Monthly Archives: October 2019

He's the home-grown chef who's sauteed his way to international success.

Curtis Stone has cooked for some of the biggest celebrity names, become a firm fixture on our televisions, and has also launched two critically acclaimed restaurants in Los Angeles.

Watch the full story above.

Now, the father of two has dropped anchor on Aussie shores for an exciting new project - serving up some delicious dishes on board the Ruby Princess for some fine dining at sea.

More on 7NEWS.com.au

"I haven't opened a restaurant here but I've brought one with me," Stone said.

"I've got three restaurants with Princess Cruises and we're celebrating the Ruby Princess' arrival into Sydney.

"The restaurant's called Share, and we celebrate local ingredients. When you're cruising you're stimulated through so many different ways - so we want to slow time down a little bit.

"We serve a six-course menu and we encourage people to chill out, relax and take their time. And it's food that we've developed from our travels around the world."

Find out more about Share by Curtis Stone here. You can also catch him at Brisbane's Good Food and Wine Show this weekend at the Princess Theatre.

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Chef Curtis Stone takes fine dining to the high seas with Princess Cruises - 7NEWS

A chocolate-themed cruise is set to lift anchor next spring that will sail with master chocolatiers, and quite literally, a boat-load of chocolate.

You could call it a dream trip for chocoholics: for eight days, the Costa Pacifica cruise liner will be transformed into a floating Willy Wonka chocolate factory, with tastings,workshops, tours and chocolate sculpting demonstrations planned throughout the trip.

The Costa Pacifica. Image: courtesy of The Costa Cruises via AFP Relaxnews

The cruise departs from the coastal Italian town of Civitavecchia and sails to Genoa, Barcelona, Palma de Mallorca, Malta and Catania in Sicily. The program is organized in partnership with Eurochocolate, an annual chocolate festival that takes place in Perugia, Italy.

Also on the itinerary is a shore excursion to the Chocolate Museum of Barcelona, which traces the history of chocolate and features a model of the citys famous Parc Guell, in chocolate form.

The Eurochocolate Cruise departs on April 16.

Princess Cruises also developed a Chocolate Journeys program with chocolatier Norman Love, whose chocolate confections and desserts are served in select main dining rooms across the fleet. The program also includes chocolate and wine pairing tastings and chocolate spa treatments. CL/JB

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Chocolate-themed cruise to become Willy Wonka factory on the high seas - INQUIRER.net

iSoftBet takes us back to Neverland in this slot, Lost Boys Loot! This 5-reel 20 line game will be available from the 31st of October.

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iSoftBet has been nominated many times for games award. In 2019, it was nominated for two awards which include Mobile Supplier of the Year category as well as being in contention for the RNG Casino supplier of the Year award.

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Get Ready To Set Sail at Online Casinos On the High Seas and Join Peter Pan in LOST BOYS LOOT - Tunf.com News

KIHA Bonney grew up dreaming of a wedding at her childhood holiday spot, Great Keppel Island.

Fast forward to September 14, 2019 her dream came true - with a twist.

Kiha and her husband-to-be Dave Cowhan, were married on-board the Freedom Fast Cats boat, the Freedom Sovereign.

The couple said 'I do' in the middle of the ocean.

Kiha grew up visiting the island and her parents bought the old Rainbow Hut, renaming it Tropical Vibes, and moved to the island permanently a few years ago.

The wedding party on the Freedom Fast Cats glass bottom boat which was used to take them to get bridal photos.

Dave proposed to Kiha on holidays in Europe. He popped the question in Santorini, Greece, where Kiha's grandfather was from.

When they began planning the wedding, Kiha knew what she wanted.

"I always imagined if I was to get married it would be over on Great Keppel Island," she said.

The wedding was Kiha's childhood dream come true.

She wanted to do something different and came up with the idea of the getting married on the boat and when she contacted Freedom Fast Cats, they were really enthusiastic.

The girls got ready at Kiha's parents house and the boys next door.

The bridal party Mel Wright, Jess Roth, Bree Close, Courtney Taylor and Lucy Doxanakis with bride Kiha Cowhan.

Guests were picked up from the marina in Freedom Sovereign and those already on the island were taken on the glass bottom boat out to big boat.

The bridal party snuck on the boat and hide in the wheelhouse until it was time.

Kiha Cowhan with captain Max Allen of Freedom Fast Cats. The bridal party hide in the wheelhouse until the ceremony began when they docked at Long Beach.

