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Randy Shamlian

I am here for Friends

About Me

FROM THE FARM TO THE TABLE
A SLICE OF APPLE PIE
"Men and women are not prisoners of fate, but only prisoners of their own mind." — Franklin Delano Roosevelt
“But that’s what you do,” a relative said. “Make pastries.”
For thirty-some-odd years I have worked in the food industry in one capacity or another, primarily making desserts. Yet I fully didn’t quite understand why I had a need to create and endure physical exhaustion that would lead to consuming alcoholic beverages like iced tea on summer’s hottest days and smoking tobacco like an industrial chimney. It was a neurosis that left me questioning my own reality but wanting more. But why?
My book is not some breezy exposé of the food industry, or particularly about working in a kitchen. It’s hard work in the food industry, and to think otherwise is a misconception. Often it leaves you numb, and sometimes the road of life leads you to where you shouldn’t be. But if you just listen, the opportunities give you clues to a new path to take, but only if you see and hear it and grab it.
You get a slice of a few of my daliences, hot pursuits and failed souffles. "Keep an open mind," I say. There's a bit more to the story...

I'm currently writing a food column for a monthly magazine down here in Albuquerqe called the Village Vision where I cover the local growers and producers at the Los Ranchos de Albuquerque Farmer's Market.
I'm also doing some freelance food writing for Edible Santa Fe which is a quarterly magazine dedicated to "Slow Food."
Thanks for stopping by!
Click on cover to visit the book website
(A Slice of Apple Pie - Albuquerque Review)
"Raw, engaging, and illuminating R. Shamlian's memoir, A slice of Apple Pie, impresses upon you his keen sensibilities as man and artist. He tantalizes your tastebuds with detail of the oral gratification he perfected over his 30+ years as a pastry chef and shares his passion for music, food, friends and family-in fact, were it not for the passion evident in his writing, this memoir might have been of a picaro with a bent for manipulating the palate. R. Shamlian admits the perplexities of romance and even hands over his award-winning apple pie recipe all with a sense of a great sense of humor and irony. Read this book!"

(THE 2ND EDITION COMPLETE WITH RECIPES COMING SOON!)
BUY A SLICE OF APPLE PIE ON AMAZON.COM
OR
BUY A SLICE OF APPLE PIE ON BARNESANDNOBLE.COM
Akita Films
"Creating Everlasting Imprints of the Human Condition"
Edgewater - Video / Screenplay (coming soon)
Pizza Parlor - The Novel(coming soon) - It's a coming-of-age story about Rudy who seeks to find the meaning of life, caught between two religions, his parents who are divorced and an estranged wife while trying to raise his son and run a pizza parlor with no customers in Nowhere, Nevada.
Pizza Parlor is being adapted from a screenplay which can be viewed by Film Industry Professionals at InkTip.com

My Interests

Writing, the culinary arts, family, friends, Mom's cooking, NY Style Pizza, Rib Eye Steak, Shish Kabob, eggplant parmigiana, sausage and peppers hero
Peking Duck, Mahi Mahi, Shabu Shabu, good entertaining movies, my Akita pals, fly fishing, NY Giants, The Yankees
Down the shore (New Jerseyans know where that is), an occassional Arturo Fuente Hemingway, a snort of Glenrothes Single Malt Scotch, the 4:00 Dos Equis, Plein Air paintings, OM, a cleaner and safer world...

I'd like to meet:

Edward Hopper (1882-1967)
Albert Bierstadt, the German American painter (1830-1902)
"When I know your soul, I will paint your eyes" - Modigliani
"The love you take is equal to the love you make..."

Music:

Live From Abbey Road, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan (Blood on The Tracks), Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Sting, Steely Dan, Cat Stevens
The Doors (Morrison Hotel), The Band, David Bowie, CSNY, The Police, Traffic (When the Eagle Flies), Pink Floyd (Wish You Were Here)
The Rolling Stones (Black and Blue), U2 (One), Muddy Waters, The Allman Brothers (Whipping Post), Squeeze, The Who (Who's Next)
Led Zepplin (IV), Leonard Cohen, Teddy Thompson, Roxy Music, Pat Metheny (The Falcon and the Snowman), Bob Marley, Stan Getz
Aaron Coplan (Applachian Spring), Mozart, Louis Armstrong, Johnny Cash, Barry White, Sade, Crowded House, The Call
Santana, Moby, Billy Joel (Piano Man), Simon and Garfunkel, and...

Movies:

Cinema Paradiso, The Godfather I & II, A Few Good Men, Big Night, The French Connection, Catch-22, Serpico, Aurthor! Author!
Modigliani (Great Art on Art Film), The Odd Couple, The Front Page(Some of the greatest dialogue!), The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The Last Temptation of Christ
Once Upon a Time in The West, The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, Hot Rock, China Town, Along The Waterfront
Rear Window, Rosemary's Baby, The Untouchables, Spy Game, Lord of War, Dr. Strangelove, MASH, Deer Hunter, One Flew Over The Cukoos Nest
The Big Lebowski, The Last Emperor, The Last Waltz, Annie Hall, History of the World Part 1, Stairway To Heaven, Ghandi
John Cassavetes, Sergio Leone, Robert Altman, Martin Scorsese, Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Humphrey Bogart...

Television:

Entourage, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Sunday Football, The Travel Channel, The Food Network, Squawk On The Street, A&E, The History Channel, The Discovery Channel

Books:

"The South American Table" by Marie Baez Kijac; "The Unprejudiced Palate" by Angelo Pellegrini; "Sideways" by Rex Pickett; "A Good Year" by Peter Mayle; "The Alchemist" by Paulo Cohelo; "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine
"Kitchen Confidential" by Anthony Bourdain; "Jaws" by Peter Benchley; "The World According to Garp" by John Irving
Mark Twain, Ernest Hemingway, William Saroyan, William Shakespeare, Henry Miller, Henry David Thoreau, Philip Roth, Khalil Gibran, Dan Brown, Thomas Merton...

Heroes:

Edgar Payne, Thomas Paine, O'Henry, Julia Child, James Beard, Alice Waters, Careme, William Goldman, David Mamet...All who could, who should extend themselves to others who are in need.