Roll Call
What do you do to pay the bills?
Writer/broadcaster/producer/strategic publicist/media trainer/
consultant. other things but most fall into one of those categories.
Freelance, dammit. I want a steady paycheck..
Why am I asking you questions?
Because I'll answer? Because I love The Food Network, collect
cookbooks and food and related issues?! Because I'm groovy? Because I
work for a fellow Food Network Show David Rocco's Dolce Vita .. and
the experience of working on a cooking show with an accessible host
and the transformative effect of Italy makes me a foodie? Because I
know and respect the people who cultivate our food and know how much
work it takes to provide us with our food and I bless them every
single day and have for most of my life?
What does Soul Food mean to you?
More than food. What feeds you deeply. What gives you comfort
sustenance. What inspires you. What makes you quietly happy. What
makes you ecstatic. What makes you melancholy and reflective. What
revives you. What makes you radiate love and what makes you take in
the love that someone is radiating out.
If you could create any food and music experience what would it be?
It would be dinner somewhere in Florence, or at any of several places
i love in rural Tuscany, Or in Rome at a little restaurant off of
Piazza Navone where I had a truffle Arancini.. Or on the beach in
Sicily at Da Vittorio's (see last question) . on a beautiful night ...
and a long slow typical Italian dinner...with great company and lots
of conversation.. where my Italian was finally good enough so I could
follow the conversation..
Kosher or Sea Salt?
Kosher
Wine or Cocktails?
Depends on the occasion
Prosciutto or Spam?
Are you kidding?!! Prosciutto!
Who is your favorite Iron Chef?
Raymond Burr
What is your favorite thing to smoke?
Salmon
What is your favorite music to listen to while cooking, after Soul
Food of course?
Quiet sensual music.. Bebel Gilberto, Norah Jones , Putumayo's
Acoustic France and Brazilian Cafe, Getz-Gilberto, etc etc etc..
Top 3 food experiences after Nyood, Kultura and Madras Pantry of
course?
3. Stella.. I think Greg Coulliard's first Toronto restaurant. I went
in the early 80's and had the most incredible dinner. I think it was a
small serving of a simple stew but it was the first time I had ever
had a mix of exotic spices and figs cooked with the meat. I was having
a business meeting with J.D. Roberts, then a Muchmusic vj, not John
Roberts at CNN.. and I zoned right out of the conversation for a few
glorious moments..
2. Da Vittorio's --on the Beach in Sicily, just outside of a teeny
town called Menfi.. I was working as part of the crew for David
Rocco's Dolce Vita and we stayed there. This is the freshest most
gorgeous seafood imaginable .. done so simply but so perfectly that I
still dream about it.. We stayed there for ten days.. and I didn't
like seafood much when we first got there.. half way through I
couldn't wait to get back to eat..
3. Any one of a number of gatherings with friends and family where the
food is gorgeously home made and the evening ends with everyone
sitting around a partially cleared, wine stained table cloth with
everyone still nibbling on something and drinking a range of
everything from grappa to a espresso to decaf coffee to a diet
cola.. If I could time travel back to one dinner in particular and
eat my grandmother's blintz's again.. .
Writer/broadcaster/producer/strategic publicist/media trainer/
consultant. other things but most fall into one of those categories.
Freelance, dammit. I want a steady paycheck..
Why am I asking you questions?
Because I'll answer? Because I love The Food Network, collect
cookbooks and food and related issues?! Because I'm groovy? Because I
work for a fellow Food Network Show David Rocco's Dolce Vita .. and
the experience of working on a cooking show with an accessible host
and the transformative effect of Italy makes me a foodie? Because I
know and respect the people who cultivate our food and know how much
work it takes to provide us with our food and I bless them every
single day and have for most of my life?
What does Soul Food mean to you?
More than food. What feeds you deeply. What gives you comfort
sustenance. What inspires you. What makes you quietly happy. What
makes you ecstatic. What makes you melancholy and reflective. What
revives you. What makes you radiate love and what makes you take in
the love that someone is radiating out.
If you could create any food and music experience what would it be?
It would be dinner somewhere in Florence, or at any of several places
i love in rural Tuscany, Or in Rome at a little restaurant off of
Piazza Navone where I had a truffle Arancini.. Or on the beach in
Sicily at Da Vittorio's (see last question) . on a beautiful night ...
and a long slow typical Italian dinner...with great company and lots
of conversation.. where my Italian was finally good enough so I could
follow the conversation..
Kosher or Sea Salt?
Kosher
Wine or Cocktails?
Depends on the occasion
Prosciutto or Spam?
Are you kidding?!! Prosciutto!
Who is your favorite Iron Chef?
Raymond Burr
What is your favorite thing to smoke?
Salmon
What is your favorite music to listen to while cooking, after Soul
Food of course?
Quiet sensual music.. Bebel Gilberto, Norah Jones , Putumayo's
Acoustic France and Brazilian Cafe, Getz-Gilberto, etc etc etc..
Top 3 food experiences after Nyood, Kultura and Madras Pantry of
course?
3. Stella.. I think Greg Coulliard's first Toronto restaurant. I went
in the early 80's and had the most incredible dinner. I think it was a
small serving of a simple stew but it was the first time I had ever
had a mix of exotic spices and figs cooked with the meat. I was having
a business meeting with J.D. Roberts, then a Muchmusic vj, not John
Roberts at CNN.. and I zoned right out of the conversation for a few
glorious moments..
2. Da Vittorio's --on the Beach in Sicily, just outside of a teeny
town called Menfi.. I was working as part of the crew for David
Rocco's Dolce Vita and we stayed there. This is the freshest most
gorgeous seafood imaginable .. done so simply but so perfectly that I
still dream about it.. We stayed there for ten days.. and I didn't
like seafood much when we first got there.. half way through I
couldn't wait to get back to eat..
3. Any one of a number of gatherings with friends and family where the
food is gorgeously home made and the evening ends with everyone
sitting around a partially cleared, wine stained table cloth with
everyone still nibbling on something and drinking a range of
everything from grappa to a espresso to decaf coffee to a diet
cola.. If I could time travel back to one dinner in particular and
eat my grandmother's blintz's again.. .
