Chicken Baked with Sage and Bacon

While recording some of our family favorites for my upcoming cookbook, I’m reminded of the most important ingredients found in all my dishes, love and passion.

I’ve been blessed to have grown up in a generation that experienced true family dinners. As a girl growing up in the south, it never occurred to me that everyone didn’t go to their grandmother’s home on Sunday to have dinner with the entire family, which always meant eating with a minimum of 15 people. Not that it was always a pie in the sky kind of experience…come on people it was real, June Cleaver wasn’t there. OK, so I’m going to date myself here, but it was a time without cell phones, game boys, or computers, so there was actually interaction with real people at the table with you!

Oh the smells that would greet you as you pulled into the driveway, a chicken that had been roasting for hours, okra or green tomatoes being fried, green beans that have been cooking in bacon. As soon as you walked in you were assigned a job and it was anybody’s guess as to what it would be for that day. Maybe it was going out to the garden to pick the fresh vegetables for the salad, peeling potatoes for the mashed potatoes, or maybe turning the crank on the machine for homemade ice cream.

As everyone gathered around the table (all 15 of us - and yes there were tables to accommodate this), the “games” began. Of course everyone talked at the same time, so you had a choice of topics. There were as many conversations as there were people but the one thing in common was their love and passion for the food served and the time spent together.

Family dinners are an art which seem to have been dropped along the wayside with the ever evolving hectic techno savvy world. Don’t get me wrong, I think that there are amazing advancements that help keep our world connected…But perhaps we should try one day a week, I prefer Sundays, where television, computers, game boys, cellular phones, PDA’s, are not allowed. Try it - it’s amazing what you will discover about yourself and your family. Here is one of our favorite recipes from those family dinners that has been handed down for three generations. Click here to see my Chicken Baked with Sage and Bacon.

Scallop with Black Caviar

I’ve experienced some of the most delectable meals anyone could wish to experience all over the world and have had the best of the best people presenting these meals to me. While at the Culinary Institute of America to take a self assessment exam, I couldn’t resist having dinner at the Escoffier Room, home to Chef Alain DeCoster.

Debbie with Eric Muscatell of amfAR

December 1, 2009 was World AIDS Day. On that day, I agreed to match any donation made on my donation page ( http://bit.ly/AIDS1 ). Together, we raised over $500 in one day! Thanks to everyone for your help.

I have been asked many times why I care about HIV/AIDS, and why I devote so much effort to a disease which has never directly touched anyone in my family. It’s just such a horrible disease that 33 million people are dealing with worldwide. In the United States, three times more people die from AIDS each year (including 2009) than all strains of flu combined, including H1N1! But yet, improvements in treatment have made this an almost forgotten disease, even as 2 million people were infected in 2007 alone. In Haiti, one of every three pregnant women has HIV. That’s 33% of the entire future population! My friends at amfAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) are working hard to help find a cure and put an end to AIDS once and for all.

On April 24, 2010, I am hosting a Benefit Dinner for amfAR in NYC. Please join us! There are only 30 seats, so get your tickets now. Click Here for more info.

And thanks again for caring. - Debbie

You never know what is waiting for you around the corner. Well, for me it was a chance of a lifetime with More Magazine in New York.

About two months ago I received an email from a freelance writer looking for women between the ages of 40 and 60 who were re-inventing themselves. Well, it sounded intriguing, so what the heck, I fit those two requirements, so I replied. I explained how for 24 years I had made my career working in the corporate world and as a Personal Trainer and Cycle Instructor and over the last couple years have made the transition into the culinary world, following one of my deepest oldest passions, cooking.

Well, much to my great surprise, I received a phone call about 3 weeks ago from…MORE MAGAZINE! It was editor Patti Greco asking me if I was still interested in participating in an article about women re-inventing themselves and spending two hours being mentored by a celebrity in my field of interest, for my area of interest the celebrity would be chef B. Smith! Oh my goodness now I really feel as though I’m dreaming. Of course I still want to participate, and to top it all off, they were going to fly me into New York City for the mentoring session with B. Smith and for a photo shoot and to prepare one of my original recipes for her.

Upon arriving in New York City, the first thing on the list was of course shopping, I was going for a fitting the next day, but what would I wear for that? After a long day of shopping at Bergdorf’s, I finally found the perfect outfit. After a fantastic dinner at Bobby Flay’s Bar Americain with a friend, I was off to get some rest for the following day. Not only would I be going for a fitting for my photo shoot with B. Smith for More Magazine, but would also be meeting with amfAR to discuss our upcoming charity event (more to come on that in my next blog). The fitting went perfect, in the end they actually liked my outfit so well, I just wound up wearing my own clothes.

The big day arrives, I’m really excited so I rush down, hail a taxi, give the driver the address, thinking this would be sufficient, but instead I’m asked where the address is, I tell him across from Bloomingdale’s, everyone knows where that is, at least one would think a taxi driver in New York City would at any rate, but this one didn’t. So, in a panic I made a couple of calls and of course no one answers, but thanks to Barry and his Google phone and Google maps, we find the needed cross streets and arrive just in time. I’m greeted by Daisy, Associate Photo Editor, who whisks me off to meet the hair and make-up guys Nelson and Jordy. What a great time I had with these guys, and what a great job they did. Then while Jordy is finishing my eyes, B. Smith arrives, what a gorgeous lady which is equaled by her kindness and generosity.

Now for the shoot. It was just like you see in the movies, the photographer was such a sweetheart and made me feel so comfortable about being in front of the camera that I forgot it was even there. Before I knew it two hours had passed and I had received some great advice on my future direction as a chef. So make sure and look for and buy the February issue of More Magazine. I know I will!

By the way, for anyone who is curious about what I prepared for B. Smith, it was…..my Pistachio Encrusted Curry Sea Bass.