On July 22, 2010, I attended the book signing for Real Housewives of New Jersey, Teresa Guidice. She happens to be one of my favorite housewives on the show and when I heard she was signing books near my office I had to try and go. Although that show is filled with drama, it does have its family moments.
The family moments I love the most are the ones with Teresa. In the Season 2 premiere, we saw Teresa cutting tomatoes and making sauce while teaching her kids in hopes to continue that tradition. As an Italian-American, my mother did the same with me. I would help my mom, dad and grandparents each year. Every Labor Day weekend we would go to my grandma’s house and cut tomatoes. We would puree them through a machine my dad and uncle created and then my mom and grandma would cook the tomatoes and jar them. I remember dreading it every year, but as I look back it was a nice memory of us doing something together as a family. I hope to one day do the same thing with my family.
I left work at 6pm hoping to get a good spot in line. I got to the Marmi Shoes, on 53rd and Madison, and to my surprise there was NO line! It didn’t start until 7pm, so to pass the time I went shopping in some nearby stores. While leaving one of the stores, I saw that people were starting to line up and I made sure I got a spot! I was about the 20th person in line so it wasn’t too bad. It was definitely too hot to stand outside, but all of Teresa’s fans starting coming out and waiting!!
As 7pm rolled around the doors did not open and people were starting to get antsy. If you watch the show you know Teresa is never on time, not even when she was giving birth to her 4th child!!! At 7:15pm, a worker came out and said she was stuck in traffic and would be here in 25 minutes. Some people decided they weren’t waiting, but I stuck it out. I mean what else did I have to do?! Around 7:30pm someone came out of the store and said she would be here in 10 minutes!! Sure enough around 7:50pm a white Mercedes pulls up in front of the store and guess who was driving and waving at us…Teresa!! A lot of people were shocked that she drives herself, but I mean come on people, this isn’t an A-list celeb, this is a reality show mom! I liked it.
As soon as she walked in the store, they set her up and started letting people in. I entered the store and purchased her book, then continued to wait in the line for her to sign it. While I waited, I browsed the shoes and purses around me and watched as other fans took their picture with Teresa and talked to her. She was very nice and for keeping the line moving so quickly she really did spend time talking to each person, which was nice. Finally I was up, I introduced myself to her and I told her right off the bat that I love that she makes food from scratch and that my family also makes “gravy” or “sauce” the same way she did on the show. She asked if I was Italian and if we made anything else homemade. I told her that my parents do make homemade pastas and other dishes and that I need to start practicing my cooking skills since I will soon be a Jersey housewife myself!! To which she replied, “It’s all in the book and it’s very simple!!” We shall see…I’m a great baker, but not so sure about my cooking skills. She also complimented my phone case which was blinged out!! An hour and a half was totally worth it to spend 5 minutes talking to my favorite housewife. Love, love, love her!!
To pick up a copy of her book, Skinny Italian, you can go to any book store, order it online at Amazon.com or check out her website http://www.teresagiudice.com/ to see if she is coming to your town!! Also, check out the Real Housewives of New Jersey, every Monday night at 10/9c on Bravo.
Kristin Cuccio currently resides in Clifton, NJ with her fiancé and works in New York City. In her spare time, she likes to bake and blog about it. You can keep up with her latest baking adventures at http://kriskupcakes.blogspot.com/
