The Alumni Garden Party on August 20 was another fun event in Denver. It was held on the front porch of Peter Marczyk ’84 and Barbara MacFarlane’s prairie-style home. Peter bought the house about 16 years ago and spent two years working with Rob Squire to gut the entire building. He rewired it and redid the plumbing, and installed an amazing kitchen. The home is located within a 15-minute walk of Peter’s second store (his first store is downtown). Their kitchen is to die for: Three different sinks, a double oven, eight burners plus a griddle and a salamander (for broiling), huge fridge, an icemaker and a massive island. I just hope my wife doesn’t see the pictures or I might have another renovation project on hand!
The whole concept of their stores is similar to that of the biodynamic wineries of California. They try to invest in local produce as much as possible (although he imports from all over the world), that way they can trace their food such as beef from conception to the final product. Wine people talk about how the taste and quality is influenced by factors like soil, amount of sunshine, amount of water; Peter feels that the same can be said for food. He states that if you place one of their steaks alongside a mass-produced company steak, the difference is stunning. Peter has gained a huge reputation in the Denver area and around the country as a food expert.
For dinner, Peter brought in one of his chefs and they whipped up a green tomato gazpacho, a seafood paella with halibut and chorizo, homemade bread complete with homemade freshly churned butter, and freshly created ice cream for dessert. The entire meal was amazing! Peter likes to say that he has always had a fascination with food and that he got his start working in the Williston dining hall on his work job.
Their next door neighbors are Matt and Kate Wold. Matt loves to debate politics, which made it entertaining to have him seated next to Tom Korson ‘59. His wife, Mary, was supposed to join us, but she decided not to come. Mary is a former Colorado Supreme Court judge. Tom enjoyed chatting with Peter Marczyk about Denver politics throughout dinner. Sal Pace ’95 brought Eric Catuccio ’96 with him. Eric is a polymer engineer and is originally from Westfield and his brother Jon also graduated from Williston and is married to Williston alumna Cea Ricciardi ’95. Jon is living in Saudi Arabia.
Katie Ciejek Shea ’01 and her husband Stephen also came. As I said in my other write-up, Katie is a middle school math teacher. The school employs a different style of teaching, which incorporates real-world situations into the classroom. Head of School Bob Hill was very interested in this concept and invited Katie to come back to campus to speak with the math department and our students. Katie has been tapped by her school to be one of the leaders within the school for this program. Stephen is very outgoing and personable.
Peter Zirkle ’07 was also in attendance. He lives about three streets over from Pete Marczyk, which we discovered when we opened up the EverTrue app. Peter Marczyk was shocked to find out that there 14 Williston alumni living within two miles of him. Look for more news about the EverTrue app soon!
Next up:
Tandem Bagel Social on September 23 at 6:30 p.m. at Tandem Bagel Co. in Easthampton, Mass.
Providence, RI Pub Night on October 2, 2014
Boston area Alumni Pub Night on October 9, 2014
Hadley, MA Vintage Video Game Night on October 14, 2014