Meet Arlen Gargagliano
| Arlen Gargagliano believes in love at first bite. She also believes that experiencing new flavors can lead to all kinds of inspiration-and even world peace. This was part of the impetus behind the creation of her blog: In the Kitchen with Arlen, in which she shares her Sunday dinner recipes, and more. Most recently, because of her passion for Latin food—and culture—she was asked to be a weekly contributor to Latin Bites. Now, with her own column, Latin Twist (http://food.lohudblogs.com/2012/05/04/latin-twist-meet-blogger-arlen-gargagliano), she introduces people to her love of cooking, Latin style. This summer she’ll be working on a series of videos related to both sites. All Gargagliano's writing and books reflect her passion for people, diverse cultures, language, music, travel--and of course, food. An acclaimed writer and presenter on the topic of teaching English as a Second Language, she is the author of the Latin American cocktail and appetizer book, Mambo Mixers (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, 2005), and Calypso Coolers: Recipes for 50 Caribbean Cocktails and 20 Tropical Treats (Stewart, Tabori & Chang, May 2007). She co-authored chef and restaurateur Rafael Palomino's cookbooks, Viva la Vida (Chronicle Books, 2002), Nueva Salsa (Chronicle Books 2003), and Fiesta Latina, (Chronicle Books, 2006); their fourth collaboration, Latin Grill, was published by Chronicle Books in March 2010. She also co-authored Elsie Ramos's cookbook, Elsie's Turkey Tacos and Chicken Soup, (John Wiley & Sons, May 2007), and Dr. Manny Alvarez's, The Hot Latin Diet (Penguin Books, 2008). She is currently working on several different projects related to health, delicious cooking, and Latin-style entertaining. Arlen has written over two dozen articles on the topic of healthy eating, healthy lunches for kids, as well as on fun family activities and crafts, for MSN’s In the Motherhood website. She’s has also worked on two versions of their Chef to the Rescue website which features the recipes of renown chef Cat Cora, as a rescue chef/moderator. Arlen is represented in book projects by Dystel & Goderich Literary Management (www.dystel.com). Arlen, a featured cookbook author on the hot culinary website, cookstr.com, has done dozens of cooking demos in stores around the country, including boutique shops in San Diego, California, several Williams Sonoma locations in both New York City and Miami, Macy's and Bloomingdale's (in New York and Miami), and has appeared regularly on Television Dominicana, Telemundo's A La Mesa con Denisse, as well as on Univsion’s highly-acclaimed national Spanish-language morning show, Despierta America. She's also appeared on NBC’s Weekend Today Show, NBC’s San Diego affiliate, and on Mega TV 22, as well as Westchester's News 12. She was hired as chef/professor as part of the launch of Alli, the weightloss program, to the Hispanic market with demos/presentations related to healthful Latin-style cooking in both Los Angeles and New York City. She regularly teaches classes in Caribbean and Latin-style cooking at Don Coqui (formerly MacMenamin's Grill and Chefworks) in New Rochelle. |
Arlen is also very involved in her community. She served as her local PTA Council for two years as the Chair for the Diversity Committee, and was involved in the organization of New Rochelle's first ever Latino Services Network conference, and delivered the closing speech. In the spring of 2010, she organized a special program for elementary-aged non-native English speakers paired with high school student tutors (mentors) in her community. This successful program, designed to help the younger students with their English fluency and confidence, as well as give the high school students some teaching experience, involved 15 younger students and 6 mentors; the idea is that this program be duplicated in other schools in New Rochelle. Also in her community, she has facilitated special workshops (in Spanish and English) on the topic of healthy eating. In the fall of 2010, she launched a Spanish-language story hour program, designed for native speaking parents and toddlers, held weekly at New Rochelle Public Library.
Arlen Gargagliano's textbook publications include the recently updated re-released Writing from Within 2, an English as a second language textbook for college-level students (Cambridge University Press, 2011) and Writing from Within 1(Cambridge University Press, 2011), and is currently working on level 3. She is also hard at work on several other ESL writing projects. A native of New York City, who earned her BA from New York University (Journalism and Spanish) and her MA from Hunter College (Teaching English as a Second Language), Gargagliano has spent years living in Spain and Peru, and traveling throughout Latin America, where she still frequently ventures to give workshops to both teachers and students of English on the subject of writing. In 2010, Arlen returned to WCC as an assistant director for the college's English Language Institute, where she supervises close to 20 teachers and works with scores of students in the program. She also continues to teach ESL, plans to continue teaching in the TESOL certificate program, among others. She lives with her husband and two children in New Rochelle, New York. |