Food Network: Dear Bobby Flay
My sister and I will be submitting from Dallas – well…really Fort Worth, but it’s all just one big place anyway – Dallas, of course, being a small suburb of Fort Worth…(wink, wink)
We decided to send our submission as a post in my food and recipe blog, which I started in 2009, thereby encouraging you and yours to actually look at the blog and see what’s cookin’.
And not only that….we’re:
Italian
Very loud
Pretty cute (for our ages)
Pretty funny together
..and we talk simultaneously, as all good Italians do, and never miss a word the other says. Some people seem to get frustrated by this and seem to think it’s rude, but that’s because they’re not Italian.
We also tend to say the exact same thing at the exact same time. We do it often enough that it almost seems weird.
Hope this post and this blog show the passion for recipes, cocktails, parties, travel, restaurants, ingredients, chefs and all things food that runs deep within our veins. We’re a super team!
Mangia~
Our Story
My sister, Sandy (Mowins) Moser and I live in separate cities – she in Apopka, Florida, a suburb of Orlando, and me, Nancy (Mowins) Farrar (above right), in Fort Worth, Texas. But we talk at least 3 times a week and are the closest sisters you may ever meet.
When we get selected for this : ) she’ll come to Fort Worth and we’ll cook together from here. Been cooking (and fighting and laughing) together all our lives. Born just 15 months apart (I’m the baby : ), our Mom dressed us as twins until we were way too old to be dressed that way.
And that’s where our story starts. At home with our Mom…and grandma, and aunts and uncles and cousins….
So we grew up as little Italian girls in Syracuse, NY surrounded by food, cooking, family, laughter, loud talking and more food for the duration of our lives. We celebrated every family members’ birthdays together, with a clan of 30 or more at every party.
Our Mom was the ultimate perfectionist and taught us all we know about food, cooking and throwing a great party. And my Dad infused the laughter and the fun…and the cocktails.
And so our love for food and cooking was born. When our Mom went back to work during our teens, she’d leave us notes on the counter of what to make and how to make it for dinner. From Burgers and Fries, to Meatloaf, Swiss Steak, Macaroni and Cheese, and Potatoes in the pressure cooker, we’d simply do exactly what we’d watched her do for years and we’d call her at work if we had a question.
Here are some photos so you can get a sense of who we really are and who we pretend to be.
Photos of Sandy & Nancy– Two of America’s Best Home Cooks
Now that you feel like you know us a bit, let us more formally introduce ourselves.
I’m Nancy (Mowins) Farrar (above left with the very big hair)
Age 54.
Love cooking, yoga, cooking, pilates, cooking, dining out, travel and cooking. Oh…and I also love my husband Ed and 2 sons, Kevin and Michael, ages 25 and 21.
Bachelors Degree in Nursing from Syracuse University.
In healthcare marketing for 16 years, when, as a single mother of two, I decided to start my own business.
Started Farrar Public Relations in 1999. Have had 13 successful, fun-filled years.
My favorite clients have always been my restaurant clients and I’ve had a few great ones.
She’s Sandy (Mowins) Moser (above right near the authentic plastic urn)
Age 55.
She’s a court stenographer, ballroom dancer, cook, baker, backyard gardener and internet dater.
Left home (to get away) right out of high school and moved to New Britain, CT to attend Court Reporting School.
She too has her own very successful business and home office in Florida, where she lives with her cute little dog Chow Bella.
She’s had her own company for 35 years now. Wow. She’s getting old.
Cooking and Parties – Nancy
Annual Pool Volleyball Championships and BBQ
Have hosted this party at our home for 30+ guests for the past 9 years. I create the menus and make all the food and the specialty cocktail every year. My husband Ed makes the music play lists, which may get more compliments than the food. As one guest actually said, “this party is legendary.”
This year’s menu:
PS – Made a special trip to the local Mexican Grocery Store – Fiesta – to get just the right, authentic Mexican ingredients.
Sandy flew in this year to attend and help me cook. We spent the day yapping and cooking and telling each other what to do.
A couple of my other volleyball party theme menus have included a Gourmet Hot Dog Menu with all the fixin’s, and my famous Hatch Chili Meatloaf Sliders on King’s Hawaiian Rolls.
Legal Department Christmas Party
I’ve hosted this party at home for the past eight years for the legal department from my husband’s office. 19 people attend each year. New menu every single year.
Last year was Make-Your-Own-Pizza with nine different toppings, and bechamel and marinara sauces.The year before was Asian-themed, where everyone cooked their own chicken, shrimp and beef in peanut oil in the fondue pot, served with dipping sauces, sushi rice, egg rolls, wasabi peas and those Asian crunchy things.
Semi-Annual Christmas Open House
Started this a few years ago where we invite all our friends to get all dressed up and come over for either a Christmas Party or New Year’s Eve Party. Here’s a shots of the buffet table last year.
Client Dinner
I put this off for almost 3 years. I never have clients over to my house, but he kept making fun of me saying The Chef Impersonator was really not a cook at all. So I got up my nerve and created this menu for him – the President of a major oil and gas company. He made fun of me because I served ketchup in little individual ramekins for the potatoes. I love ketchup on those potatoes. He’ll never be invited again.
Menu: Steak au poivre, Rosemary Potatoes, Caesar Salad with Spicy Croutons, Hot Potato Rolls, Affogato and Cappucino
And as requested: Here’s some random food shots – from Nancy
And now for some food shots from Sandy.
She’s a fantastic cook, and is also a baker. She’s simply amazing, and has great parties and holidays at her house, too!
Sandy’s Best Parties
Pool Volleyball
Yes, she too has a volleyball party at her pool. Hers is called Thanksgiving in August, and she made the whole Thanksgiving feast with all the fixins.
Monthly Theme Parties
Sandy and her friends love to play dress-up. At this party they’ve done Hawaiian themes, Italian themes, Cross-dresser themes where the women dress as men and the men dress as women, Pimps and Ho’s and lots more. They’re a little racier than us.
Cooking with Friends
Sandy loves to host wonderful small dinner parties where cooking tasks are assigned to her guests. For those who aren’t too handy in the kitchen, their assignment is setting the table and keeping wine glasses full. Her specialty: Veal Francaise with Fettucine Alfredo. One guest chopped, one pounded veal, one grated cheese, one squeezed lemons and the host made the sauce.
So here’s why we should be chosen:
San and Nan (that’s us) should be chosen because we grew up cooking and sharing the love of cooking and entertaining taught to us by our Italian Mom and Grandmother who knew that cooking was a way of showing love.
We have our Mom and Grandmother’s stained recipe cards in their own handwriting, which are simply priceless. When we cook together, we laugh and carry on and make a few mistakes every now and then and have to start over…like the time Sandy found that her little dog, Chow Bella, had eaten two holes in a birthday cake set on the table to cool.
We know that life is short so we work hard so we can play hard and party as often as possible.
We’d love to be on your show, Mr. Flay. We need to be on your show, Mr. Flay. We’re not proud. Please pick us!
Nancy Mowins Farrar
nancyfarrar@att.net
817-937-1557
Sandy Mowins Moser
realtime_rprs@yahoo.com
407-342-8810