Bill Shore, in his compelling book, Revolution of the Heart wrote:  No one wears ribbons on behalf of the children who live in poverty. The child trapped in a well for a week could count on Dan Rather telling the world about her condition each evening. Rescue workers and experts would be flown in from around the country. Neighbors could be relied up to nurture and sustain the family. Journalists would do special reports on how children get trapped in wells and what can be done to prevent these accidents. Banks, hospitals, local businesses, and other community institutions would respond with funds and equipment. The necessary financial support would be found even though it was not budgeted for in advance.

‘If that child could be saved, she would be saved — because our country has both the resources and the will to save her. But a child trapped in poverty — not for a week, but for a lifetime —enjoys no such outcome. Even if she were the same child that had been stuck in the well. Thirty feed underground, that child is the most visible child in the United States. In plain view on a front stoop in Harlem, that child is invisible. Our nation has the resources necessary to save her. But it does not have the will.

Share Our Strength^® is a national nonprofit that is ending childhood hunger in America founded by Bill Shore.

Who Cares?

It is almost impossible to attempt to change a firmly held opinion or belief, and essentially a waste of time and energy to try. Strident advocacy can be compared with an untended garden hose that produces a torrent without much sense of direction.

It is good to talk to yourself by speaking to those who agree with you.  Such dialog produces a satisfying sense of righteousness.

The most rewarding constituency is one who doesn’t care one way or another about …whatever. So you won’t persuade a vegan to eat a lamb chop or talk a meat lover into salivating over the prospect of a tofu sandwich, but you may be able to issue forth a clarion call for action if your argument is presented calmly, rationally, unemotionally and backed up with statistics and quotes from reliable sources. The sequence of the theseis involves stating the problem, descibing what will happen if nothing is done, persuasively suggesting a solution and listing specific actions to take…now.

Giving a speech for many can feel like being a deer in the headlights

Giving a speech is a hard thing to do. It requires careful planning, rehearsing, exact timing and a thorough knowledge of the audience. All these elements have equal importance, even if the speaker is simply offering a toast (particularly if a few drinks have preceded the moment).

For several years I wrote the speeches for Joe Baum, the legendary former CEO of The Rainbow Room and Windows on the World.  The procedure was always the same. He hated giving speeches and invariably canceled at least five of our first scheduled meetings.

The next step required his secretary to retrieve copies of every speech he had ever given since the beginning of time.

Then I showed up and he began by insisting certain paragraphs from his previous talks be included included in the forthcoming speech (regardless of the occasion or the assigned topic).

After dozens of drafts, false starts, whining on my part, whining on his part, my refusal to speak to him, he glowering at me…we traveled together to the meeting.

Introduction over, he’d look over at me — and wink.

Then he’d shove all my neatly typed triple-spaced pages in his pocket and say whatever came into his head.

It was always a huge success.

It took me years to understand my part in this equation was simply to help him summon the courage to accept the notion that he was loved.

The lesson I so painfully learned is that all writers are not great speakers, and speakers succeed only when they accept the original premise that a speech requires “careful planning, rehearsing, exact timing and a thorough knowledge of the audience.” These rigid rules only apply to some people though…

I love this quote from Walt Disney. He said, “I’d rather entertain and hope that people learn, than teach and hope that people are entertained.”

I’m loving it.

It is fascinating to remember so many names from the near past: Maude Chez Elle, Jim Nassikas from the Stanford Court Hotel in San Francisco, Ann Seranne the food editor from Gourmet and so many other who gather together in our collective memory.

How fortunate I am. I will be meeting the for lunch today. He is coming to the CIA to give a talk at 3 P.M. I and the students from my Professional Food Writing Class have reserved seats as a big crowd is expected.

I’ll let you know how it goes.

When I first moved to Kingston, NY from Manhattan, I was shocked when new friends told me they hadn’t been to the city for years.

Here we have the option to drive, take Amtrak or the Metro North train, or a bus. All are within easy access and relatively inexpensive.  The train ride is particularly wondrous as the route follows the Hudson all the way to midtown.

All the options involve pretty much a five-hour round trip though and the time element is the main deterrent — or was the main deterrent until I was the last person on earth to realize the journey translates into two movies!

Now I have realigned my thinking, I will be doing a whole lot more traveling!

“About 10 years ago, I was driving down a two lane road through some of the most beautiful scenery in Tuscany. It was a road I knew well for I’d driven it every day over the past two years. It led from the small rural town where I live to the medieval city of Siena. Looking at the golden rays of the setting sun pouring over the green fields of winter wheat, I shook my head in disbelief, exclaiming out loud, “Holy Cow!! I’m actually living my dream.”

I live and work in Tuscany, teaching cooking classes, leading culinary and wine tours and sharing what I’ve learned about regional Italian cuisine with visitors from all over the world.

If I had gone to the library to consult a book on “How to Live and Work in Italy,” I’d still be sitting there, frozen under the avalanche of information on work permits and visas requirements. But I followed a path and, like Alice, fell down a hole into Wonderland.

My passion for good food, prepared with loving care and shared in a convivial setting, was instilled at an early age. I grew up in an Italian-American family on the east coast. We also lived in Verona, Italy for four years. I went to college; I worked in corporate America. The excellent salary I made went towards traveling, throwing dinner parties, eating in top restaurants and drinking fine wines. But it wasn’t enough.

When I was 36, I received a small inheritance from an aunt–enough to pursue a dream and change my life. I wasn’t in a serious relationship and I didn’t have kids. “If not now, when?,” I wondered.

