Latest news with #Cecchi
Yahoo
26-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Agawam Historical Museum, with stories of town residents on display, reopens Monday
AGAWAM — Historical treasures hidden since 2020 will be shown again Monday as the Agawam Historical and Fire House Museum reopens. For some of these treasures, it's taken decades to come to light. 'We found a lot of interesting things we did not know we had,' said curator Anne Liptak, about a four-year process to reimagine the displays and archives. 'We found things that were donated in 1960. They were stuck in a corner, they were under something, they were just hidden from view.' For the first time since the start of the pandemic, the museum will be open 12:30-3 p.m. on Monday. The afternoon will begin with remarks from museum officials and Mayor Christopher Johnson. Liptak said she hopes people who attend the Memorial Day parade and ceremony that morning will stick around to tour the historical museum, at 36 Elm St., about a five-minute walk from the Veterans Green. There is no admission charge. What visitors will find in this museum — and similar museums, historical homes and display galleries in small towns throughout New England — is the history of familiar local places and the folks who live there. 'History isn't just about George Washington or the Civil War,' said David Cecchi, president of the Agawam Historical Association. 'It's also the history of the town. It's everyone that lives in this town. That is a concept that I think some people have a hard time grasping. That they're part of the history of the town.' One display at the museum highlights the life of Harlan Atwood, who graduated from Agawam High School in 1935. The display shows the class song he wrote and the 'amazing art deco trophy' he won as Feeding Hills golf champion at age 16. Then there's Leonard 'Buddy' Johnson, a star high school athlete in the 1940s. The museum has his letterman sweater, his football cleats and helmet, and the medals he won at track meets. Cecchi drew a connection between displays like these and the Agawam Historical Association's preservation work at the Thomas Smith House. The small, wooden house in Feeding Hills was never the home of anyone famous or wealthy, but it's the only structure in town dating to the 1750s, and it tells the story of how ordinary people lived during that time. 'People like to be connected to the place where they live,' Cecchi said. 'I know, just for myself, the research I've done … it helps me process the present. It really, I think, leads to a better understanding of how things got to where they are.' The collection includes the original architect's model for 'Shea Field Elementary School' in 1958. That school opened as Robinson Park Elementary School and was recently renamed for former Mayor William P. Sapelli. Agawam's historical museum is itself a historical artifact: A converted fire station built in 1918 and decommissioned in 1994. The first floor is a display of antique firefighting tools, including a 1930 fire truck. That room, dedicated to former Fire Chief Russell 'Rusty' Jenks, remained open for public visits while the upstairs was being renovated. To reopen the museum, the Agawam Historical Association's archives committee examined every donation it had received since 1960. It founds some items had little local significance so it sold them off. Some items were rescued from storage closets and will be shown publicly for the first time. 'It's just incredible — original photographs as well as documentation and other paperwork,' said Liptak. 'People's diaries, people's journals, people's notes. We have maps that have been donated, maps that have been in storage for years and years and years, and now they're going to be on display.' The committee of four people — Cecchi, Liptak, Katy Krause and Sue Scantlen — met every Monday, and it took four years to sort through the collection. The new display area is smaller than it was in the past, as the Historical Association carved out some space for an archive and workroom. But in designing the museum, 'we really have utilized every square inch,' Cecchi said. 'I think where, in the past, you could make one visit to the museum, I think now you're going to have to come back a couple times or more,' Cecchi said. 'There's that much to see and read.' Both Cecchi and Liptak mentioned a new display case detailing the aviation history of Agawam. The land that is now the Agawam Industrial Park, off Silver Street, was known as Bowles Airport in the early days of flying. The town also had seaplane bases on the Connecticut River. Some of the country's first stunt and racing pilots, and pioneers like Charles Lindbergh, flew into Agawam. Some better-known aspects of Agawam history are also covered, such as the history of tobacco farming and the history of Riverside Park, now known as Six Flags New England. Liptak noted that the museum highlights a few of the 19th century industries that agriculture supported. 'Agawam and Feeding Hills have such a rich, long history that people aren't aware of,' Liptak said. 'They see the farms … but they don't realize that there was much more than farming going on here. There was gin production, a woolen mill, and airports. This is going to, I believe, enlighten a lot of people when they walk in. There'll be a 'wow factor,' we're hoping for.' As part of the reopening ceremony, the upstairs history room will be dedicated to the late Marilyn P. Curry, who moved to Agawam in 1964 and served as a leader in the Historical Association until the 2000s, serving as its president multiple times over several decades. Cecchi said he got to know Curry as a young man, when he joined the committee she had started to commission the Anne Sullivan memorial sculpture in Feeding Hills Center. She was also the founding chair of the Agawam Historical Commission, a trustee of the Captain Charles Leonard House, and the chair of the committee that commissioned Edith LaFrancis' book about Agawam history. Curry died in 2021. The Agawam Historical Association is an independent, nonprofit organization. It is funded by gifts, grants, member dues, Agawam's Community Preservation Act fund, and revenues from the sale of historical books, such as the three Arcadia Publishing books written by Cecchi: 'Agawam and Feeding Hills,' published in 2000; 'Agawam and Feeding Hills Revisited' in 2005; and 'Around Agawam and Feeding Hills,' which came out this year. Before the pandemic, the Agawam Historical and Fire House Museum would usually open on Memorial Day and one afternoon per month through the summer and fall. Cecchi said the schedule for 2025 hasn't been finalized, but will likely focus on Thomas Smith House events in the summer and historical museum hours in the winter. Dates will be announced on the Historical Association's website and Facebook and Instagram feeds. In Springfield, a vigil to remember George Floyd and to urge protection of eroding reforms Gov. Healey at Mount Holyoke: 'This is a moment that clarifies our values' Exhibit explores Springfield's witch panic that occurred years before Salem Speed bumps petition gains support after child killed by car in Springfield Read the original article on MassLive.
