"Disclaimer: This article shares personal experiences and is for informational purposes only. It is not medical advice and should not replace professional medical consultation." Photo by Mikey Frost I have always been a breakfast eater. I remember when I was a kid, my mom would always make me breakfast. Sometimes it was eggs, other times it was pancakes or waffles. Some days, I would make myself breakfast cereal with milk. My Blue Zone smoothie journey has been nothing short of evolutionary. The thing that I loved the most was reading the back of the cereal box. That is what we did before the days of scrolling on a cell phone. As I became an adult, I continued to eat breakfast but during the work week, I would usually have breakfast cereal augmented by eggs on the weekend. About 7 or 8 years ago, I noticed that I wasn't feeling great after breakfast (even after switching to the healthier, organic cereals. I don't know if it was the milk sensitivity or the lack of real nutrition that was derived from the cereal, even though it was fortified with vitamins. After consulting with some friends, my wife and I embarked on making smoothies. We purchased an organic protein powder with Mary Beth choosing the chocolate flavor and me picking the veggie flavor. Researching the ingredients, it had everything we could ask for including 20 grams of protein and 6 grams of fiber (21% of your daily allowance) and up to 50% of the daily allowance needed across over 15 vitamin categories. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "Smoothies can provide a complete meal experience. Periodically assess how your daily smoothie is making you feel and make adjustments as needed. Treat the process as an ongoing experiment in sensory health. Assess how you feel two hours post-consumption, both physically and cognitively. Make adjustments as needed." Mary Beth's smoothies were fairly basic with the protein powder, a banana, ice, one or two other supplements and she was good to go. Mine was much more involved adding frozen fruit, bananas, ginger, and a few other items. Over time, my smoothie kept getting more involved. I should mention now that I pre-make the smoothies on Sunday for the 5 workdays, usually still having eggs or an Acia bowl on the weekends. In general, I felt great and so much better than I did when I was having cereal and milk. I even talked about it in my TEDx Talk, How Drinking Olive Oil and Curiosity Changed My Life. However, a few months ago, Mary Beth started to pull back on her smoothies referencing that she was starting to feel bloated from them, and for me, it wasn't having the same effect that it had when I started. Something was off and I couldn't put my finger on it. Then I read a post by Azadeh Gharehgozlou about protein bars and the reason why people are experiencing the same symptoms as Mary Beth. It was the way some of the proteins were processed. As a result, I decided to do something which seemed a bit radical but honestly, not that strange once I started digging into it a bit more. I replaced my protein powder with a combination of 1 can of Black Beans and 1 can of Garbanzo Beans (also known as Chickpeas). I think I almost gave my mom a heart attack reading this as I can't tell you how many times she tried to get me to eat beans as a kid. Now I am putting them in my smoothies and consuming them daily. The reality is that the black and garbanzo beans don't have a taste, and their texture gets mixed in with everything else. I do want to share that I do eat both on a regular basis anyway, but this is a deliberate way to consume both daily. I also wrote in another post, The Books That Transformed My Purpose and Longevity, where the author, Dan Buettner shared that one of the best foods that people consume in the Blue Zones regions are beans and they are consumed on a daily basis due to their inexpensive cost combined with their high protein and fiber content. For those of you who are wondering, here is what I put into my smoothies. I use an older version of the Ninja Professional and we also have this Ninja blender version for more daily use. My Blue Zone Smoothie Ingredient List: Frozen Wild Maine Blueberries Frozen Organic Strawberries Frozen Pineapples Frozen Spinach 2 Bananas 1 can of Black Beans 1 can of Garbanzo Beans 3 Tablespoons of Local Honey 2 Tablespoons of Pure Maple Syrup 3 cubes of fresh cut Ginger 1 Fresh Turmeric Root (or 1 tablespoon of the Turmeric Spice) 1/4 cup of Steel Cut Oats (I pre-grind them so I am not chewing my smoothie) Ground Pepper 1/2 Teaspoon of Sea Salt 1 teaspoon of Cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon of Cayanne Pepper 5 scoops of Bran 2 scoops of Peanut Butter Powder 2 scoops of Cacao Powder Daily, I add a trio blend of Chia, Hemp, and Flax Seed Mix (because it will expand and harden if premade) I think I got it all. I know this combination of foods is not for everyone (including my family), but it works for me. Plus, I know I am getting a well-balanced breakfast each day. I would love to hear about your breakfast / smoothie experiences in the comments below. For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.

"Disclaimer: This personal story is for informational purposes and is not medical advice." Just a picture to give you a little sense of calm. Last night, I watched the movie Woman of the Hour. It's a story of a serial killer based on true events. I watched it because Mary Beth was on the phone. She avoids intense movies since they make her anxious. Surprisingly, the film affected me too. That anxious feeling is the same reason why I am stopping the news and to regain my sense of calm. Normally, I can handle this genre without a hitch. To make matters worse, we then turned on the news to catch up on the day’s political events. While the news wasn’t horrific, the combination of the movie and the news left me feeling unsettled. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "News is like clutter and removing it will feel like a weight has been lifted from your shoulders." As we do every night, we wrapped up our bedtime TV routine with an episode of Friends. Sometimes we only watch halfway, but other nights we enjoy the full episode. This routine helps Mary Beth (more than me) calm her mind. Last night, it helped me too. My Relationship with News Last night’s experience was unusual for me. I realized I hardly watch the news anymore. It's been about ten years since I made a conscious effort to cut back. I used to tune in every night, and my social media feeds were filled with news stories. You probably know how social media algorithms work, they feed you what you engage with. The more you watch something, the more it appears. Your brain operates similarly, but that’s a topic for another time. Now, if a major event occurs, I usually hear about it from Mary Beth or our kids, not through social media or TV. I’ve even set my social media feeds to exclude news entirely. Here’s how successful I was in eliminating news from my social media: I received ZERO notifications when Queen Elizabeth passed away a few years ago. The only way I found out was through my family. I also only got one notification about the winner of the last presidential election. Today, political news seeps into business and entertainment posts. As a result, I’ve had to unsubscribe from various outlets to reduce the negativity that news brings. Video of the stream behind my house after a few nice days melting 2 feet of snow. This is to help provide you with a sense of calm. Best is to just listen to the water falling. If you close your eyes, you may be able to hear multiple spots where the water is falling. Stopping the News For me, news, whether political or local, is often 95% bad or anxiety-inducing. I strive daily to eliminate these sources from my life. For instance, I subscribe to the Wall Street Journal, hoping to read about business news. However, 90% of their front-page articles have political headlines. Earlier this year, I unsubscribed from several other business publications for the same reason. I re-signed up for WSJ because there were articles I genuinely wanted to read. Instead of consuming news that seems to consume me, I focus on what uplifts me. Some might say I live in a bubble. But I prefer to eliminate negativity that comes from watching, listening to, or reading the news. By choosing to eliminate negativity, I create space for positive thoughts. The Neuroscience of Filtering Information Lately, I’ve been diving into neuroscience. One fascinating topic is how our brains filter what we want to see, much like social media algorithms. Did you know your brain processes 11 billion (yes, with a B) bits of information every second? Yet, you only consciously process about 40 bits per second. Think about that. It’s such a small number that my phone calculator struggled to display it. When I divided 40 by 11 billion, I got .0000000036. That’s an incredibly tiny fraction of what our brains process. Consider when you’re driving. You focus on the road and maybe the car in front of you. But what about the hundreds of trees whizzing by or the clouds overhead? Your brain filters them out. By choosing what we allow into our minds, we can create more space to elevate our sensory experiences. One specific meditative practice that I engage in on a daily basis is having a hot cup of loose leaf tea. Embracing Positivity So, why not filter out the news and opt for a good comedy instead? You might feel better as a result. I know I do. 😊 Cover photo by Cole Keister and post photo by Nadine Marfurt.

