I only cried once, although I waited until the last minute to put on mascara because I found myself feeling weepy in the hours leading up to the big event. As I put on my little, red, Calvin Klein dress I remembered trying it on in the store two months ago thinking how perfect it will look not only with my coloring but standing beside Juan-Carlos’ white linen suit.

(I was also feeling the disappointment of having to lug around a clunky medical boot on my left foot instead of the saucy stilettos I’d paired with my dress. Not only did I have to lurch in my none too sexy footwear but I knew I was also inviting the unwanted attention of having to explain that I klutzed myself into a broken foot by stubbing my toe on a chair. Yes, I am vain and clumsy.)

As the guests arrived, I laced the boot with red turkey feathers in a ditch effort to make myself feel a little Love Diet lovely and they did add a little much-needed charm to my mood and my ensemble.

The evening, of course, invited the series of awkward questions to which I’m becoming accustomed. I get it. I would be dying to get the skinny if a friend or colleague was in my situation. The whole Juan-Carlos scandal is unbelievable. You can read the most extensive commentary at TMZ if you’ve been living in a blissfully gossip free world since May 13.

As you may have noticed, my blog has remained conspicuously un-updated in the past few weeks because my recent experiences have been more than a little difficult to share with my readers.

Many of you have reached out to me to lend your support and I so much appreciate you. I especially appreciate the fact that those of you who caught me on the Today Show chose to compliment me on my new hairdo rather than ask questions about my near-melt down on live television. (The dress I wore on the morning show, since many of you asked, was actually my great aunt’s and was, indeed, a vintage number.)

Once I recovered from the initial shock of learning of JC’s arrest (I was notified long before the mainstream media picked up the story), I became consumed by the public interest in the scandal. I am still baffled as to why people were so fascinated by what became the number one celebrity scandal in the country(!) for a brief time. I was hounded by the media for about ten days.

It was difficult for me to make the decision to speak to the media. After about three days of saying no, I finally agreed to speak with Nightline. I felt comfortable with the show’s integrity and their plans for how they would present the story. Then, when I was asked to do the Today Show before Nightline aired, I realized that I wanted to speak out to mainstream America and ask them not to dismiss my friend and celebrity chef as a closet psychopath.

I was grateful that Today was going to give me the opportunity to help humanize JC and talk about his talent, his giving nature and his apparent happiness with his present and future. I’m not going to deny it, I was also going on that show to help save The Love Diet, whose imminent release was becoming overshadowed by an ugly scandal. Not only was I the book’s co-author but also the publisher. So yes, I wasn’t going on the show just for JC but also for both my own peace of mind and, frankly, to help protect my investment. (Keep in mind that JC benefits nearly as much as I will from book sales, so as far as the financial reasons for going on the show went, that was for us both.)

After the two shows I also agreed to an interview with the AP in which I had the opportunity to explain why I thought the whole story was insane by sharing what I know of JC’s relationship with his wife Jennifer. Juan-Carlos has been my friend for almost six years. I do not really know Jennifer–we only met in person one time. But I do know her in that way you know friend’s spouses and was so glad to have the chance to tell the AP reporter how lovingly they acted as a couple, how dependent on one another and how secure they were together.

I thought perhaps a few media outlets that had been covering the story closely, like TMZ and the Huffington Post might pick up bits of my AP interview. But I was shocked and appalled to wake up the next morning to see quotes from the story printed in nearly every major newspaper in the country from the Boston Globe to Washington Post to the LA Times blog. How could the nation care that much about my interpretation of my friend’s horrendous situation?

This brush with fame has been a freakish and soul-draining experience. The worst part is knowing that through it all, my friend and colleague sits in jail while I rest in the comfort of my home office allowing the media to use my perspective to make sense of this crazy, alleged crime. The guilt of throwing a party without him threatened to overtake my pleasure in the experience but my core needed to toast our hard work with our friends, colleagues and a glass of Champagne Perrier Jouet.

I haven’t yet visited Juan-Carlos in lockup. I did arrange to have money put on my phone so that he could call me, though I haven’t heard from him yet. I plan to visit him this Friday but don’t be surprised if I don’t blog on the experience. Although I did allow the media into my life for a short time, I still believe that some moments should be kept private.