I quit my job, sold my house, put my stuff in storage and took off to Italy for six months. After attending cooking school in Bologna, I traveled around Italy, watching the seasons change. I was blown away by the elegant simplicity of the food and how the dishes changed as the months went by. The cuisine of northern and central Italy was unlike anything I’d experienced in my southern Italian family upbringing.

I was fortunate enough to spend the last two months of my sojourn on a rural estate, Spannocchia, where I worked in the kitchen in exchange for room and board. Situated deep in the wooded hills south of Siena, it was my first exposure to Tuscan cuisine.

I loved the simplicity of the dishes: the strong flavors of rosemary and sage, the reliance on what was growing in the garden in the late fall, the celebration of harvest, wine, and new olive oil. I worked with their Tuscan cook to formulate her recipes in English.

When I returned to America, I started culinary school at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) in New York. An internship with Odette Fada at San Domenico restaurant continued my education in regional Italian cuisine. I worked in restaurants, making $8 an hour. It was a pittance of what I’d made in my corporate job, but I was so much more fulfilled.

In the spring of 2000, I returned to Spannocchia for a visit. The owners, who by now were my friends, asked me to stay for the season. I jumped at the chance, planning to return to the “real world” at the end of the year.

Immersing myself in Tuscan culture and traditions, eager to learn as much as possible, I yearned to share my experiences with people who shared my passion. The visitors to the estate were the perfect foil. At the end of the year, rather than move back to the U.S., I stayed and found my own apartment in town.

Never before had anything felt so right. I learned that when you encounter road blocks, you don’t beat your head and work harder to overcome them; you look for the road that is wide open and sunny, and walk down it.

In 2001, I built a website, choosing the name, Ecco La Cucina, which means “here’s the kitchen.”

Gina Stipo, Ecco La Cucina

I applied for and received a visa and went through the bureaucratic nightmare of filing every year to renew my permit to stay. I am now a permanent resident.

What began as simple classes teaching pasta has grown into culinary workshops on Tuscan cuisine; week-long culinary tours throughout Italy; market visits and winery tours. My sister has become my partner in the U.S., and we make a great team.

By showing up, working hard, developing relationships and giving people value for their vacation dollars, I’ve built a solid reputation and a strong business. Life in a foreign country wasn’t always easy, but what I’ve learned is immeasurable.”

I keep saying to you, dear reader, ICDT–I Can Do That! If Gina can do it, so can you! But you must create your own adventure, your own path.

If you would like to know more about Gina, perhaps attend her next week-long Tuscany classes and culinary tours in June, you can visit her website and plan your trip now!

The important thing is to continue to create our own unique signature and pass it along to others who will appreciate and respect the work of those who created cockerel crowing weather vanes, sculptures, teapots and tabletop and kitchen utensils.

Here’s an example of a simple gift for a friend: Fill a rubber (medical) glove with Hershey’s kisses. Attach a note with the words:

“I’d like to give you a hand.”

(ICDT!) (I Can Do That!)

Many in the restaurant industry do not simply consider such an act without a call rude, they call it a sin.

Everyone suffers when the tables remain empty. While many restaurant reservationists strongly stress the penalties of the unforgivable sin, the act continues. Some patrons even become known as serial offenders.

There is no excuse. We can all reach a cell phone to offer an apology when the cancellation of a reservation is necessary, beyond one’s control.

I have devised a solution for this intractable problem:

• First offense — the diner is not permitted to order dessert.
• Second offense — the diner’s menu first choices and dessert are denied. The check is doubled.
• Third offense — the name of the ‘no show’ is posted on Facebook with a notice that no reservations are to be accepted for the offender’s lifetime plus 168 years of penance.

How’s that for a jolly Easter message?

OTG Restaurant at Jet Blue JFK Terminal

There are more and more alternatives for eating, dare I say, dining at the airport these days.

Restaurant Smart Brief contributor Janet Forgrieve has reported: “Airport restaurants run much like traditional eateries, with a few additional challenges. Airport restaurants benefit from delays and flight cancellations but all too often seats are filled with hungry, angry passengers. Among the many rules and regulations is the requirement for kitchen knives to be tethered at all times. Metal knives on restaurant tables are not permitted.”

According to OTG Management spokesperson Dave Allen, “We don’t have airport restaurants, we have restaurants at airports. Really, we operate our restaurants like they are in the restaurant districts in the very best part of the cities we are in.”

In fact, just last month, OTG announced it “will offer five chef-driven restaurants, an expansive food hall, fresh markets, the integration of Apple iPads, pop-up retail stores and more” for Delta Airlines at LaGuardia’s Terminal C.

Every new employee at an airport restaurant now must first undergo security clearance, while all food deliveries are carefully scrutinized for lethal bugs of all kinds.

Private plane chefs and caterers like Elaine Frances have a slightly easier time. They can supply elegant picnics or partially cooked food that is reheated aloft in microwave ovens for the crew and passengers. The ability to taste the food is greatly diminished at 30,000 feet.  (This is the reason airline often food tastes of — well — nothing at all.)

As you see, there are several opportunities for employment in the airport arena. They range from: menu planning, recipe development, recipe testing, financial management and waitstaff jobs.

Servers are required to have the patience of a saint as they placate and console the equivalent of teenagers in full heat.  In other words the job requires the skills of extreme motherhood. (A mother brings food, takes away the plate and sometimes suggests a little nap.)

If there is a small private airport near you, consider writing a plane catering business plan and bring tasting samples along. (ICDT!) I Can Do That!