This story isn't for everyone, especially if you live in a warm weather climate like my friend Bob. Actually, I may be wrong. If you live in a warm weather location but travel periodically to a cold weather destination like New England or anywhere in a northern climate, this Cotopaxi Fuego Review may actually be for you as well. Me with my Cotopaxi Fuego winter jacket For clarification, I am going to use the word coat and jacket interchangeably. I did research and there is a general difference (jackets are shorter and typically lighter weight), but it's not relevant to this story. When I was a kid, I probably had one or two jackets/coats at most. One was a lightweight jacket for the fall and then a heavy coat for the winter. Then everything changed when I got married. Mary Beth's family, specifically her mother, loved coats. That also meant Mary Beth loved coats too and my closet of two was just not going to cut it. Over the years, I think I have had every type of jacket and coat you can imagine. For purposes of this story, the focus will be on the winter coats. I had a trench coat and raincoat for work as that is what you did when you went into New York City for work in the winter. I also had a ski jacket which was big, puffy, and bulky. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "When the snow begins to fall, step outside and close your eyes. Listen to the silence, as each individual snowflake insulating the world around you. Breathe deep, letting the cold air and stillness ground you." As time went on, more and more jackets and coats filled our closets. I now have lightweight jackets for fall, rain, wind, and coats for cold, really cold, and really, really cold weather. A few years ago, I did donate my trench coat and raincoat as I just wasn't wearing them anymore (they also felt a bit old as felt like I was living in the 1960's on the show Mad Men). Last year, I wanted to update my outerwear a bit and find a jacket that was warm and lightweight. The technology has improved over the years where I don't need to have a big heavy ski jacket but a nice looking lightweight down jacket. Basically, I wanted to feel like I was a part of this century. Cotopaxi Fuego Review I went shopping to try a bunch of brands on. I think I tried them all and found that the Cotopaxi Fuego Down Hooded Jacket was the right one for me. Outside of the jacket itself, I found that Cotopaxi's core values of sustainability were impressive. As well, they make sure their clothing factories adhere to the UN Global Compact and Principles of Responsible Business. As a disclaimer, Cotopaxi is not a small business but is on the smaller side of some of the more popular outerwear brands. Me again with my Cotopaxi Fuego jacket The jacket I picked is very comfortable, lightweight, and stylish. What more can you ask for. The thing I love most is its comfort and lightweight design and it is very warm for those cold Boston winter days. Lastly, if you didn't know, Cotopaxi (koh-toh-PAHK-see) is one of the world's highest active volcanoes, located in Ecuador. If you are interested in discovering what Cotopaxi has to offer, check out the links below. 2 Month Update During a recent trip to North Conway, New Hampshire, the temperature was negative 2 degrees with a windchill of negative 15 degrees. Mary Beth, Michael, and I took a trip up the Cog Railway, which is the only railroad in the world that goes straight up the mountain. During the winter, it only goes up part way Mount Washington (during the summer it goes to the summit). It was so cold that Michael’s hot chocolate froze. Mount Washington, NH, which is known as having the worst weather in the world. For example, around 100 days per year, the summit gets hurricane force winds and has a record wind chill of -108 degrees Fahrenheit. The amazing thing about this photo is the entire area got 2 feet of snow the week prior but the only real snow you can see is on Mount Washington. I learned two things during this trip, both being in town and on Mount Washington. First my Cotopaxi Fuego jacket was perfect. It kept me very warm and was very lightweight as I shared in my original writing above. Second, I realized the hat I was wearing was just not sufficient. Following the trip, we went to visit a few outdoor stores, and I went searching for a beanie. I looked at all of them across multiple stores. I felt them for thickness, material feel, and the band strength (basically is it going to stretch out). I was excited to find that the Cotopaxi Alto Beanie met all my criteria. I was really excited after trying it on that it actually kept my ears warm with a combination of the material and the band strength, giving a nice snug feeling. I wore it for the rest of the weekend, and it will now be my first choice for these cold New England days. The only thing that would have made this experience better is to have cooked some French Toast with some Vermont Maple Syrup! Frequently Asked Questions What is the Cotopaxi Fuego jacket filled with? It is made with Insulation: 800-fill down from responsible sources according to Cotopaxi's website. How lightweight is the jacket? Honestly, it doesn't even feel like I am wearing a jacket at all as it feels like it weighs only a few ounces. How did the Cotopaxi Fuego jacket hold up in the harsh cold winters? I wore the jacket up Mount Washington, in New Hampshire in -15 degree wind chill and I was toasty warm. It blocked out both the wind and the cold. Start Your Own Down Jacket (and Beanie) Sensory Experience If you’re curious to start your own Cotopaxi Fuego Down Hooded Jacket and Beanie Sensory Experience, I’ve shared my current purchases below. Give it a try and let me know your thoughts in the comments! For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.

I grew up listening to stories of my dad's career. This is part one of his journey. ------------------------------ My business career was one of extremes. The first half of my career was working for Fortune 100 companies - Colgate Palmolive; Johnson & Johnson; Warner-Lambert and American Express. The second half started with a 3-man company. I graduated Wagner College with a degree in Business Administration specializing in accounting. I received an MBA from Pace University in Financial Management. Fortune 100 Career Journey I started out as a cost accountant with Colgate at their Jersey City, N.J. plant. I worked in a bullpen area with the sound of old-fashioned calculators throughout the day. Most of the accountants graduated from nearby St. Peters College. Two years after I joined one of my Colgate associates got a job with Johnson & Johnson in New Brunswick, N.J. A few months after he joined J&J, he called me up and said they had a job opening and to give it a shot. I did and I got the job making a few thousand a year more than at Colgate. I worked five years at J&J and my last boss got a job with Warner-Lambert in Morris Plains, N.J. He called and said a job working for him as a senior accountant was mine if I wanted it. My Fortune 100 Career Journey continued and I took the job in the Consumer Products Division doing P&Ls for each brand in the division... brands such as Listerine, Efferdent, Trident, Dentyne, Rolaids and Halls Cough Drops. I worked very closely with the Product Managers on each brand. The largest brand was Listerine, a market leader product that dominated the mouthwash category. The Group Manager on Listerine was a man named Steve Rothchild. He had a degree from Columbia and an MBA from Harvard. All the product managers had MBAs from the best universities. One day Steve approached me and says marketing a product is so much more than making commercials and going to sales conferences in Florida or Nassau. There is day to day involvement with market research, trade promotion, consumer promotion, shipping, costs, etc. I need someone who can work the numbers for me... "How would you like to become a Product Manager on Listerine?" I said sure Steve, but I don't have the MBA credentials. He said the ones who have these MBAs don't want to get involved with the numbers. They want to go to New York City and work with J. Walter Thompson, our ad agency, developing TV and print commercials. Then they want to go to the Palm with their agency counterpart for a steak dinner. I need someone who can get me the numbers I need accurately and on time. Steve was a real up and comer at W-L and was able to sell his Division President to give me the job. Current view of the competition between Listerine and Scope, sitting on a CVS shelf. I couldn't have joined the Listerine marketing team at a more critical time. Procter and Gamble had recently launched Scope mouthwash, and their advertising campaign was built around the fact it had the same germ kill efficacy but with a fresh minty taste. Listerine's typical user was older and skewed male by 2-1. Scope's was younger and skewed women by 2-1. Scope was beginning to erode Listerine's dominant share. A big meeting between the Listerine marketing team and J. Walter Thompson account executives took place. They came up with an ad campaign for Listerine that ranks as one of the greatest of all time. The campaign for Listerine took on Scope head on. It recognized Listerine tasted like medicine, but it worked. It also addressed the fact that Listerine users mostly gargled once a day in the morning, so the campaign drove home a simple message: Listerine Antiseptic—"The Taste People Hate Twice A Day." The commercial went after usage over users. It helped stabilize the brand and give Listerine the time to develop a sister brand... Listermint. You have to love YouTube as I was able to find this commercial from 1973 My job was to develop consumer in store Listerine displays, sweepstakes, coupons and trade incentives to keep from going out of stock. An interesting sidebar to this is that I worked with a lower-level creative person who was just starting at J. Walter Thompson. His name was James Patterson who has become one of the bestselling authors of all time. Patterson rose up the ranks at JWT and became Creative Director. He left the agency when his first novel featuring Alex Cross became a best seller. At Warner-Lambert I was offered the position of Director of International Marketing. I went to every Latin American and Asian company in the 5 years I had the job. My main claim to success was as a strategic planning facilitator. I would ask the questions regarding all the internal and external factors affecting their country business. Then we would develop 5-year growth plans and action plans to meet timetables. Page 1 of my dad's story. Internal factors are personnel, products, assets, liabilities, R&D. External factors are competition, government regulations, technology, legal, environmental. Internal factors can be controlled for the most part. External factors cannot be controlled (an example is COVID). My work in International Marketing attracted some suitors... the most interesting and lucrative was American Express where I worked for three years as Vice President of International Marketing. Then the man who brought me into the company and was my boss left and my new boss and I didn't connect. So, for the first time in my 18-year business career I was out of work. Compounding the situation was that the job market was one of the worst ever. At that point I did a strategic plan about myself. I analyzed my strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. I came to the conclusion maybe it was time to join a smaller company. In Part II of my career, I'll go into the second half of my story. The second half of this story is now published and can be viewed at Experience MarketSource Growth Strategy Executive Review.

