Giuliana & Chef Alekka

Those who know me well know how I am addicted to reality T.V. Back in May I was asked if I wanted to be a part of a new reality series called “Giuliana and Bill”.  I did not hesitate to say “YES!!”

The premise was that she wanted to learn how to cook a traditional Italian dish for her husband and a couple of friends.  I was incredibly excited and after meeting with the producers, I knew it was going to be a good time.

Two days after the meeting, I found myself in the kitchen of The Wooden Spoon, a cooking supply store where I freelance teaching cooking classes. I have been on T.V before, but this was way different. The shoot consisted of two producers, a director, a sound guy, two camera operators and some other people running around with clipboards and head-sets.  We had a limited amount of time to do this because Giuliana had to catch a plane to L.A. to shoot for the E! network.

Before G. (this is what she is called by her friends–so somehow I feel qualified to do so as well) arrived, the director talked to me about how things would go down. They wanted a totally unrehearsed, unscripted segment. “Just teach her how to cook, like one of your students” were his exact words. So that is what I did. The first time I met her was when they started rolling the tape; no pre-introduction or anything!

All I can say is that we had a great time together. The Giuliana you see on T.V. is her real personality. She knows she cannot cook and I knew it too, in the first five minutes of filming. We had to stop taping only TWICE, once because the film ran out and another time because we were all laughing too much.

Be sure to check out the segment : Cooking Up Trouble which will air Wednesday September 16 on the Style Network! Check out the show schedule.

Happy Cooking!

Chef Alekka

Alicia decorating her cake

We were recently contacted by the Bear Necessities Cancer Foundation about a girl named Alicia. Her wish was to take a cake decorating class. We had planned to do it in her home with some friends but unfortunately she relapsed and was back in the hospital. So we brought the class to her. Here is the letter I wrote to the Director of the program after the class:

Hi Danielle,

Just wanted to drop you a note and let you know how today went. Alicia really did well with her cake decorating!! Her parents told me that she was so excited that she kept on asking what time it was all day until I arrived.

I brought three different types of cakes for her to choose from (she decorated the marble cake) and her Mom decorated the other cake. I left the third cake, with her parent’s permission, for her to decorate later.

She was not feeling up to getting out of bed so we pulled her eating table close to her and made that work very well! She was quite shy at the beginning but as the time went by she opened up and had a great time! We talked about her favorite cake shows on the Food Network and her favorite chefs.

We bought her a basic set of decorating tips and a box of pre-colored fondant. I guessed on her favorite colors(blue, green, yellow) and that is exactly what came in the box!

Her parents took a million picture and filmed the entire class, they signed a release form for the pictures, so as soon as I get them I will forward them to you.

Because of confidentiality the staff could not tell me the status of her health. She made a HUGE impact on me today and I would like to visit her again. I was told to ask you if this was OK, and go on my own as a “volunteer”. Please let me know if this is possible and how I can do this.

Before I left Alicia showed me a box a Origami flowers she had made, them I HAD to stay and learn from her how to make a rose. The teacher became the student! She and her Mother both made me a rose in thanks for the day, I will keep them as a reminder of how brave she is at such a young age.

Again, please let me know if it is possible to visit Alicia again.

To learn more about this organization visit the website at: www.bearnecessities.org