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Actor Stanley Tucci Learns a Thing of Two About Olive Oil Thanks to The Petroni Way
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- Parent Category: Travel Info
- Category: Things To Do
- Published on Thursday, 15 December 2022 19:00
- Written by Brad Balfour
When actor Stanley Tucci came to visit the Petroni family olive groves in Puglia to film a segment for CNN’s “Searching For Italy,” he was trying discover the authentic Italian olive oil experience. Tucci loves food and now lives in London with his wife Felicity Blunt — sister of his Devil Wears Prada co-star Emily Blunt. The couple met thanks to Emily and were married in 2012 with Tucci continuing to act, write and follow his love of food and cooking.
His latest project — the CNN produced series “Searching for Italy” — received two Emmy noms and was also screened by the BBC. First aired in 2021, The program was so successful it was renewed for another season. The actor and gourmand tours Italy discovering the secrets and delights of the country’s regional cuisines.
The Petroni family patriarch expected to meet an experienced pro when it came to Italian products. Especially since he is Italian, they thought, at least, he would know a few things about Italian food, in particular, olive oil. Petroni had invited Tucci to the family farm’s olive groves that day while he visited Puglia, Italy, during a taping of “Searching for Italy.”
During the visit, revealed Agricola Petroni family owner Pier Francesco Petroni, they learned a few things about Tucci. “Stanley didn’t know the correct way to taste olive oil. In fact, most people don’t know. But we showed him how. And he loved it.”
Once the noted actor learned the “right way” to taste olive oil, it not only changed him, it changed the Petroni family business forever and has created a sensation here in the States.
Says Pier, “Our sales have more than tripled to the U.S. And this is just from orders through our website. We are looking for an importer/distributor to take us on for all of the American market.”
Tucci isn’t the only American who doesn’t know much about olive oil. According to Petroni, while Americans love Italian food, most of us are totally doing olive oil all wrong – especially the extra virgin variety. According the taste master, “Americans burn it, drench with it, and (gasp!) Deep fry stuff in it.”
Surveys have also shown Americans have a very low OOIQ (Olive Oil IQ). Olive oil is becoming such an important and essential product for people’s good health, the FDA recently declared it as a medicinal product that can help prevent coronary heart disease. It’s not an ordinary condiment. the FDA officially recognized extra-virgin olive oil benefits us.
The featured olive oil, some of which is born from 300-year-old trees, is considered some of the best in Italy. Petroni olive trees are located at the foot of the Alta Murgia National Park in Puglia, between 150 and 300 meters above sea level and the temperate climate makes their cultivation perfect. In this wonderfully rich land, each olive tree has its roots in a calcareous soul consisting of the typical tuff, a rock of magmatic origin that gives the oils produced intoxicating aromas and superfine flavors.
Adds Petroni, “We have over one thousand years of history. Our territory is Canosa di Puglia and it has charm and it has so many ancient customs. It contains ancient traces of so much history. The underground treasures of what is known as The Dauni hypogea, fragments of the world of Magna Graecia and it shows just how powerful and far reaching the power of Rome was. In fact, the Romans were so grateful to have these places they renamed it ‘Little Rome.’ Inside this ancient city there are numerous archaeological sites to visit including the hypogea and authentic ceramics that reveal the Hellenistic culture.”
Agricola Petroni does olive oil tastings at their Puglia facility. Should you decide to visit, call or email in advance and schedule a visit.
For more info go to: eattiamo.com
Surati Holi Hai, The Festival of Color, Comes to New Jersey
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- Parent Category: Travel Info
- Category: Things To Do
- Published on Tuesday, 11 June 2019 11:51
- Written by Brad Balfour
The largest festival of colors celebration in America, Surati Holi Hai, is coming to Hoboken and Jersey City on June 15, 2019. Holi Hai, an ancient Indian Spring festival, promotes peace, equality and unity through cultural diversity, color play, a color walk in which participants will smear each other with colors at the start of the walk as they their way along the Hudson waterfront with friends/family to dance with the live dhol (drum beats).
The festival also includes live performances, educational and interactive workshops, interactive art, food, a children's zone, DJ, dancing and much more.
The festival will begin at 10 a.m. at Jersey City Hall (280 Grove Street) with the Color Walk and end at Pier A Park in Hoboken, where the waterfront Spring festival celebrations will begin at 12 noon featuring color play, color countdowns, live performances, food vendors, a children’s zone, two performance stages, DJ, dancing, cabana style tents, a cash bar and drink specials.
T-shirts, color-packets and water are included for registered walkers. On-site registrations at Jersey City Hall will begin at 8:30 am. The general public can register for the Jersey City Color Walk online at. The Festival of Colors in Hoboken is FREE for everyone.
To learn more, go to: www.suratiholihai.org
Surati Holi Hai
June 15, 2019
Jersey City Hall
280 Grove St.
Jersey City, NJ 07302
Pier A Park
Hoboken, NJ
Black History Month Events in NY with The Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation
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- Parent Category: Travel Info
- Category: Things To Do
- Published on Tuesday, 12 February 2019 20:47
- Written by Brad Balfour
The Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation, based out of PS 21 in Brooklyn, will be contributing to several major Black History Month Celebrations throughout NY during February. One of their special events is a performance of "The HBCU Show," an original play which will be a featured at the Weeksville Heritage Center in Brooklyn. Written by Kofi Osei Williams, Executive Director of Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation, "The HBCU Show" follows six adolescents from Brooklyn, NY, growing up with adversities and trying to live up to the society around them and recounts their personal stories of participating in a Historically Black College & University Tour.
