Hannah attends the Veggie U and NFNS event in Cleveland!

Photo Credit: Veggie U

I was going to add this to the end of a recap/review, but decided it was too long. On Saturday, July 13th, my friend and I hit the road to Cleveland to attend this event.  After 3.5 hours of peaceful (well, as peaceful as driving a constant 80 mph in traffic can be) driving and 1 hour circling Cleveland and its one way roads, we found the hotel that we were staying at.  Chris' restaurant was right across the road and we could see it from our room.  Once we got there, we, being the non-drinking 21 year olds that we are, nerded out at the opportunity to show our IDs for no reason.  I mean, I've bought my fair share of scratch-off lottery tickets, but never have I had to show my ID!  Anyway, life goal completed.  We ended up sitting with this couple.  They were super nice and pestered us on and off about what is "hip" today in the social media world.  In case you're wondering, I offered up the suggestions of Twitter and Instagram.  We were surrounded by other adults and they were all extremely nice.  I mean, I'm not an adventurous eater in my daily life and these people would either tell me what I was eating or ask until they found out.  So, thanks, strangers.  Also fun to note is that I think everyone in attendance at this event had a good 5-6 years on me.  I felt quite posh.

Goat!

And, I stuck to what I claimed I would do, and tried everything.  Well, everything but this fancy deviled egg.  I can't do eggs.. they're creepy.  First, the salad portion of the night.  In my 21+ years before this, I had only ever had/tried one salad.  I think I tried all of the salads, but there were so many, I don't even know.  I ate a good amount of them, except for this one salad.  I went to get some and I guess just lifted out a huge pile of leaves.  I ate some but began to feel like a rabbit, so I decided against continuing onward.  Next, was the main course.. which meant various types of meat.  These were all A-MAZING.  I've had fish and ribeye, etc. before, but I had never tried goat before. Granted that my taste is different, so I don't know how reliable this is, but goat tasted like steak to me.  I dunno, but it was still pretty great.  Then lastly, there were desserts.  Obviously one of the most anticipated portions of the night for me.  We're talking pie, cake, cookies, cupcakes, little... things.. in.. little cups!  At this point, I was stuffed but these things were great.  I mean, I need more of that cake in my life.  Thinking back, I should have stolen one when the opportunity arose.

This was the first time I was ever encountering people from the reality TV shows, that I obsess over like it's my purpose in life.  I mean, I've gone to American Idol concerts in the past - but I've never met them!  So, I wasn't quite sure how I would act.  But surprisingly, I think I did alright.

Twinning!

Rodney:  Rodney was the first one that I met.  He was rocking a Pie Style shirt - of which I told him maybe 10 times that I loved, because I did!  He was incredibly friendly and just as you see him on the show.  My friend told him we traveled all the way there for his pies so he loved that.  Later after eating, he asked how we liked his pie and obviously it was one of the best pies I've ever eaten.  Also, he got up on the stage and performed for everyone during the dinner which was fantastic.  If I were smarter, I would have filmed some of it - but I believe we were talking to Viet during it and.. you know, I can't multitask. Sorry.

Hiet!

Viet:  You would think, given my blogs, that I would walk run sprint into this event and right over to Viet, but I actually did not.  He was cooking or something.  When my friend and I finally saw the opportunity to attack (for pictures, duh...) we took it.  It was a pretty fantastic moment and contrary to the dream I had before this whole shindig, he did not run away in terror.  We took some pictures (even some on his phone - which, if my face looks how it did in all but one of the ones on mine, sorry, Viet's phone) and then he took us to find Stacey and Damaris.  Which meant we basically got a tour of the inside where all the food was.  All I remember was a table with 10 cakes!! (well, I didn't count them)  It took a lot of self restraint not to attack them.  Anyway, we didn't find them so we went back outside and met Chris. (Actually we may have met Chris before that, I have no recollection.)

Let us just..... admire.

I got to spend a lot of time with Viet at this thing and I will tell you this:  He is quite hilarious, yet, amazing, yet, extremely nice.  After seeing Viet on Extreme Chef, I knew he was different than how NFNS portrayed him on the show, but it's really apparent in real life.  I mean, he is super nice, but they made him seem almost boring at times. (Gasp, how could I ever say such a thing?)  Anyway, he's full of snarky comments, some of which still make me laugh.  Also, can we take a moment to admire that fact that I am immortalized on his Twitter?  Also, shout-out to Monica Bhambhani!  Bffs!  ha!  Being the person that I am, I got a lot of enjoyment out of convincing Viet to follow JJ Redick back on Twitter.  Also, Viet made a promise that the next time JJ comes into his restaurant, he will get me a shoutout from JJ.  If he would keep this, and this would happen, I would die multiple deaths.  Actually can we just get a Viet and JJ Christmas card sent to me yearly? I mean, I feel like I am pretty deserving.  Meeting Viet was fantastic and it saddens me to think it'll probably never happen again.. wahhh.  Oh well, somewhere Viet is probably rejoicing.

Classic.

Chris:  Chris was fantastic.  I liked him a lot more in person than what NFNS ever gave him credit for.  We took some pretty stellar pictures with him.  He was pretty impressed that we actually showed up and drove the distance, but I mean, I like road trips.  After all the food and whatnot was over, Chris reappeared and offered up drinks to us, so he got me some pineapple soda.  There was no orange. :(  I can't lie though, pineapple soda is pretty tasty.  We also sat with the five (and others) and were supplied with huge (super huge) bowls of tater tots.  I would have taken the opportunity to #hanmolish them, had I not just finished EATING 20 DIFFERENT FOOD ITEMS.  Anyway, Chris was amazing.  I'm glad he was my first pick for #TeamHannah.

This picture is so dreadful, but it's
the only one I got with her!!

Stacey:  I didn't get to talk to Stacey a lot, but what I did, she seemed just like she is on TV, except funnier than what they show her to be.  I wished her luck on the rest of the season before realizing that it's essentially over.  I was hoping she'd crack and be like "vote for me!"  but nothing!





Damaris:  I didn't get to meet her until after shoving twenty pounds of food into my system.  My friend got along really well with her since she has family from Kentucky.  I basically stood there listening to them converse, but she is very outgoing.  She rocked out to some "Don't Stop Believin" on karaoke for the crowd, even though the band played so slow that she got lost at several points. :P

We also got to meet Farmer Lee Jones!
What a funny guy.

On a serious note, it was really quite awesome to hear more about NFNS - even if no one would tell me who made it to the finale.  Sitting around with them and hearing them joke about things is listed in the top 50 life moments for me and it brought me a great amount of laughs.  The only thing that would have made it more awesome would be if Chad, Russell, and Nikki had all been there.  (Especially now that my theory that they're the final 3 has been demolished.)  In the end, it was a great experience and definitely worth the trip.  I'm not sure if I can ever love a cast of NFNS more.  Honestly, the next cast has a lot to live up to.  I'm super glad that Austin and I realized our shared love of NFNS before the season started and were able to do the NFNS draft.  It brought the show to a new level of fun, and it was especially cool to meet people from my draft team. :)