The Pioneer Woman’s Book Signing NYC

For all three food bloggers out there who don’t know who Ree Drummond is, she writes The Pioneer Woman.  Ree’s new book Back Heels to Tractor Wheels hit the stores this week. The book chronicles the love story between her and her husband, how they met, fell in love, got married, etc. Before it was a book, the story’s first incarnation was initially a set of weekly posts on her blog.  I did read the entire first part of the story she posted on the blog and bought the book to catch up on the rest.

Ree left her big city job ambitions behind and married her hot cowboy. I can relate to her initial fish out of water life on the ranch, living in our small village in Germany. I can also relate how meeting the person of your dreams comes along so unexpectedly and so profoundly, it knocks you off your feet and changes the direction of your life forever.

In person Ree was just like she writes, funny, quirky, self deprecating,  a bit nervous and rambling. She said she was more comfortable answering questions and interacting with people than “orating” and it shows. Ree was great with audience questions aside from a few tangets she went off on which she made fun of herself over and was very, well Pioneer Woman like.

Where she really shined was in her one on one interactions with the people who’s books she signed. I was watching as she seemed to connect with each person. Everyone left smiling and thrilled.

I didn’t get my copy signed. I don’t do book signings. In my long TV career, I’ve met and produced what seems like everyone so meeting famous people has zero appeal for me. I was really there to hear her speak and as an excuse to buy her book.

Also, I had turned my friend Nancy onto her blog and she loved it. So Nancy showed up with two bakery boxes of the best Black& White Cookies Evah from the bakery she is trying to save, with a few rugelach thrown in for good measure. Nancy had a short conversation with Ree’s stepmother who was in the audience along with her dad and her sister. They were lovely, seemed thrilled with the baked goods and immediately passed them up to Ree on the stage.

I know how these things work. Ree is on a press junket and shuttled around from hotel to TV studio to book signing and is eating in nice restaurants.  She never would have a chance to experience something so inside NYC as tasting the incredible goods from a real NYC family kosher bakery. Their black and whites are the best in the city and really represent NYC style. OK it was a bit of a shameless plug but a nice gesture for a good cause.

Some Ree news. In a few weeks (or did she say months? I forget) Her children’s book will be published and then in a year her second cookbook will comes out. Black Heels and Tractor Wheels has been optioned by Sony for a movie and Reese Witherspoon is attached to play the lead. Optioned is a funny word in Hollywood. It does not mean the movie will ever get made. But it would be really fun if it was.

I am so sorry about the quality of the pictures. It seems I cannot take a focused photo of anything outside my macro settings these days.

Help me Rhonda.

Here’s a short clip of Ree talking about her new book: