Beyonce likes to make ... Hamburger Helper?

09:10 AM PT, Nov 13 2008

The first time I met Beyoncé Giselle Knowles (she hadn’t quite reached one-name stature yet) was back in 2000 in Houston. Her father and manager, Mathew Knowles, a former salesman, picked me up at the airport and drove me to the family home. The city was a soggy mess — the sewers were overflowing after a nasty storm — but the Knowles' house was immaculate and warm. Beyoncé was at the house with the other members of Destiny’s Child, the pop group that took career notes from the Supremes, En Vogue and TLC before selling 18 million albums in the United States and many times that abroad.

What I remember most about that visit: After a photo shoot, Beyoncé was wearing denim shorts and a gray sweatshirt and sitting on a kitchen counter top, tugging at her hair like a little girl, while, over her shoulder, her mom was stirring gumbo. I reminded Beyoncé of that moment when I met her in New York last week to interview for a Sunday Calendar cover story running this weekend. (We'll add the link to that story on this post on Friday.) She smiled and winced like someone thumbing through an old high school yearbook. “Well I can tell you this: I need some of that gumbo right now. I haven’t had one of my mom’s meals in a long time. She’s the best with that gumbo.”