THE Asian Food Channel (AFC) has always been one of my favourite channels — the hazards of the job, I guess. At work, I manage The Star Online’s food portal, Kuali. And when the day is done, I unwind by watching cooking shows.

One day as usual, I was watching the AFC when I came across a promo of Laura Calder’s three-day stint in Kuala Lumpur. What? A chance to meet the host of French Food at Home in person? I knew I could not miss this opportunity.

I love watching Calder. I love her easy-to-follow approach to cooking, and her ability to make French dishes, which seem so intimidating, look so simple. In my home, she is considered a star, and my kids and I are fans.

So what would she be like in person?

The writer and Calder.

I contacted AFC via e-mail the next day and they responded by saying that their Malaysian counterpart will get in touch with me. And later that day, AFC granted me a one-on-one interview with Calder.

My kids and nephew were ecstatic. They wanted to attend the event. Since this was work, I pacified them with a promise for autographs with the renowned chef.

Having secured the interview, I could not show up without a copy of Calder’s book. I was not going to get Calder’s autograph on a piece of paper. No way. As her books are not available in bookstores, I set about getting her latest book, French Taste, via Amazon. Amazingly, the book arrived within three days, a record time for standard shipping.

On the day of the interview and with my book in hand, I arrived at Sampling on The Fourteen, Berjaya University College of Hospitality, where the event was held exclusively for the media.

There, I was greeted by hoards of media all waiting for their close-up interviews with Calder. Surprisingly, many of them were granted a one-on-one with the famous chef. Just how was she going to manage so many interviews?

Finally, the moment that we all had been waiting for arrived. Calder emerged wearing a simple green floral dress. She certainly is a lot taller and slimmer than she looks in her TV shows. Her skin looked flawless and pale. She was wearing minimal makeup and jewellery.

She was funny and entertaining. During her cooking demonstration, she held a pepper grinder and said, ‘In my country, we call this a base ball bat.’

Calder preparing the steak.

Jet lag aside, she managed to amaze me by whipping up a three course meal, Asparagus served Orange Sauce and Shallots, Steak au Poivre with Potato Gratin and Apple Cream Tart, all in less than an hour. As in her show, she made cooking look so simple.

This was indeed a day to remember as not only was I going to interview this French cooking expert, I was going to sample her cooking as well. The Apple Cream Tart was my favourite. It had the right amount of sweetness. It was simply divine.

What we see on TV is the edited version minus the slip-ups, but on that day, we managed to get a glimpse of Calder’s minor mistakes in the kitchen. She was not able to slice the Potato Gratin and serve it the way she wanted to. She said something about it not being perfectly proportioned. It’s not every day that we get to see this side of a celebrity chef.

She answered a few questions during the Q&A session and proceeded to take photos and sign autographs. Calder seemed surprised that I had a copy of her book, as she knew it was not available here. She signed the book as well as a photo I had of her for my nephew.

My interview was right after the autograph session. I was the first to interview Calder. I was granted 20 minutes which went by so quickly. As I walked out of the room, I realised that I was the only one who had a one-on-one. It seemed like the rest of the media was divided into groups of four or five for their interviews as Laura was running out of time.

I was fortunate to have my time alone with Laura Calder. It was indeed a memorable experience.

Click here to read about Laura Calder’s interview.