Asase Yaa specializes in "edutainment variety performances." combine African history and folklore music and dance, performed at school, festivals, and special events.
"It's an honor and we're very proud to be able to contribute to a wide range of Black History Month celebrations and events this month," noted Osei Williams, Executive Director of the Asase Yaa Cultural Arts Foundation. "Our core tenets are to Enrich, Educate, Entertain and to empower and strengthen our youth by offering them an opportunity to learn, study and experience the history, movement and beauty of African Diasporic dance, music and culture at its highest level," he added.
Asaye Yaa's full slate of events for Black History month includes:
- February 13-15
Onstage @ Weeksville theater series, with The HBCU Show
School performances will be held at Weeksville Heritage Center at 10:30am and 12:30pm.
- February 16
Bring the whole family to the community show of The HBCU Show, on Saturday evening, February 16th at 6PM. Tickets are $10 per seat.
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/onstage-whc-asase-yaa-presents-the-hbcu-show-tickets-53407923537
- February 19, 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Dartmouth College, Black Legacy Month's Afro-Diasporic Food Festival Cook-off event
- February 27
Summit Academy Charter School Black History Month Day celebration, African dance and hip-hop classes.
- February 28
Success Academy Harlem West Black History Month Celebration
- February 28
72andSunny Advertising Agency, Brooklyn: Black Diversity is Black Excellence Event with live performances by Asase Yaa and the Fire Flame Steppers. Live art by Jay West.
To learn more, go to: https://www.asaseyaaent.org/
Big Apple Circus Rings In the Holiday Season at Lincoln Center with Tradition, Thrills, and Wonder
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- Parent Category: Travel Info
- Category: Things To Do
- Published on Friday, 30 November 2018 15:55
- Written by Ellis Nassour
What better to ring in the holidays than with New York’s home-grown Big Apple Circus, presenting a whimsical marriage of traditional theater and classic circus under its colorful Big Top in Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park? The 41st Edition, running through January 27th, presents up-close family entertainment and thrills from celebrated acts – many seen for the first time, in its intimate, climate-controlled one-ring tent, with no seat more than 50 feet away.
Stephanie Monseu breaks through the canvas ceiling as Big Apple’s first ringmistress. Perennial favorite Jenny Vidbel, one of the reasons to never miss the Big Apple Circus, returns to captivate audiences with her majestic and quite nosy stallions, white dwarf horses, and delight with a wild and wooly set of rescued dogs. Also returning are two super spectacular acts: the Flying Tunizianis, performing on double wide trapezes, led by Ammed Tuniziani, who last season thrilled with heart-stopping quadruple somersaults; and Desire in Flight, recipient of the Golden Clown Award at this year’s Monte Carlo Circus Festival for their dual aerial silk traps act.
The lineup also features Duo Fusion, acrobatic husband and wife team Virginia Tuells and Ihosvanys Perez offering a twist (she does the heavy lifting!); Emil Faltyn, balancing on a free-standing ladder; trampoline antics from Andréanne Quintal; and award-winning, gravity-defyingjuggler Victor Moiseev.
Amid the sawdust, cotton candy, hot dogs slathered with mustard and relish, and ice-cold beverages, there’ll be red-hot music from Rob Slowik’s little big band.
Outside the ring there’ll be plenty of sizzle. Audiences enter into the new Hall of Wonder with photo-opt worthy fun activities and tasty locally-sourced culinary bites. The over-21 set can enjoy cocktails from three-time American Bartender of the Year winner Pamela Wiznitzer.
Big Apple Circus continues its community outreach programs. Circus of the Senses performances, a much-lauded special event since introduced in 1997 by theater executive Anne Tramon, are December 6 and 7. Circus of the Senses, developed by Tramon, Carl Anthony Tramon, and Lisa Lewis, showcasesenhanced experiences for audiences with autism, visual and auditory challenges. The performance features ASL interpretation, assistive listening devices with audio commentary, pre- and post-show touch therapy experiences, and a Braille program.
The team has also developed Dinner in the Dark for the night of December 6, which begins with a 5 P.M. with a multi-course “dinner in the dark” in the BAC VIP lounge provided by Camjae Bistro of Macdougal Street in Geenwich Village followed by the 7 P.M. performance. Audience members will wear blindfolds, with audio descriptive headsets, in order to show what special needs participants experience. All-inclusive tickets for this special performance are $150 and available at dinnerandashowinthedark.eventbrite.com (for organizational group discounts to this event, contact
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).
BAC’s Circus for All initiative offers $10 tickets to 11 performances to underprivileged children and underserved schools. The circus also devises student lesson plans from the acts they witness firsthand
Directing the 41st BAC edition is Mark Lonergan, artistic director of physical theater company Parallel Exit; with choreography by Grady McLeod Bowman. Costumes are by Amy Clark (Wicked, Little Mermaid, Chaplin); with scenery by Emmy-nominated Anita La Scala (Sochi Winter Olympics, opening ceremony) and Rob Bissinger (Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark).
Tickets for the Big Apple Circus are $29 - $195, available at the Damrosch Park box office and at www.Ticketmaster.com. Group discounts are available. For morning, afternoon, and evening show times, visit www.bigapplecircus.com.
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