I'm Back and It All Starts Up Again

Yes, yes, I know...it has been a very long time since I last blogged. A lot has happened--family health issues, personal health issues, and a need to take a break from what was a very exhausting experience producing a book, website and business in a compressed time period.

But now it's September and I am starting afresh--AND on the occasion of the Brazil Festival 2007 in New York City. Every year this enormous street fair takes over 6th Avenue in Midtown and offers Brazilians and Brazilophiles alike the chance to eat churrasco (Brazilian barbecue) and salgadinhos (tapas-like snacks), check out Brazilian products, and listen to music and dance while Brazilian pop stars perform on a soundstage near 42nd St.

My role today is to jumpstart this new phase on the BBBP. My friends and I will be roaming the crowd handing out flyers, while checking out the vibe.

In the next few days, I'll post some videos and photos of some of the more interesting stuff that's happened during my blog-hiatus to keep all of you up-to-date. So stay tuned and please feel free to share your images and thoughts if you attended Brazilian Day 2007 in NYC.

More coming up soon...

Brazilian Barkini Fans

This is George, who was one of the many fans I seem to have won thanks to the hypoallergenic Brazilian Barkini Biscuits I made for my book signing this past Saturday. As you can see from the photograph, his mouth is crammed with a treat I had just flipped his way.

George's family, the Laphams, were one of the many neighbors and out-of-towners who stopped by Zoomies to check out my book. I had a great time talking to everyone and meeting them and their pets. The best part was winning over the skeptics--not so much for the book, but for the Brazilian Barkini dog cookies. There were more than a few Zoomies customers whom, upon being asked if their dogs would like a free hypoallergenic treat, insisted that their dogs were so finicky that no biscuit would entice their pet's fickle palate, but that I was free to go ahead and try. It was unanimous: Every dog that clamped their choppers on the BBBiscuits greedily snuffled them down and came back for more. I was mightily surprised to have had an unexpected hit on my hands. By the end of the afternoon, I had a few books left over, but absolutely no biscuits at all!

That said, I did manage to sell books, meet lots of great people in the neighborhood and see some dear friends who came to support and buy the book. I was very pleased to see one of the fencers I work out with, Jeremy, who came by with his lovely wife and their adorable black Lab Lada (named after the Eastern European car, and who consumed BBBiscuits like those cars did untreated diesel fuel!); as well as one of my fabulous Pilates clients Jim, who came sans pooch.

In all, I had a great time and I owe it all to Susan and Angelique, the owners of Zoomies, who really pulled out the stops to plug the book and support me. Check out the street-display they set up on the day of the signing:

I am just in the middle of trying to set up the next event for the BBBP--a "workout and cookout" in East Hampton at the home of my friend Cindy Glanzrock--an amazing woman and incomparable networker. The party is set for the end of the month, so more details are set to follow in the next few days.

And for those of you who enjoyed the Tube Dinner escapades, my friends set me to a new task which was accepted and thoroughly enjoyed--a multi-course meal in which everything was smoked. The dinner was this past Friday and I am very happy to say that it was another great night. I am just now readying the photos and should be posting the results up soon.

Dog Treats and Book Signings

My dog Yoshi has been drooling all day, thanks to the hypoallergenic treats I've baked in preparation for my book signing at Zoomies tomorrow. Zoomies, a gorgeous little pet boutique in my West Village neighborhood, has kindly been talking up me and my book to our fellow West Village residents and apparently we'll have a good crowd for the signing and treat give-away, which will be from 1pm-3pm Saturday afternoon.

Here's what Zoomies looks like:

And here's Zoomies' resident hound, Chou-Chou:

The signing isn't until tomorrow and Susan and Angelique, the fabulously fierce owners of Zoomies, have already sold a book! They are working it hard on my behalf. Love them! They have set up some nice displays:

Yoshi was inspecting the display earlier this afternoon:

The treats are composed of the core ingredients of the Brazilian-style nutrition program I've put together in my book. I'll be posting the recipe for the treats on the blog tomorrow and, if the local dog population unanimously approves of them, they'll be sold at Zoomies as Brazilian Barkini Body Dog Biscuits. No guarantees that the treats will improve canine figures for display in Rio-style "fio dental" ("dental floss") thong bikinis, but then again, while there may be some crazy dog owners, I don't know anyone that insane. Yet. Perhaps tomorrow...

