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SCOTTSDALE PROGRESS | WWW.SCOTTSDALE.ORG | SEPTEMBER 26, 2021
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Scottsdale chef pens new cookbook BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
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hef Scott Conant has been delighting diners with his awardwinning cuisine for 35 years and has captivated audiences with his tenure as a judge on the Food Network shows “Chopped” and “Chopped Sweets.” Now, Conant, who recently settled in Scottsdale, is inspiring other cooks with his latest cookbook, titled “Peace, Love and Pasta: Simple and Elegant Recipes from a Chef ’s Home Kitchen,” which hit shelves Sept. 14. He wanted this cookbook, his fourth, to be personal, explaining “’Peace, Love, and Pasta’ is genuinely me cooking from my home kitchen while my earlier books were much more restaurant-focused.” The book features recipes that the chef grew up eating at his grandparents’ home in New England and others that he has picked up in his career.
Chef Scott Conant cooks as his youngest daughter Karya), wife Meltem and oldest daughter Ayla watch. (Courtesy of Scott Contant)
“There’s a little bit of New England represented, a little bit of Germany, a lot of Italy and even Turkey represented as well. These are dishes that I’ve been influenced by throughout my career,” Conant said. “I often say that I don’t cook traditional Italian food, but rather that I’m inspired by Italy; Italy is my starting place. Then I integrated other kinds of global experiences into that food, and it’s all represented inside the book.” “It wasn’t until I had children that I started to cook more at home and frankly, it wasn’t until the pandemic that I was cooking at home every day,” Conant said. “While I was testing these recipes, I was also putting dinner on the table for the girls and having fun doing it. This book is a culmination of that and truly about me cooking for my family.” For the New England and Italian recipes, Conant revisited the recipes
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Chaparral brothers’ book offers practical education
BY ALEX GALLAGHER Progress Staff Writer
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rothers Jackson and Hudson Sinik are a senior and a sophomore at Chaparral High School, respectively, athletes and, now, co-authors. Their book, “An Unconventional Education,” explores critical life skills ranging from picking a major to managing money to interacting with police. Frustrated that these topics were not discussed in school, the Sinik brothers decided to dedicate their summer to writing a book that delved deeper into those matters. “We were working for the Congressional
Award – a program where teens and young adults set goals in volunteer public service, personal development, physical fitness and expedition/exploration and receive awards – and one of the things that I wanted to do to make myself better was learn how to become more money savvy,” said Jackson. “The more I learned, the more I realized that schools don’t teach you those things.” With the idea of writing a book about money management, they eventually saw the book evolve into a guide to success for recent high school graduates. The brothers began exploring different sources and extensively researching the various topics. After compiling statistics and
thoroughly examining the website collegescorecard.ed.gov, they felt like they had more than enough information to build their book. “We found articles that gave financial advice as well as had revelations about college,” Jackson said. The book begins with the student toying with the idea of whether to attend college and the steps that follow. For college-bound teens, the brothers wanted to underscore the importance of what students should do during their time there as opposed to focusing on where they would go. “We examined how it doesn’t matter where you go to college, what matters is
what you do during your time there in your major,” Hudson said. This was evidenced by a study performed by researchers Alan Krueger and Stacy Berg Dale in 1999 that the boy’s father found. “A Princeton economist (Krueger) found that if there is a kid who got into Harvard but chose to go to a state school, that kid will earn the same amount of money,” said Robert Sinik. “It’s not about the school or diploma that hangs on your wall, it’s about the effort and the stuff that is done in school rather than the diploma that is earned.” The next big topic covered in the book in-
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