Mary Micucci grew up in a warm-hearted Italian family and came away with deeply engraved memories of warm/loving family meals, kinship with her mother, father, siblings and friends, and the tradition of bringing people together. Her fascination and love of food goes back to some of her earliest memories. Daddy, a Butcher by trade, owned a famous butcher shop in Queens, NY and always brought home the most delicious cuts of meat. To this day, Mary still loves her Porterhouse steaks and her mothers recipe for meatballs.

It is fitting then that Marys living room centers on the most telling of photograph. Propped upon the mantle stands a photo of a five-year old brown-haired girl with shiny big brown eyes, surveying her birthday table with party hats and blowers and in the middle a birthday cake fit for a Princess.