Fabulously Fierce Friends, Carrie

Here are some answers to your questions:
1. Who are your role models - food related or otherwise?
Pete Seeger is my hero - integrity galore, he kept on singing no matter what and people sang with him, plus he served up some great strawberry shortcakes on the Hudson River in the documentary about him!
I want to go into Lidia Bastianich's kitchen and eat everything she cooks
also Rick Bayless
2. What is your drink of choice?
anything bubbly - champagne, prosecco, cava, hard cider, etc.
3. What is your favorite cookbook or other food related book?
cookbooks are the most dangerous kind of book ever, I want all of them - especially if they have great pictures! I always find myself going to the Better Homes and Gardens big cookbook for basic recipes and I am always surprised that have recipes for whatever I want to make from pickles (and canning them) to pulled pork
4. What was your most memorable meal and why?
has to be my aunt's Christmas Eve fish dinner - more than one is able to describe but shrimp, bacala (cod) - fried and as a salad, smelts, calamari sauce on pasta, fresh white clam sauce on pasta, scallops, shrimp parmigiana, plus incredible antipasto with cheeses, salamis, roasted red peppers, marinated mushrooms, eggplant, breads, wine, and then . . .desserts that do not end! You fast for a week before and do not eat for a week after.
I also was taken to Blue Hill at Stone Barns near Tarrytown, NY for my birthday and that was very memorable. You feel special just in that atmosphere of the restaurant where they care about the food and how it was grown and stay true to the season. The servers are good about talking about what you are eating and how it was prepared. Peas were in season when we went so there were many ways to eat a pea - very green and very good. There was also a great asparagus spear that was wrapped in proscuitto and sesame seeds then flash deep-fried that we all loved. It was great to tour the farm and see the vegetables growing and the animals grazing - all the people working there seemed very happy to be there.
5. What is your favorite kitchen gadget or tool?
my paring knife - I can do all things with it, it is all I need in the kitchen (as long as it is sharp!)
6. If you had to make dinner with ingredients at your home right now, what would you make?
Fried potato and egg sandwiches - fry sliced (I like them thin) potatoes till crispy then pour eggs whisked with grated Romano cheese over them - when the eggs are cooked pack it into crusty Italian bread
7. What kind of music do you like to listen to while you cook?
8. What is your philosophy on cooking and eating?
I want to cook it, I want to eat it, and I want it to be simple
9. Are there any foods you can not stand to eat?
not crazy about the blue cheeses
10. If you could use any super power in the kitchen, what would it be and why?
I snap my fingers and the dishes magically leave the dishwasher and go to the shelves by themselves - I hate emptying the dishwasher