Cover photo by Joanna Kosinska *There is a special discount code at the end of this story* The Search for Better Olive Oil My visit with Louie and Tina at their house. I learned about how they got started on this olive oil journey. Turns out as I was writing this and pulling the links to from the website, I just placed an order for the Tesoro Italian Olive Oil. I had to wait 9 months as the farm had issues with shipping internationally. Now that it is back in stock, it will be in my pantry within the week! My journey to get to these high quality, Italian olive oils didn’t come overnight. This was a long process where I didn’t realize what I was missing until we found Madge & Louie’s. The Tesoro olive oil was the best I ever had. The bottle to the right is an organic version from the same producer. Like many of you, I started out with the olive oil and vinegars that were in the local supermarket and then would buy in bulk when we went to the local wholesale club. From there, we started purchasing olive oil and vinegars from those specialty stores that pop up in the highly popular tourist areas, which for me was in Boston and Newport, RI. Over time, while we were seemingly happy with the olive oils, the vinegars just didn’t taste like what we would get in a nice restaurant. The Love of Italian Olive Oil One day a few years back, we participated in a virtual pasta making class from a great local Italian restaurant in the Worcester, MA area called Volturno. As a part of the pasta we picked up, they shared a small sample of some olive oil. We loved their food (they were the first pizzeria in Massachusetts certified by the Associazione Vera Pizza Napoletana and I figured they had to use some quality ingredients to make the food that good. I decided to give them a call, and they put me in touch with Louie. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "Embrace the peppery finish. Take a moment to drink a small amount of the olive oil by itself. That distinct sensation at the back of your throat is sensory proof that you are tasting authentic, high-quality olive oil." Here is where it got interesting. I sent Louie an email asking for a vinegar recommendation and he asked for my phone number to give me a call. From there, we spoke for about 30 minutes with him asking me all sorts of questions around what I was using it for (ie. cooking, salads, bread dipping). We also talked a lot about olive oils during the conversation with Louie asking me questions which led to me buying a few. In addition, Louie also sent me a bunch of small samples to try. This olive oil changed my life in so many ways from feeling better to being the basis for my TEDx Talk. During the conversation, we also spoke about the benefits of olive oil, specifically some of the olive oils that have a very high polyphenol count like Azienda Agricola Le Tre Colonne 1000+ Olisir. While I am not a medical doctor and would encourage you to do your own research, polyphenols help reduce inflammation in the body. This led me to ultimately give it a try. Taking a tablespoon a day, I felt about 10 years younger in about 2 weeks as my body felt so much looser. I even did a TEDx Talk on it called How Drinking Olive Oil and Curiosity Changed My Life. Meeting Louie and Tina Yesterday (at least at the time of writing this), I had a unique opportunity to meet Louie and his wife, Tina. Tina and Louie run the importing, and Johnny Madge finds the farms/producers. Louie and Tina live about an hour away and I made a special visit to meet them. They were nice enough to have me visit them at their house, which is where they run the business. It was so much fun. I was like a kid in a candy store. Getting to meet Louie and Tina and learn a bit more about their business, how they got started, and even sampling some of their vinegars was a treat to say the least. What a perfect way to end the story with some Italian olive oil for dipping! We first had a tour of the operation. The olive oil is stored in a special temperature-controlled room in the basement with dehumidifiers running constantly. Louie also shared details like purchasing high quality shipping boxes to ensure the product is delivered without damage. Picture of our vinegar tasting in Louie and Tina's house. My favorite was Caterina Balsamic Vinegar. We then walked upstairs to his kitchen where we talked about how they got started. They were on their honeymoon in Italy and the local Innkeeper shared that they should go down to the local olive oil and wine bar run by Johnny Madge. It was at this point in time when the business idea struck and two years later, they were in business. Johnny himself recently got married and moved to Spain where he opened an olive oil and wine bar in Valencia, Spain. He now operates "day" tours in Spain and continues to do week-long tours with Tina and Louie when "Madge and Louie’s" hit the road "off the beaten path" to various locations throughout Italy. Johnny Madge Farm2Table Tours Italy (TripAdvisor). Louie and Tina then offered to do a vinegar tasting with some samples they received from one of their vendors, plus a few of the vinegars I was familiar with and purchased before. After tasting 7 different vinegars, I am happy to say I really liked the one I currently use, Caterina Balsamic Vinegar. The great thing about tasting good quality vinegar is that it doesn’t make your head spin around from the bite. These vinegars are smooth and were very enjoyable. Me holding a bottle of my favorite olive oil, Tesoro, along with wine, Vuaria, from the same producer, FEUDO DISISA Circling back to the Tesoro olive oil. Louie shared with me that the same producer makes wine as well. Once I try it and if it’s as good as I hope, I will share a story on that as well. Elevating Everyday Cooking Fast forward to today, I have a pantry full of these olive oils and vinegars, and it elevated our cooking, salads, and bread dipping. My wife shared with me that this was her favorite of all my purchases. It’s also probably the one that I have spent the most money on since we started a few years ago. And do yourself a favor, ask Louie for some product recommendations. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do! 6 Month Update Since initially writing this post, as well as Josephinenhütte Hand Blown Wine Glasses: Review and Sensory Experience, I found that my favorite Olive Oil, Tesoro, which is from FUEDO DISISA in Sicily, Italy, also has a corresponding set of wines, of which I found one of them in my local wine shop (and just got a bottle from my mom for my birthday)! Frequently Asked Questions Are Italian Olive Oils worth it? Absolutely! Especially ones that have been hand selected. As with any farm based product, selecting one from a small producer will create some much more complexity to the flavor of the olive oil, and in turn, the recipe you are making. Do you have a favorite Olive Oil for bread dipping? Yes, TESORO by FEUDO DISISA is by far the best. It has a complexity of flavor that doesn't require any spices to be added like most olive oils. Just dip, taste, and close your eyes to elevate your sensory experience. Where can I purchase the best Italian Olive Oils and Vinegars? I highly recommend Extra Virgin Olio by Madge and Louie's. Madge is an expert in the selection of the Olive Oils and Vinegars and Louie is the local US distributor. Louie can recommend the right product based on your needs. Does a good Olive Oil have a peppery finish Yes, A good olive oil, particularly an extra virgin olive oil (EVOO), has a peppery finish due to the presence of oleocanthal, a natural phenolic compound found in the olive fruit juice. This finish is an easy way to determine the quality of the olive oil. Start Your Own Olive Oil and Vinegar Sensory Experience If you’re curious to start your own Olive Oil and Vinegar sensory experience, I’ve listed my favorites below. Give a few a try and let me know your thoughts in the comments! For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.

Me enjoying a glass of Cabernet with the Josephinenhütte No 3 Glass Cover photo by David Kohler Childhood Memories: Glass Blowing and a Jug of Wine When I was a kid growing up, my best friend, Paul, lived a few houses up from me. Each Christmas, he had a real tree with all hand-blown ornaments in different colors. His Uncle Lennie was a glass blower and made them enough balls to fill the tree and it looked amazing, like a picture from a lifestyle magazine. Fast forward to just 18 months ago, I was in search of finding something special for our 26th wedding anniversary and found a gift rooted in that same craftmanship. That deep appreciation for the art, coupled with the elevated sensory experience is what led to this Josephinenhütte hand blown wine glasses review, but I will get back to the glass blowing in a bit. Just about the same time as my memory serves me about the glass blown Christmas balls, I also have a recollection of going to my grandparents’ house. During those visits, we would sit around the kitchen table, and my grandfather would take out the $2 gallon jug of wine and would pour a glass for every adult. I never remember trying it, but I do remember it smelled awful, not just because I was a kid, but because I think it smelled like vinegar. Our Journey into Wine Fast forward a bunch of years. My wife and I were married in our mid 20’s and we started drinking red wine. We started drinking wine pretty much by default at functions because neither of us really liked hard liquor or beer. For the next 25 years, we slowly started to improve our taste in wine. Unlike a future post where I mention I am a pizza snob; I am nowhere near self-proclaiming myself as a wine snob. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "The Josephinenhütte glass is a work of art. Feel the glass and give it a light ping and notice the pure instrumental note. Notice the kink in the glass. Don't just smell the wine, follow the aromas releasing the hidden notes. Slowly savor the taste, taking a moment of serenity, elevating your sensory experience the way the winemaker intended." Paul read my post and mailed me one of his Uncle Lennie's glass blown Christmas balls. In time, we started to become more interested in wine, being able to tell at least a good wine from a bad wine, and over time, being able to pick up some of the tasting notes for each wine. We went to a few local wineries and started to learn about the growing of the grapes and how even slightly different elevations can make a difference in the taste of the grapes. In two weeks, we are going to the local winery to pick the grapes off of the vines and then taste the same wine. There is so much to learn about wine, and we are by no means experts. About 10 years ago, we bought ourselves a nicer set of wine glasses but nothing out of the ordinary by any means. It probably came from Target or Bed Bath and Beyond. My wife and I both like Cabernet and the wine glasses we purchases were specific to a Cabernet where you could swirl the wine to open it up. I then learned about an aerator and a decanter, both making significant differences in the taste of the wine for the better. This is my wine glass for my side of the couch About a year ago, I had a recollection of a memory from a former colleague who mentioned he traveled with his own very expensive wine glass. I thought he was crazy at the time (but now can appreciate his passion). That got me thinking about doing some research for an upgraded wine glass. As with all of my product research process, I search through multiple product recommendation sites to find some commonality. You have to dig through the ones that just pull from someone else’s site but through lots of time, you can pull out the ones that keep coming up. Hand Blown Wine Glasses This is where the hand-blown (yes, you read that correctly) wine glasses from Josephinenhütte kept coming to the top of the list. After seeing the reviews and then reading more on the website, I was sold. I purchased two Josephine N° 3 glasses for our 26th wedding anniversary and the experience is no less than amazing. So much of the experience in drinking wine is the smell and these wine glasses deliver. There are two aspects between the shape of the glass itself where the smell is captured by the curved shape but there is also the break towards the bottom of the glass that does a phenomenon job in opening up the wine. Our Josephinehutte No 3 Hand Blown wine glasses on our kitchen table overlooking the trees in the background. As I was reading before our purchase, one comment that stuck with me is that these glasses will even make a not-so-great wine taste good…and its true. We even did a taste test with the original glasses and the Josephinenhütte glasses and there is no comparison. Small Details, Big Experience This next part is important. Because the glasses are hand blown, they are thin, and therefore delicate. This means extra special care when in use. It also means my wife won’t let me wash the glasses (partly because of how thin and breakable they are but also because I never did a great job washing the wine glasses). My job is to dry them with the Linen Cloth & Brush Care Set they offer (I have not used the paint brush to dry the very minor spots it comes with). Future purchases (someday) are the Josephine N° 7 Decanter and while I never think I will purchase it, the Josephine N° 5 Water glass. It is really hard to justify a $50 water glass, but I have a really strong feeling that the water will taste 100 times better. I haven’t done any research on it as of yet but if I ever buy it, I will be sure to write about it. Also, there may be a future post about Tequila from a friend of mine, and I am sure the Josephine N° 10 Eau de Vie glasses will make it taste amazing. Me holding a bottle of my favorite olive oil, Tesoro, along with wine, Vuaria, from the same producer, FEUDO DISISA If you want to elevate your wine experience, I highly recommend the Josephinenhütte wine glasses. It will give you the sensory experience of dining at a MICHELIN star restaurant in the comfort of your own home. I would love to learn about your wine glass experience or if you have a favorite small farm or family-owned wine that you are in love with. Cheers! 