The day turned out to be perfect with three to five knots and the wind blowing northerly, making their preferred location of Long Beach the best spot to anchor and the couple said their vows, amid the Keppel seas in front of 150 guests on the boat.

The married couple, Kiha and Dave Cowhan on the new boardwalk between Monkey Beach and Long Beach.

Long Beach had always been Kiha's favourite spot on the island, as it is private and you get to have it all to yourself.

The couple were also the first bride and groom to walk down the new boardwalk.

Reception party at Kiha's parent's business, Tropical Vibes on Great Keppel Island.

Dave moved to Rockhampton a few years ago to play for the CQ Capras.

Coming from country NSW, a wedding on a boat was quite different for his family but luckily it was all smooth sailing.

"I think it sounded crazy but when they saw the Sovreign it worked," Kiha said.

Dave and Kiha Cowhan were married on the seas around Kiha's dream location, Great Keppel Island.

"Being such an outdoor ceremony, weather was a concern and we didn't have a back-up plan, just faith it would work.

"Over there you are lucky you can always find a beach that is protected," she said.

"September, just from experience, is always known to be a beautiful time of year."

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SMOOTH SAILING: Couple tie the knot on the high seas - Morning Bulletin

Redhouse Arts Center will present Yasmina Rezas Tony-winning play God of Carnage November 717 in Syracuse, New York.

Directed by Tony nominee Hunter Foster, who is artistic director of the company, the production will feature Jeremy Kushnier (Footloose, Rent, Jersey Boys) as Alan, Jennifer Cody (Shrek, Pajama Game, A Christmas Story) as Annette, Josie DeVincenzo as Veronica, and Sky Seals as Michael.

In God of Carnage, an innocent squabble over a playground incident brings together parents in hopes of resolving the conflict. Diplomacy and niceties among adults soon deteriorate into a childish evening of name-calling, tears, and tantrums.

The production will also feature scenic and lighting design by Marie Yokohama, costumes by Donnie Williams, sound design by Anthony Vadala, and associate direction by Adrian Beck. Cynthia Reid will be the stage manager with Ryan Albinus as the assistant stage manager, Josh Reid as the production manager, and Scott Little as the technical director.

Visit TheRedHouse.org.

See What Your Favorite Stars Are Up to Away From Broadway With Playbill Universe

The American premiere of Yasmina Reza's God of Carnage began previews at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre Feb. 28. The production stars Jeff Daniels, Hope Davis, James Gandolfini and Marcia Gay Harden.

Cody and Foster have been special guest performers on on Playbill Travels Broadway on the High Seas cruises. Cabins are now on sale for Broadway in the Great Northwest, Playbill Travels first domestic cruise featuring Kate Baldwin, Tedd Firth, Aaron Lazar, and Faith Prince (April 26May 4, 2020), and for Broadway on the Mediterranean (August 31September 7, 2020), featuring Audra McDonald, Will Swenson, Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy and Lindsay Mendez, and for Broadway on the Nile (December 27, 2020January 7, 2021), with performers soon to be announced. To book a suite or stateroom, call Playbill Travel at 866-455-6789 or visit PlaybillTravel.com.

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Jeremy Kushnier, Jennifer Cody, More Will Star in Redhouse Arts Center's God of Carnage - Playbill.com

In 1492, Christopher Columbus, of course, sailed the ocean blue. And on his journey home, he wrote a letter to his patrons, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain, describing his discovery of the new world, and in effect, asking for more money to make another trip. Columbus' voyage marked one of the great plot points in history. Upon his return, his letter was printed and distributed throughout Europe, making for blockbuster news. Columbus' original handwritten letter, penned on the high seas, no longer exists, but some of the printed copies do. Most are housed in prestigious libraries, and for centuries, that's where they've remained. That is, until about 10 years ago, when authorities discovered some of these treasures had been stolen and replaced with forgeries. So began a modern kind of trans-Atlantic quest, as investigators in the U.S. and Europe worked to recover Columbus' missing missives and solve this most unusual international mystery.

If there is one library in the world you'd think would be impervious to theft, this would be it. The Vatican library in rome houses a vast and unrivaled collection of historic treasures. It is the pope's library, home to manuscripts going back nearly 2000 years. The library is closed to the public, it's a place for scholars only. But Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice prefect, invited us inside.

It was here in 2011 that Vatican officials first discovered that one of their prized items, a Columbus letter, had somehow been stolen and replaced with a fake.

