Dear Chef,

I must say that this year has been a whirlwind of awesome.  Your career as a Chef is flourishing and you deserve every accolade you get.  You are by far the hard working man I have ever met.  And the fact that your family is makes up your drive is even more impressive.  Congratulations an all of your accolades in the press including the most recent one of Best Chef in the Cleveland Scene Best of Cleveland issue.  You deserve it.

Above all though, conratulations on becoming a man who I and many others have so much respect for.  You inspire the people who surround you to be better people, better employees, better chef, better friends, better wives, better mother, better friends, and better people all around.  Hell take me for example.  I am actually nice now.  Well…for the most part.

You are a best Chef.  You are the Best Chef.  But more importantly you are the best man.  The best father.  The best husband.  The best boss (remember I’ve seen you in action).   The best friend.  You are however, NOT, the best motorcycle rider driver.  Which is why you don’t have a motorcycle.  Obviously.

Love you more,

Wifey

Monday, July 14th, 2008
Bar Cento, Cleveland
6:30 – 9:30 pm

Join us for a celebration of seasonal specialties prepared in the French tradition by Terra Madre chefs & friends including:

Jonathon Sawyer, Bar Cento
Matt Harlan, Lolita
Paul Minnillo, The Baricelli Inn
David Uecke, Anthe’s
Doug Katz, fire food and drink
Michael Symon, Lolita and Lola
Rocco Whalen, Fahrenheit
And more!

Our French-style feast will showcase local and seasonal ingredients, heritage meats, artisan cheeses, house-cured charcuterie and other foods produced by Terra Madre farmers and producers.

The event will also feature:

Terra Madre Raffle Kickoff!
Grand Prize: Trip for two to Turin, Italy for the Slow Food Salone del Gusto, October 2008. Other fabulous prizes will include: cooking class by Iron Chef, Michael Symon, dinners by Terra Madre chefs, and more!

Meet the 2008 Terra Madre Delegates
Aaron Miller, Miller Livestock, Kinsman
Cindy & Terry Smith, Goatfeathers Point Farm, Peninsula
Abbe Turner, Lucky Penny Farm, Garrettsville
Adam & Jennifer Gidlow, On the Rise Bakery, Cleveland Heights
Matt Harlan, Lolita, Cleveland
Paul Minnillo, Baricelli Inn & Baricelli Cheese Company, Cleveland
Jonathon Sawyer, Bar Cento & Greenhouse Tavern & Restaurant, Cleveland
David Uecke, Anthe’s Restaurant, Akron
Rachel McKinney, Hershey Montessori Farm School, Concord Township

$40 per person
Proceeds will support Slow Food Northern Ohio’s 2008 Terra Madre delegates and programs.

Bar Cento is located at: 1948 West 25th Street (across from West Side Market) in Cleveland.

See you on July 14!!!

******A portion of all proceeds will go towards the travel arrangements for all of the Terra Madre chefs.

to the happiest girl ever.

Who would have thought that my innocent road trip out to NYC for your birthday in 2002 would change our lives forever.  I remember that night like it was yesterday.  Hell I remember everything about that trip.  I remember cursing your name as I sat in traffic on the West Side Highway.  I remember being amazed and scarred shitless as I pulled up to your apartment on Rivington.  I remember wishing I still smoked weed after seeing and holding and smelling the 5 lbs of it left in your fridge by the old tenent.  I remember getting ready and not know what to wear but being so happy I brought my kick ass Italian stockings that I bought for $100 in Milan.  I remember listening to The Velvet Underground over & over while smoking ridiculous amounts of Camel Lights in your tiny 400 sq. ft. apartment.  I remember walking in the East Village and being amazed at how cool everything & everyone was.  I remember drinking martini’s at Lemon while Dana was woking and then later heading to Beauty Bar in hopes (mine not yours) of seeing Matt Dillon.  I remember flirting with an Irishman and you getting mad even though we were ‘just friends’.  I remember being so excited that bars were open until 4 am and then being so utterly exhausted by then I didn’t, couldn’t, shouldn’t drink by 4am.  I remember walking EVERYWHERE and loving it.  I remember watching you and Dana jaywalk while I patiently waited for the littleman to change.  I remember seeing the handmade sign on Second Ave proclaiming ‘I Have Cum!’ and giggling like a 12 year old schoolgirl.

I remember kissing you.  I remember laying in bed with you and thinking ‘What the hell am I doing in Manhattan with Sawyer?’.  But what I most remember is loving you in every aspect of the word.  I remember knowing then and still knowing now that you were meant to be with me.  We were meant to be together.  No matter what.  No matter how hard it would be (it was) and how stressful (it is) we would end up as one.

I love you chef. I am so proud to call you my husband.  Happy fucking birthday!

Keep that in mind as the half naked Patron girls are handing out free tequila at your restaurant.

PS  Happy 5th Birthday Vito, I love you too!!!!!   Thanks for licking my feet every single night of my life.  They are really soft now.