6 Month Update Since initially writing this post, as well as Italian Olive Oil Review: The Peppery Difference, I found that my favorite Olive Oil, Tesoro, which is from FUEDO DISISA in Sicily, Italy, also has a corresponding set of wines, of which I found one of them, Vuaria, in my local wine shop. Frequently Asked Questions Are Josephinenhütte hand-blown wine glasses worth it? Absolutely! Drinking wine is all about the experience. When you start with a hand-blown wine glass, there is an immediate connection to the glass as it has been made with the love and care of the glass blower, not mass produced. Pair that with your favorite wine from a local producer, and you have elevated your sensory experience. How do you care for your Josephinenhütte wine glasses? We hand wash the glasses with soap and a dish towel, and then hand dry them with the Josephinenhütte Linen Cloth and Brush set. What is your favorite wine to pair with Josephinenhütte hand blown wine glasses? We love drinking wine from small wine producers for the same reason as selecting Josephinenhütte, it is made with the love and care of an individual. We often buy wines based on the recommendations of Simone Linsin, who owns Pecorino Cheese Shop and Fine Wines in Grafton, MA. Her selection is based on all small wineries, mainly from Italy and France. Start Your Own Wine Glass Sensory Experience If you’re curious to start your own wine glass sensory experience, I’ve listed my favorite glasses (as well as a few aspirational ones) below. Give one a try and let me know your thoughts in the comments! For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself. Enjoy!

This is one of my favorite photos. Michael took it in Aruba about 5 years ago. It is a 3-inch space within the volcanic rock of the Arikok National Park. The white in this photo is sun dried sea salt that was left after the water that splashed up on the surface evaporated. My current SaltWorks collection which includes Sea salt, Himalayan salt, Sel Gris, Flake, and Fleur de Sel Talking about salt (and specialty salts) feels a bit like a Goldilocks situation where sometimes you read about consuming too much salt, and other times you don't have enough. This story will not cover the health benefits (and negative effects) of salt but more about how picking the right salts can help enhance the flavor profile whatever you are cooking or the meals you are eating and help you get started. Like most of you, growing up, there was one main store-bought table salt in the house. You know, the one that says, "this salt supplies iodine, a necessary nutrient". As a side note, while probably not required as much now, there was a part of the country in the US that had illnesses related to a lack of iodine back in the 1920's which is the reason why it was added. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "Start with a clean palate. Place a few salt crystals on your tongue, close your eyes, and let the flavors melt. Notice the texture profile and complex taste. Season throughout the cooking process, then finish with a flaky salt to add depth and texture, elevating your sensory experience." In addition to the table salt, some households like mine also had Kosher salt. That was it, just 2 salt varieties to add to your food. Himalayan salt from SaltWorks For years, especially when we were first married, this was the only 2 salts we had in our kitchen. At some point in time, we either bought or received as a gift, salt and pepper grinders. Using these grinders made the food taste better so we started to incorporate it more and more into our daily cooking and meals. I think we started out with sea salt and over time also started using Himalayan pink salt as well. Nothing changed in our use of the grinders and the sea/Himalayan salts we were using for about 10-15 years. These salts became our standard way of cooking and eating but we never had a favorite or was brand loyal. The assumption was as long as we were not using the table salt, we were good. Review Of Specialty Salts and Cooking Blocks A few years ago, I started a quest to upgrade our salts. I started reading about finishing salts (salts that you sprinkle on your meal just before eating) which gives the food flavors an extra pop. SaltWorks finishing salts- Sel Gris, Flake, and Fleur de Sel After doing lots of research, I landed on the company, SaltWorks, which when I went on their website was surprised to see that I had actually used their products once before buying a salt grinder from a local retail store year's prior. I started with buying their Sea salt and Himalayan salt and then extended my purchases to also include specialty salts, which are often called finishing salts, including Sel Gris (French grey sea salt) used for meats, Flake salt (which I use for eggs and guacamole; typically used as well for anything that calls for Kosher salt), and Fleur de Sel (which I use on caprese and cookies). Saltverk Lava salt (great on eggs) We have also been venturing into some other salts (it's like a whole new world of options and can be a full-time job in and of itself tasting all of the varieties and brands). However, two that have made an impact to us are Saltverk Lava salt which is hand harvested from Iceland and Maine sea salt from Slack Tide Maine (picture below). While I haven't tried it yet, I think my next purchase will be their Maine Blueberry Sea Salt as I also love Maine Blueberries (which are smaller and more flavorful than regular blueberries). This is Michael's salt block that he uses for his smoker. The other salt item I want to share is a salt block. This was a Christmas gift from last year that has been such a fan favorite in my household, I had to get a second one to fit all of the food we were cooking on it. If you haven't tried a salt block yet, you don't know what you are missing. It gives a great even profile and subtle flavor of salt across the entire meat or veggie you are cooking on. There is some care that needs to be taken when heating it up (slowly) and cleaning afterwards, but the food tastes incredible. We use it on our grill and cook it at the same length of time we would for anything on the grill itself. Slack Tide Maine Flake salt Just a point to note, when we use the salt block or the finishing salts, I use little to no sea or Himalayan salts when cooking. I don't know if there are any specific rules about using or not using it, I just find that if I use both, the salt taste is overpowering. I hope you try some of these salt options to elevate your sensory experience with your meals. Of course, don't forget to pair your salts with pepper. My favorites are from Burlap & Barrel. What are some of your favorites? Frequently Asked Questions What do you cook on your salt block? We cook steak, chicken, and pork on the salt block as well asparagus and onions. What is your favorite dish to use with Slack Tide Maine Flake salt? I love the Slack Tide Maine Flake salt on eggs. It really brings out the flavor of the eggs. What is your everyday salt that you use? We use Himalayan salt from SaltWorks as our everyday salt. Do you salt your pasta water? Yes, we use Sea salt from SaltWorks to season our water after it boils and just before we put our pasta in the pot. Start Your Own Salt Sensory Experience If you’re curious to start your own salt sensory experience, I’ve listed my favorite flakes below. Give one a try and let me know your thoughts in the comments! For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.

Metuchen, NJ farmers market, held every Saturday in the town plaza. It's been around since 1997. It's August 8th and I had plans to write this at the start of the season, but time just got away from me. I grew up in New Jersey and spent the last few months there hanging out with my mom. Because where she lives is very dense with people, space for farms is just nonexistent, which is ironic because New Jersey is called the Garden State. I am sure there are lots of farms in the state, just none within a short drive from where she lives. If you travel 20-30 minutes west or south, the space opens up and I am sure there are lots of local farms where they sell fresh fruit and vegetables. The problem is, traveling that far just for a weekly supply isn't really feasible. Bread Guy Breads at the Grafton, MA Farmers Market. It's one of our favorites. My Farmers Market Journey That is where a search on Google led me to two local farmers markets, one in the town next to us in Metuchen and the start of my farmers market journey this year. This is such a cute town with lots of little shops and restaurants, including one of our favorites, Wood Stack Pizza Kitchen, which also is a vendor at the Metuchen market. When I was 5 years old, I used to play soccer with the Metuchen-Edison Soccer Club. The soccer field is no longer there as it made its way for a condo complex, right next to the cute downtown area. On my first visit to the farmers market, I bought way too many fruits and veggies, which is typical for me. I buy what looks good, not what I plan to eat for the week. Mary Beth is used to this from me but it was the first time my mom got the experience my shopping experience. I think we were eating 3-4 veggies a day for the entire week. Farmers markets are like Christmas to me. I love seeing everything that the vendors have to offer, whether it is a fresh piece of fruit, honey, maple syrup, or freshly baked bread. One of my favorite farmers markets we went to was in Kauai. They had farmers markets 4-5 days during the week at different places but the one we went to on Saturday last year had to have about 100 vendors. Granted, lots of them sold the same types of fruits and veggies that were native to the area, but there was one that stood out, which was the white pineapples from Kauai Sugarloaf Pineapple. If you have never had a white pineapple, you are missing out. Fresh sugar cane drinks at the Kauai farmer's market. Emma and Matthew don't have the same Christmas like experiences that Mary Beth, Matthew and I have. As we were at the Kauai farmers market, we did a first pass to see what they had, and Emma started walking to the car thinking we were done. We were just getting started. Mary Beth and I are also very lucky to have a farmers' market in Grafton, which has a wide variety of vendors including Bread Guy Breads, which we frequent often, a honey vendor, sweets like cookies, craft beer, a local winery, and of course a local farm. This market also holds a special place for us as Michael shared and sold some of his photography there for two years. He no longer sells his photography, but one special fun fact is that one of his prints was featured at the Massachusetts State House Library for the entire summer. It's also stored forever in the library archives that can be accessed at any time upon request. Michael at 14 years old at the Grafton Farmers Market Farmers markets used to be only found when you were on vacation in a cute town in tourist area but today, they are all around. This post isn't about any single farmers market but all of them. Not only do you get to support local vendors, but you will get some great food and products made with the love and care only available from a small business. Enjoy!