Jon Wertheim: How do you think this happened?

Ambrogio Piazzoni (Translation): Look I do not know. I have no idea how and when it may have happened. Certainly it was an operation carried out as a proper theft. But I do not know when or how.

He is in good company. At the center of this mystery: this eight-page letter, written at sea by Christopher Columbus, more than 500 years ago. In it, he describes his first impressions of the new world. A wonderland, he writes, filled with rivers, gold and timid natives.

When Columbus' letter arrived at the royal court in Spain in 1493, it was promptly sent to Rome, where it was translated into Latin and printed, spreading the news of his extraordinary expedition.

Jon Wertheim: So this was big news? Columbus makes this voyage and suddenly, this is being disseminated?

Jay Dillon: This is some of the biggest news ever

Jay Dillon is a rare book dealer in New Jersey. He ranks the Columbus letter as one of the most important documents ever printed.

Jay Dillon: This was one of the first bestsellers. It is probably the first contemporary account of anything to be published across Europe.Today, only about 30 copies of this Columbus letter still exist.

Jay Dillon: Each one is now worth something in the low 7 figures

Jon Wertheim: More than a million dollars?

Jay Dillon: More than a million but probably less than $4 or $5 million

It was while researching Columbus letters on his home computer, back in 2011, that Jay Dillon first noticed something amiss. The National Library of Catalonia in Barcelona had posted photos of their Columbus letter online. What struck Dillon as odd: it looked exactly like a Columbus letter that he had seen for sale a year earlier, right down to the same smudge marks in the margins.

Jon Wertheim: And you're telling yourself what at this point?

Jay Dillon: I'm telling myself that one of them has to be a forgery.

Jon Wertheim: Why is that?

Jay Dillon: Because you cant have two books with the same random brown spots in the margins. It's just impossible.

Jon Wertheim: What confirmed your suspicions were these matching marks from these texts that were 500 years old?

Jay Dillon: That's right. Exactly

Jon Wertheim: That would not happen.

Jay Dillon: That cannot happen.

Jay suspected the library's letter had been stolen and put up for sale, which meant whatever was currently in their collection was a fake.

Jay Dillon: It was so remarkable, I couldn't believe it at first. And I made it my business from that moment on to look at every original I could.

And so it was that Jay Dillon became an unlikely detective. Following his instincts, he visited libraries in Rome and Florence and took a look at their Columbus letters.

Jay Dillon: To my utter astonishment, a Columbus letter in the Vatican library was a forgery. And then I went to the Biblioteca Riccardiana in Florence and damned if the same thing doesn't happen again. Their Columbus letter is a fake too.

Afraid that notifying the libraries might alert the culprit, he decided instead to take his information to the Department of Justice.

Mark Olexa: It seemed like it was almost out of a Hollywood movie script.

Homeland Security special agent Mark Olexa led the investigation, along with assistant U.S. attorney for the District of Delaware, Jamie McCall.

Jamie McCall: Similar reaction. I thought it was a John Grisham novel. That we had some people in Europe stealing these treasures of the world and replacing them with high quality forgeries.

Jon Wertheim: You say Hollywood script, you say John Grisham. Were you skeptical?

Jamie McCall: Of course we have to confirm what our tipster was providing us

They turned to Paul Needham, one of the world's foremost experts on 15th century printing. He runs the Scheide Library at Princeton University, home to one of the most valuable private collections of books on earth. And now it was Needham's turn to travel to Europe to examine the letters. In each case, he determined the originals had indeed been removed and replaced with photographic facsimiles printed on centuries-old paper.

Paul Needham: The Columbus letter being a highly collected book it's just the perfect combination. Both very small and very valuable their value per leaf of paper is higher than for any other printed book.

Jon Wertheim: You're saying this is the perfect item to forge.

Paul Needham: It's the perfect item to forge.

Jon Wertheim: And there's a market for it?

Paul Needham: There's always been a market for it

This turned into a trans-Atlantic collaboration. A legacy, you might say, of Christopher Columbus.

Mark Olexa: We engaged quickly with Carabinieri.

Enter Giovanni Prisco, captain of the Carabinieri Police's Cultural Heritage Squad, based in Rome. His unit investigates property theft from private homes, churches and libraries. In Italy, it is a crime market second only to that of illegal drug and weapon sales.

Jon Wertheim: We are in this country with so many artifacts, with so many churches you must be very busy.

Giovanni Prisco: Yes we are very, very busy, of course.