New York Times
16-04-2025
- General
- New York Times
A Chicken à la King That's Actually Fit for a King
After leaving the Navy in 1946, a 25-year-old Craig Claiborne moved into a small Chicago apartment to begin his civilian life working in advertising and public relations. During that time, as Claiborne writes in his memoir, 'A Feast Made for Laughter,' he cooked meals for himself from an edition of 'The Joy of Cooking' his sister gave him for Christmas, along with a chafing dish he lugged home through the snow. Recipe: Chicken à la King Whenever I think of chafing dishes and 'The Joy of Cooking,' I think of a metal tray kept warm by a small flame, filled with what I call hotel or buffet chicken, colloquially known as creamed chicken — and officially chicken à la king. Like Salisbury steak and green-bean casserole, the regal midcentury favorite of tender poached chicken, usually breast meat, in a creamy sherry sauce is a foggy window into our nation's past. Some call the dish comforting, like potpie without the filling; others recoil at the memory of cafeteria gloop, the most dreaded hot lunch at school. This newspaper called it 'the entree that wouldn't die.' Michael Cecchi-Azzolina, who grew up in Brooklyn in the 1960s and early '70s, remembers chicken à la king as diner food: white bread, cream of mushroom soup, maybe some frozen peas and carrots. 'It was a Swanson dinner,' he said, adding later: 'But people loved it.' At his West Village bar and grill, Cecchi's, he serves an updated take, with brandy and dry vermouth in place of the sherry and a half moon of puff pastry perched on top. I had totally forgotten about chicken à la king until recently, when I saw it in an airport lounge. I won't say that the metal chafing dish of chicken smothered in a bell-peppery mushroom gravy particularly called to me; it was the only option. But as a weary traveler in need of protein, I ate it comfortably, happily, and it sustained me for hours as home cooking does. I spent the next few months researching this chicken 'king' and cooking from old cookbooks, and I concluded that most once-fashionable menu items that feel outdated today maybe didn't have enough cheerleaders along the way. Sherry and egg yolks stirred into a mushroom cream sauce with chicken stock is an umami powerhouse with oodles of potential. As James Beard writes in his 'American Cookery,' chicken à la king is often 'prepared in mediocre fashion,' but the original 'is really quite good if done with care and fine ingredients.' Beard adds that a chafing dish 'can kill even the best of food.' It probably tasted pretty good in the 19th century, in fancy hotels where its modern iteration is said to have originated, with several hotel chefs, including George Greenwald of the Brighton Beach Hotel, laying claim to it. Canonically, in even older French cookbooks, you can find evidence of creamy recipes with the appendage 'à la reine,' sometimes a reference to the pastry crown or nest serving as both vessel and carbohydrate for the mushroomy chicken. Such supposedly simple preparations, as Beard noted, will, of course, taste as good as the ingredients used to make them. This very good iteration comes from Claiborne, adapted from a column he wrote for The New York Times in 1969. I cooked it one night with meat pulled from a beautiful, organic, corn-hued heritage bird that I braised myself (so I could use the rich stock to thin out the cream). Another night, with big-box supermarket chicken breasts. A third night, the mauled remains of a rotisserie chicken. They all had their merits, each variation a dot on the effort-to-reward matrix. Chicken à la king won't win you any awards, but cooking through Claiborne's recipe will present to you many rewards. You'll feel as if you've stepped into the past, going through the motions of the proverbial American ancestors, the ones who were consistently seduced by French cooking but adapted its lessons to the new land. John Birdsall, whose new book, 'What Is Queer Food?: How We Served a Revolution,' comes out in June, pointed out to me over email that the extravagant amount of cream in the Times recipe matches Claiborne's writing voice and persona, as well as what he wrote about creamed dishes in 'Craig Claiborne's Kitchen Primer' from the same year: that the rule of thumb is one cup of cream sauce to two cups of solids (chicken, ham, vegetables). Though you might look at the full cup of heavy cream and clutch your pearls, note that it's thinned out with chicken stock, as in a velouté (meaning 'velvety'), one of the French mother sauces. It's not the kind of sauce I would leave in a chafing dish for hours, but ladled fresh over toast points or steamed rice? That's a fine dinner.