The iconic red dot at the TEDx BryantU event. I had watched a few TED Talks over the years, but it wasn't a regular practice of mine. If I watched 10 or 20, it was a lot. Of the one's I watched, a few that stood out were How I hacked online dating by Amy Webb, which I used to teach in my Introduction to Information System and Analytics class at Bryant University back in 2018 and of course, Simon Sinek's Start with Why, which I think everyone has seen. Amy's session was used to help relate dating to analytics for students that weren't necessarily going to become data scientists, and based on the student feedback, I think it worked. When the opportunity for me to apply for and ultimately become a TEDx speaker, I jumped at the opportunity. TEDx Speaker Experience This post, however, is not about how to become a TED or TEDx speaker, but the emotions that were felt before, during, and after the Talk. I have enlisted the help of a few other TEDx speakers; John Boccuzzi, my son Matthew, as well as my perspective, where we all share our TEDx speaker experience. As I was preparing for my presentation, John had a direct influence which I will detail below. Mary Beth and I, both Bryant graduates, met John, also a Bryant alumnus, along with his wife Cynthia during an alumni reception during orientation for our kids (Matthew and their son John), who attended and recently graduated from Bryant as well. John and I have stayed in touch ever since, with it now being almost 6 years. Also, if you are in the Newtown, CT area, Cynthia and John run a small business, BD Provisions, which was founded on the idea that consumers are ready to move towards more sustainable lifestyles, and everyone moves at his or her own pace. The Rooted & Refined Living Expert Tip: "Opportunities can appear from preparation, silence, and despair. The win is to be open to the possibility of what could be." These stories are a more behind the scenes look and will cover the before, during, and after the TEDx Talk. We are going to start with John's story. John Boccuzzi's Someday In 2006, I watched my first TED Talk and said one word to myself: “Someday.” Someday turned into 11 years. Until Fall 2017, when Jake Zimmer, a Bryant University student I had met the prior year reached out and invited me to apply to speak at the first TEDx at Bryant University. No more excuses. This was the sign. I Was Seduced By Exceptional Customer Service by John Boccuzzi, Jr. - TEDxBryantU I spent weeks asking myself a hard question: After watching 100+ TED Talks…What could I possibly offer? The answer was my passion: customer experience, and one unforgettable story about Ruth, a pair of glasses, and how exceptional service can change a life. When I shared the title idea with my wife Cynthia, she said it needed to be bold. She suggested: “I Was Seduced by Exceptional Customer Service.” It felt provocative. Maybe too provocative. But what did I have to lose? I applied. I interviewed with the committee. I was selected. And that’s when the real work began. TEDx is structured. Two in-person rehearsals. Hard deadlines. Tight timing. I wrote the talk. Rewrote it. Practiced for weeks. Lesson #1: Talent is optional. Preparation is not. Two days before the talk in February 2018, I came down with a terrible fever. Instead of staying overnight in Providence with my wife and two kids, I stayed home and tried to recover. We drove up early the morning of the event. On that drive I had every thought you can imagine: What if the fever derails me? What if I forget my talk? What if the slides fail? What if the audience doesn’t react? Backstage, every speaker wore the same expression; excitement mixed with anxiety. Then it was my turn. The lights were so bright I couldn’t see the audience. Probably a gift. I couldn’t even see Cynthia and the kids. I started. It was flowing. I felt great. With less than a minute left, my internal voice started celebrating. And that’s when it happened. I forgot my next line. Time froze. Instead of apologizing or panicking, I paused. It felt like an hour. It was probably three seconds. I refocused. Turned off the celebration voice. Delivered the ending. The applause was incredible. Hugging my family afterward was even better. Lesson #2: Composure beats perfection. After the event, I shared the video with friends, colleagues, and on LinkedIn. It took off. the art of Seducing your Customers by John Boccuzzi, Jr. Within months it was recognized as one of the best Customer Experience talks of 2018. Seven years later, it’s approaching one million views. And in 2024, I followed it up with a book: The Art of Seducing Your Customers. Lesson #3: One courageous “yes” can compound for years. From “Someday” in 2006…To TEDx in 2018…To nearly a million views… To a book. If you’re sitting on a “Someday” goal… Maybe it’s time to remove the excuses. What’s your “Someday”? The Fiore Overview Giving a TED or TEDx Talk is exhilarating but also comes with its challenges. I think when I was giving my Talk, my family held their breath for the entire 15 minutes as they were watching me. It was a different feeling for me watching Matthew speak. I had only heard one early draft of his speech, but just with that one early version, I was confident it was going to go well. As Matthew was giving his Talk, Mary Beth and I both had the same feeling that he was offering hope to people that were dealing with autism, either the individuals themselves or the families that were supporting them. Even to this day, Matthew doesn't see that perspective; it was just a speech to him. When you get to the end of this page, I will post an excerpt of one of the notes we got following his speech on the impact he made to at least one person. Matthew's Story Giving a TED talk was never something on my bucket list, and honestly, it became even less likely after watching my father give one. Seeing him on stage made me so nervous. But that feeling only lasted about a year, because soon enough, I was giving my first TEDx talk at Bryant University. I won't go into the full details here since you can hear that in my TED talk; but I was diagnosed with Autism late in life, during my freshman year of college. Receiving that diagnosis sent me through something similar to the five stages of grief as I tried to reconcile this newly defined reality, even though nothing in my life had actually changed. Deep down, I always knew autism was part of me, but the formal diagnosis made it real in a way I had never faced before. Navigating Life With Autism by Matt Fiore - TEDxBryantU The theme of the TEDx event was Through My Eyes, which felt fitting for my story. I wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to say at first; I mostly saw it as the final step in my journey toward fully accepting my diagnosis. Like I'm doing now, I started by simply typing my thoughts with no particular structure- just whatever came to mind. I worked with my parents and a close mentor to turn those thoughts into a cohesive story. I wanted to share my personal experiences while still creating something that anyone, not just autistic individuals, could connect with. Beyond my own reasons for doing it, my hope was to impact a last one person such as a parent, a family member, or someone on the spectrum who could take something meaningful away from my talk. During the writing process, I remember feeling overwhelmed at times, but I kept chipping away at each draft. The talk was definitely happening, so I locked in and focused on refining it one iteration at a time. Memorizing the speech ended up being the easiest part for me, I learned my 15-minute talk in just over a week. I know that's not exactly relatable to most people, but let's call it one of the perks of autism. As for actually giving the talk? I barely remember it. I essentially blacked out on stage. I remember the moments before and after, but the entire time I was speaking is a complete blank. Afterward, I celebrated with my family and friends over pizza and dessert. The next day, I felt accomplished and relieved that the four-month process was finally over. I went to work as a substitute teacher like I normally did on Mondays. My morning routine felt normal, but something was off. I became dizzy and light-headed, and no amount of water or deep breathing helped. Because I was in an elementary school, the staff became concerned and called an ambulance. I found myself lying on this tiny hospital bed clearly meant for a seven-year-old, crying because the school had ordered a stay-in-place lockdown just to move me safely. I felt awful for disrupting everyone's day, but eventually I ended up at the hospital, where they diagnosed me with vertigo. Long story short: my body had completely crashed from the pressure and excitement of giving the talk. I can laugh about it now, but at the time, I was definitely not amused. In the end, l am glad I gave the TEDx talk. It felt like the right conclusion to my journey toward accepting my autism. I have only rewatched the YouTube video once, I just can't do it, but I'm glad it's out there and hopefully it makes a small impact on someone every now and then. My Story I applied to be a TEDx speaker because I thought it would be pretty cool. I know TED and TEDx have a great reputation but as I mentioned above, I really wasn't a big watcher of the Talks. I brainstormed several concepts but kept coming back to one specific period in my recent career. I was transitioning between roles at my company, performing both my old and new jobs simultaneously, and surprisingly, that was when I was highly productive. I started to analyze why I was productive and it started to become a long list (many of which are chronicled on previous posts, including Blue Zone Inspired Smoothie with Black Beans and Garbanzo. After I had a rough outline and early draft, I enlisted the help of a speech writer, Jennifer Woodbury, who was on contract with my company and I had participated on a few of her training sessions. Armed with my initial training, Jennifer and I worked on making my speech better aligned to a college student audience. How Drinking Olive Oil and Curiosity Changed My Life by Steve Fiore - TEDxBryantU Working with Jennifer was fantastic. I had to record our sessions as she had so many ideas, it was hard to write that fast to capture everything she was sharing. Working with her was great as it made my speech so much better, but at the same time, it made my preparation that much harder. The words didn't flow off the page because they weren't mine as I was speaking them. I remember vividly as I was practicing that there were sections of the speech that were mine and there were sections or lines that were hers. This was really hard to get past but after about 6 weeks of daily practice, the words finally became mine. I also called on John Boccuzzi for guidance as he had recently performed his TEDx Talk. John shared his comments (as he did above) that he was so close to finishing his speech but blanked at the end. I do credit John with the idea of the act of taking the shot of olive oil in the very beginning. I had the words in the speech, but John actually suggested taking the shot (as it is a bit full circle, John's son was one of the student organizers for our event and was the one who removed the shot and chair when I was