One of the most valuable art collections in Europe isn't housed in a museum visited by millions of tourists, but in this warehouse in the back of his police station. It's basically an evidence locker for stolen artifacts.

Jon Wertheim: This is all art that you've seizedGiovanni Prisco: Yes, there are some archaeological items some fake and contemporary arts, and some antiques, paintings, like--

Jon Wertheim: What is this?

Giovanni Prisco: Yes, like that one. This is a Caravaggio, it's coming from school of Caravaggio.

Jon Wertheim: Caravaggio.

Giovanni Prisco: Yes, and it is a paint stolen at the end of 1990 and was from a private house. It was discovered in the north of Italy.

Jon Wertheim:What does a Caravaggio go for these days?

Giovanni Prisco: It is millions of dollars of course.

Jon Wertheim: Millions of dollars.

Giovanni Prisco: Yes, it's a great paint, it's quite big and it's coming from Caravaggio's hands.

But wait there's more: amphoras, sculptures and dozens of masterpieces. An original Tiepolo. And this painting by Peter Paul Reubens.

Jon Wertheim: Oh wow.

Giovanni Prisco: It's a Madonna.

Jon Wertheim: This is a Rubens.

Giovanni Prisco: Yes, it's a real Rubens. It's not a fake.

Captain Prisco says one of their biggest challenges these days is protecting Italy's rare books. The country has more than 18,000 libraries.

Jon Wertheim: Why is it so difficult to protect books from theft?

Giovanni Prisco: because books, some of them are really small and it's not difficult to put under your arm or in your jacket.

While book thefts are often committed by insiders, in the case of the Columbus letters, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jamie McCall suspects there may have been more than one person involved.

Jamie McCall: It requires access. It requires the ability to create high quality forgeries. And then the ability to know where and how to sell these Columbus letters on the private market.

Jon Wertheim: One name that keeps coming up is Massimo De Caro. Familiar name to you guys?

Jamie McCall: Yes, Massimo De Caro was prosecuted by the Italian authorities for pilfering thousands of rare books and he was involved in the sale of at least one of the Columbus letters at issue.

Jon Wertheim: This was someone who's been involved in these kind of crimes before?

Jamie McCall: Yes, correct.

Jon Wertheim: Fair to characterize him as a person of interest?

Jamie McCall: He is a subject in the investigation.

The Columbus letters themselves may be hard to track down, but this subject in the investigation is not exactly in hiding. Massimo De Caro, a notorious Italian book thief, just finished serving a seven-year sentence for stealing thousands of ancient books and manuscripts from Italian libraries and selling them overseas. To our surprise, he agreed to meet with us at his home in Orvieto, a hill town an hour's drive north of Rome. To say that he professes his innocence would be an act of considerable understatement.

Jon Wertheim: The police say you are a subject in this investigation. Does that concern you?

Massimo De Caro: You know, first of all, the police in Italy, regarding books are the worst, ok? They even don't know how is made one book. I love Italy too much to say which level they are, ok?

Jon Wertheim: But doesn't bother you that you are a person of interest?

Massimo De Caro: No, no, I mean, I would like to help but--

Jon Wertheim: You want to help?

Massimo De Caro: Yes I would like to help. If I work on it, I'm sure I can solve.

Jon Wertheim: You think you're smarter than the police.

Massimo De Caro: Let's say that I am more expert than them.

Jon Wertheim: In this field.

Massimo De Caro: In this field, yes.

De Caro is not just a convicted thief, he's also an accomplished forger. He spent years making a fake Galileo book, which fooled the experts and sold for almost a half million dollars. He showed us another Galileo reproduction he made.

Massimo De Caro: you can see the quality of the paper. I used antique paper.

Jon Wertheim: You did this? This is your handiwork.

Massimo De Caro: Yes, it all. I am very proud about this.

Jon Wertheim: You're very proud of this.

Massimo De Caro: Yes.

Jon Wertheim: If this book were original, what would this fetch on the market? What would someone pay for this?

Massimo De Caro: $300,000 at least

De Caro admits he sold two Columbus letters, which he says he bought legitimately from an anonymous collector. But he denies he ever made a fake Columbus letter. Why? For one thing, he says, it's too easy.

Jon Wertheim: You could've reproduced one of these Columbus letters.

Massimo De Caro: Oh if I try? I can, I'm sure I can create the best Columbus letter.

