Disclosure: This is an event review, made possible through my affilitation with US Family Guide. No compensation was received for sharing my experience, however, I did receive complimentary VIP passes for this event, in exchange for sharing my experience.

We got to do something unbelievably cool over the weekend. After church on Sunday morning, we drove up to Mebane, NC, which is situated somewhere between Raleigh and Greensboro, to visit the new-ish Tanger Outlets Center. Tanger was hosting a special Taste and Style Experience event all weekend, which included on-site gourmet food trucks, local to the area, and on Sunday, a live demo and meet & greet with celebrity Chef Curtis Stone.

We were beyond excited about seeing Chef Curtis in person for a live cooking demonstration, and excited about being able to meet him, too.

Me, and my beautiful, wonderful mom at Tanger Outlets...

When we arrived at Tanger Outlets, we parked, and walked to the check-in booth for the event, where we picked up our VIP packages for the event. These included access to special seating during the demo, the VIP line for the Meet & Greet with Chef Curtis, and complimentary set of Curtis Stone measuring spoons (which are really cool-looking!).

Cocktail time with Chef Curtis Stone...

We sat in our reserved seats, in the blazing afternoon sun (we all got sunburned!), and so enjoyed watching and listening to Chef Curtis Stone, as he talked and cooked. His personality is great- he's very animated, funny, and um, extremely good-looking. Chef Curtis is from Australia, so his accent makes him even more fun to listen to. You may remember Chef Curtis from a show called 'Take Home Chef,' and he is currently the star of 'Top Chef Masters' on Bravo. Yeah- that guy!

Five minute stir-fry challenge with Chef Curtis Stone...

Chef Curtis has a brand new cook book out, and has been making the media circuit rounds lately, talking about it: 'What's For Dinner?' is a collection of recipes, tailored for different nights of the week- my new favorite day of the week may be Wednesday, because Chef Curtis has deemed it 'One Pot Wednesdays.' Chef Curtis talked about the cookbook, about his life in America, his family (he's married, and has a little boy), and he cooked up some great dishes, all from his new cookbook. We enjoyed a Guys vs. Gals cocktail shaking competition, we watched as Chef Curtis taught two non-cooks from our audience how to make a lovely meal, and shared lots of laughs.

After the demonstration, we were able to actually meet and have our photo taken with Chef Curtis. Balian, our two-year-old son, was so excited. He kept asking when he was going to 'meet the chef.' We told Chef Curtis how Balian likes to help us cook at home, and cracking eggs is one of his favorite jobs. Chef Curtis was so nice, and very gracious, thanking us for supporting his career. He autographed our copy of his new cookbook, too, which we can't wait to start using! For anyone who might be wondering, yes- he's just as handsome in real life as his is on TV, if not more so!

Kona Ice? Yes, please, daddy!

After we met Chef Curtis, it was time to check out the food trucks! There was a Greek food truck, offering yummy pita, baklava, gyros, etc. that looked and smelled so yummy! We had other choices, too- burgers, BBQ, Creole, Korean BBQ, Kona Ice, and more! Everything smelled so, so good! Eventually, we wound up getting a burger and some homemade chips, because that's just about all that our son would agree to eating. All of the food trucks were from local NC venues, which was really neat to see. We love seeing food trucks on the Food Network shows, so this was a fun experience for us.

Of course, we had to stop so Balian could hang with Spider Man for a few...

After we ate, we took in a little shopping. Tanger Outlets has some of my favorite stores, like J Crew, LOFT, Coach, Cole Hann, Clarks (for my hubby), The Company Store, QVC Outlet, The Children's Place, and many more! We wound up shopping for Balian (what else is new?), and made plans to visit the outler again soon!

We had such a wonderful afternoon at Tanger Outlets, and can't wait to attend their next event! Wonder what it will be!

Have you ever met a celebrity chef?

 Who would you like to meet?