Image of Donatella Arpaia courtesy of https://donatellaarpaia.com/
Women in the food business have never been so glamorous. Tuesday night was a perfect example of that! The place to be was at Mia Dona on 58th Street. Donatella Arpaia was celebrating her new cookbook, Donatella Cooks. She looked stunning in her gold lame one-shoulder dress as she signed her book. I produced a beautiful article on her for Hamptons Cottages & Gardens in 2007. Since she was showing off her food and recipes, I happily indulged in her sumptuous meatballs–so light and tender! I also sampled the delicious crunchy shrimp that were being passed around. I can’t wait to try out the recipes in her book!
Then I went to my friend Jill Zarin’s book party. Her book, Secrets of a Jewish Mother, written by Jill, her sister, and her mom, is sure to be a best seller! All the papparazzi were there, and so were many of the other Housewives of New York. Jill looked sparkly, radiant, and proud. There was Jewish food–little bagels with smoked salmon creamed cheese, borscht, tzimmes, pigs-in-a-blanket, chocolate chip cookies and milk! The Jewish Mother theme was perfect! You have to buy Jill’s book–it’s filled with great advice; A good man is hard to find, but so is a good woman. Don’t settle for less than you deserve, Don’t wait til you’re dead to give your money away, and my favorite: a lot of love and a little matzoh ball soup never hurt anyone! I honored Jill and her husband Bobby at a charity event I did last November for Maryhaven Center of Hope. I am so proud of my girlfriends!
*The original blog was called Flavors in Love. All material has been transferred and some has been edited for easier reading, and archiving.