By now, many of you know by now that Matt and I have been actively involved in the relief effort, through either our Twitter or the articles on Serious Eats or Brooklyn Magazine. This past week we’ve made some huge progress with our efforts- co-founding the Bay Ridge Cares kitchen at St. Mary’s with some of our neighbors in Bay Ridge, and working with the member of Occupy Sandy to get the hot food we prepare directly to people in the worst hit, utterly neglected neighborhoods in Brooklyn.
Here’s two ways you can help us:
1. We are seeking skilled chefs to work as supervisors in our kitchen. You need to commit to at least one full 9-5 shift a week where you will be in charge of a staff of volunteers, making an undetermined amount of food with no set menu out of whatever ingredients we’ve managed to have donated - AND it has to be nutritious, filling, and not simply baked pasta (everyone’s been saying no more baked zitis- they’re doing a lot of heavy lifting, so heavy food and the carbs make them sluggish).
It’s just like being on one of those wacky Food Network shows- except that it’s not pointless, and you can’t call yourself a “celebrity chef” once you’re done. Or maybe you can- I’m really not sure who’s dealing out the celebrity chef cards nowadays, but I can probably make some calls.
Also, contestants on Wheel of Fortune are now called “Celebrity Spellers”
If you’re interested, shoot me an email with a little bit about yourself to allison@robicellis.com, subject line “St. Mary’s Chef”, and I’ll put you on the schedule!
2. Our kitchens ingredients will be entirely sourced by donations and contributions. If you’d like to donate food, you can bring bring it to us Monday-Saturday 9-5 at: St. Mary’s Church, corner of 81st Street & Ridge Boulevard, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.
I’ve made a shopping list for donations, only to make sure that we end up with healthy foods we can actually cook large amounts of food with and not just random cans of Spaghetti-O’s and Crab Juice. You can find it posted on our Bay Ridge Cares Facebook page.
If you’d like to donate but can’t deal with the whole shopping and schlepping down to Bay Ridge thing, we’re also asking for donations of Costco and American Express gift cards. Those can be mailed to: Bay Ridge Cares, c/o City Councilman Vincent Gentile, 8703 Third Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11209.
And now that we’ve addressed that, we’re going to get back to normal.
It’s been a very rough two weeks for us both emotionally and financially as we recover from Sandy. Matt and I are working our asses off to help the people of our hometown, we are hustling to keep our business not only open but growing, and though right now it feels like things may never be normal again, we need to start acting like everything is fine if we are ever going to heal.
We’re from Brooklyn, damnit. You honestly don’t think we’re going to get kicked in the gut, then just sit around and be scared all the time, did you?
You tell ‘em, sexy dog!
So here’s the deal: as of this very minute, I am going back to being an unrelenting idiot both here and on Twitter. I’ll still send out Sandy info when I feel it’s appropriate but for the most I’m stepping off my soapbox and going back to being Allison Robicelli, back to talking about baked goods and Full House reruns and whatever other crap you guys are used to me talking about.
We haven’t forgotten. We’re still helping people every day, still worried about our town. But we can’t save Brooklyn unless we all get back to work, and bust our asses to keep small businesses and jobs alive. And a very, VERY important part of my job is making an ass of myself on the internet.
It’s also my job to remind you all that Thanksgiving is now less than two weeks away, so you may want to order some cupcakes and etc. ASAP so you can relax and know that your family will totally like you better than whoever brought something lame like creamed onions. I mean, I love creamed onions just as much as the next guy, but really- Robicelli’s cupcakes, or creamed onions? Who’s winning that one? Everyone is going to be leaving dinner talking about how great you are, while your second cousin can go back home with their half eaten cold onions and sulk about how they lost at Thanksgiving.
This is normal family behavior during holidays, right? Not just mine?
And in case you’re still on the fence about ordering, maybe you should head out today and find yourself one of these puppies right here. I’m eating one right now, plotting how I can beat my family straight through Christmas. No more locking myself in a bathroom crying THIS year over passive aggressive comments about my appearance! Revenge will be mine, and it will be covered in buttercream and ganache! WHO LOOKS LIKE TOTAL CRAP LIKE THEY HAVEN’T SLEPT IN SIX MONTHS NOW, AUNT SARA?!?!?!
Clockwise from front: Bea Arthur, Pumpkin Pie, The Siobhan, Tarte Bourdaloue
The Siobhan (formerly known as Bourbon Butterscotch): Chocolate cake, bourbon butterscotch buttercream, bourbon butterscotch drizzle, chocolate chips
Pumpkin Pie: Pumpkin cake, vanilla buttercream, crushed all-butter pie dough
Bea Arthur: Black coffee chocolate cake, cheesecake buttercream, espresso ganache
Tarte Bourdalou: Pear cake, almond buttercream, white wine poached pear, roasted almond
