What if the products you give or enjoy on Mother’s Day -- flowers, chocolate, coffee, tea and more – could also help celebrate moms around the world? When you buy Fair Trade Certified products, you’re helping to provide the many moms who produced the goods with fair prices and wages to support their families and enjoy a better quality of life. Mother’s Day and World Fair Trade Day fall on the same weekend this year, and you can celebrate both by giving mom Fair Trade gifts.Malika Ameen, restauranteur and former ‘cheftestant’ on Bravo’s “Top Chef: Just Desserts,” will tell your listeners how easy it is to make every purchase matter this May. Ameen will offer recipes from her Modern Spice Pantry and tell you where to go in your neighborhood to get Fair Trade Certified food, beverages and flowers that will bring a smile to Mom’s face this year – and celebrate moms around the world. She’ll also discuss:
As a single mom to three young boys (ages 3, 6 and 8), she’s always incorporating her “chef thinking” into the foods she cooks daily at home for her children in order to make food as exciting for them as it is for her; thus the concept the Modern Spice Pantry was born at home.
Kyle Branche - Veteran professional and private bartender
BOOK - "Life Behind Bars: Stories and Encounters: Vignettes over Cocktails" Short Stories/Vignettes of Intel based on my experiences as a professional and private bartender in Los Angeles, California. Book One in the series. Kyle Branche is a 30-year veteran professional and private bartender in Los Angeles. His wide variety of bar experiences in the City of Angels is second to none, having worked in many bars, nightclubs, private clubs, restaurants, hotels, concert venues, and is currently more off the grid today working a busy, yet more flexible schedule as a private on-call bartender with a variety of services, caterers, event planners, brand-sponsored events and private clientele working the party circuit throughout the spread out metropolis. while still holding position in the bar at The Gardenia Room in Hollywood for 23 years.
Kyle was a contributing writer and columnist in the leading beverage magazines from 2002-2012, with 75 published pieces, including the monthly cocktail column "Liquid Kitchen" with Patterson’s Beverage Journal (now The Tasting Panel), feature cover stories, contributing articles, and one online multimedia super feature story on Cognac with Sante Magazine, titled "The Sleeping Spirit". Aside form creating 60+ signature cocktails, his bar line Cocktail Art Productions has produced 18 titles including seven books, two DVD’s, an audio CD Book, cocktail recipe cards, calendars, and postcards.
As a culinary artist, he started his cocktail photography series in 2007. His custom Zazzle store (zazzle.com/KBranche) uses 70 drink images from this series on a variety of everyday products and specialty items, including USPS-approved Cocktail Postage Stamps, Coffee Mugs, Greeting Cards, Men’s and Women’s T-Shirts and Hoodies, iPod Cases, iPad Cases, iPhone cases, Mousepads, Postcards, Hats, Aprons, Necklaces, Prints and Posters, all just for a fun and creative artistic outlet. Kyle also created and designed a board game called “Cocktail Hotel.”
He’s also co-produced and co-hosted the cocktail shows “Liquid Kitchen” and “Beverage Road,” has written a treatment for a one-hour dramatic television series titled “Life Behind Bars,” played the character of “Clive, the Bartender from the Dead” in the short film "The Hounds of Bakersfield," and the part of "Lyle the Bartender" in the upcoming feature film "Frozen Tundra." Other on-camera work includes his two Cocktail Art DVD’s of “live and close-up” specialty and classic drink preparations.
BITSIE TULLOCH - "Juliette Silverton" on NBC's "GRIMM"
Bitsie Tulloch stars in NBC's acclaimed drama series "Grimm" as Juliette Silverton, Nick's (David Giuntoli) loyal girlfriend, who is wary of his recent forays into the Grimm world.Tulloch previously starred as Dylan on Ed Zwick's NBC drama series "quarterlife." First made as an Internet series, "quarterlife" explored the lives of six creative twentysomethings trying to find their way in the world. Tulloch led the cast as a journalist who perplexes friends with her revelatory video blog. Her additional television credits include a recurring role on "Outlaw" and guest-starring roles on "House," "The West Wing," "Cold Case," "Lost" and "Moonlight." She also had a recurring role in the online serial "lonelygirl15."
On the film front, Tulloch co-starred in the Academy Award-winning silent film "The Artist" with John Goodman and James Cromwell. She stars in the upcoming family drama "Caroline and Jackie," which she also co-produced, opposite Marguerite Moreau. Additional film credits include Neil LaBute's "Lakeview Terrace," with Samuel L. Jackson, Kerry Washington and Patrick Wilson; "Uncross the Stars" with Barbara Hershey and Ron Perlman”; "Antigone" opposite Keith Carradine; the romantic comedy "Losing Control"; and the independent feature "Riding the Pine." She also voiced one of the characters in the animated feature "Alpha and Omega," along with Hayden Panetierre, Justin Long and Dennis Hopper.
Tulloch's theater credits include performances of "Oleanna," "Hamlet" and "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," as well as the Pico Playhouse production of "Quarterlife," a performance that garnered her an LA Weekly Theater Award nomination.
Born in San Diego, Calif., Tulloch spent her formative years living overseas in Spain, Uruguay and Argentina until she landed in New York for middle and high school. She attended Harvard University and graduated magna cum laude with a double major in literature and fine arts.
Tulloch is an active participant and celebrity representative for the Corazon de Vida Foundation, through which she fundraises and visits orphanages in Tijuana; she has appeared on CNN in support of the cause.