In conversation with Tara Bernie, at St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, 12:10 am to 1:00 pm
About the author
Caroline Manzo is best known as the levelheaded voice of reason on Bravo TV’s hit series The Real Housewives of New Jersey and her family spin-off Manzo’d with Children. Caroline’s motherly aura and strong moral compass have made her a favorite among the Bravo TV audience. Born in Brooklyn, raised in Queens, and Jersey to her core, Caroline is the epitome of a strong Italian American matriarch: feisty, hilarious, full of love, and always ready with a stocked fridge. Married to her husband, Albert, for almost 40 years, she is the mother of three children—Albie, Lauren, and Christopher—and a loving grandmother to her granddaughter, Markie.
MFOB featured book: Food & Other Things I Love
“At some point in life, you find your first love, and your heart is forever changed. I found two first loves, and they happened to be at the same time. They were, in no particular order, food and family. When you’re Italian American, it’s almost impossible to separate the two.” For beloved Bravo TV personality Caroline Manzo, family time and mealtime have always been one and the same. Born and raised in Queens, one of eleven kids, Caroline would spend her summers at the family farm upstate, where the garden was bursting with produce and her parents, grandparents, aunts and uncles seemed to live in the kitchen. It was in that farmhouse where she had her earliest cooking lessons—that you can make magic in the kitchen just by using a little of this and a little of that. That time together as a family taught her the connection between food and love and she shares those traditions with her family now, in their New Jersey home base. Every Sunday, an army of hungry family and friends barges through the door, and Caroline lovingly feeds them all. Every baby in her family has had a broken-up meatball as their first introduction to solid food, with a crowd of aunts, uncles, and cousins cheering them on. On Christmas Eve, the house fills with family and friends (fifty on a slow year). Morning, noon, and night, all year round, family and friends drop by the Manzo house to eat, gossip, and unwind.
In her debut cookbook Food & Other Things I Love: More than 100 Italian American Recipes from My Home to Yours, Caroline offers up a warm hug of home cooking, sharing both comfort and connection with over 100 recipes, including: ready-in-a-snap breakfasts like Baking Dish Frittata and Crab Cake Benedict, lazy summertime lunches like her triedand-true Down the Shore Smothered Corn Cobs, warm and cozy meal staples like Roasted Red Peppers and Italian Wedding Soup, late-night munchies such as Homemade Truffle Popcorn and Adult Root Beer Floats and Italian American classics done Caroline’s way, like her famous Taylor Ham (not to be confused with pork roll) & Cheese Sandwich, Slow-Braised Braciole, Deep Dark Chocolate Pudding Cake, and, of course, Sunday Gravy. Along the way, Caroline shares entertaining behind-the-scenes stories and helpful tips and tricks to making your kitchen, and home, a place for getting the most from what’s on hand, embracing the messy side of life, and celebrating all things big and small. Approachable and tasty, Caroline’s recipes are meant to be shared with the ones you love. Full of wisdom, humor, and hard-earned lessons in the kitchen, the book encourages you to share this food with those you love and build your own memories, meals, and magic., above all, a much-needed reminder that forgiveness comes from empathy for others.
