NYC Wine and Food Festival

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As I sit here devouring one of the gifts of Dorie Greenspan's Cookie Bar (chocolate cookie!) I am reliving the events of last nights SWEET Event from the NYC Wine and Food Festival which I was lucky enough to be asked to participate in. The event was completely sold out weeks before and now I know why.

Besides all of the proceeds going to benefit SHARE OUR STRENGTH, it was an amazing event, which brought together some of the most talented and well-known Pastry Chefs in the world.

There are too many things to talk about at length so I decided to make a Top Ten list of my favorites of the evening.

Our Table all set-up for service

1) Talking with the famed author and one of the nicest people you will ever meet: Dorie Greenspanand meeting her sweet son Joshua and husband.

2) Meeting Sprinkles Owners, Candace Nelson and her husband , being completely inspired talking to this entrepeneur-mom, tv star (judge of Cupcake Wars)...oh and she is SO nice AND Beautiful, and their cupcakes were delicious too! They have a new NYC store

3) Watching Jacques Torres eat one of our push pops, layer by layer commenting (in front of me) how delicious he thought the buttercream was and how moist the cake was! And meeting his beautiful wife.

4) Seeing my great friend Ron Ben-Israel and his most lovely office manager (and talented photographer) Rebecca. She will be posting photos soon!

5) Meeting Karen DeMasco of Locanda Verde. My favorite restaurant in NYC and every dessert she makes is outstanding. Meanwhile she is so talented and modest and sweet at the same time.

6) Eating the S'mores from The Sea Grill and reconnecting with Michael Gabriel

7) Hanging out with long time colleague and Top-Chef Judge Johnny Iuzzini and hearing about his recent escapades.

Me, Dorie and Johnny

8) Meeting Alessandra Altieri from Bouchon bakery, she as so kind to come over and introduce herself, and her desserts were delicious.

9) Enjoying a fun dinner beforehand at one of the best Mexican joints n NYC, La Esquina and working with the two best assistants a girl could ask for, Liz Shim and Holly Bollig.

Holly and Liz

10) Meeting Christine Quinn and having her rave about my sweet husband (who used to work with her) and I couldn't believe she remembered the cake I made for City Hall's 200th birthday.

Push pop with two layers of cake and three layers of Buttercream

It was great seeing so many wonderful friends and colleagues and I was very

pleased that the 600 desserts were loved by so many and people commented that they had never seen the push-pops before and thought they were delicious. They were all gone under 3 hrs. My only wish was to have more time to check out the other tables, it was a big event with three separate rooms. Probably better for my health :-)