Viva Lidia!

I love Lidia Bastianich, the mega-successful celebrity chef and entrepreneur. I don't know why -- I personally find the whole celebrity chef thing kind of boring. But there's something about Lidia, like Julia Child before her, that makes me a fan.

My fandom comes, I imagine, from a pure and genuine love of food and the connection that both of them exude. They're in this business for the food, for the art of cooking -- not for the money or the fame. Lidia spent decades as a succesful chef and restaurant owner, long before fame found her, and that hard work and learned expertise shines through in her TV shows and cook books.

Lidia's life story if amazing -- born in Istria which was actually part of the old Yugoslavia, her family moved to Italy and eventually America. They settled in Astoria, and her first job was at Walken's bakery -- where she became friends with the owner's kid Christopher, who grew up to be a famous actor. She worked at and opened restaurants in NYC, eventually becoming the rich and famous celebrity that she is today.

She's a real American success story.

I remember the first time I saw Lidia on TV -- it was one of her PBS cooking shows and she was casually making a veal scallopini. Inspired, I decided to make it for my mom and her friend -- the recipe I followed was great, my mom and her friend loved it (I also served it with a penne vodka which Lidia recommended). However, making veal scallopini is exhausting, it's required lots of fancy maneurvering with hot pans and I also burned the kitchen down.

Yet I remain a fan.