Originally, we had tickets for November 17th to see Buddy Valastro, the Cake Boss, on tour in Kalamazoo, but it was cancelled due to scheduling conflicts. So, I got my mom on board to go see him on tour in South Bend, Indiana. We got a reservation at an Irish Bed & Breakfast for the night. The day before, I had found online that Buddy was going to appear at the Kroger grocery store on Ireland St. in South Bend, so we made sure we left early enough to go to that.
I thought it would be nice to use our travel mug to get our 50 cent coffee refill at the Great Harvest Bread Company in Grand Haven, so we stopped there on the way to South Bend. I was glad to see the owner, Cindy Wisen, at the store, so I could tell her about going to see the Cake Boss. She watched the show and loves Buddy, too. She put some apple pie bread in a bag for me to give to Buddy. She said if we couldn't give it to him to just eat it ourselves. She said if I got a picture of him with the bread, she would post it on their facebook page.
It was about 98 miles to South Bend from Holland, so it wasn't too long of a drive. We got to the Kroger store around 2 p.m. There was already a line in the store and a small line outside. One of the workers took several of us from outside into the line in the store. We were standing at the end of an aisle, in just the right place to see Buddy give his grand entrance. He was in the break room taking photos with Kroger workers. One of the managers said Buddy is very personable. So, when Buddy finally came out, he came right where we were standing. I got to shake his hand. Both my mom and I got our photo taken with Buddy Valastro. He is very handsome and personable. He let me have the Great Harvest Bread bag in the picture to advertise it. He gave my mom a hug and a wink which made her day. He signed our books, as well as the cake box. I told him I went to his bakery in May. Of course, I think of things I wanted to say to him after my turn is done. Oh well. I still was excited to finally meet my idol from the TLC show, "Cake Boss". We found out that Buddy and his crew were staying at the Doubletree Hotel across the street from the Morris Theater, where he would be performing at night.
We got to our Bed & Breakfast and the owner was not there. We were surprised. I called her twice and got a call back that she is a nurse and would get out of work at 5:30, but she gave us the code to get into the house. This was our first Bed & Breakfast and we were wondering if we had made a mistake. Mom and I had pizza at Bruno's pizza in downtown South Bend and visited the South Bend chocolate store before walking to the beautiful Morris Theater to see Buddy Valastro's show. The Morris Theater is one of the most beautiful theaters I have ever seen. Buddy showed us some cake decorating tips and had contests for the audience to participate in, in order to win the item he decorated. It was a fun show, but I have to say that meeting him in person at Kroger was actually more of a highlight for us. We bought one of the Cake Boss cakes at Kroger and had a slice before we went to bed. I was reading the box which said it was made at Dawn products in Jackson, Michigan. Really? It wasn't even made in New Jersey. Overall, I was in high heaven after meeting Buddy today. I think he is now the 15th famous person I have met in my lifetime.
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