All my pots and pans have been washed and put away, my lucky lion statue “Leo” is sleeping...now I can reflect on the whirlwind that was my life leading up to Feb. 2nd.

Yes, it was a week ago at this time that the butterflies were really flying around in my belly and I was readying for the biggest day of my meatball career. A day that I planned, promoted and prepared for for six months—I had 1000 meatballs ready to go, along with 200 rolls and 15 tubs of ricotta, the meatball wagon had a full tank of propane and I had my additional tabletop stoves to keep warm extra balls since I was anticipating non-stop action. And boy was that the right move!

Everything was set and then my generator decided to crap out at the last minute and I had to take a 40 minute drive to Dover to borrow one. Nothing really goes smooth for me, but thank God (and a fine man by the name of Andy) for loaning me his because without it I would have been in big trouble. When Super Bowl Sunday came, I woke up to the sun shining and I was pumped.

My sidekick Frankie was at my house at 8am—right on time—with his soppressatas, stuffed breads and antipasto treats ready to head out to the most important gig of our street vending careers. We jumped into my van, along with my wife and Rye, my personal producer who has been filming every step of this up and down “Balls to the Bowl” adventure of mine since November. This was the day of not just my career but the day to shoot the grand finale of our documentary.

As I write this looking out the window, I see the snow beginning to finally melt as the day AFTER the Super Bowl we were whacked with another six inches. Just yesterday, it took me one hour to get out of my driveway, doing the back and forth shimmy—drive-reverse-drive-reverse. My tires kept spinning like in “My Cousin Vinny” and I broke two plastic shovels digging out and went through a bag of rice (did not have any kitty litter or rock salt) to try and loosen the grip of the cinderblock-like ice mounds. The cart is currently covered with not just my tarp but mounds of the white stuff which I guess is symbolic of the prediction of “six more weeks of winter” made on Super Sunday (which was also Groundhog Day).

But last Sunday, it seemed that the stars were aligned for me and despite this being one of the worst winters we’ve had in years, we ended up having the best day weather-wise since early fall—with the temperature topping out at a balmy 57 degrees!

So….the weather was certainly on our side….the event I was waiting for—no, not the big game in the stadium—but the pre-party, “Meadowlands Tailgate Sunday” in downtown East Rutherford, a few blocks from the stadium was gearing up to be even bigger than I had hoped. With pre ticket sales nearing 2000, with hundreds more facebook friends set to attend and who knows how many more after my TV appearances on MY9 and FOX5, we were prepared for madness.

It was a day that I will never forget. Set up right next to my girl Sonja the Cupcake Cutie, we had a prime spot, not that there was a bad spot as within a few hours the entire street was jam packed. Food stands, rides, games, a beer garden, live music, everything you can imagine—seriously one of the best, if not the best street fair/block party/festival I have ever seen. The crowd was exactly what I had anticipated if not larger, Park Avenue was like Grand Central Station—with thousands of people lined up—many were passing through on their way to the game but many were coming specifically for this event and even more specifically to visit the Johnny Meatballs-Frankie Antipasto tent.

Just as I had also expected, the health and fire officers showed up to make sure we had all of our paperwork and took temperatures. Despite the underhanded efforts of a “local business” who called the town just days prior and said some slanderous lies about me that I prepared food in my house in unsanitary conditions and pretty much made my life a living hell in hopes I would get upset and back out of coming—because I was apparently considered a threat to them—I passed every aspect of my inspection with flying colors. In fact, because I am sure my “haters” will be reading this, just for the record: I never failed an inspection or got a fine in 5 years, me and my staff are all trained in food handling management and ServSafe® certified, all our products are made in a 100% USDA facility and we carry a $1 million dollar insurance policy. So one last thing to all the stalkers who have written slanderous lies about how we operate, you got some balls! It's all good though, the truth is the truth! And I got the last laugh by selling out every last ball and I lost count with how many pounds of soppressata Frank moved. As Sinatra said, “the best revenge is massive success.”

I was so glad to see all my friends and family members come out on this day and show their support, my wife Megin and my girl Scarlett worked so hard as did my pal Christopher and of course Rye with all the fantastic footage he captured. With all the help on hand, I was able to do something I truly love in addition to making sandwiches and that was get in front of the cameras. The “meatia” blitz continued (double pun intended) and I got a live spot on PIX11 which immediately generated a line that was one of the longest I ever saw at my stand. Folks were waiting a half hour to get served and I thank you all from the bottom of my heart. (And to anyone who did wait but still unfortunately did not end up getting food because I ran out, mention the word TAILGATE at my first spring gig—May 4^th—the Haworth Street Fair for a FREE dish of meatballs.)

Since my Vh1 days, I don’t recall ever getting so much press and people around filming. Besides Rye—who has been around almost daily since we hooked up and has captured every scintillating moment in this journey for our own movie which we plan to release soon, there was of course MY9 and FOX5, PIX11, even an interview with Al Jazeera TV and coming soon an extensive segment on I-Italy NYTV’s “Italian Tales” so stay tuned for details on that. Not to mention, in less than 3 weeks I will begin filming a cooking competition show but due to confidentially agreements, I cannot reveal any details on that just yet.

There’s only one thing I enjoy more than dishing out my signature specialty and that’s the spotlight. When that red light goes on, I just go into “the zone,” I am so at ease in front of the camera…it’s where I belong, I thrive on it and I can’t wait to share my Super Bowl documentary, “The Johnny Meatballs Experience” with you all. For now, I hope I captured the day in words and of course with all the pictures I shared on facebook and can’t wait to MEAT you all in the spring when my 2014 season really gets going and I roll out my new converted school bus—the Johnny Meatball Mobile (aka: Balls-On-Wheels). My new setup is gonna be a true pop-up restaurant in the streets, with the new bus, my cart, my gelato freezer, new signs and banners I am designing and I plan to even have a very classy VIP seating area. But that's not for a few more months.

I never had an event so late (or early) in the season and Feb. 2, 2014 was an historic day which I was so lucky to be a part of with the real deal food vendors of the Garden State. Sure, the NFL made the millions and the big corporations they contracted reaped the biggest of rewards, but all I wanted was my small piece of the pie and I got that.

I would like to once again thank everyone who helped me and all the locals and tourists who came out in droves—East Rutherford will forever be on the map with the spectacular festival that all the organizers and those involved should be extremely proud of and I hope it becomes a yearly thing for that great neighborhood because I surely would love to return (maybe a St. Patty’s Day parade?)

To Axiom Entertainment, Cliffhanger Productions, Mayor Cassella and every single person who made this day possible, I cannot express enough the gratitude I have to you all welcoming my involvement. There was no place that I would have rather have been than exactly where I was. To be in the host city on the day of the big game, wow, that was truly the big stage indeed and it was easy to shine under that spotlight.