Forbes
13-04-2025
- Business
- Forbes
The Secret To An Amazing Customer Experience: A Hospitality Mentality
Want to know the secret to creating an amazing customer experience? It's simpler than you might think. I recently interviewed Michael Cecchi-Azzolina on my podcast, Amazing Business Radio, and his answer was refreshingly straightforward: 'Be kind. Just be nice.' Cecchi is the owner of Cecchi's restaurant in New York City and author of Your Table is Ready: Tales of a New York City Maître D'. With nearly 40 years in the hospitality industry, he's learned that kindness trumps everything else. Cecchi noticed something interesting. Customers weren't just thanking him for good service—they were specifically thanking him for his 'hospitality.' This shift represents something important. People don't just want service. They want to feel welcomed, valued and cared for. Cecchi said, 'This is new. I've been doing this for almost forty years, and I've only been hearing this the past year and a half or so.' The trend in what customers want and expect—for all industries, not just hospitality—is an experience that includes employees who are friendly, knowledgeable and helpful. That's hospitality. Years ago, Cecchi interviewed for a job with legendary restaurateur Danny Meyer, who asked him a question that would stick with him for decades: 'What's more important, food or service?' After years of working with world-class chefs, Cecchi's answer is clear: 'It always came down to the service.' His point is, you could have the best product in the world, but if your service is poor, customers won't come back. As Cecchi put it, 'If you have a surly waiter, a maître d' who's rude, a bartender who doesn't acknowledge you ... chances are you're not coming back.' My annual customer service and experience research backs this up. Every year, my survey finds that rudeness and apathy are the top reasons customers leave businesses. Sure, the product is important, but kindness—the opposite of rudeness and apathy—is what keeps them coming back. One of my favorite quotes from our conversation was when Cecchi said, 'We don't sell food. We sell an experience. The experience begins when our front door opens. If the lights are perfect and the music is right and you're getting this wonderful smile from the person at the door ... you're winning.' This is true for every business. You aren't selling insurance, software or consulting services. You're selling an experience wrapped around those things. What does this look like in your business? What's your equivalent of perfect lighting and the right music? It might be as simple as answering the phone with a smile in your voice or remembering a customer's name. Cecchi's first job out of high school was working at Playwrights Horizons. They had no money to pay him, but he wanted the experience. His boss knew Cecchi needed money to live, and it would be a short time before Cecchi would have to move on, so the boss got him a job at the restaurant across the street. Cecchi compared restaurant service to Broadway theater: 'This is a theater. We've got a script. We've got a set ... those actors who were crushing it, they might have had a breakup that day or someone died in the family. You must put that aside.' I call this the Broadway Principle. Legendary actor Richard Burton used to tell himself before performances (paraphrased): 'Tonight, I want to be so good that I cheat the audience that was here last night.' What if everyone, no matter their business or industry, approached customer interactions with that level of commitment? Cecchi's hiring philosophy is not focused on the experience that employees have in the restaurant industry. Although that helps, he's looking for people who genuinely love interacting with others. 'I don't hire people because of their resume,' he explained. 'It takes a really special person to understand what real hospitality is.' In 2011, I interviewed Jim Bush, former SVP of Worldwide Customer Experience at American Express. His hiring philosophy was similar. I'll never forget his advice about hiring. Bush explained that given the choice between someone with 10 years of experience in a contact center or someone who worked at a restaurant, he'd hire the restaurant worker every time because they understood how to take care of people. In other words, they understand the hospitality mentality. At its core, business is emotional. As Cecchi put it, 'Restaurants are an emotional experience. People come in because they're on a date, or celebrating a birthday or an anniversary.' Again, this isn't just true for restaurants. Whether you're buying a car, choosing a healthcare provider or selecting a software vendor, emotions drive decisions. Cecchi shared a story that perfectly captures the power of hospitality: 'I had six women at one table who'd been in the restaurant about 12 times. I jokingly said, 'Thank God there are no other restaurants in New York City.' And one of them looked at me and said, 'Michael, there's no restaurant in New York City that treats us the way you do here.'' That story summarizes what we should all aim for—to be the one business that treats customers like no one else does. And it starts with something as simple as being kind, the core of the hospitality mentality.
