October means several things to this cugine. Besides the start of the fall—my absolute favorite time of year—between the crisp weather and the crisp apples…there’s also a few other highlites on the calendar. One being that it’s Italian-American Heritage month, and the other that it’s baseball playoffs time!

As a proud paisan and an equally proud Yankee fan, I’m in my glory with all the Italian celebrations going on in my area, as well as the usual celebrations of my Bronx Bombers advancing in the postseason (hopefully all the way to the Fall Classic!)

Next week is Columbus Day, and I hope you all enjoy the parades and various other festivities. I have been extremely busy lately with several projects, but there are some extra special happenings going on this month that I will share with you all below. Speaking of crisp apples, you can now pick up a candy or caramel apple from the meatball cart. But those are not the only new autumn items!

Come try our “Game Day” Take-Home Meals…
This past Sunday at the Fort Lee Farmers Market, we introduced our new “Game Day” Take-Home Italian-American Meals. These are complete meals, fully cooked and packaged in convenient trays for a quick heat and eat treat. But they are far from TV dinners! Our Meal #1 is Tortellini & Meatballs and our Meal #2 is Eggplant Rollatine & Meatballs. They sold very well and we will continue to offer them—along with more varieties—every week. Perfect for the MLB playoffs and the NFL games! The long-term goal is to launch these in supermarkets. Check back for developments.

Radio Return…
I had a real fun time on The Carlucci Show last week with my wife. It was my second visit to the show which is recorded live at the Connecticut School of Broadcasting in Hasbrouck Heights. The host, Gregg Carlucci is a real good guy, he’s carving out his niche in the radio world and targeting for his own Sirius show. We had such a nice rapport, he invited me to become a regular monthly guest. Will keep you posted on my next return…in the meantime, you can listen to the show archives at: http://www.thecarluccishow.com/.

Upcoming TV Appearance…
A special Johnny Meatballs cooking segment and tell-all interview will air on a brand new series called “Who’s On Deck” with host Leah Guy. “Who’s On Deck” is a celebrity lifestyle show filmed in Hudson County. It airs in Jersey City/Bayonne/Union City NJ on Channel 51 and in Westfield NJ on Channel 36. The show also currently has markets in Chicago, Boston, Washington DC, Philadelphia/Delaware Co/Lehigh Valley PA.

Check your local listings as well as: www.whosondeck.tv. Stay tuned...the specific air date of the Johnny Meatballs episode will be announced very soon.


More TV time to come? Here’s the 411 on that…
I’ve eluded about a big Johnny Meatballs return to TV before, but haven’t really given specifics. I still can’t go into details because nothing is finalized just yet. But…I will say that I have had A LOT of ongoing dialogue with a production company for a “Johnny Meatballs & Family” type reality show. Secondly, I am also in the real late stages of setting up a Johnny Meatballs product infomercial to air on one of the popular mail order TV channels—which could happen as early as Thanksgiving. As I said, neither one of these deals are 100% yet, so I am not naming any networks. When I find out for sure, I will be posting everything. Both of these things are what I’ve been building towards and working on for the past two years.

Ultimate Chef Competition in 2 weeks…
I am honored and extremely excited to announce that I will be part of this year’s “Ultimate Chef Bergen County” at Chef Central with my wife Megin as my assistant. This is an “Iron Chef” style event which is now in its fifth year. My friend Chef Joe Cerniglia – may he rest – participated and won this, and he is a big inspiration for me…not just for meatballs but for old-school Italian cooking made with one’s personalized touches and from fresh local ingredients.

Team Meatballs will be in the first qualifying round against Chef Nina Marie Bojekian of OohLaLa Catering. We will both have one hour to create three dishes using ingredients from three different regions of Italy (my regions are Emilia-Romagna, Abruzzo and Sicily). We’ll also square off in a bonus meatball throwdown that will be judged by the audience! The show starts at 6pm on October 17th at the Chef Central on Route 17 North in Paramus.


Another book/song may be in the works…
“My Big Friggin’ Book” has been out for almost four months now, and since then I’ve written a lot of stories and recipes for another volume. I’m not sure if there will be a second friggin’ book anytime soon, but writing is still one of my main passions. My debut Cugine Corner blog first appeared on the I-Italy site on Jan. 7, 2010. This marks blog #83 since then. I never missed a Tuesday in over a year and a half.

Now, a lot of people have been asking me if I am planning a sequel to “The Meatball Song.” Well, to that I say, I have LOTS of songs saved on my desktop which I have written—songs about food and various other things. Someday, I’d love to have a whole album in the style of Lou Monte, but not before I tackle some other tasks at hand first.

We’re still “on a roll”…
Since May 1st, we’ve probably done somewhere around 50 appearances with the meatball cart. It was a fun five months and we met a lot of great people being out and about at events. The season is winding down, as the end of this month will conclude both the Hasbrouck Heights and Englewood farmers markets on Tuesdays and Fridays—respectively. But we’re still gonna be rollin’ out on Sundays in Fort Lee. That market goes all the way until Thanksgiving. We’re also going to continue to build up our catering division of the company and we always have our eye open for a possible permanent location for a Johnny Meatballs Café. The cart can still be booked for any venue—large or small in the tri-state area.

I hope you all enjoyed this taste of what’s to come in the near future. I honestly don’t know what the long-term future holds. All I can do is continue to work hard each day and pray for the best. God has a plan for all of us just like he had a plan for Columbus back in 1492. I’m always trying to map out my path and grab that brass ring. My ship has sailed in certain areas but there’s still a lot of waters ahead.