Tag Archives: paper

Day 55: Chef Marc Vetri

Chef Marc with father Sal making meatballs

Chef Marc with father Sal making meatballs

Marc Vetri, famed chef from the City of Brotherly Love, has the best recipe for meatballs on the planet. And he has shared it – it’s the equivalent of putting Prozac in the water. They will make you very happy.

The recipe was coupled with this quote from Vetri, “My father instilled three things in me: (1) Always work for yourself—no matter what, be the boss; (2) Always have integrity—you are only as good as your word; (3) Always use veal, pork, and beef in meatballs. Life really is that simple!” Good advice.

 

Day55vetri

Dear Marc,

Congratulations on your recent article in the Huffington Post regarding the state of restaurant reviews in this country. You are spot on! I remember talking with local (DC) restaurateur Andy Shallal once and him saying how when his first restaurant was reviewed he woke up at like 4am to drive over to the Washington Post to get a paper and read the review. It was glowing and his restaurant was booked for months after that.

My hope is that you and other chefs continue to pour your energy, precision and knowledge into creating delicious meals for your customers, because the rest is probably out of your control.

Here's a shot of my recent batch of Sal's Old School Meatballs

Here’s a shot of my recent batch of Sal’s Old School Meatballs

A few years back I stumbled upon your recipe for Sal’s Old School Meatballs. They are the best meatballs I have ever had. Thank you, thank you, thank you – and thank your dad!

If you choose to write back – I’d love to receive another recipe that you love. I promise to try to do it justice.

All the best to you and your family – I hope to some day have the pleasure of dining in one of your restaurants.

All the best,
Reed Sandridge

Day 52: Aunt Kay

It’s cold outside here in DC – perfect weather for letter-writing!

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

My aunt has very nice penmanship.

I think this is my fourth letter to the state of Oklahoma. There are two dozen states that I haven’t written even once. My unscientific hypothesis is that Oklahomans like to write letters.

Earlier this week I got a nice handwritten note from my Aunt Kay who lives outside of Oklahoma City. She was in DC for nearly a month helping to care for her brother who has had some health problems. I got to see her a few times while she was in DC and enjoyed very much the time we spent together.

I wrote back to her this morning.

Day 52

Dear Aunt Kay,

What a pleasant surprise to find your card in my mailbox today. I very much enjoyed spending time with you when you were here in Washington. You’re probably glad you are not here now – we got about four inches of snow and it has been terribly cold. I picked up lunch (Thai) on Saturday – actually it was Sunday – and visited with Haeworth. He seemed good and I enjoyed our conversation. I stopped by on Tuesday and dropped off some ice-cream that he likes from Glen’s Garden Mkt: Steve’s Small Batch Bourbon Vanilla.

I hope that you a had a good visit with Doug – I bet that was nice to have him home. Give Ted a hug for me – I hope he’s doing ok. Let me know when you might be back in town – I look forward to that.

Love,
Jason
PS – Yes, believe it or not, Haeworth & I have different zip codes.

Day 51: Ms. Brennan, US Postmaster General

On this day in 1792, President George Washington signed the Postal Service Act which created the U.S. Postal Service and outlined the congressional power to establish mail routes. So, it seemed appropriate to write to our new Postmaster General. Megan Brennan took over the 500,000 employee organization on February 1st.

 

Day 51

Dear Ms. Brennan,

Congratulations on becoming the 74th, and first female, Postmaster General!

Today marks the 223rd anniversary of President George Washington signing the Postal Service Act into law and outlining the congressional power to establish mail routes in our country. In observance of this occasion, I took this opportunity to reflect on our postal system and the how it has changed in the recent years.

I’m just another one of your 300 million customers. That said, I’m responsible for generating at least one first class single piece mail item every day (you’re welcome). I know that’s not much when you consider the 513 million mail pieces that you deliver every day, but perhaps I can suggest a way to increase your first class single piece mail business.

Day 51I’ve committed to sending one handwritten letter every day for a year – you’re Day 51. Many people tell me that they have been inspired by my project to write more letters. This is a good thing for you. Now, my platform isn’t such that the ripples of my project alone are likely to make a noticeable difference for you, but from someone who specializes in helping organizations strategically use story to achieve business objectives, I see an opportunity for you to invest in nontraditional marketing efforts to fuel more of these kinds of endeavors. It’s not that Americans lack a desire to write and send letters, we lack inspiration. And inspiration can be created.

Just an idea. If you share my vision that an opportunity exists and want to explore this further, you know where to find me.

Sincerely,
Reed Sandridge

PS. I grew up “down the road” from you in Mechanicsburg.

Day 49: Lovely Handwritten Notes

So I found this site Lovely Handwritten Notes and thought that I should definitely write to them! Unfortunately, it looks like there hasn’t been new posts on the website for quite some time, but perhaps I will still get a response – and some tips!

Day 49

Dear friend,

I stumbled upon your project today and was surprised that I hadn’t heard of it until now. Even more of a surprise was that you live right here in Washington, DC. We might be neighbors!

We share a common passion for handwritten communication – it’s truly unique and has the power to transmit so much more thoughtfulness and compassion than electronic messages. Our penmanship conveys a higher level of communication than the words themselves.

I wanted to write to you and congratulate you on your Lovely Handwritten Notes project and also see if you had any advice for my Year of Letters project – perhaps we could meet for coffee sometime?

Warm regards,
Reed

Day 42: The White House


Before you get all excited that I am firing off letters to President Obama – which I plan to do at some point – I should let you know that the house I lived in during college was infamously known as The White House. We threw parties there every week to help pay for college. Did we make money? Well, as an adult now I realize we probably should have been declaring income.

These are my friends Thom and Tressa - they didn't live there but they did meet in that kitchen and are married today. Those are some of the dishes that were there (literally sitting in the exact same spot unwashed) when we lived there in the 90s.

These are my friends Thom and Tressa – they didn’t live there but they did meet in that kitchen and are married today. Those are some of the dishes that were there (literally sitting in the exact same spot unwashed) when we lived there in the 90s.

Anyway, I got together with some of my roommates and friends from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in October and hung out in our old stomping grounds. The highlight was a visit to The White House. We were surprised by two things. First, the guys who live there now were there and let us in and second, the house looked (and smelled) exactly the same. In fact I’m quite sure the landlord has done nothing to that house, except raise the rent, in twenty years.

This post is dedicated to Brian, Emo, Doug, Dan and Dave.

day 42-2

Hey guys,

I’ve been meaning to drop you a note to say thanks for showing us around our old house when my roommates and I stopped by in October. We called it the White House back then. Anyway, it was cool to see it. It seriously hasn’t changed a bit especially the kitchen and bathroom. You guys were cool – we said to each other after we left that you reminded us a lot of ourselves 20 years ago.

Good luck to you,
Reed Sandridge (’97)