Tonight, I am hosting yet another challenge dinner party. The theme: All courses featuring smoked foods. I smell like a hickory pit at the moment, but the courses are turning out well so far. More on that, and pix, through the next few days...

See you at Zoomies!

Another Event Tonight and a Tubular Dinner Party

Tonight will be the second launch party for my book and website, The Brazilian Bikini Body Program. It's being held beside the lovely indoor pool at the Hotel QT in Times Square, and my co-hosts are Anderson Trindade and Miller Cruz, the DJs and main organizers. The party got a mention in the New York Daily news today, so it's entirely possible that the place will be inundated! Which is no bad thing, as long as I can push the more obnoxious ones into the pool for a laugh. I'll be signing books there, so if you're in the New York area and planning to come, stop by the table and I'll autograph your copy. Mention this blog and I'll personalize your copy with some outlandish doodle!

So, very busy puttering around today while getting things ready for the 'do tonight, but I was reminded of my promise to blog about a rather hilarious meal I prepared with my good friends Gabe and Jason a few weeks back.

Gabe and Jason, like the majority of my friends, are tireless world-travelers who live for experiencing new cultures, foods and ideas. One night, while at their gorgeous apartment on the Upper West Side, I spied in their kitchen a little box piled high with foods-in-a-tube: mayonnaises, mustards, purees of tomato, ginger, horseradish and hungarian smoked peppers. I clapped my hands and called out to Gabe, enquiring about his collection, since I myself am a fanatic about foods-in-a-tube. In general, Americans don't get their condiments in this form, but in Europe, it is very common. And since I've lived half my life (and still live half of every year) in Europe, I swear by these handy and economical little containers for measuring out just the right amount of what you need for a sandwich, salad or recipe. They're neater and less fussy to use than plastic or glass jars. And the tubes are almost always recyclable. Best of all, they are usually designed well, with eye-catching typography and imagery so that the casual shopper will easily recognize what's inside. They are most prevalent in the countries of Northern and Central Europe, but just about every country has some claim on food-in-a-tube. I get very homesick for my house in Amsterdam when I see them.

So as I began squealing about the condiments, Gabe launched into his fervent acclaim for food-in-a-tube too. We agreed that not only do these tubes often feature hard-to-find pastes and sauces (Hungary, where Gabe's family comes from, seems to have the most interesting combinations like horseradish mustard, garlic mayonnaise with horseradish, sweet smoked pepper paste and spicy smoked peppers pastes, etc.), they serve as great souvenirs and gifts. Gabe was hoarding his collection of these little babies partly out of sentiment for the travel memories and partly for aesthetic/design reasons; they DO look fabulous. But they looked surprisingly pristine, and I asked if he actually cooked with them. When he mentioned that he always kept one tube for use, and one for decor, I laughed and off-handedly suggested constructing a dinner party that consisted of dishes prepared with every single tube in his collection.

He roared his approval. Within a few minutes, I had the basic menu. We planned the party for a few weeks after its conception, and here's what we ate:

Starters: Deviled Quail Eggs (Tubes featured: Half made with Kalles Cod Roe Caviar Paste; the other half made with Hungarian horseradish mustard)

First Course: Chourico and Pepper Stew with Asiago Cheese Toast Points (Tubes featured: The sausage and pepper stew was prepared with Hungarian sweet smoked pepper paste and Hungarian garlic paste; the Asiago cheese toasts were prepared with a tube of garlic aioli.

Second Course: Spinach and Feta Torta (Tubes featured: Garlic paste and mustard)

Third Course: Roast Chicken with Roquefort Mashed Potatoes (Tubes featured: The chicken was marinaded and coated in spicy smoked pepper paste; the Roquefort mashed potatoes featured the garlic paste)

Fourth Course: Brussels Sprout Etoufee (Tubes featured: The stew featured garlic and horseradish pastes. This course was kindly prepared by our friend Chris, a vegetarian among us omnivores)

Dessert: Ginger Cake (Tubes featured: This unbelievably moist, rich cake was prepared by Gabe's friend Schelley who used ginger puree in a tube).

