APPEARANCES, LECTURES, CLASSES, AND MEDIA

FALL/WINTER 2009-2010

Tea and Illustrated Lecture 

RICHMOND EVERGREEN GARDEN CLUB
Saturday, October 17, 1 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Hilton Garden Inn, Trevi Garden
1100 South Ave.
Staten Island, New York

Admission: $55
For reservations, call Carol Berardi, (718) 448-1398

This year, the annual tea of The Richmond Evergreen Garden Club is called Ciao Italia. I’m thinking of it as the pre-publication party for “The Southern Italian Table.” I’ll be debuting my illustrated lecture, “Smashed Tomatoes and Broken Spaghetti,” a gastronomic travelogue, after a sumptuous tea. In addition, there will be a “boutique” sale of jewelry, beaded shawls, and more. Of course, I’ll be autographing the new book, which won’t be in the stores or available on the internet until Oct. 20. Plus, the garden club members are creating table designs on the theme of Ciao Italia, while floral designer Sean Psomas of Wildflowers will build a grand garden display to greet anyone.    

Demonstration and Book Signing  

CHEF CENTRAL – PARAMUS
Thursday, October 22, 6:30 p.m.

Paramus, New Jersey; (201) 576-0100
www.chefcentral.com
No admission fee. No registration.  

CHEF CENTRAL - HARTSDALE
Friday, October 23, 6:30 p.m.

45 South River Park Avenue
Hartsdale, New York; (914) 328-1376
www.chefcentral.com
No admission fee. No registration.  

My new book, “The Southern Italian Table: Authentic Recipes from Traditional Kitchens” is being released on Oct. 20, so these two appearances will likely be your first opportunity to have me autograph a copy. Before I sit with pen in hand, however, you'll eat a little something. I'll be cooking a few dishes to pass around.

Radio

JOAN HAMBURG AT THE WATER’S EDGE -- WOR radio/ 710 AM
Friday, October 23, 2009
Noon

I am reunited with my former “radio wife,” Joan Hamburg, while she broadcasts her program, with a live audience, from the glamorous restaurant in Long Island City. (Pre-recorded on Oct. 19.)  I’m told I will be on the air for the first half hour.  

Kosher Brooklyn Tour  

BRIDGEWATER, NEW JERSEY, JEWISH COMMUNITY CENTER
Sunday, October 25, 8:30 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Admission: $150
To register, by October 9 (please), call the JCC at (908) 725-6994, ext. 201
Limited to 20 people

I’ve been giving private tours of Brooklyn’s best kosher shopping streets lately. My first public one – meaning you can come, too -- is being sponsored by The Bridgewater, New Jersey, Jewish Community Center. They are running a bus from the JCC to Brooklyn, where, after a special bagel-and breakfast, I will be leading a kosher shopping tour in the Midwood section of the borough. We’ll stop at Pomegranate, the most deluxe and extensive kosher supermarket in the world (no joke; with valet parking, no less, not that we’ll need it). We’ll stroll down Avenue J with its old-fashioned bakeries and kugel emporiums. We’ll go to the Pickle Guys on Coney Island Ave, and, finally, after some snacking along the way, we’ll have a late, light lunch at an Israeli-style restaurant in the Syrian Sephardic neighborhood around Kings Highway. The $150 a person fee includes everything – the bus, bagels, tour and lunch -- everything except personal shopping. The bus will leave the JCC in Bridgewater promptly at 8:30 a.m. and return at approximately 5 p.m.    

Radio

EVERYDAY FOOD (MARTHA STEWART LIVING, SIRIUS XM SATELLITE)
Tuesday, October 27, 11:15 a.m.

Host Sandy Gluck and I will talk about the easy everyday cooking of Southern Italians, who love good food but don’t necessarily enjoy long hours in the kitchen.

If you don’t subscribe to Sirius, you can still listen live (only) on the internet. Go to www.sirius.com and click on the "Listen Online" button at the top of the page. Once that page loads, click on the button to the left for "Free Online Trial." Follow the directions for the free 7 day trial.    

Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing  

ADULT SCHOOL OF MONTCLAIR
Wednesday, October 28, 7:30 to 9 p.m.

Montclair High School
100 Chestnut Street
Montclair, New Jersey
www.adultschool.org

Admission: $15 plus $5 registration
Register online or call (973) 746-6636
Registration begins September 1.
Please reserve ahead, although tickets may be sold at the door if the event is not sold out in advance.

