Episode 3.21 - Where Food Meets Purpose: The Journey Ahead

I am bringing Italian cooking to hungry foodies, to cancer patients, libraries, and beyond!  Did you know that Gia's Italian Kitchen is getting around?

Hope to see you soon!

https://www.thebrickkitchenstore.com/upcoming-classes.htm

https://marionpubliclibrary.libnet.info/events?

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Chapters

• 0:00 Introduction to upcoming events
• 2:06 Classes at Brick Kitchen
• 2:54 Marion Library community service classes
• 4:02 Hope Lodge cancer patient cooking
• 6:01 Podcast interviews and travel tips
• 9:38 Social media and website info

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:38

Hey, this is Kelly with Gia's Italian Kitchen. I am thinking about what is coming up this year and I've tried to put a calendar on my website but I thought it might be easier to just chat about it and kind of go through my thoughts about what's coming up. So if you've been to any of my classes, you probably have found one of these venues or websites. But I do different classes in a few different locations here in Eastern Iowa. So one of them is at the Brick Kitchen. They were really my first corporate sponsor. Shelley and Nate are the owners and they are just awesome. So that was really my first really big collaboration. So I do a class up there every month and we do advanced cooking. Those are ticketed and limited space is available. They're up in Independence, iowa and we do just super awesome. So last night we made homemade pasta and homemade raviolis and then did my twisted baked caprese appetizer bruschetta and a wine tasting and it was the most wonderful evening. So if you attended that, shout out. It was so fun. It was a super fun group. So those are every month at the Brick Kitchen and I will post the links into the show notes here and then more locally to where I am, although Independence, at the Brick Kitchen, they're only 30 minutes north of Cedar Rapids.

Speaker 1: 2:19

So then in Marion, I do classes at the Marion library. So after the derecho, um, if you know what a derecho is we had in, was it 2020? Yeah, there were, um, what was it like? 140 mile an hour winds, it was really freaking scary, um, and then it like monsooned rained for 45 minutes, so it was like a tornado, hurricane, typhoon all in one, but in Iowa it was insane. So, anyway, after that, uh, the Marion Library tore down their building and built a whole new library and they constructed this beautiful kitchen inside of the library. So I do community service classes there once a month and we do a much simpler version or class menu, and those are free to local participants. So those are really fun.

Speaker 1: 3:23

And then my newest venture is at the Hope Lodge. So down in Iowa City, at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, there's the Ronald McDonald House, which is the cancer residence for patients that are coming in from out of town, and it's a free place for them to stay with their families. So those are the Ronald McDonald houses for children with cancer, and then the Hope Lodge, which is right next door is cancer patients that are over the age of 18 and they're caregivers. So, same concept, they can come and stay for free and, you know, relax while they're here. I'll try to relax while they're here in from out of town getting treatment at the university hospital. So I do. It's much different down there because it's not, you know, the fun and exciting cooking experience, but it is a cooking experience class really geared more towards education of nutrition and, um, some easy, powerful recipes that are going to feed their bodies and, um, hopefully, help help them to, um, you know, get that some hunger cravings in there. Um, because when you're in chemo or whatever your treatment uh, martini is, you know your appetite is just crap and you feel like crap. So, um, that's been a blessing. I am trying to do that once a month as well, um, to go down and serve food to to the cancer patients and their caregivers. So that has been very humbling and I'm so thankful to be able to do that every month. So, yeah, so I have those coming up and then I've got this podcast. So I'm trying to do, you know, thoughts on my blog and then I'm turning them into these podcast audios.

Speaker 1: 5:34

But you know, my favorite thing to do really on these podcast episodes is interviews. I love interviewing people either from the restaurant industry or just friends that are small business owners, to kind of learn their journey of their small business and what they're all about and trying to promote them, the local businesses, and get the word out. So that's, that's really fun. And I've done a few interviews of out-of-staters that have found me online, so that's really super cool and I actually have a couple coming up of out-of-staters. There's one that is a recently published author. I'm going to interview her and when I have a date I will post when that is and who it is. But I'm super excited she's Italian. I'm so excited, oh my gosh. And then I should forget what the other one was. But there's more coming. So my, my podcast, I guess, is it's a little bit of a few different things where you know, I post some of the audio of the um, the classes, some of the classes that I've done, or just thoughts of the day or just promotions about, um, different recipes that I've cooked, um, but I love doing the interviews too. So if there's something that you have as a suggestion, certainly throw that in the show notes or the comments or send me an email, kelly K-E-L-L-E-Y at G as Italian Kitchen dot biz B-I-Z. And yeah, let me know. Or if you have someone that you think would be fun to interview, definitely please connect me, because I would love to do that. I love just learning about other people's journeys, but I also want to help them. So if it's, certainly if it's a small business local business or small business not local like I would love to talk to them and help promote them and learn more about them and kind of cross pollinate both of our businesses, because it's probably, you know, hopefully going to help both of us. So definitely connect me if you have any ideas there.

Speaker 1: 8:03

What else is coming up? Some travel to Italy. I did some of those last year and now's the season, it's May, and I'm going to throw out some more travel tips on traveling with young kids. There's an episode of that. I think I published that last year though, um, but I'll put a link in there, cause it was a while ago.

Speaker 1: 8:24

Um, just travel, you know different types of travel, whether you, you know one of the trips we took. We had a home base and we would do day trips and then a different trip. We did lots of different cities, but so you're seeing lots of cities in both of those scenarios, but in one you're kind of on the move, you're switching hotels or Airbnbs or wherever you're staying, and then one you've got a home base, but then you've got a little day travel each day. So different concepts. They were both super fun, but I guess there's pros and cons to both of those. So we'll talk about that.

Speaker 1: 9:04

And, of course, the food like regional food in Italy. Where would you go and what should you look for in these different regions, depending on what city you're in? Because they're all absolutely amazing, but each region kind of has a specialty of cheese or bread or olives or olive oil or meats and or a shape of pasta. So, super fun as you're, as you're traveling through the country, you know, like you would traveling through the US, you're going to get different food in Texas than you're going to get in Chicago, right? So it's just kind of regional on what you're going to get. So it's just some travel conversation there. Yeah, whatever else, whatever else comes my way, that that I love to chat about and throw it out on the podcast so that, uh, I can share my thoughts and hopefully you're enjoying that, um, and we will talk to you soon.

Speaker 1: 10:03

Kelly, with Gia's Italian kitchen, Please visit my website, Gia's Italian kitchenbiz. And, uh, the the podcast. We're on all of the socials Facebook, instagram, youtube, um, what else, what is there? Twitter tech talk I've got, they're all out there, so please go and find them, follow them, comment, like, share, do all those social things to help me grow, and that would be super awesome. So, have a wonderful week and we'll talk to you soon. Let's get cooking.