I’m madder than a town crier with laryngitis over the fact that newspapers today have limited amount of space for my insightful thoughts, and now my editor is giving me word counts that are stomping all over my free speech.
Look, you all know the Screecher is as big a windbag as there is out there, and he doesn’t like to be shushed by anyone. So you can imagine how surprised I was when I opened up the paper and found my thousands of orchestrated words describing BWECC!’s annual awards dinner — which is bigger and better than the Oscars, by the way — had been pared down to less than 1,000.
Well, that’s not good enough for me, as there was so much more of the story left to be told. So, without further ado or fanfare, here’s what I was trying to tell you last week:
The food at the El Carib was fantastic. Here’s why (and this was just the appetizers!):
• The hand-carved meat station: Herb marinated flank steak; pan-roasted leg of lamb; roasted turkey; corned beef; Romanian pastrami; and spiral ham: All if these things were cooked and carved to perfection!
• Classic pasta stations: Fettuccini Alfredo; penne marinara; and gnocchi Bolognese: Of course, this was my favorite place to grab a snack!
• Oriental Wok: Boneless chicken breast and Chinese mixed vegetables simmered in a tasty teriyaki sauce: A feast from the east!
• Caponata Di Melanzane: Traditional Sicilian eggplant antipasto: You know you love it, and so do I!
• Roasted peppers: Oven roasted red bell peppers, skinned and sliced then tossed with slivers of garlic, chopped parsle, and extra virgin olive oil: A true classic!
• Classic cured salami assortment: Soppressata, Capocollo, Genoa Salami, Mortadella, Prosciutto di Parma, and Abruzzese sausage: They’ve all stood the test of time!
• Classic imported cheese assortment: Asiago, provolone, primosale with peppercorns, ricotta salada, and Parmigiano Reggiano: When the say “imported,” they don’t mean from Canada!
• Tortellini insalata: Cheese tortellini tossed with gaeta olives, sun dried tomatoes, chopped basil and dressed with herb vinaigrette: Just in case you didn’t get enough pasta!
• Imported olive assortment: Combination of Barese cerignola, oil cured, gaeta, Greek colossal and stuffed manzanilla olives: Olive all of it!
I think you get the point! And just think, after tasting all that food and drink, you still had a four-course dinner to consume in the gorgeous Tiara Room — with dancing!
Those who enjoyed the Gala most were the honorees and were extremely happy. One honoree told me, “I haven’t had this much fun since I got married!” Their spouses, parents, and children were extremely proud of the recognition of their loved one.
The Dinner Committee chaired, by my own shanamedola Sharon, and I are thankful for the tireless work of the Dinner and Journal committees: Mary Montemarano, Erica Kuskin, Randi and Eddie Garay Jr., Michael Rizzotto, Linda Dalton, Heather Fiorica and, Sid Schatzman.
We were tremendously aided by the Honoree’s Dinner Committees: Sharon Argano, Fern Rossi, Antonella Lombardi, Antonette Marchardo, Karen Hoffman, and Linda Eskenazi.
You really need an army of dedicated people to pull off a perfect affair and thankfully the El Caribe maintains an excellent one. Dee Jay Nicky had everyone dancing in between the courses, presentations and hoorahs that followed.
Of course I had my trustee steed Tornado to take me around the dance floor all evening, as a matter of fact; we entered to our 1945 theme song from the “Mark of Zorro,” followed by 12-year-old student Eddie Garay Jr, holding my giant Golden Z and red, white. and blue balloons. He was a tremendous help during the presentations.
BWECC! Vice President Michael Rizzutto presented me with an award from the executive board celebrating my 32 years as president. I should have Michael give a course on how to make quick presentations to future honorees.
Congratulations to the honorees in alphabetical order: Outstanding Student Activist Priscilla Consolo; Parent of the Year Maria Di Graziano; Woman of the Year Connie Hamilton; Man of the Year Victor Iacovano;; Humanitarian of the Year Eddie Mark; Couple of the Year Salema and Don Marbury; and Educator the Year Harla Joy Weiss.
There was a lot of joy in Mill Basin celebrating BWECC!’s 51’st Gala at the incomparable El Caribe.
Screech at you next week!
Carmine Santa Maria's opinions appear every Saturday on BrooklynDaily.com. He can be reached at DiegoVega@aol.com.