A GASTRONOMIC TRAVELOGUE OF SOUTHERN ITALY
I’ll start at my home base in Italy, Azienda Seliano, a water buffalo farm and country inn in Paestum, near the Amalfi Coast, where I conduct my cooking and culture tours. I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant in Naples, then guide you south through Basilicata, Calabria, then to Sicily and around it (so little time, so much to eat and see). Heading back north, we travel through Puglia, a land of wine, olives, great bread and homemade pasta, not to mention the trulli, the conical farm houses that look like they were built for gnomes. Whew! It would take weeks, if not months, to do this trip for real – and properly. I’ll try to keep the commentary to an hour, leaving some time for questions. If you have any intentions of traveling (and eating or cooking) south of Rome, you need to come to this lecture. Even merely for the love of meatballs, you need to hear this.

Before and after the lecture, “The Southern Italian Table” will be available for sale and signatures.

Radio  

FOOD & WINE WITH CHEF JAMIE GWEN
KFWB News 980, Los Angeles
Sunday, November 1, 8:25 a.m. PT, 11:25 p.m. EST live on the internet and archived at www.chefjamie.com

Host Sandy Gluck and I will talk about the easy everyday cooking of Southern Italians, who love good food but don’t necessarily enjoy long hours in the kitchen.

Schmoozing with my old friend Jamie Gwen is always a delight. Well, she’s not old. She’s young, beautiful, vivacious, smart, and she can cook, too. We’ll talk, of course, about Southern Italian cooking, what’s happening in restaurants around the country (given the recession), and almost anything else that comes up in our usual stream of consciousness conversations. A couple of recipes from The Southern Italian Table will be posted on Jamie’s website.  

Book Signing and Talk

BARNES AND NOBLE, FREEHOLD, NJ
Thursday, November 5, 2009
7 to 9 p.m.

3981 Route 9
Freehold, New Jersey
(732) 409-2929

Free

How did a Jew from Brooklyn end up being an expert on Southern Italian food and wine, with a cooking school near Naples? Come find out, apropos the publication of my second Italian cookbook, “The Southern Italian Table.” After a short talk, with questions from the audience, I will, of course, sign books. It’s a book store.

Cooking Demonstration and Tasting Lunch  

THE SILO
Saturday, November 7; 11 a.m.-2 p.m.

44 Upland Road
New Milford, Connecticut; (860) 355-0300
www.hunthillfarmtrust.org

Fee: $90
Register online or by phone.

I’m calling this class “CHRISTMAS IN SOUTHERN ITALY,” but you’ll find these recipes useful all through the fall and winter: Two spreads for crostini: A mushroom paté (in Italian, “Paté of the Two Sicilies”) and a tuna paste (in Italian, “Fish for Knuckleheads”). Insalata di Rinforzo, a salad of pickled vegetables and fresh cauliflower. Then: Spaghetti with Walnuts, Garlic and Anchovies; huge pasta tubes – paccheri – with a butternut squash and sausage sauce; pork loin roast Sorrento-style, sautéed escarole, broccoli in an egg and cheese coating, hazelnut amaretti, and Zia Delia’s date nut cake. We will eat well.  

Illustrated Lecture and Book Signing, Plus Refreshments  

GREAT NECK ADULT PROGRAM
Thursday, November 12; 7:30 p.m.

Cumberland Adult Center
30 Cumberland Ave.
Great Neck, Long Island

Fee: $25, including light refreshments after the lecture
For reservations and info, call (516) 773-1713

A GASTRONOMIC TRAVELOGUE OF SOUTHERN ITALY
I’ll start at my home base in Italy, Azienda Seliano, a water buffalo farm and country inn in Paestum, near the Amalfi Coast, where I conduct my cooking and culture tours. I’ll take you to my favorite restaurant in Naples, then guide you south through Basilicata, Calabria, then to Sicily and around it (so little time, so much to eat and see). Heading back north, we travel through Puglia, a land of wine, olives, great bread and homemade pasta, not to mention the trulli, the conical farm houses that look like they were built for gnomes. Whew! It would take weeks, if not months, to do this trip for real – and properly. I’ll try to keep the commentary to an hour, leaving some time for questions. If you have any intentions of traveling (and eating or cooking) south of Rome, you need to come to this lecture. Even merely for the love of meatballs, you need to hear this.

Before and after the lecture, “The Southern Italian Table” will be available for sale and signatures.

I’ll bring some homemade treats (yes, from my own home) for refreshments.  

Book Signing and Talk

BOOK REVUE
Friday, Dec. 11, 2009
7 to 9 p.m.

313 New York Avenue
Huntington, Long Island
(631) 271-1442
www.bookrevue.com

Free

Long Island’s premiere independent book store does me the honor of hosting a Friday night gathering. I’ll talk about taveling and eating in Southern Italy. I’ll answer questions. I’ll sign books.