done). This is where it gets interesting for me. With 3 lines left in my first section (as I memorized all 5 sections of my speech), I blanked. Not like John where he stated it was 3 seconds that felt like a lifetime. I blanked for a full 30 seconds (which I timed when I got the raw video). I know I gave my family, who were in the audience, a heart attack as time slowly passed by. Thank goodness for video editing (which was the only edit for my video). When you watch it, you will never know that I blanked. I ultimately decided to move on to the next section and hope for the best. The rest of the speech went off pretty much without any other issues and I was very excited to finish and proud of my accomplishments. However, I couldn't get those 30 seconds out of my head. For what should have been a great moment of success, I couldn't get past how I messed up those 30 seconds. I decided to rewatch Jaime Diglio's WAR Room speech and made the decision that it was time to forget about the 1 mistake and focus on all the great things that happened before, during, and after the speech. It's been a few years since I gave my speech. It is closing in on 4,000 views (not quite as many as John's) but very respectable in my own mind! Excerpt from someone who watched Matthew's TEDx Talk This excerpt meant so much to us. It was from Matthew's speech therapist when he was 1 1/2 to 3 years old. Ironically, Matthew didn't talk for the first 2 1/2 years of his life. My oldest daughter, (now 17 and a senior next year) is going through a similar situation. Over the past 10 years, I’ve had my concerns with multiple doctors regarding her sensory, social, and communication skills and needs. Multiple test results indicate “inconclusive to support an ASD diagnosis”. It has been a frustrating battle to get the support she requires and for family members to accept it. I found a psychiatrist a few months ago who is able to give my daughter an ASD diagnosis and was surprised how she wasn’t diagnosed earlier. There has been an influx of 16-18 year old girls getting diagnosed at this time and the psychiatrist is baffled on why this is happening so later in life for females. So here I am, 10 years later, shedding tears of joy knowing my daughter will have to support she needs when she turns 18. Anyways, Matthew’s speech has been another way for me to get through to my daughter to have her understand that she CAN find success and not see ASD as a label or a disability. Our motto is “See the able, not the label”. It’s okay to be unique and to love and accept herself for who she is. I feel Matthew’s message has sunken in because she has asked me for updates and “Is Matthew famous yet? He has inspired me to help me understand who I and accept who I am.” As with all TED and TEDx Talks, they are designed as powerful ideas worth spreading. If you like these stories or TEDx Talks, please share. For Transparency: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. If you purchase through them, I may earn a small commission at no extra cost to you. I only recommend products I truly love and use myself.

My All-Time Favorites I thought I would write about some of my all-time favorites such as a restaurant, song, movie and TV show. Everyone has a favorite and I will share mine. This article will be about my favorite restaurant. Opening screen shot of Dan Tana's website Dan Tanas West Hollywood Hands down my favorite restaurant is Dan Tanas West Hollywood. Located in West Hollywood this little Italian restaurant is known for its great food and frequent celebrity customers. It was established in the 1930's and has been a Hollywood staple for almost 100 years. I live in Orange County, California and a trip to Los Angeles is 100 miles and takes about 2 1/2 to 3 hours depending on traffic, but Dan Tana's is worth the trip. As I mentioned in previous articles my company MarketSource was a leader in college marketing bringing household name brands such as Kellogg's, Apple, Colgate toothpaste, etc. onto large college campuses through signage, events, and sampling. We did very well in virtually all brand categories except one, the movies. The reason was one fantastic salesperson named Gene who worked for a competitor, U Magazine. His office wasn't in some LA office building... His office was a corner table in Dan Tana's restaurant where he did all his business. If you missed Tony's other recent posts, you can find them here at Papa's Corner. My business partner Marty Levine, whom I had written about in previous articles said to me "Tony, meet up with this guy Gene who works for U Magazine and gets a ton of movie ads every issue. See what it would take to get him to work for MarketSource." So I call Gene and I introduced myself over the phone and requested a meeting. Gene said to meet him at Dan Tana's at 6 PM where he conducted all his business. I enter Dan Tana's and I am greeted by the maître d', a tall good-looking guy named Craig (more about Craig later). Craig escorts me to Gene's booth. I notice that the man in the booth to Gene's left is Jerry Buss who owns the Los Angeles Lakers basketball team. Then I look to Gene's left, and I see Sumner Redstone who is a billionaire who owns Viacom (CBS, MTV). Gene is standing at his booth talking to Gary Marshall, creator of "Happy Days" and "Laverne and Shirley". Gene introduces me to Gary who smiles and leaves to go to the bar area. I said Gene I am impressed. He just smiles and calls for his favorite waiter Arturo to get us some drinks. Gene then waves to George Clooney who is walking to his table. A celebration for the movie, Kramer vs. Kramer for the Gene, third from left, from his days at Columbia Pictures, with the actor, Dustin Hoffman, 4th from right. Dustin won Best Actor for the movie. The person on the far left was Stanley Jaffe, Gene's brother-in-law, who produced the movie. Clooney comes over and says to me "Hi I'm George," I said "Nice to meet you, George." Then he kiddingly says, "I judge people by who they associate with, but I'll make an exception in your case." We all laugh and he departs. I ask Gene how often he is at Dan Tana's and he says Monday through Friday, 6 to 10 PM, at this booth every night but weekends. I come to find out that Gene is from Rye, New York and married a young lady named Marsha for 30 years and has a son and daughter. I asked Gene what brought him to California and he said, "I got a job with Columbia Pictures where my father-in-law Leo was CEO for many years." He also said his brother-in-law Stanley was CEO of Paramount Pictures for many years and won an Academy Award as producer of "Kramer vs. Kramer". I'm thinking, this Gene fellow is more connected than I could have ever imagined. Gene asks about me and I tell him the MarketSource story and how great it would be to have him on our team. Gene says, "I'm interested but it would have to be for substantially more than I make at U Magazine." He said, "Before we talk business lets enjoy a nice dinner and get to know each other." I said, "Gene since you eat here practically every day, what do you recommend." Gene said, "The New York steak is great, as are the New Zealand lamb chops, white fish, spaghetti and meatballs and his favorite chicken parmesan." Notes from my dad's story I order the shrimp cocktail as an appetizer, lamb chops entre and NY cheesecake for dessert. Gene ordered the calamari, white fish and spumoni. I'm thinking this is the best dinner I ever had, no wonder the place is so popular. The chef comes out and asks how it was, Gene and I say terrific. Gene hands him a $20 and he smiles and goes back to the kitchen. Craig the maître d' comes over and asks if we need anything and we say no, everything was great. Gene hands Craig a $20 and he heads for another table. Then Arturo comes to the table and Gene hands him $60. The bus boy cleaning the table is handed $10. I'm thinking the dinner was $200 and the tips $110 or a total of $310 times 5 nights a week is about $1,500 a week times 52 weeks comes to about $75,000 a year. Then Gene tells me he has a top-of-the-line BMW as his company car and limo service if he doesn't feel like driving to Dan Tana's. So now I get into salary, commission on sales and bonuses. Gene says he delivers 7 to 8 million a year in movie advertisements to U Magazine. His base salary is $200,000 and his commissions are 10% or about 750,000, so when you add up salary, commissions and expense account, Gene is pulling in about $1,100,000 a year, not bad in 1994. No wonder he has a constant smile on his face. I leave Dan Tana's telling Gene I would discuss everything with Marty Levine. I call Marty and tell him that every night Gene is sitting at Dan Tana's entertaining executives from Paramount, Warner Brothers, Universal, Sony, 20th Century Fox, Lionsgate and MGM. He comes with a contract and after dinner he gets them to sign. He loves them and they love Gene and Dan Tana's. There is no way MarketSource could break that bond. Then Marty asks how much Gene is making and there is stone silence. I'm not sure if the phone has a bad connection or Marty has passed out. This posed quite a dilemma for MarketSource. Gene could give us a major brand category we couldn't touch. It would increase the value of the company and make us more attractive to potential buyers and to investment banks considering us for an IPO. However, on the flip side the compensation imbalance between Gene and our 50 advertising sales reps would be of such significance to cause morale problems, requests for higher salaries and commissions on sales and company cars. The cons were more than the pros. MarketSource had prided itself on a culture of family and it resulted in significant annual growth and very low turnover. Hiring Gene would risk jeopardizing the culture of the company despite the attractiveness of the entertainment industry. Marty and I made that decision and let it stay in silence since there was no need to rattle any cages. It was a great meeting with Gene, a great dinner at Dan Tana's and fun meeting celebrities. So I called Gene and said how great it was to meet this legendary salesperson and we considered making him an offer, but we decided not to because of the factors enumerated. I thanked him and he said maybe we could get together again at Dan Tana's but the next time just as friends. I said I look forward to it. Well, since that sunny day in 1994 Gene and I have had at least 200 dinners at Dan Tana's and although Gene no longer lives in California, we speak every Monday morning from 7 AM to 8 AM. We talk about sports, politics, business happenings and family. Ironically back in 2003 when Alloy Entertainment purchased MarketSource, Gene was working for Alloy and knocking it out of the park even though he was in his 70's. I became a member of Alloy's board of directors and got involved in the entertainment industry as Alloy produced very popular teen and young adult television shows such as "Gossip Girl", "Vampire Diaries" and "Pretty Little Liars". Alloy has since been sold to Warner Brothers. At the beginning of this article, I mentioned the maître d' at Dan Tana's, Craig Susser. Well Craig opened Craig's Restaurant in 2011, and it has become the most popular restaurant in Los Angeles, even more popular than Dan Tana's. My next article will be about my favorite song.