“Vito enjoys a bit a roughage every now and then.”

The chef & I are now the same age. For only a month we will both be 28. Come June 8th my cougar ass will be another year older. But for now I can pretend.

We celebrated all day yesterday since the chef has to work some crazy party tonight. We had a blast. We bought a botanical gardens membership, played in the butterfly garden, had lunch at the West Side Market and even managed to get some groceries. Something I am SURE the chef really wanted to do on his birthday. After our full day we dropped Biggie & Catcher off at the mom in laws’ casa and headed downtown for our big night out.

Well my friends. Cat’s outta the bag. The chef & I are creatures of habit. I had an evening out somewhat planned however the birthday boy kinda changed it when he decided to wear a filthy WAY too small hoodie out. However being his birthday and all I decided to ignore his outfit and improvise. First we headed to Stone Mad, this new joint in Ohio City with an indoor bocce ball court. Very cool design and beautiful stone & tile work. We had a drink and then decided that we would head over to Lolita’s. 

Stone Mad’s All Custom Tile Bathroom (there’s even custom tile on the bathroom stalls)

As usual we had a great time at Lolita’s, saw some old friends (although one of them cursed the Cavs to lose), ate some yummy pizza, drank a dirty bird, and then started to hang with the Original Chef’s Widow. Somehow I managed to turn the whole chef birthday night out into Widow gets her drink on with OG Widow and manages to get herself a tramp stamp:

Best Birthday Gift Ever: Getting a tattoo of another man’s face on your ass. The chef is so proud.

Second Best Birthday Gift: Hangin’ out with two hot mamma’s~ literally it was hot as fuck in there.

******This post was paid for and approved by Liz Symon

Let’s Get Fresh North Union Farmer’s Market Benefit

Before I the chef & I got together I must say that I dated some real fuckers. Actually only one of them was a fucker who felt the need to open up a bunch of credit cards in my name and neglect to tell me about them. He lived off me and eventually ripped my heart out of my chest. At the time I was devestated.

When the chef and I went to buy our current home we found out about all the debt and had to pay it all off before the loan would go through.  It was alot but somehow we managed to pay it ALL off.  I had to write credit beureus, I had to go to court, and I had to write lots & lots of checks.  All because of some asshole that I thought I loved.  It infuriates me now that at the time I did nothing about it.  I was too heartbroken to even think of taking his ass to court.  I was a lame-o.

Today all of that bullshit came up again.  As some of you know we (the chef & I) are in the process of opening another restaurant.  We are finalizing the loan and of course the bank called.  Apparently a bunch of shit still shows on my credit report and I need to clear it up.  So instead of hanging with the kiddies on this oh so fantastic day I have been carting boxes of paperwork down from my attic in hopes of finding all my paid off debt letters.  Yipee!

I have spent the past three hours talking to creditors, who SUCK no matter what, and trying to clear up my credit report so this loan can go through.

Lesson learned.  Not once.  But twice.  All for some asshole who drank too much and wasn’t good in bed.  Granted he was a hunk but as we all know most hunks are usually assholes or gay.

In non related news:

The chef is FAMOUS:

Restaurant Hospitality’s Rising Star April 2008

The FAMSTER loves the Farmpark:

Me & Biggie Smalls hang w/ some cows

I just woke up to the smell of cinnamon burning. Not a good smell. For some reason, our normally very potent stem heater has not been turning on. This morning before work, Jon put four pots on our little stove. One had cinnamon, the other oranges. The apartment heated up and smelled yummy all at the same time. At about 10.30 Catcher fell asleep, as did I. I woke up about 15 minutes ago (11.00) to that fabulous smell. Jon’s pan is burned and our house smells gross. At least the boy slept through it all.

Last night Jon and I went to a Chef event and I got totally starstruck after meeting Tom Colicchio. For those of you who don’t know who he is, he is the judge and creator of Top Chef. I don’t know why I got all cheesy, maybe b/c I just started watching the show with Jon and I really like it. I feel like I am actually gaining a little bit of insight into my husband’s world by watching the show. So anywho, I was so gay and couldn’t stop ‘big’ smiling, you know the joker smile, that was me times 5. Thank god but I don’t think he even noticed. He was to busy looking for the previous Top Chef winner Herald, who was also there. Whatever.

The space that the event was held at was really cool. It was a test kitchen for these appliances called Electrolux. Very awesome appliances. I mean top of the line bad ass kitchen stuff and it all had that really cool touch screen blue lighting. All in all though it was actually very boring and I was the only widow there. It was all a bunch of dudes or chefs or agents. Yuck. I just couldn’t resist going, I mean they picked us up in a Caddy and shoved champagne and caviar down our throats. Who’s gonna pass on that?

Did I forget to mention that so far out of every event related to food that I have been to this past year, my husband is no doubt the best looking Chef out there? For a minute I thought Sam (Top Chef) was cute but his personality ruined that for me~ My Jonny’s got him beat.