The dinner was excellent fun. Check out the photos:













We've only just started to consider our next dinner party concept. If you've got ideas, send them in!

Tomorrow (if I'm still conscious), party pix...

Finally, I'm Back and Going To The Dogs

Yes, it's been a while. Lots of things have cropped up, including some serious family health crises. So, I've not been dutifully blogging. But now that I'm coming up for a bit of air, it's time to finally post some photos. The photos are from the first of the launch parties for my book, which was held two weeks ago.

Later this week, on Thursday, I'm holding another party/book signing. This time, it's going to be held at the Hotel QT, and Andre Balazs "hipster" hotel in Times Square. The draw? The hotel has an indoor pool with a swim-up bar. So the party will be a proper Brazilian bikini party! The party masterminds are Anderson Trindade and Miller Cruz (who DJ'ed at the first party and who stars in the photo above), who host a regular monthly Brazilian music night at the Hotel QT. So the next batch of photos should yield a few slightly racier images...

And the book tour? Well, "tour" is probably not the right word for my travels. I went to four cities to do TV press to support the book: Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas and Houston. If you'd like to see the fruits of those labors, some of the videos are available for viewing. Here are the links (with instructions on finding the videos):

http://wgntv.trb.com/news/local/lunchbreak/ (Under the video panel, there is a scroll bar. Scroll down until you see the listing The Brazilian Body Diet)

http://www.greatdayhouston.com/ (go to the video panel in the middle of the page and click on the video of Brazilian Beach Body--next to a videocamera icon)

http://www.myfoxdfw.com/myfox/pages/InsideFox/Detail?contentId=3222009&version=1&locale=EN-US&layoutCode=VSTY&pageId=5.1.1

And for you dog-lovers out there in New York City, Susan and Angelique, the kind and glamorous owners of super-chic West Village dog boutique Zoomies (http://www.zoomiesnyc.com), will also host a book signing for me on Saturday, 9th of June, 2007. Now I know some may scoff and say, "But your book has nothing to do with dogs!" True. But I'm taking this opportunity to develop some dog-friendly healthy nutrition solutions, following the guidelines I've set forth in The Brazilian Bikini Body Program (http://www.thebrazilianbikinibodyprogram.com).

In fact, I'm in the middle of cooking up hypo-allergenic, low-fat dog treats that will be billed as "Brazilian Barkini Body" treats! I'll be serving them at the signing to all pooches in attendance, and they'll be stocked at Zoomies! Currently I'm kitchen-testing those treats while blogging, and Yoshi, my canine companion whose regal mug graced an earlier post, is gobbling down the test samples. The first batches were thoroughly rejected (too much oat flour, not enough chicken), but I think I'm close now. The last two biscuit pieces were greedily accepted and noisily savored.

As we get closer to the date, I'll post the treat recipe and more info on dogs and food. Now more than ever, thanks to the recent toxicity scares over human AND animal food, I think we're finally paying attention to that with which we're stuffing ourselves and our pets. Yoshi's had serious allergies and infections in the past, which has necessitated a complete turnaround in what I can feed him. I had to educate myself very quickly on dog nutrition in order to turn his condition around (and find a good vet, which I did. In fact, if it weren't for Dr. Heather Peikes, a sensational vet dermatologist in Manhattan, Yoshi's complications could have deteriorated to a point I don't even want to consider). So I hope to offer some what I've learned in the form of tasty, healthy dog biscuits.

The kitchen timer has gone off, so I must go and offer the next batch samples to the beast for his delectation.

More soon...

On The Road

So here I am, in Dallas, Texas, on the third day of my mini-book tour. So far, the reception to the book has been very good--well, at least from the news presenters and producers who I've worked with--and I've had some nice feedback. I'm off later this afternoon to Houston, Texas and then back to NYC.

