YumSugar

Earth Day Fun Facts

partysugar — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:01:11 -0700

I know some of you secretly love reading my fun facts as much as I do writing them (and acting like a know it all at parties telling people them), so I thought I'd give you a double dosing this week. I believe more and more importance should be placed on Earth Day every year so it's totally worthy of its own set of fabulous fun facts. Did you know that in some elementary schools, after Halloween and Christmas, Earth Day is the third largest celebrated holiday? Or how about that it is now observed in 175 countries and is the largest secular modern day holiday in the world? For more fun facts and to learn how much energy you save when you recycle one aluminum can, read more

Recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to watch a TV for three hours - it's equivalent to half a gallon of gasoline.
Earth Day is a relatively new holiday and was first celebrated on April 22 in 1970. More than 20 million Americans participated in this first Earth Day celebration
Earth Day was founded by a senator of Wisconsin and the day is credited for creating the environmentalism movement.
April 22 is the first official day of Spring in the Northern hemisphere and of Fall in the Southern hemisphere and was chosen to be Earth Day for this reason.

Never underestimate the importance of recycling: if every newspaper was recycled, we could save about 250,000,000 trees each year. Unfortunately only 27% of all American newspapers are recycled.
More than 20,000,000 Hershey's Kisses are wrapped each day, using 133 square miles of tinfoil. All that foil is recyclable, but not many people realize it.
Only 11% of the earth's surface is used to grow food.
The world's first national park was started in 1872 at Yellowstone National Park in the US.

The first major international conference on environmental issues was held in Sweden in 1972 and was sponsored by the United Nations.
The first wildlife refuge was formed on Pelican Island Florida in 1903.
The patron Saint of ecologists is St. Francis and the first proclamation of Earth Day was made by the mayor of San Francisco in 1970.
A highlight of the annual Earth Day ceremony at the United Nations is the ringing of the Peace Bell that was given to the UN by Japan. It is made from coins given by school children to further peace on our planet.

Happy Earth Day!

Celebrate the Day With an Earth Day Quiz

YumSugar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 01:01:33 -0700

Happy Earth Day! Whether you plant a garden, or whip up an eco-friendly meal, I hope you have a good one. To celebrate the day, I thought I'd see how much you know about Earth Day. Ready for our fun facts quiz? You can use these little tidbits to impress folks at your next party! Ready? Get started!
Source

Take the quiz

Jeff: "Nothing Is Too Surprising on the Show"

partysugar — Fri, 30 Jan 2009 08:00:12 -0800

On Top Chef, Jeff seemed like a pretty strong competitor. However, I wasn't surprised to watch Padma ask the blond to pack his knives and go. I spoke with Jeff yesterday, and he's still incredibly disappointed by his dismissal from the show. He spoke candidly about his relationship with Fabio and openly expressed his opinion of Toby Young. To find out what the chef, who's currently working at the Ritz Carlton in South Beach, had to say, read more.

On his elimination: Everyone is a little upset when they get kicked off. Watching it was just a reminder. It's definitely something I will remember for awhile.

I wouldn't change my cooking style, but I was pretty let down. I thought I would have at least made it to the finale. It was really hard. You're cooking, you're stressed out. You're away from home not using your own toothbrush. You're always on your feet. You're out of your element, then before you know it, you got kicked off before you were ready to go.

On Fabio's dish: I thought Fabio was going to go. I was surprised. The judges kept saying to him: You overcooked this. You over dressed that. Scott said something about cheddar cheese not working with the dish. There were four main points that they didn't like about Fabio's dish. They didn't really even critique my dish. They never said, "oh it had too much salt, or tasted to sweet." They said, "you gave me a watered down version of ceviche." I didn't even use water in the dish, so I didn't know how to take the response. I guess I thought I was going to scoot behind that one. There was a little feeling in the back of my throat that I might go home, but it was small.

On competing against the All-Stars from previous seasons: It was different. Nothing is too surprising on the show. They could tell you to run off into the forest and hunt a unicorn and cook it on a grill. And we would do it. It was good to work with them. It was fun to meet the people from the old show.