Massimo De Caro: If I create a Columbus letter, then we can show this Columbus letter to all the expert that you want and I'm sure I can bet that nobody recognize it is a fake.

Jon Wertheim: You think you can fool them?

Massimo De Caro: Yes.

Eight years into the joint U.S.-Italian investigation, no arrests have been made in the case, but three stolen Columbus letters have been recovered. No easy task, as they were sold in private sales to wealthy collectors, who, investigators say, weren't aware the letters had been stolen.

Jon Wertheim: How did you start tracking down the originals?

Mark Olexa: We relied heavily on Dr. Needham. He had a great roadmap of transactions and who was possessing and selling these Columbus letters throughout the world.

They were found in the most surprising places. The letter stolen from the Riccardiana Library in Florence turned up in, get this, the U.S. Library of Congress, alongside national treasures like the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Jamie McCall: They were shocked. They were stunned. As you can imagine. The letter had been donated to the Library of Congress in 2004 by one of their major donors. As for the Vatican's stolen Columbus letter, it was traced to a wealthy Atlanta collector, who had bought it in 2004 for almost $1 million. Last year, Ambrogio Piazzoni, the vice prefect of the Vatican library, was on hand when it was returned to its rightful home.

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Rare, million-dollar copies of a letter written by Christopher Columbus replaced with fakes - 60 Minutes - CBS News

Today, Sperry Top-Siders come in a variety of styles and colors.

It was a brush with death paired with a dogs surefootedness that inspired the now-classic piece of footwear: the boat shoe.

In the 1930s, Paul Sperry was an executive at New Havens Pond Lily Co., a dyer and finisher of fabrics and shoes. In his spare time he would often take to his beloved sailboat, a cutter named Sirocco, on the waters around Connecticuts coast. Sailing was part of Sperrys family: His great-grandfather had regaled him as a boy with tales of the South Seas, and Sperrys younger brother, Armstrong Sperry, would become a celebrated writer of sailing adventures, winning the Newbery Medal for his 1940 work Call It Courage.

But Paul Sperrys own sailing adventures didnt always go smoothly. According to the Sperry companys official history, after sailing through unusually rough seas, Sperry slipped on the wet deck and fell overboard, almost dying in the process. After this harrowing experience, he decided to try to make the sea a safer place by designing a shoe with better traction. The existing shoes for boating were merely ordinary leather shoes with rubber soles. Sperry wanted a shoe capable of gripping boat decks even when they became slick with water, as they inevitably would.

He began working on various designs, but with little success until the winter of 1935, when he watched his dog run without slipping across the ice on a cold Connecticut day. He examined his four-legged friends paw and noticed the pads contained an intricate pattern of cracks. These natural grooves helped account for the animals surefootedness. Sperry decided to imitate those patterns. He experimented with cutting patterns of grooves into gum-rubber shoe soles, The New York Times noted in 1986. Through trial and many errors, he finally discovered that slits carved into a sole in parallel herringbone patterns afforded the superior grip he was after.

In 1939, 80 years ago this month, Sperry was granted a patent for what would become the worlds first boat shoe. The most popular early design was the Sperry Top-Sider. It quickly became an in-demand item for boating enthusiasts. Many members of the Cruising Club of America wrote Sperry to request a pair of the shoes, and at the outbreak of World War II, Sperry attracted what is arguably the best client for a boating-related product: the U.S. Navy, which named the Top-Sider one of its official shoes.

U.S. Rubber bought the Top-Sider patents shortly after they were granted, but Sperry continued with the company as a consultant. And the boat shoes continued to increase in popularity. They had already conquered the high seas, but they were destined for success on land as well. Not only were the shoes comfortable, they came with an implied sense of status few other products did. After all, if you had boat shoes, the implication was that you had a boat. Landlubbers began to clamor for them. In the 1960s the Kennedy family was photographed wearing the shoes, and they became popular on college campuses and among surfers.

In 1980, The Official Preppy Handbook endorsed the shoes, cementing their link to popped-collar fashion. These days the shoes enjoy continued popularity and are worn by men and women alike during the summer months.

Earlier this year, Nick Sullivan, Esquires former fashion director, was asked by a reader of that magazine if it was OK to wear socks with boat shoes. Listen carefully and no one need get hurt, he wrote in response. Never put boat shoes and socks in the same sentence again the best-dressed sailors always go bare ankle.

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80 years ago a Connecticut inventor patented an icon of prepdom: the boat shoe. - Connecticut Magazine