My name is Arlene but my family calls me “Sugar”. You can call me Sugar too. I’m in my early 50’s, a wife and mother of two young adults. My passion for food comes from generations of cooks and I want to pass it on to everyone around me. It’s kind of like an obsession!
I grew up in a large Italian family in northern New Jersey where our life revolved around food. My love and passion for good food started with my Mom, Gloria, her mom, “Grandma Reo,” and her sister (my great aunt) Rosie. Grandma Reo, a second generation Italian American, owned a deli for over 50 years in Union City, New Jersey named, appropriately enough, “Reo’s.”
My mother and my aunts learned a lot about cooking at Grandma Reo’s deli and in her kitchen. Grandma Reo and Aunt Rosie (literally born “on the boat” on the way from Italy to Ellis Island), cooked all the food they served each day.
In fact, all they ever talked about was food. When we were eating, we talked about what we were going to eat tomorrow and when we were cooking we were talking about what we were going to cook tomorrow. I think some people cook to live, but Italians live to cook.
The kitchen was a place where the women of the family, with the help of the kids and even, occasionally, the men, would prepare, cook, and eat. It was an event, a joy, a time for family. A celebration of life. So different from the perception of food that I see so often among men and women of my own generation.
Well, my mom carried on that tradition and became the matriarch of food in my own family teaching me everything I know, even while she worked full time. Every Thanksgiving and every Sunday (and many Wednesdays), my mother’s foods, desserts and special menus were the talk of the town and the attraction for family and strangers alike. It was her passion that sparked my own love for food as a teenager and into adulthood. I always hoped that I could pass even a fraction of it on to my own daughter. Turns out, my daughter and my son both love to cook, all the time. Mission accomplished!
I started Cooking with Sugar to share these traditions with my own kids and with you. Enjoying and cooking fresh food for and with your family every day is my secret recipe for a happy marriage, a health family and a fit body.
Cooking is fun. Cooking is sexy. Cooking is good for you. Let’s get cooking 🙂
Hi Sugar!
I am 73 and a wannabe cook! I just happened upon your site and
Really enjoy your videos and recipes. Just wanted to THANK YOU for sharing your love and joy for cooking!
Sincerely,
Martha Stston
Thank you Martha!
Martha, I am 63 years young and have decided to become a COOK. I don’t even know how to boil water, so I need a course on WATER 101 but I did learn how to make the best cheesecake from SUGAR and now I am an expert after 5 years. ha ha But thers is so much I want to learn. I wish you all the best in your career as a CHEF.
Hello from New Jersey – my father loved Reo’s & your family (Tony Romano) – he passed 38 years ago. I started cooking after I retired, I found your website & started cooking your recipes. Not only are they “fabulous ” but my family has LOVED everything I made. Your grandma & family should be proud of you – passing along the tradition & love of food. I personally want to thank you.
HEALTHY RECIPE – TILAPIA IN TIN FOIL ON THE BBQ GRILL
I was reading this wonderful recipe and it had some weird verbiage about unprotected sex. A good read but I’m assuming something it was accidentally copy and pasted(:
Two paragraphs
If you have unprotected sex in the two days after missing a pill, the Family Planning Association (FPA) recommends that you should take emergency contraception (the morning after pill). Ask for medical advice. Doses of cerelle tablets contain the active ingredient desogestrel, which is a synthetic progestogen, similar to the natural progestogens produced by the body.
Hello, I just wanted to say Thank you for the wonderful recipes,, I have made many of them for friends and family who love them. I do have a question for you, I live in Colorado, at an altitude of about 6,200 feet, and I’m going to make your chocolate cake recipe. Do you know if I need to adjust the amount of ingredients in the recipe due to the altitude?,,,, Please let me know Thank you so much,,
Hi Sugar, how far in advance can I make your CHEESECAKE for Christmas day?
You can make it several (3 or 4 days) in advance and refrigerate it. OR you can make it weeks in advance and freeze it. If you choose to freeze it, move it from freezer to fridge a day before and then take it out of the fridge an hour or two before you serve it.
Will you please make a video of your chicken marsala recipes.
Do you have plans for future videos? Sure hope so.
Really enjoy the recipes.
Thank You, And Wishing You Health And Happiness In The New Year.
Really *Enjoy* and *Love* your recipes.
Thank You!
Hi Sugar, I had the Aperol Spritz in Venice when I was living in Prague and they added green olives to it. I know! I have never seen it in the states served that way, but I am going to try yours with the limoncello this summer when we are at the cottage in Rhode Island. My family all gather together from CT and NY and settle in at our cottages in RI. I will surprise them with the new summer drink. Going to be in Spain and Italy in February and will look to see what different drinks they have there now. Can’t wait.
I miss your videos on YouTube! Will you be making anymore?
The absolute BEST lasagna EVER!!!! I get so many compliments when I make it and am often asked to make it for special occasions! I use the sauce for all things pasta! I had left over sauce and canned it for future use! It was wonderful the 2nd time as well.
Thank you for sharing your passion and teaching so many to cook Italian food!
I am so glad I found your Especially Dark Chocolate Cake. It is so scrumptious!!! I lost the cake part but thankfully I was able to find your complete recipe.
Awesome! Enjoy! 🙂
Your cheese cake recipe is incredible. I make it all the time everyone raves over it and comments it’s the best they have ever had.
Hi Sugar!I cooked an 2.5 lb. air chilled chicken as per your instructions(close) for an hour at 375F.The meat thermo said it was 170F.Also let it stand for a half hour like you said.Well,chicken was done,safe to eat,but not crispy and as well cooked as I would have liked.Where did I go wrong?Maybe I shouldn’t have used tin foil,but I also didn’t want to burn the little yardbird!Thanx…Mike
Hello Sugar, it’s been over a year since you last posted a recipe on Youtube, are you off for good or just temporarily? I love your channel and I would love to see you back on your channel, you seem like a very nice person.
Your smile is contagious – Happy New Year to you and your family!
Hi Arlene, I came upon your website, and I enjoyed looking at you recipes. It brought back fond recipes of making some of these dishes with your Mom. And of you and Michelle as young girls. Nice to see your doing well.