On the judges: I liked Toby Young. I thought he was very intelligent. I did some research on him after the show. He's a very smart guy. He pulled out the drama and had big character. He had some important, witty things to say. He's definitely quick. There was plenty of people who didn't like him. They were scared of him. He made a lot of harsh comments that those chefs will carry around for awhile. Tom and Gail give critiques: too much salt, did you taste this/not taste this? Toby is good TV. The things he said are funny - unless you are on the other end of it. Padma is very intelligent. She has a great palate. She serves her purpose. She always liked my food: the spices and different elements I brought to the table, the fact that I cook globally, that I do a lot of different cuisines.

On Fabio: Fabio is a good friend of mine. I just saw him recently. He's a good guy. He's hilarious. He just finished a book and so did I. He's been helping me with that, to get it to a publisher. He was a great roommate. Did you know he cuts his own hair?

On who should win: I think everyone has the potential to win. Hosea and I became good friends. Hosea is the underdog. He's lost his focus and I am pulling for him. I hope he gets his head back in the game. No one can be underestimated. Everyone is definitely talented.

On his future: I just bought a house. I'm cooking at the Ritz Carlton. Hopefully the book will do well. It's called The Natural Course. It comes out this June. It's about cooking with organics. Taking what the earth gives you to make food. There is a lot on savory sorbets. I plan on staying here and cooking. I'm not going to try and open my own restaurant right now. It's not the day. Today isn't the day. Miami just had a lot of new restaurants open. The economy isn't good. Maybe 4 to 5 years down the line. I definitely want to do TV again. I'm happy right now, but if something comes along, who knows?

Source

Stanlee's Visions Become Reality At The SF Opera Dinner

partysugar — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 10:45:17 -0700

Yesterday I introduced you to San Francisco's most innovative event planner, Stanlee Gatti who I had the delightful pleasure of interviewing last week. He has an amazingly positive visual outlook on life that he applies to parties. On the day that I chatted with Stanlee, he had to rush off on his shiny purple vespa to the Fairmont Hotel to check on the progress of a dinner he was designing that night for the San Francisco Opera. To my sheer and utter joy, he invited me over to the hotel's Gold Room to take a few insider pictures. Everything was done in shades of gold, cream, and white - creating a hazy, warm, glowing feel to the space. Long rectangular tables with fruit and floral (roses and pears) arrangements ran down the tables, along with strategically placed gold pillars and white candles in hurricane lamp glasses. The place settings were elegantly simple: white with gold trim and the table was covered in a delicate gold lace. The room itself greatly added to the decor and I advise following Gatti's lead by examining the location of your party or wedding reception before you conceptualize the theme. A man after my own heart, Stanlee was full of interesting fun facts during our conversation.

For his fun facts and a large gallery of images from the set up of the opera dinner, read more

According to Stanlee elephants are the most sensitive and emotional animals after human beings. They have a real sense of feeling closest to that of what a human feels and have been known to express grief and love towards other animals. During the 2004 Tsunami in Thailand, a young girl was actually rescued and delivered to safety by an elephant.

In the 80's Mr. Gatti was the first person to incorporate furniture into an event's landscape changing the life of parties forever with his lounge-y couches and homey decor.

All indigenous Indians - except the Mayans - worshiped Mother Earth. The Mayans worshiped the universe as a whole and believed that every thousand years or so the Earth rejuvenates itself. The end of the Mayan calendar is 2012, following their religious beliefs in this year the earth will rejuvenate. The Mayan definition of "earth rejuvenation" is unclear.

Stanlee believes that a party is its own living entity and once it gets going, you can't control it and he doesn't want to. Gatti doesn't use high tech walkie talkie systems during his events and suggests doing the best you can and letting it go. It is after all, only a party or just a dinner. The best you can do is sit back and have fun. Remember Stanlee's attitude towards party planning while hosting your next event and you are in for a fabulous time. Happy Partying!

View 34 Photos ›

Dishing with Zoi From Top Chef

YumSugar — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 10:45:39 -0700

Yesterday, I had the opportunity to talk to Zoi, the latest Top Chef cheftestant to pack her knives and go. She was one-half of the San Francisco couple - the other half being Jen - and was sent home because of some under-flavored - or was that over-flavored - mushrooms. To find out what she had to say about everyone's angry outbursts and what she's up to these days, then read more.

