Big Blend Magazine presents Champagne Sundays  

Join Nancy & Lisa (Editors of BigBlendMagazine.com) for their special Italian Food & Wine show featuring special guests: Celebrity Chef Maria Liberati - Author of bestseller 'The Basic Art of Italian Cooking'; Piergiorgio Castellani of Castellani Wines in Italy; Michele Carbone - author of 'Friday Evening: Creating La Dolce Vita, One Bite at a Time'; and Chef Daniel Maggipinto - Nonna's Gourmet Foods'.

Have a Question about Italian Food or Wine – Call into the show anytime between 11am-12:30pm PT / 2pm – 3:30pm. Call in number is (646) 200-0530

Listen to the Live Show - http://www.blogtalkradio.com/Southwest-Blend/2009/05/31/Italian-Food-Wine

Chef Maria Liberati - Author of 'The Basic Art of Italian Cooking', former international supermodel, Maria Liberati never dreamed that she would go from being a fashion diva to a domestic diva. Ironically, while jet setting off to modeling assignments around the world, Maria became closer to the simplicity of life and food in the country setting of her family's vineyard in the mountains of central Italy. She began to experience the real tastes of food that she knew from her childhood. She divides her time between her office and residence in the USA and Italy. Maria's cooking philosophy that she shares here with you, is to create recipes that simply transform the freshest ingredients without changing their essential flavors.

Piergiorgio Castellani – Co-Owner of Castellani Wines. Founded in 1903, Castellani is a family-run Italian wine company headquartered in Pontedera, near Pisa. In addition to Tuscan wines, Castellani offers a range of traditional and modern bottlings from all over Italy including Pinot Grigio and Merlot delle Venezie from the Veneto, Sangiovese and Primtivo (Italian Zinfandel) from southern Puglia, Montepulcinao D’Abruzzi, and Essenza, a hearty Primitivo-Sangiovese blend from Puglia. With their wines being available in over 40 countries, Castellani works continuously to improve the quality and emphasize the native character of all their wines. They also have two wine resort properties.

Michele Carbone – Author of 'Friday Evening: Creating La Dolce Vita, One Bite at a Time'. Michele Carbone lives La Dolce Vita in Santa Barbara, California with her husband and two daughters. After her daughter Kristin's catastrophic brain injury in 1996, her life in the fast lane came to a screeching halt. Her career ended, and life in the slow lane became the norm. Throughout the sleepless nights, days of therapy, and slow rehabilitation, her life's priorities changed. Her love of cooking and eating sustained her creative urges and became the catalyst for a transformation into a new, simpler, and more rewarding culinary lifestyle, based on using recently harvested local seasonal foods.

Chef Daniel Maggipinto – Chef & Owner of Nonna's Gourmet Foods featuring sauces that stem from his award-winning restaurant Caffé Nonna in Nashville, Tennessee. Chef Maggipinto’s daughter, Zoë Marie Maggipinto, was diagnosed with Atypical Teratoid / Rhabdoid Tumor, a rare and aggressive tumor found in the cerebellum and spinal areas of children younger than three years old. The excellent treatment she received from St. Jude Children’s Hospital inspired Chef Maggipinto to continue the fight against AT/RT and other childhood illnesses by creating Nonna’s Gourmet Foods. A full 15% of each purchase goes directly to organizations committed to fighting childhood illnesses and will aid in the fight against AT/RT and other life-threatening conditions.

Join Nancy & Lisa (BigBlendMagazine.com Editors) for a special Armed Forces & US Military feature with special guests: Patricia Driscoll - President & Executive Director of the Armed Forces Foundation; Craig Mullaney – Author of ‘The Unforgiving Minute: A Soldier’s Education’; and Margaret Roberts - Author of 'Desert Flowers: Poems of Love and Life (Expressions from a Military Wife. Joan Burns - The Event Planner Extraordinaire, will also join us to share her event planning tips for Patriotic Celebrations.