Margaret’s Blog - Upfront and Personal

Follow Margaret with her up close and personal stories of her life, events and the adventures she has with her friends and family.

Margaret's Blog - Upfront and Personal

Follow Margaret with her up close and personal stories of her life, events and the adventures she has with her friends and family.

Monica Rothgery: Lessons from the Drive Thru

Monica Rothgery, former COO of KFC US, part of Yum Brands, shares inspiring lessons about excellence along with surprising insights into fast food kitchens. Monica’s recent book, “Lessons from the Drive-Thru: Real Life Wisdom for Frontline Leaders” goes beyond optimal team management practices and provides great advice for everyone who is pursuing excellence in their…
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Chef Michael McDermott and The Kids' Cooking Network

As a graduate of Culinary Institute of America, Chef Michael McDermott has cooked for celebrities such as Jackie Onassis, Julia Child, Elizabeth Taylor and Malcom Forbes. His passion is to educate and empower kids and their families about nutrition and food.  He is the Founder/Executive Producer of The Kids’ Cooking Network™ TKCN LIVE is a FUN…

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Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll with Andrew Friedman

Chefs are today’s rockstars.  In Chefs, Drugs and Rock & Roll, the prolific and award winning chef writer, Andrew Friedman, chronicles the compelling story of the first generation of American chefs set in the 1970’s and 1980’s before “fame and fortune” was on their horizons.  He interviewed more than 210 people over the span of…

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Discover LuxeHome at The Merchandise Mart

“The Merchandise Mart was built in the 1930s by Marshall Field, sold to the Kennedy family in 1945 and is now owned by Vornado Realty Trust. The Mart is the largest commercial building in the country and is the second biggest building by square footage in the country (Only The Pentagon has more square footage) LuxeHome has…

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Healthy Spice Heroes with Natasha MacAller

Let’s spice things up in 2019!  Natasha MacAller, author of Vanilla Table: The Essence of Exquisite Cooking from the World’s Best Chefs along with Healthy Spice Heroes shares the benefits of spices. She is a fellow member of Les Dames d’Escoffier and we had a fun Kitchen Chat at one of the conferences. Did you know…

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Kitchen Chat 2018 with Chef Jaime Laurita and Margaret McSweeney

  Thank you foodie friends for making 2018 a great year for Kitchen Chat!  And thank you, Chef Jaime Laurita for co-hosting Kitchen Chat with me in the award winning Viking and La Cornue Showroom  at the Merchandise Mart Luxe Home. You and the Middleby Residential team designed two stunning showrooms!  Make sure you also check out the…

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Tasting Italy with America's Test Kitchen and National Geographic

“Italian food isn’t the result of a single culinary style, it’s a mosaic of many cooking traditions that stem from each province’s geography and climate, agriculture history and culture.”  Jack Bishop, Chief Creative Officer at America’s Test Kitchen on PBS Come on a culinary journey with  America’s Test Kitchen along with National Geographic. Their three…

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Abe Conlon: Best Chef of the Great Lakes

  “Fat Rice is a symbol of abundance, generosity and hospitality.” Chef Abe Conlon Chef Abe Conlon’s intense passion for food began at an early age.  Growing up in Lowell, Massachusetts, Conlon developed an international palate influenced by his multicultural suburb with a vibrant Southeast Asian community along with his family’s Portuguese heritage.  During school…

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Cooking with Scraps: From Waste to Taste

Each year over 133 billion pounds of food goes wasted in the United States, with 40% of all food going into the garbage.   Lindsay-Jean Hard is on a passionate mission to share ways to reduce this waste and increase sustainability by writing a cookbook called Cooking with Scraps.  With a master’s degree in Urban…

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Mindy Segal: Hospitality and HotChocolate

“I’ve never lost the perspective of making people happy through my food.”  Mindy Segal Mindy Segal is a successful entrepreneur, restaurateur, and an award winning pastry chef with a huge heart for charity.  (In 2012, she won a James Beard Award for Outstanding Pastry Chef). As a student at University of Wisconsin, she skipped school…