The original gifted Gurgling Cod, circa 2000 I remember exactly what Kim gave me for my wedding. Which is remarkable, because I can no longer remember her last name. Funny how that happens. At one point, she was the kind of friend you invite to your wedding because you can't imagine your life without her in it. We worked together every day. We knew each other's stories. And now, nearly three decades later, her last name is gone. What I do remember is that she had impeccable taste. She always wore the preppiest little cardigans, and her blonde bob was somehow always perfect. Whether she had attended prep school or an Ivy League, I have no idea, but she looked and acted like she had. She embodied a version of New England I was still getting to know. If you missed Amy's other recent posts, you can find them here at Kitchen Table Conversations. So when I opened her gift and found what appeared to be a large ceramic fish, I assumed there was something I wasn't getting. Because surely this wasn't just a fish. I turned it around a few times. It was definitely a fish. A fish-shaped pitcher, with oversized lips and an expression that seemed permanently surprised. As a kid from Wisconsin, I just didn't get it. Fish belonged in lakes, at coho salmon derbies, or smoked and served on saltine crackers. I didn't understand why, of all the things she could have gifted, Kim chose this. Yet there it was. A Gurgling Cod. Although I didn't know that's what it was called at the time. I remember staring at it, trying to understand why Kim, of all people, had chosen it. And somehow my mother, who was also from Wisconsin and should have been every bit as confused as I was, knew exactly what it was. "Oh," she said. "That's a Boston thing." And this particular cod had come from Shreve, Crump & Low. (Of course it had. Because it was from Kim) Shreve, Crump & Low is its own kind of Boston institution. At least that's how I understood it at the time. If Tiffany's was New York, Shreve was Boston. When people around me started getting engaged, Shreve was where you wanted the ring to come from. It had a reputation. A history. And if you were only planning to do this once, you might as well do it right. So that's where we went. And that's where we bought our wedding bands. What I don't remember is seeing a single cod pitcher. Maybe I did and dismissed it as an ugly fish. Which would have been unfair, because it has quite a backstory. The pitcher itself wasn't originally from Boston. Versions of it had been around for years, imported from England. Fish-shaped pitchers designed to make a distinctive gurgling sound when water was poured from them. Or, depending on your perspective, a burping sound. At some point in the early 1960s, Benjamin Dale Shreve got a little creative with the idea. Looking at the traditional English pitcher, he apparently thought: "Nice fish. Wrong fish." So he turned it into a cod. Long before Boston became known for universities, hospitals, biotech companies, or championship sports teams, cod was one of the industries that built the region. Ships carried it across the Atlantic. Fishing families depended on it. Coastal towns grew around it. It was so important to the economy that a carved wooden cod known as the Sacred Cod has hung in the Massachusetts State House since the 1700s. Over time, it came to represent not just the fishing industry, but the ingenuity, ambition, and hard work of the people who helped build the Commonwealth. And today, we still seem to love cod. Cape Cod, obviously. Weather vanes, town seals, signs, and references tucked into old fishing towns all along the coast. Shreve wasn't selling beach souvenirs. They were selling engagement rings, sterling silver, crystal, fine china, and wedding gifts. The kinds of things people registered for, inherited, displayed in china cabinets, and passed down. And somehow, among all the crystal, silver, china, and wedding gifts, there was room for a ceramic cod. People made fun of them from the beginning. Which I found reassuring. It's a fish-shaped pitcher that gurgles when you pour water from it, after all. But it stuck. So much so that, like my Mom said, it became "a Boston thing.” Maybe because it was distinctive. Maybe because it came from Shreve. Maybe it was just the right amount of whimsy. But I wonder if it was more than that. The cod had come to represent the people who built Massachusetts. Fishermen, merchants, dockworkers, and coastal communities whose livelihoods depended on the sea. And yet here it was, being sold alongside engagement rings, sterling silver, crystal, and fine china. What I've learned after nearly three decades in Massachusetts is that we seem to have a knack for putting things together that don't obviously belong together—and making them work. And if you look closely, you’ll notice that nearly every New England home has at least one, sitting on a shelf, or holding a few purple hydrangeas. Looking slightly ridiculous. And completely at home.

Three longtime friends, Frank Spero, Tony Fiore, and Matty Tricorico. Tony has been friends with Matty for 70 years and Frank 66 years. A Note from Rooted & Refined Living This is a story about my dad and his two lifelong friends shared from my dad's perspective. There is a small section towards the end that talk about the careers his friends had in the FBI and their high-profile case against the Mafia. There is a small part to this post that discuss violence, but it is in the context of the story. More than anything, this is a story about friendship. Following my dad writing the story, it generated a new flurry of activity between the three friends that still talk at least once a week to this day. At the end of the day, that is what this website is about. My Friendship with Matty I was lucky to have a great family and I was also lucky to have great friends. Two of my close friends have been lifelong friends — Frank Spero and Matty Tricorico. Tony Fiore at Port Richmond HS In a previous writing I mentioned about Little Johnny and George Gomez — the elementary school bully who was left back two years and who got his jollies by beating up his classmates after school. I avoided the wrath of Gomez by giving him my homework to copy and Little Johnny got a pass because he was famous for being in a Campbell’s Chicken Soup commercial. Now I am in the eighth grade and a funny thing happened — in two years I grew from 4'10" to 6'2". Gomez stopped growing at 5'6" so George feared me. My dramatic growth spurt did not go unnoticed by the Public School 44 basketball coach Mr. Quin. He put me on the team and made me practice for hours. He would throw the ball against the backboard and whack me as I went up for the rebound. He would step on my toes and yell as the ball was coming down. The motive was simple — if I could withstand that kind of punishment in practice, the actual game would be a cakewalk. I averaged 20 points a game and made the All Star team. So when I entered Port Richmond High School that fall, I tried out for the Junior Varsity and was the only freshman to make the team. If you missed Tony's other recent posts, you can find them here at Papa's Corner. Matty "Sonny" Tricorico at Port Richmond HS in Staten Island, NY One of my classmates at Port Richmond was Matty Tricorico. He was a little over 5 feet when he started as a freshman but by the time he was a junior he was 6'2". I stopped growing so we were the same height. Ironically, Mr. Quin, my PS 44 coach, became the JV coach at Port Richmond and he put Matty through the same regimen he had put me through. Matty was a late bloomer and in our senior year on Varsity, Port Richmond won the Staten Island Championship and Matty was the star player. I had a decent year but Matty was the go-to player when we needed a goal to win. Matty finished second in the voting for Staten Island's best high school player. As a team we played in Madison Square Garden and although we lost to a great Brooklyn school, Matty excelled. He was offered a basketball scholarship to Colgate University and Wagner College. At Wagner he was a big star and years later made the Wagner College Hall of Fame. Matty and I were good friends in high school and college and have remained good friends for decades. My Friendship with Frank At Port Richmond High School, I had a very good grade average and was a cinch to be placed on the school's Permanent Honor Roll. On the last day of my senior year, my English class grade was mostly based on an essay. The subject of the essay was "Political Indifference in the United States." I must have had a brain fog that day because I wrote a 10-page essay on "Political Differences in the United States." I wrote an A graded essay but on the wrong subject. My teacher tearfully told me she loved the essay but had to give me a D. I appealed to take it over. My parents appealed but to no avail — the D stuck. Frank Spero in the Marines As a result, I no longer made the Permanent Honor Roll but had to take Remedial English for a year at Wagner College where I had enrolled. "Remedial English" was also referred to as "Donkey English" because most of the students were football players who had to take the course. Our professor was a tall, lanky guy named Herb Brandcamp. Professor Brandcamp took the course seriously as did I. It was a practice at Wagner that incoming freshman wear little caps called dinks the first two months of class. Naturally I was the only one in the class who adhered to this tradition, and I was ridiculed by the football player classmates — with one exception — a tough ex-marine who was a gritty lineman on the team. His name was Frank Spero. He had graduated from Lyndhurst, New Jersey High School where he excelled in football. Frank