Tcho Chocolate: this was my first experience with Tcho, although the company is already huge with the tech heads. Tcho was founded by the publisher of Wired magazine and takes an approach to chocolate that is sure to be a hit with millennials. Bright, savvy packaging and flavor profiles described as “fruity” “earthy” “nutty” etc make the company stand out from the crowd. But the flavors also stand up to the taste test. Tcho is making some darn good chocolate.

Pigtale Twist: LOVE the name (although I’m not so sure what it has to do with the product). The company makes flavorful caramel sauce and salad dressings without the added fat, sugar and preservatives of your average grocery store product. Flavors are tasty and clean without lingering salty or sweetness.

Le Foam: This is one of those “about time” products. Delivering dressings, sauces and mmmm… chocolate in mousse cans, Le Foam is perfect for quick and fuss-free presentations at dinner parties and cocktail soirees. Sure, it isn’t at the top of the all-natural list, but the flavors are good, sophisticated even, and it really provides a neat fix for those moments when presentation counts.

Bread Armor Artisan Bread Bags: I think practically I’ve waited my whole life for a product that will keep my baguette tasting fresh for more than half a day. Haven’t tried mine out yet, but I’m very excited by the prospect!

Sence European Rose Nectar: Talk about an aphrodisiac in a bottle, Sence takes the flavor of rose water and makes, well, a bottle of water! Although the flavors of this pink drink are relatively subtle with a pretty, light sweetness, on its own the nectar tastes a bit like chewing on a bouquet. However, as a base for delicate and lightly sweet cocktails, I think the drink has almost endless potential.

The Winter show, held each year at San Francisco’s Moscone Center, is one of the most interesting and most repulsive culinary experiences. It is an opportunity to discover new food products, see how manufacturers have pushed the envelope and taste all those things you see at Dean & Deluca, Whole Foods and other gourmet retailers but aren’t sure you want to shell out the cash just to sample.

It is the place where new trends in food are made.

It is also place where otherwise civilized members of the food community allow themselves to be herded like cattle into convention center halls to stuff their faces with everything from duck confit to truffle butter to hand-made marshmallows, one after another (whiskey chocolate truffle followed by oil-free pesto next smoked pork then gluten-free scones then buttermilk ranch then more chocolate) while shuffling from booth to booth to booth of the world’s greatest decadences.

Today was my annual visit to this mecca of gourmet manufacturing. Countless miles in my black leather boots later, I feel, although I most certainly did not see it all (that would take days), I have a pretty good handle on what we can expect to see from the food world in the year to come.

Show organizers sent out a report that the big trends this year were “functional” foods; pickled things; yuzu and other exotic citrus and – BIG buzz word – gluten-free. In fact, manufacturers are rolling out gluten-free so fast that its almost as though the whole country has developed intolerance to the big G, its just that some of us didn’t get the memo. Now, I don’t know about you, but I love me some gluten. I did, I am surprised to report, find one gluten-free product at the show that I absolutely loved: Zix ravioli cookies. (Zix makes both regular and gluten-free but I have to say that, in this case, gluten-free is better!)

Other highlights of the show included Icio water, which offered both creative packaging and interesting flavors. Icio makes waters in lemon basil, peppermint and lemongrass cucumber and the bottle? a big, clear, plastic hip flask (old school, yet sleek – nice!) In other beverages, Coffees of Hawaii offers coffee berry tisanes. Though they’re made from from coffee’s husks, they have less caffeine than decaf but they still have all of coffee’s antioxidant benefits. The taste? I am a huge herbal tea fan and I loved these teas, nicely bodied but not heavy. The flavors come from natural, Hawaiian ingredients like Papaya Vanilla and Ginger. Another functional food I thought was cleaver and pretty well made was the Goji Gourmet’s new, preservative-free cookies, which use goji berries like raisins (only healthier) in cookie flavors like chocolate chip and almond oat.

From healthy to heavenly, the show proved that pork products are not dead. Bacon is everywhere, from bacon pretzels to bacon cakes to bacon-flavored salt, yep salt. There was also no shortage of cheese – in fact, I think it was the most cheese I’ve ever seen at the show. But believe it or not, even among the 526 cheeses upon which I feasted eye and taste bud, (no, I did not actually taste 526 – but I could have), there was one major standout. The Promontory Cheddar from Utah’s Beehive Cheese Company is the best smoked cheese I’ve ever tasted. The smoke flavor is subtle and beautifully balanced with the cheddar’s sharp notes, salt content and creamy texture. Yum!

