My daughter, Alekka, has asked me to write about wine to inform her clients at Give Me Some Sugar. I admit that my wife and I enjoy wine and have a selection every evening with supper, but I don’t consider myself to be a wine expert, more of an interested amateur. I am not a wine collector and cannot afford to buy the bottles of burgundy and Bordeaux that are highly touted. On the other hand, I may have fun talking about pairing wine with food, a less well understood topic. I really enjoy a well-crafted meal complimented with a good wine, so maybe this is where I will go from time to time.

I could also muse about my newly acquired interest in getting my 60+ year-old body in shape. Biking the local Pittsburgh trails and working out (wheezing out) at a local gym has become surprisingly enjoyable. I have to admit that I don’t like the thumpy music they play over the sound system. I prefer to listen to classical music on my iPod while I stretch, pull, grunt, and shove weighted things for an hour. Maybe my direction on this blog will be comments on pairing music with weights.

I guess the real focus will be an eclectic mixture of thoughts and observations. I cannot compete with my youngest daughter’s journal/blog and won’t engage in raving about politics, religion, or global warming. I will just post occasional thoughts and reflections on whatever moves me.

Dennis Sweeney - (aka “Dr. Dennis”)

I had my first public speaking engagement the other day that did not involve cooking. I was asked to speak at an “Ask The Expert” day at an surburban high school sponsored by Junior Achievement.
I was very excited to be able to share my WEALTH of knowledge and years of experience in the industry to students who would hang on my every word.
I was informed that if I needed any AV equipment for Power Point it would be ready for me in the class room. I have never used Power Point in my life and decided that cookbooks that I have used throughout the years would be the power in my points that day.
Arriving at the school I realized that it has been over 15 years since I have set foot in a high school. I was never in the “cool” crowd, but that day in my full uniform, I was treated like a star.
After being checked in through SECURITY and being escorted to my first class I was ready to blow them away with my sage advice and stories about my 20 years in the industry.
Turns out the 9 am “Foods” class is an elective for students to pass and most of the kids in this class were barely awake. The only questions I got from this class were the ones that were handed to them to ask as an assigment to be completed for that day.
My second class was “Advanced Foods”. Here I was faced with 20 students who were there by choice. After my introduction and brief speech I opened the floor for questions:
Q:”What is the hardest thing about being in the restaurant business?”
A:” Missing holidays with my family, long hours and working in the weekends”
Q: “Who is you favorite chef on the Food Network?”
A: “Ina Garten, the Barefoot Contessa and Alton Brown for his food science”
Q:”What do you think about Rachel Ray?”
A: no comment
Q: “What is you favorite thing to cook/eat?”
A: ” I could not go one day without chocolate and I like to cook simple, fast and great tasting food.”
They asked so many questions that we had to stop because the bell rang for the next period.
I left the school hoping that I made some small impact on these kids, told them the reality of the restaurant business, and encouraged them to try new and different foods.
This morning I received an e-mail for our business website:

Name: Keven
class: none
comments: Dear Chef Alekka,
  You attend East Leyden High School on February 6, 2008.  I am in one of the classes that you spoke to.    I want to thank you for coming out and talking with us. You did a great job on telling the truth behind owning a business. Which  makes me want to do the same.  Once again thank you, Chef Alekka.  I learned a lot.  So, good luck in your business.

Guess I did have a small impact on the future business owners of America.
Happy Cooking!
Chef Alekka

For some reason it will not quit snowing here! Once you think that the snow has FINALLY stopped, the sky drops another six inches to remind you of who is REALLY in charge.
For this reason I have a lot of free time on my hands, our clients with Give Me Some Sugar cancelled their party due to weather and my Wednesday cooking class with kids had a “snow day” .
So I thought I would share with you some of my favorite blogs I read when I am house bound:

BLOGS I READ FOR FUN:

1. www.shakenmama.com- this is done by one of my oldest and best friends, E. She has the cutest two year old who they call “Chebbles” is about the have her second child. I have money that she will deliver on my birthday. When I have had a bad day at work I watch the video of Amelia on a sled: scroll down to Wednesday, December 12th to see!
http://www.shakenmama.com/search?updated-min=2007-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&updated-max=2008-01-01T00%3A00%3A00-08%3A00&max-results=50

2. www.myevilheart.blogspot.com- this is my younger sister who is an amazing writer. She is also the copy editor for Give Me Some Sugar which helps for these posts and editing our website.

3. www.perezhilton.com- Love the celebrity gossip!

BLOGS I READ ABOUT FOOD:

1. epicurious.com- This is a great site for recipes. I like using the Advanced Search for recipes that are seasonal or have to have a specific ingredient.

2. cookingandeatinginthewindycity.blogspot.com- Erin was in one of my cooking classes recently. She LOVES to cook and writes about it with great enthusiasm! She tries out new recipes and publishes the results with pictures. I like that she buys organic produce, some of which she has never used, and experiments with it.

3. theamateurgourmet.com- I have to thank Erin for this one. I am new to this site, but it is written by a guy named Adam who is a writer who lives in New York. He also experiments with recipes and gives hysterical recommendations about food and gadgets.

4. cooksillustrated.com- this one is not free, you have to sign up, but it is well worth it. America’s Test Kitchen is a real kitchen that test’s ONE recipe about 57 times until they get it PERFECT! They also test every type of cooking utensil, pot, pan, knife……I could go on and on. I have been suprised to find that a $6 grater works just as well as a $25 one. I also subscibe to the magazine ,Cooks Illustrated, for foolproof recipes and kitchen tips sent in by readers.

5. grubhub.com- the perfect solution for this weather! Just put in your zip code and state and they tell you what restaurants deliver in your area. They also provide menus and coupons.

I think it has FINALLY stopped snowing, now I can leave the house. I am hungry after writing about food.
Happy Cooking!
Chef Alekka.