befriended me when the hazing got out of hand. After high school Frank enlisted in the Marines and served for three years. When his tour of duty with the Marines ended, he returned to Lyndhurst and was reunited with a former football teammate — Wally Pagan. Wally convinced Frank to apply to Wagner and he did, receiving a partial scholarship to play football. Frank was a guard on offense and a linebacker on defense. He was a key player in Wagner's undefeated 9-0 football team. Frank was awarded the Robb Trophy as MVP of the annual Homecoming game. Frank Spero, Lyndhurst (NJ) High School Eventually Frank, Matty and I became fraternity brothers of Alpha Sigma Phi Fraternity. We became very close friends throughout our college years at Wagner. Frank and I were on the Wagner baseball team and one story sticks out of our time together on the team. It was our first spring practice, and I was working out at first base and Frank was our third baseman. I had gotten a new first baseman's glove for Christmas and had oiled it and did all the things necessary to break it in. So, I am taking grounders and throws, scooping up the short hops and happy as a lark with my new glove. All that ended when a hot shot freshman named Curt Blefary approached me at first base and said, "You better get a fielder's glove Fiore because I'm playing first base." I said, "Curt, I thought you were a catcher." Blefary said I was, but the crouching up and down is wearing out my knees and I don't want to wind up injured with bad knees. Then he said, "Besides, do you see those 5 guys in the stands watching our practice? They are Major League Baseball scouts from the Yankees, Red Sox, Orioles, Giants and Dodgers. They are here to see me, not you." Curt Belfray (2nd row, 2nd from left) and Tony Fiore (2nd row, 4th from left) So Curt Blefary is in the on-deck circle waiting to take his cuts and Frank comes over to talk to me, and I tell him the story. "That Blefary has some nerve — I wonder if his bat can back up his mouth." Then Curt Blefary puts on a batting practice show I and Frank will never forget. He hits ball after ball 385, 400 and 425 feet over the right field fence into the Augustinian Academy schoolyard. Everyone is in awe — the guy is superhuman. Frank's only words to me is, "Tony, I heard Fred Muche's Sports Store has a sale on fielder's gloves." From left to right, Curt Belfray, Boog Powell, Brooks Robinson and Frank Robinson Curt Blefary wound up playing 10 years in the Major Leagues. He was American League Rookie of the Year with the Baltimore Orioles and won a World Series with the Orioles in 1966 playing alongside Frank Robinson, Boog Powell and Brooks Robinson. Considering there are only 1,000 Major League players and 5 million young boys who want to be Major Leaguers, it was quite an experience playing with Curt Blefary. Frank and Matty and I reminisce occasionally about "The Blef." The Years After Wagner My years after Wagner are well documented in my recent two-part series. Frank and Matty had careers that have been written about in bestselling books. Upon graduating Wagner College Frank became a Probation Officer in Bergen County, New Jersey. After a few years as a Probation Officer Frank Spero joined the FBI. After tours of duty in Miami and Atlanta, Frank was assigned to The Organized Crime Division and stationed in Manhattan. Matty had a different career path as he started out as an elementary school teacher at none other than Public School 44. After 9 years as a schoolteacher, Frank convinced Matty to apply for the FBI. Matty got into the FBI and wound up in the same Manhattan division as Frank within a few years. In New York City there were 5 organized crime divisions named after prominent gang leaders — the Gambino Family, Colombo Family, Bonanno Family, Genovese Family and Lucchese Family. The most notorious was the Gambino Family led originally by Carlo Gambino, and eventually by Paul Castellano and John Gotti. The history of the New York City Mafia, or Cosa Nostra (Our Thing) traces back to the early 1900's. It evolved from disorganized, localized Sicilian clans into a highly structured, syndicate-style criminal empire that profoundly influenced the city's labor, construction and political landscapes. In 1931 a violent power struggle erupted between older, traditional Sicilian bosses and a younger generation of Americanized mobsters. Following the end of this bloody war, the Mafia reorganized all of New York's Italian American gangs into Five Families. A commission was established by Charles "Lucky" Luciano. The Commission was a ruling body consisting of the five bosses that mediated disputes and coordinated territorial assignments. The Mafia was glorified by the bestselling 1970 novel called "The Godfather". It went on to become a monster hit movie and is regarded as one of the top 5 movies of all time. As a result, many young Italian American men aspired to become Mafia members. With the rise of the Mafia came huge profits through infiltration of labor unions and an enormous drug trafficking business. The years from 1970-1995 were known as "The Golden Age" of the New York City Mafia. Matty Tricorico (left) Sammy "The Bull" (center) and Frank Spero (right) heading to court to testify against John Gotti Even though Staten Island is the smallest of the 5 boroughs of New York City, it had a little over 100 Mafia members residing there. As a result, Frank and Matty were assigned to the Staten Island office in 1980. The big, powerful boss of the Gambino family back then was Paul Castellano, and he lived a flamboyant life. Whereas most of the Mafia leaders downplayed their ill-gotten riches by living in middle class neighborhoods, Castellano lived a sprawling mansion known as "The White House" atop Todt Hill in Staten Island. Todt Hill is the highest point on the East Coast and Castellano had a view of the Atlantic Ocean and New York skyline. One of the Mafia members who reported to him was John Gotti. Another member was Sammy "The Bull" Gravano. When Castellano's number 2-man Neil Dellacroce passed away, John Gotti thought he or his mentor Neil Dellacroce would be next in line. Instead, Castellano was set to appoint Tommy Bilotti as his number 2 man. Gotti then engineered a December 1985 hit that killed both Castellano and Bilotti on the street in front of Sparks Steak House. The hit on Castellano was engineered by Gotti and Gravano who were parked nearby when the killings took place. Although the killings were done in broad daylight, none of the many witnesses who saw the crime could remember anything. John Gotti became head of the Gambino Family and Sammy Gravano became his underboss. Gotti had gone to trial a number of times, but he was always acquitted. It came to be known that jurors and/or their families were threatened. Gotti became known as "The Teflon Don" because nothing would stick. He loved the fame and made sure the paparazzi was around when he took his walks around the Manhattan neighborhood where the Ravenite Social Club was situated. Frank Spero and Matty Tricorico were assigned to monitor the comings and goings of Mafia members as they hung out at the club. Frank and Matty were in a van keeping track of the goings on. When the van became suspicious to the Mafia members, they rented an apartment with a view of the Ravenite. They learned through an informant that an old lady lived above the Ravenite Club and that was where all the key Mafia discussions and decisions were being made. Gotti would give the lady a couple of hundred dollars to take a walk or go shopping and he and his cohorts would go upstairs to her apartment to discuss business. The FBI learned that the old lady was going out of town for a few days and in the middle of the night they were able to enter the apartment and bug it. Page one of the story about friendship The FBI through the bug recordings learned that it was Gotti who was behind Castellano's murder. Now came the tough part — getting a jury to convict him. This is where Frank and Matty played huge roles in his conviction. Sammy "The Bull" Gravano lived in Staten Island with his wife and two children. There were a number of times that Sammy had to be questioned or served with a subpoena or warrant. Frank and Matty respected the fact that Sammy had a family and close neighbors. They made sure that anytime they had an exchange with Sammy his kids and neighbors were not around. As a result, Sammy built a trust and liking for Frank and Matty. So in the early 1990's when John Gotti was arrested and put on trial for the umpteenth time, Sammy reached out to Frank and Matty and wanted to talk. He said he would be willing to give his testimony implicating Gotti in the killing of Paul Castellano, Tommy Bilotti and others in exchange for the Witness Protection Program. In essence Spero and Tricorico got a notorious, lifelong Mafioso to flip. This trial to jury was unidentified and sequestered. They found Gotti guilty and he was sentenced to life in prison. They nailed the most famous Mafia member since Al Capone. Frank Spero and Matty Tricorico were heralded for their part in finally putting John Gotti in prison. Bestselling books such as "Boss of Bosses", "Gameland", "Underboss", and "The Gotti Wars". With Gotti in prison, many other Mafia members broke their silence and eventually the NYC Mafia became a shell of what it once was. There is still organized crime in New York, but it is run by Russian and Albanian crime families. Frank and Matty retired a little over 25 years ago from the FBI. Lifelong Friendship Bonds I am still close friends of Frank and Matty and we keep in touch quite frequently. As I said at the beginning — I am lucky to have great lifelong friendship bonds.