Even among the thousands of temptations the show had on offer, I can pick out one product that was my favorite of the day: the Corks and Cookies from CookieZen, a brand new (as in founded last June) cookie company based in Washington DC. Baker Leah Kuo has created a full line of cookies that will pair with wines. Flavors are traditional, but slightly more subtle, less sweet than typical over-the-top confections and include double chocolate peanut butter chip; iced lemon sugar; oatmeal raisin and even a peanut butter with chocolate ganache. The cookies come with pairing recommendations by, as the cookie brochure puts it, “a professional sommelier.” I’ve yet to taste the cookies with wine myself – I’ve requested a set of samples to be sent to me at home so that little pleasure will be next week’s tasteriffic task – but having tasted the cookies, I think the potential is certainly there to spark a new, culinary trend of fine wine and down home baked goods. My fingers are crossed that the wines and cookies work as well as I think they will and that CookieZen will be able to get the cookies out there on a national level. (Currently they are only available online and in the DC area.) If they can, THAT will be the fancy food trend I have been waiting for all of my life!

My mind immediately started planning my dream roster of contestants. Of course, Thomas Keller of French Laundry fame headed the list. But he would never do the show… would he? I had no problem with coming up dozens of participants, the fun was in mentally shuffling the personalities to come up with individual show casts of people I’d love to see trying to cook in the same room. Here are some of my fantasy episodes:

Anthony Bordain, Rocco DiSpirito, Nancy Silverton, Jeremiah Tower

Bradley Ogden, April Bloomfield, Suzanne Goin, Todd English

Grant Achatz, Lidia Bastianich, Jose Andres, Alan Wong

Charlie Palmer, Pilar Sanchez, Charlie Trotter, Nitzi Rabin

Masahara Morimoto, Michael Mina, Johnny Iuzzini, Daniel Boulud

Marcus Samuelson, Eric Ripert, Ken Oringer, Alex Guarnaschelli

Who would star in your dream episode?

And who is your Master?

I’ve discovered one plus about having a blog. It gives me a platform to share experiences that may not make their way into an article for months, if ever.

Last night I attended a special dinner for the launch of a new cookbook, down home: downtown. Being a cookbook author myself, I really try to make the effort to support my peeps.

This book is the work of two Wine Country chefs, Jeff Mall of Zin restaurant and Josh Silvers of Syrah in Santa Rosa, California. The book pits recipes from the chefs side by side (sort of like some sort of crazy, cook-along Iron Chef competition). For example, there’s Zin’s rib eye ranchero sits on the page opposing Syrah’s grilled rib eye with black truffle butter.

The dinner last night was set up in the same format. Yes. We ate two of every course. Four courses, to be exact. If I were more hip to the whole technology thing, I’d scan the menu for you. But I’m traveling, so I’m not going to try and get all fancy.

The entire meal was paired with wines from Rodney Strong, one of the book’s collaborators. (And the wines were one of the meal’s most enjoyable parts). Although it was supposed to be a collaboration, not a competition, you can’t help but weigh the options at a meal such as this — and not that I’m an expert on meals such as this, I was in virgin territory last night. And hey, lets face it, chefs are competitive sorts. You know they were dueling it out in the kitchen. I’m reluctant to name a winner but there was a clear cut one. One chef’s food was far more refined, with more layers of flavor and texture. (This was consistent with every course.) However, my reaction was, obviously, I know whose restaurant I want to visit next time. But surprisingly, it also made me think the other chef’s, the less refined, more comfort-oriented, was the food I want to make at home from the book. So Jeff, if you’re reading, I can’t wait to make that butternut apple soup with the lemon cream at home. Whoops, I just revealed the winner, didn’t I?

The idea is to answer a series of simple questions on, say, making out. Based on your answers, the program offers you a chunk of text for your book that will direct others to your likes and not so much likes. Then you are expected to add a personal story that supports your taste in making out. (Sorry, you do have to posses the ability to type more than yes and no to complete your tome).

You can add as few or many chapters as you like in this fashion until you have your very own road map to you. Eventually, there will be an option to print your book as a hard copy, but for now, you’ll have to settle for – ah – oh, its so bad but the only word that pops into my head is soft. (not the desired outcome from the book).

Results not guaranteed!

Try it at http://www.howtomakeloveto.com