I'm compiling a small video of the book tour experience to share with readers of my website and blog. I started off in Atlanta, then went to Chicago before going to Texas. Chicago was a real treat for me, not least because I love that city, but mostly because some of my dearest and oldest friends live there. In fact, my lovely pal Liz helped to set up a surprise on my old college roommate Kate by telling her that she was bringing a special guest to their weekly book club night, being careful not to mention that the guest was me. All the other book club members were in on the surprise. As we walked up the street to the house of the book club's host, Kate stood in the doorway and, after a moment's befuddled scrutiny of my face (it's been a LONG time since we last saw each other and my hair was MUCH shorter), she practically fell down on the floor from the shock! It was brilliant and hilarious. And captured on digital video!

I did the Your Health noon segment at WGN-TV in Chicago the next day, and then jetted off to Texas. On Monday in Atlanta, I had a great chat with Suchita Vadlamani at Good Day Atlanta on WAGA-TV, a Fox affiliate; she really seemed to like the food and we bonded over global cuisine concepts--that was fun. That segment will be aired on May 21st, so if you live in the Georgia area, be on the lookout for it! This morning I mixed it up with hosts of Good Day Dallas, Tim and Megan, and was delighted by the kind reception I got there from all the people at the station.

Tomorrow I'll be appearing on Great Day Houston, doing both a cooking AND exercise segment. I just hope that my clothing choices will be appropriate for both--you can never tell what will happen with live TV segments!

Once I'm back in NYC, I'll finally get to post to this blog some party pictures I've been promising for too long now, and I'll find a way to post some of the video stills of my book tour on the blog. I'll probably be putting up the whole video on my website, so if you still haven't subscribed to the www.brazilianbikinibodyprogram.com and have always wondered what the life of a published author looks and feels like, you can check it out there!

Gotta go...plane to catch. More on Friday...

The New York Daily News

Today was a busy day as usual, with me running around the city dealing with business issues and clients. But I had a pleasant surprise this morning after a Pilates workout with my trainer. This story about my book and studio ran today in the New York Daily News:

http://www.nydailynews.com/lifestyle/2007/05/10/2007-05-10_beauty_a_la_brazil-3.html

In the afternoon, I had even more fun visiting my friend and fellow fencer/sparring partner Bill Bregoli, an on-air host at Westwood One Radio. He was very kind to not only have me on as a guest on his show, but also to take me on a tour through the tortuous bowels of CBS headquarters.

If you'd like to see us fence, go here: http://www.ny1.com/ny1/content/index.jsp?&aid=62952&search_result=1&stid=19 Click on the little video camera icon to the side of the picture of me and Bill and underneath the story headline, Fencing Gathers Followers For Fitness, to watch the video. That's me and Bill suited up and in action, as well as with masks off. This story was run by NY1 last year during one of our regularly weekly classes with our fencing coach Misha Shimshovich.


Next week I go on my book tour, so I'll be sure to bring back a few amusing stories as well as some decent (I hope) pictures.

Post-Party

Well, I survived the launch of both website and book, and now one week later, I've survived the launch party. I was already pretty excited about the party location: my dear friend Anna Kustera, whose eponymous gallery has been the talk of the town for her current show called Rebel Rebel, featuring the works of the Swiss photographer Karlheinz Weinberger (see photo above, then check the gallery out and see a slideshow in New York Magazine here: http://www.nymag.com/arts/art/features/31251/index5.html), was kind enough to offer me the use of the space gratis for the do.

So the surroundings and decor were brilliant fun, and Miller Cruz, a New York-based Brazilian DJ who runs several popular club nights, was manning the turntables. About 100 people came for cocktails and Brazilian canapes and I'm pretty sure a good time was had by all. It was hard for me to gauge, as given my worry-wart nature, I was running around checking to make sure there was enough food, booze and books. But I've been reassured by those present that indeed, it was a rollicking affair.

I am in debt to the good people at 192 Books--a very stylish bookstore co-owned by gallery dealer Paula Cooper in the heart of Chelsea--who were kind enough to hold down the book sales and signing fort at the party. They must have been gobsmacked to watch me take FOREVER signing those books.

Seriously.

I.Am.The.Slowest.Book.Signer.In.Christendom. Give or take, approximately 10-15 minutes per book, in between party chatter, bussing newcomers, swigging from either a bottomless cup of 2-Buck Chuck or a champagne glass of guarana soda, and snacking on canapes. Frightful!

I expect to post some photos of the party soon, so you can see the mayhem for yourself.

