Keeping it Real

She doesn't have her own cookbook yet, and features about her in Food Network Magazine are pretty limited.

Yet Sunny Anderson stuck around more than 30 minutes after her Sarasota appearance happily chatting and signing paper towel ads with her photo for the dozen or so fans who stuck around after her demo.

As far as food celebrities go, she gave keeping it real new meaning.

Sure, Sunny Anderson is one of Food Network's newer stars. Her cooking show Cooking for Real is in its third year. She does not appear on many of the prime time reality shows that command the bulk of Food Network's audience.

I was on the fence for a few weeks about whether to spring the $50 to go see her in person. I enjoy watching her show, and her food always looks good (maybe not stand out and memorable ... but tasty and easy). I mostly liked the idea of a fairly small and intimate session with any Food Network celebrity. After our new friend we met at SoBe told me how nice she was in person, I decided it was probably worth it.

As soon as I got there I was glad I sprung for the ticket.

For some reason I was surprised that she was already there examining the collection of knives at Publix Apron's Cooking School when I arrived 20 minutes early. I think squeal with delight would probably sum up my reaction when I walked through the door and she was standing right in front of me, dressed town in jeans and a purple t-shirt.

She's one of those people who just radiates warmth. She's pretty and personable. She flashed a huge smile and gave me an extremely warm welcome, making me feel like I had just walked in the kitchen of one of my best girlfriends. My first instinct was to hug her, but I stopped myself ... for a second.

"Can I give you a hug?" I asked.

(It's important to note at this point I had already spent my afternoon wine tasting for three hours and made friends with one of the pourers. Enough said.)

"Of course!" she gushed, as if it wasn't totally weird that I accosted her, and she threw her arms around me.

That was the beginning of my BFF-dom with Sunny Anderson.

Turns out I knew some people at the demo and took a seat at a table in the back by them. Sunny spent the next 20 minutes making the rounds, stopping to chat with everyone in the room, taking pictures, answering questions about her show and dishing Food Network gossip.

And she proceeded to do so for the next two hours as she cooked up some orzo, mustard greens, bacon-wrapped flank steak and a pear tart with cheddar. I have to say everything was really delicious. Simply made right before our eyes and packed with flavor. I guess bacon does that.

She talked about growing up in a military family, her time spent in the service and how she got into the business. She told stories about how she tried for years to get into the Food Network, putting herself out there to do any small job they would offer until she finally got her own cooking show.

You definitely got the distinct and genuine impression that she really pushed and worked her way to her spot. She wasn't one of these people who was just magically discovered and walked into the limelight. It seemed that she worked hard to get where she is, and truly appreciates it.

And she did not hold back any behind the scenes details about the other Food Network stars, from how "fabulous" Ina Garten is to Alton Brown's dry sense of humor and Robert Irvine's padded resume.

"I'm a foodie too," she said. "Just like you guys."

When someone asked about the cookbook she was writing, she promptly went to the cabinet pulled out her giant purse and whipped out a marble notebook where she was sketching out her ideas and passed it around to everyone in the audience.

After the demo wrapped up she enthusiastically, yet modestly, offered to stick around to sign autographs and take photos.

I brought her two copies of Food Network magazine, one for me and one for my sister, for her to sign. In mine she wrote "Keep real."

I lingered for a bit just totally enthralled watching her chat with the other women. I thought about inviting her out for a drink, then became mindful I might be coming off a little creepy. In hindsight, I kind of wish I did. She was there all by herself. No entourage of publicists and security.

But instead I just thanked her and got ready to leave.

As I started to walk away, she stopped to look up from her signing and say what I thought was a very genuine and appreciative goodbye to me. The look in her eyes made me think she really meant it.

"No, thank you," she said. "Thank you so much for coming. You have no idea how much it means to me."