Life As We Know It

On September 11, 2012, I woke up, went to the gym, took a train to a client, coordinated a few interviews, edited some materials and worked on two events coming up in the following week.  It was an average day for me, nothing spectacular. I presided over a Les Dames d’Escoffier board meeting that night and joined my husband for dinner at Eataly with a visiting colleague from South Carolina. My cell phone had one text message from a wine industry colleague. The message said “Peace be with you.” I responded “Thank you! How are you today?”  He responded “ALIVE!” The message

Last night, August 31st, was a Blue Moon. By definition, a Blue Moon is an extra full moon in a season. Usually there are three full moons, and a Blue Moon makes four.  It is an astronomical rarity that happens about 2.7 years apart. The last Blue Moon was December 31, 2009, and I was oblivious to it since I was in the throes of chemotherapy, a rare and hopefully one-time occurance that certainly made me blue and moon-faced with the pallor of wax and wan. The next Blue Moon will take place July 31, 2015, too far into the future to think about.  So last night,

Much has been written about the legacy of Julia Child, who would have turned 100 years old this week.  Many of her colleagues and admirers have posted their Julia recollections and tributes online. In my role as president of Les Dames d’Escoffier New York I have responded to a number of questions on what she meant to the food and beverage industry and to women who work in the field, which is significant.  People have shared their favorite recipes from her cookbooks, most notably Mastering the Art of French Cooking. But as someone with both a palate and passion for good food who professes to be neither

“Happy are those who have dreams and are willing to pay the price to make them come true.” This was my senior year quote in our high school year book and it is my mantra for how I try to live.  I truly believe anyone can take an idea and develop it into something if they work hard at it. The key is to have a vision of what you want to do, a mission statement on how it will work and how it will impact others, a plan  and timeline to make it happen and a passion to give it your all. I

Serendipity. It’s a word I have been thinking about alot, and for good reason. Sometimes, I truly believe that things happen in life due to serendipity. We can all be captains of our ships to a point but, like a vessel on the sea, when nature stirs things up in a maelstrom, you have to change your course. This past weekend I attended a “Woodstock Wedding.” It did not take place in the town of Woodstock in the Hudson Valley. It took place at the site of the original Woodstock back in 1969 in Bethel Woods near White Lake, NY. The bride and groom met through –

I just spent the last several days awash in Spanish Tempranillo. Two days after saying goodbye to Chance, I boarded an airplane for Madrid to join a small group of  wine industry professionals on a four day excursion to the fairly remote, hot, dry and historic wine region of Toro, two and half hours away from Spain’s refined capital. It was like going from Chicago to the Midwest wheat fields but with better food and wine and a seemingly endless nightlife at the final destination. I cried on my overnight flight, listened to music and drank more glasses of Spanish Tempranillo than I should to ease the waves of grief that came

I have been thinking alot about the term “letting go” lately. This week I made the difficult decision of letting go of my precious Chance. He was in pain and his mind and body greatly diminished from a nasal tumor that was slowing taking over his brain.  I wrestled with the idea of euthanasia and did not realize how much I truly hate the idea of letting go of a life, particuarly his. The doctors said it was my choice but to think of it as a gift to give him peace and protect him from more pain. In the end I relented. Chance died quietly in

The animal world taught me alot about taking chances and making choices this week. In life, many of us only have one chance to do something and a short amount of time to make a choice about it. Chance, by definition is either a probability, an opportunity, a fortuitous situation or a risk.  Chances tend to pop up and then dissolve. We all face them in our lives and we all have to make choices around them that can make a small or large impact depending on the circumstance. This week, I’ll Have Another faced the chance to win the Triple Crown and

 I am giving myself a present. It doesn’t come in a blue box. It doesn’t cost a lot. You can take it anywhere and it is always with you. And, the best thing is that it very easy to share and give to others.  It’s The Present.  I read a quote recently on a friend’s Facebook page: “Yesterday is history. Tomorrow is a mystery. Today is a gift. That is why it is called The Present.” The words stuck in my head and found a home there.  I live in a world of planning, promoting and pitching new ideas to

“You look just like your mother,” someone told me last night at a party. “You sound just like your mother,” someone told me on when I answered the phone. “You are wearing purple, just like your mother,” people tell me whenever I wear her color. OMG! Am I turning into my mother? How many times have you asked yourself that question? More importantly, how do you feel about it? I have some friends who may smile at this question and others who may grimace. I used to grimace and now I smile.  I am spending Mother’s Day weekend visiting my mother and realize how lucky I

I am spending the weekend with another male and we are having a great time while my husband is taking a trip down memory lane at his high school reunion in a small corner of Connecticut. My Maltese dog, Chance, is the perfect companion. He adores me. He doesn’t criticize me or make snarky comments when I flub up in the kitchen. He makes me laugh with his funny faces. I can say whatever I want to him and not have him bark back or interrupt. He looks like he is trying really hard to understand every word I am saying with his little five pound body shaking.  He

This weekend is a double header in the Bible books: The Jewish holiday Passover and the Christian holiday Easter. I live among a family where both are slightly celebrated, albeit with some lightness of spirit and a religous ardor for eating and drinking versus reading from any books.  After attending a “sort of Seder”  last night with all the right symbolic foods, freshly homemade of course, and all the wrong examples for a traditional service – the youngest read the Four Questions from her IPad- I got up this sunny Spring morning and went online to refresh my memory about the stories of both Passover and Easter.   For