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10/15/2005 Archived Entry: "Personal Appearances Update"

CALLING ALL APPLE PIES
Along with Rozanne Gold and Carole Walter, I will be a judge at the Sickles Market annual apple pie contest next Saturday, Oct. 22, at the market in Little Silver, New Jersey. This year the contest and adjunct festivities benefit Holiday Express, which brings entertainment and holiday cheer to places and people few other organizations serve—such as the less glamorous nursing homes, men’s shelters, AIDS hospices, and children’s wards.

There are two categories for the pies – general and student. For more information, including contest rules, call Sally at (732) 741-9563. You can still enter. We don’t need more pies, but we will accept more pies. At the least, you can be present when we announce the winners, and perhaps buy some pie, and listen to a panel discussion that we’ve planned for 2 p.m. in the Sickles’ greenhouse.

Rozanne, Carole and I will be cloistered in a judging room until almost 2 p.m., but the pies themselves will be on display and for sale by 11 a.m. Each whole pie, a duplicate of the ones we are judging behind the scene, costs $15. They can be picked up at 4 p.m., but should be purchased in the morning. Judging by last year’s frenzy, they will go fast, even though no one will know how they rate until the afternoon.

The pies that we are cutting into to judge, however, will also be for sale, by the slice for $2. They will be sold, starting at about 1:30 p.m., after the judging but just before Rozanne and Carole and I participate in a panel discussion (free to anyone who wants to attend) on the importance of great ingredients. The panel will be moderated by Brooke Tarabour, food columnist for the Star Ledger. After the panel, at about 3 p.m., our cookbooks will be available for purchase and autographs.

COOK AT SELIANO IN WESTFIELD
On Friday night, October 21, the evening before the apple pie contest, I will be at Classic Thyme in Westfield, New Jersey, doing my Seliano thing – music, slides, stories, and food to evoke my days at Baronessa Cecilia’s farm in Paestum. I’ll be demonstrating some dishes, and we’ll be eating even more. Check out Maven’s Appearances on my website for more detail. The cost is $100 a person. Remember, this is dinner and a show! I’m the show, and I cook your dinner. Call Classic Thyme, 161 East Broadstreet Ave., Westfield, at (908) 232-5445.

AM I OVEREXPOSED OR WHAT?
Check out the Maven’s Appearances on my website for details, but I will be talking and cooking risotto at both the Chef Central stores this month. I am in Hartsdale on Oct. 25 at 7 p.m.and in Paramus on Oct. 27 at 7 p.m.

A SICKLES WEEKEND
On Saturday, November 19, I am doing a special event at Sickles Market in Little Silver, New Jersey. We start at about 11 a.m. with a walk around the market to discuss ingredients, recipes, and life – how to make Italian food taste Italian. Then, I’ll be doing a cooking demonstration in the market’s greenhouse. Then, at about 2 p.m., we will have a late lunch (with wine) at Angelica restaurant, which is preparing a special Italian meal featuring some of the ingredients we will have discussed. That event, for a very limited group, is $150 a person. For reservations, call Sally at (732) 741-9563.

In late afternoon on that Saturday – in other words, after lunch --I’ll be going back to Sickles for a meet and greet. Anyone can attend, for free.

On Sunday, I’ll be back at the market from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. for a book signing, although all my books will be available on both days – the paperbacks “What To Cook …” and “Soup Suppers,” plus “Naples at Table,” and my youngest child, the big, colorful, picture-filled “opinionated history with legendary recipes,” “Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food.”