And since I'm a glutton for punishment, I am having another party on the 31st of May for the book, together with DJ Miller Cruz and his club partner DJ Anderson Trindade, who run a really fun monthly Brazilian-music club night called Agua (which means water in Portuguese). The party is held in the snazzy pool and sauna areas of the hipster Hotel QT in the heart of Times Square. So it will really be a proper Brazilian Bikini Body party!

While recovering today though, I was surprised to read this week's The Minimalist column by Mark Bittman (j'adore!) that ran in today's New York Times' Dining & Wine section. It offers a piece-by-piece assessment of what a savvy-but-frugal cook needs to outfit a kitchen--almost in exactly the same fashion as I outline in my book and site (albeit mine is more of a multimedia experience than his article). I am gratified to see that we are almost entirely in agreement. Almost. You'll just have to check my Kitchen Tools You Need section in the Nutrition Plan area of the website to see for yourself where we differ, both stylistically and in form.

There might be a story about my book in the New York Daily News tomorrow. More on that later...

Post-Launch

Well, my book was released into stores earlier this week and I have barely survived the experience. The website was launched a week earlier, on Earth Day, and today is the first chance I've gotten to take a breath. Contrary to a lot of typical author experiences, especially in the case of prescriptive non-fiction, I used no ghost writers or assistants. I wrote and kitchen-tested everything, both in the book and on the website. On the website, all the content, layout, edit, audio, video and more was produced by me (except for the coding and CMS--I can't do everything! But they can: http://www.antagar.com). So, blogging regularly was hampered by the need to focus on priority deadlines. But now I expect I'll be posting here a bit more regularly.

This past week was pretty crazy: Down to Philadelphia in the dead of night to do a live TV spot on CN8's Your Morning to promote the book; organizing the launch party scheduled for Monday; dealing with last-minute site glitches; and attending to my regular client base. One of the highlights of my week was being taped for several on-location segments for a Japanese television program called Cool Japan, which will be broadcast on June 16 on NHK TV (if you get Japan-US TV on cable in the US, you can catch it there). I've done a lot of work in Japan and love the culture--the program focused on this. It also stars my dog, Yoshi-kun (above), who is a Japanese shiba ken, so I'm glad I can finally indulge my fantasy of becoming a crazed stage-mother by pimping my pet! He's going to be a STAR!

On a more serious note, I'll detail some of my adventures as I go through the publicity sausage-making machine, and I'll be able to finally fill you in on the making of the book and site--two endeavours to which I believe a lot of people aspire, but never grasp what's really involved. It was certainly an eye-opening experience for me.

And on a more entertaining note, I'm going to post pix from past and upcoming parties. So stay tuned and please let me know what you think. More soon...

I write this update from sunny and gorgeously warm Amsterdam. Later today, I'll be meeting up with my friend and ex-flatmate, Philipp Kauffmann, who has just started up an eco-conscious company dealing in fine chocolate and coffee from Brazil and other locations. It's called Original Beans. Philipp used to work for the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and spent a lot of time in Africa and South America helping to build business systems designed to support and sustain local trade. Last year, he struck out on his own and just closed on his first round of financing for his new company, which is also based here in Amsterdam. Perhaps we might do something together...more later!

Happy Earth Day and welcome to my blog. Perhaps you've arrived here from my new website, http://www.thebrazilianbikinibodyprogram.com. If you haven't, I urge you to check it out. The website and the related book, due out on St. Martins Press on 1 May, 2007, are the first releases around this brand I've developed. My goal is to try to get people thinking about how make a difference in conservation and how to make a positive impact on the world by taking personal responsibility for one's health and fitness. In order to do that, I've attempted to create a fun program that can motivate and inspire. Toning up and getting healthy doesn't have to be drudgery. But there's a lot more to the brand concept of The Brazilian Bikini Body Program, and I intend to use this blog as a bit of a dialogue on many related issues. Upcoming posts will involve discussions on media, fitness, technology and culture, all matters that are directly related to my brand. I hope you come back and look out for all the lively chat I hope this will inspire. And check out the current press: this week, my book is featured in Life&Style Magazine, and next week will be featured in an article in www.forbes.com (my old employer).
More tomorrow...