Wakile Kathy - Indulge : delicious little desserts that keep life real sweet

{indulge}

Delicious Little Desserts That Keep Life Real Sweet

Kathy Wakile

with Miriam Harris

ST. MARTINS GRIFFIN NEW YORK

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{to the loves of my life}

Richard, Victoria, and Josephyou make each and every day so sweet.

Introduction

When reality TV came calling and I joined the cast of The Real Housewives of New Jersey I was already a housewife, for real. Stay-at-home mom, homemaker, wife, family COOwhatever the terminologyis a full-time, full-on occupation. Its my work, and I, like so many other women, take it very seriously. Its an important jobone I had no idea how deeply I could fall in love with when I first took it on. I have really and truly loved everything about it all these years, not least because, in being a wife and mother, I have found endless reasons to cook and bake and entertain pretty much nonstop. And I can honestly say I enjoy every minutefrom our first Christmas Eve as newlyweds through all of our children Victorias and Josephs birthday parties to barbecues and every occasion in between. Both my husband, Rich, and I come from big families and we have a giant circle of friends, so our home is a hub of social activity, from small-scale impromptu visits to holiday feasts to the occasional all-night blowout.

I am a natural-born sweet tooth and, from the time I could wield a wooden spoon, an avid baker. I bake. A lot. Always have, always will. So when the cameras rolled in to my familys everyday life a whole lot of baking ended up on The Real Housewives of New Jersey, often in the middle of a whole lot of other, well, lets just call it stuff going on.

From day one I have been surprised and delighted by how many viewers related to me and my family and got in touch with me to compliment my desserts and ask for recipes. The response was so amazing and so touching! Sharing is at the very heart of what cooking is all about for me. It fulfills my desire to share with and care for others, from my nearest and dearest to the wider world. It must be something about the way my mother, Maria Pierri, was when I was growing up. The kitchen was always the place where you could find the largest gathering and where everything seemed to come together. So feeding my family and friends goodies Ive made for them with love seems to be in my DNA. If you think about it, it really is one of the simplest ways to make another person happy, to let them know you are thinking of them.

Im number four of five children. You all may know my baby sister, Rosie Pierri, whos such a strong presence on Real Housewives of New Jersey. What you may not know is that I have three older brothers, too: Ralph, Joe, and Anthony (theyre a little camera shy). In addition to the seven of us in the immediate family, there was never any shortage of cousins by the dozens, aunts and uncles, paisani, neighborhood friends, school friends, girls my big brothers were dating, and so on. So, whenever my mother would bake, she did so for a small army. Naturally I inherited that instinct as well.

At the same time, making desserts is how I express my creativity, how I unleash my inner artist, and its fulfilling on an individual level as well.

So I was very happy to share, but that didnt turn out to be so easy to do. At first, I replied to each request individually, with a thank-you note and a recap of ingredients and prep instructions. The thing is, I cook pretty spontaneously and have never been big on writing things downmuch like my mother and mother-in-law. It seems to be the Mediterranean family way; recipes are like folktales, the basic template is passed down and the details vary depending upon the mood, age, etc., of the teller. So that was a challenge. Plus, much to my amazement, the trickle of requests soon became a flood, which was incredibly gratifying but impossible to keep up with.

My uncle Domenico, Mom, me, and my Aunt Rosa harvesting tomatoes on the family farm in Italy.

Rosie, me, and Mom after my First Holy Communion.

Thats me cutting my birthday cake with Mom and Rosie looking on. I loved to entertain, even back then.

Here we are today.

I think it was the Thanksgiving episode early on in my first season on the show that did it. I was at Melissa and Joes, having happily volunteered to cover the desserts since she was doing the turkey and everything else. I did up a spread of all the desserts I always make for the holiday at my own home: teeny pies (apple, pecan, and pumpkin, of course), little fig crostatas, dainty flutes of tiramisu (traditional, plus my Capri Mia and chocolate versions), some itty bitty brownie and blondie bites, and so on. And everybody flipped outin a good wayfrom Joe and Melissa and all the guests to the crew and the producers. And the viewers! Thats when it went from recipe requests to Hey, Kathy: Wheres the cookbook?

Well, here it is!

I am so happy to share this collection of recipes, straight from my kitchena combination of Mediterranean desserts handed down from my mother (Victoria and Joseph call her Nonni) and other Italian relatives, and from my mother-in-law (whom the kids call Teta) and others on Richs side of the family, which is Lebanese. Other recipes I have picked up from inspirations and experiences along the way (from frozen custard cones down the shore to candy bars at the sweetshop to limoncello in Capri) and more than a few I have made up on the flyfrom experiments with fruit on the grill to improv moments. (One example of an improv moment was when I tested a new tartlet pan idea for presenting Zia Reginas flan last Thanksgiving. I couldnt seem to persuade the custards to come out of the pretty little pans, so there they sat alongside the dessert table. When my nieces Alexis and Malake noticed them, they asked, Oh Aunt Kathy, can we have the crme brle? My answer was, Sure honey, enjoy! Everyone was thrilled and raved about how it was the best crme brle they ever had. Did I mention that it was a mistake? No? Oh, well, the secret is out now!)