YumSugar: Did you and Jen decide to try out together, or is it something that just happened?
Zoi Antonitsas: We tried out as individuals, not ever thinking we would get on the show as a couple. It definitely surprised us to find out we both got on. We both watch the show and decided, why not?

YS: So let me get right down to it, what went through your mind when you were asked to leave?
ZA: I was very disappointed. I definitely feel like it was not my time to go. I feel that I was sent home early. I definitely feel that I proved myself to be on the show for longer than they allowed. But once the words come out of their mouth, there's no "Come on Padma, really?"

At that point I was just really concerned about Jen. I knew she was not prepared. I knew it would be really difficult for her, and I was disappointed and bummed out, you know?

YS: Seems like you were right, in the stew room she didn't seem prepared. Is that really how it happened, or was all the drama due to fancy editing?
ZA: It was ugly. It was worse than what they showed actually. When I walked in and said, "I'm going," everyone's mouth just fell open. For me it was flattering and supportive. Everyone felt frustrated by the fact that we are all in the competition, we all do like each other for the most part.

When I walked out, I was still in the building and could hear what was going on. There was an explosion, there were people screaming, and stuff being thrown around. I talked to Jen because I didn't get to actually see it - last night was the first time - but she told me that everyone just freaked out and started fighting. It was really emotional. I'm not really sure why that happened, but you know the competition is emotional and difficult. I don't think Bravo added any drama, there was more they could have shown.

YS: Was the entire experience emotional for you?
ZA: Very much so. It's much more emotionally challenging than it is anything else. The cooking is challenging, but the really challenging thing is cooking on display, the feelings of personal attacks, not having your support system, being in a place where you feel like you're being asked to perform and yet be yourself. I'm not an actor and it was performing. It was really emotional for me and Jen. Our relationship has been scrutinized, did we not kiss enough? Did we not show enough? You're on display and it's tough.

YS: What was it like being at home, knowing that Jen was still in that environment?
ZA: It was hard to be away from her and not know what was going on and not be able to talk to her. But I also realize we easily could have been on the show separately. So I kept telling myself to be patient. Patience is a virtue and there's not much you can do.

YS: So what was it like living in a house with all of those people?
ZA: It was fun for the most part. I mean I really got along with everyone. I feel like they were a family. We had this experience together and we'll always be connected by something you can never forget. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone on the reunion show and in life. I'm sure I'll cry.

YS: Going back to your elimination, during the challenge, did Antonia's immunity every cross your mind?
ZA: Yes, but mostly as a matter of math. If we got chosen there would only be two of us to choose from. She's a great chef and I never thought she would sabotage us and I think she only did her best.

YS: So if you had to do it again, would you create the same dish, or would you do it differently?
ZA: You know, I think that dish was really good. It's hard to hear people say it was bland and had no flavor. I mean cows, their feet touch the earth. Sunchokes are tubers grown in the earth and mushrooms are very earthy. I think it was a great and earthy dish. I would do it again, but I would just do it better.

YS: So what have you learned from all of this?
ZA: I learned about myself and my cooking style and point of view. I'm not trying to appeal to the masses. I have a life that is not always having to do with food and cooking. That's just one aspect of my life, like how being gay is only one aspect. I'm Zoi and I'm lucky that what I do for a living is something I'm also really passionate about, but I have other things that I do, and I feel that my whole life is not going to be about trying to be a gay famous chef. My goal in life is to be a good person and have a happy life and an amazing restaurant.

YS: Are you thinking about opening a restaurant?
ZA: That's the goal. It's a few years away, but it'll happen when it's time. Now it's just a matter of figuring out where and when and how.

YS: So what are you doing in the meantime?
ZA: I'm doing some consulting work on a part-time basis and working at Zazu in Sonoma County. It's an awesome little restaurant. It's fun and I'm really happy. It's amazing here, like Tuscany in America. It's awesome, life is awesome.

Photos courtesy of Bravo