Seen: The Gronkowski Brothers + More
Wednesday, November 09, 2011
Two famous New England sports brothers stopped by Rhode Island last week between games. Rob and Dan Gronkowski, both tight ends for the New England Patriots (until yesterday, when Dan was cut by the team), came to Hope Elementary School in Scituate to teach the kids about fire safety. Instead of their normal football garb, they put on fire suits, then they headed over to the Hope Jackson Fire Department to help register people for the new Patriots license plates. Unfortunately it didn't help them in their game against the New York Giants (who stayed in Providence at the Westin before the showdown in Foxboro), but it's great that these guys are true patriots, happy and willing to teach others and give back to the community...
And speaking of fire fighters, a local fireman has won big in a cook off. Dan Rinaldi lives in Cranston and works at the Providence Fire Department, but his second love is cooking. After years honing his skills cooking for his fellow firefighters, he decided to compete in the 3rd Annual Hood New England Dairy Cook-Off, and on Sunday he faced off as one of 30 amateur New England chefs in the semifinals at the Ocean Gateway Terminal in Portland, Maine. Rinaldi's Surf and Turf Sliders with Maine Lobster Sauce were judged to be the best of the appetizers/side-dishes category, and then it was decided to be the best dish overall, winning Rinalidi a delicious check for $10,000. The host of the cook off was Billy Costa from the New England Cable News show TV Diner, and the finals judges included celebrity chef Tom Pizzica of Food Network's Outrageous Food (a former contestant on The Next Food Network Star), journalist and food blogger Patti Woods, and Senior Lifestyle Editor for Yankee Magazine Amy Traverso. Wonder how his five alarm chili is...
In other cooking news, Coventry's Donna Ranucci returned to national TV on Friday. Two years ago she was the chosen as the runner up on Rachael Ray's show, Hey, Can You Cook?! by Food Network's Tyler Florence, and her success led her to be invited back as a contestant on Hey, Can You Cook?! All Stars to compete for $50,000. She flew to Mexico to compete with five other returning cooks, but her dishes with her challenge partner Timothy Morris just didn't cut it, and the two were eliminated in the first episode. Ranucci wasn't discouraged, though, just grateful for the experience, and now she's planning on publishing a new cookbook and trying to get a show of her own...
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTA Brown University grad and Rhode Island-trained DJ is making a name for himself in the radio world. Ben Harvey '00 got his start as a DJ on the alternative rock station 95.5 WBRU, then moved on to Y100 in Philadelphia, and then joined 92.3 K-Rock in New York, where he gained prominence as the evening DJ. He settled at the LGBT TV network here!, with a TV and online show called The Ben and Dave Show with comedian Dave Rubin, and now the two have a popular weekly radio show online and on SiriusXM called The Six Pack, where they talk about news, celebrities, hot topics, music, and more. Celebrity guests on the show have included Joy Behar, Barney Frank, Sigourney Weaver, Henry Winkler, and Fran Drescher. It's been getting a lot of attention lately from publications like The Huffington Post, so maybe tune in someday and see if you recognize him from his Providence days...
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