Food writer, award-winning pastry chef, and baker Justin Burke will be the final entry to this year’s CulinaryArts@SPAC series, introducing his first-ever cookbook, ‘Potluck Desserts: Joyful Recipes to Share with Pride, 7 p.m. Thursday, Dec. 4.

“This cookbook is really trying to break the mold of what we perceive as what a cookbook should be,” Burke said during a phone interview last week. “We're seeing that more with the newer cookbooks that are coming out, that the storytelling of food is being included in cookbooks.”

This was planned as an interview for a Sunday Life and Arts story, but Justin Burke was so forthcoming with his thoughts, his stories about his past, baking, and even touching on food insecurity in South Carolina and what he is doing to make a difference.

There was too much for my allotted print space.

Justin Burke was kind enough to let me post our conversation on Tell Me Your Story.

Enjoy.

Joni Bonilla is great with dogs.

She has cared for and trained them. And for the past 10 years, she has paired dogs from shelters with veterans and first responders and provided a free guided training program for post-traumatic stress and mobility service dogs.

If you ask her "How many placements have you made?”

Her answer is simple — “I don’t know.”

Her reasoning is unique, heartwarming, and, at times, heartbreaking.

Daily Gazette reporter Chad Arnold will be changing roles within the Gazette News Group shortly, leaving the daily Schenectady County beat and focusing solely on healthcare within the Capital Region.

This new role is supported by the newly established Community Journalism Fund, managed by The Schenectady Foundation in partnership with The Daily Gazette.

It is just the first plank within the Community Journalism Fund planned on focused, deep-dive journalism into issues that impact the Daily Gazette Family of Newspapers readership.

Chad talked about the opportunity, how he came to find a career in journalism and why he dropped an early plan of being a rock 'n roll journalist to write about things that to him, made a difference.

It was my pleasure to have Chad Arnold, journalist, tell me his story.

Heather Lent is a mainstay on Jay Street in Schenectady, offering the sweetest offerings in the Electric City from her Bittersweet Candy storefront, but she hasn’t always been there. The Schalmont grad spent time in the Hudson Valley, opened Bittersweet Candy in several variations before returning to the Capital Region.

Business editor Shenandoah Briere and Digital Content Producer invited Lent into The Daily Gazette podcast studio to talk about her culinary travels and her passion for Jay Street and its neighbors.

Niskayuna resident Jordan Modiano has had a passion for speed since childhood. It was only surpassed by his love for his daughter, Rachel.

The business owner, race car driver, and parent of a daughter within the autism spectrum merged those passions to create the annual Upstate Chevy Dealers Autism Acceptance Race at Albany-Saratoga Speedway on Friday, Sept. 5.

I sat down with Modiano at one of his two Express Employment Professionals locations to talk about racing, his daughter, and autism awareness.

At just 14 years old, Sydney Worthley released her first album. Fast-forward through the pandemic, and two more albums later, she is the opening act for the Schenectady County Summer Night free concert series on State Street, in front of thousands of fans.

The 2025 Eddy Pop Artist of the Year award-winner talks about her musical influences as a Taylor Swift fan, her time spent at Freedom Park, and her own Taylor Swift sing-a-long series to her latest album 'It Was Fun While It Lasted.'

She isn't done writing music, producing her albums, and has plans that need to be taken seriously.

She was a joy to sit down with and I think you will enjoy Sydney Worthley as she Tells Me Her Story.

The All-American celebration in Saratoga Springs has stepped off with the annual Firecracker 4 4-mile race throughout the city for the past 18 years.

Its creation, growth, and continued success began with a meeting among a dedicated group of parents seeking to raise funds for Saratoga Springs High School’s cross-country, track, and field programs.

Charlie Woodruff, Bob Vanderminden, Jr., along with Peter Goutos, were a part of the original group that met and have shepherded the Firecracker 4 4-mile race from its inaugural race with 150 runners to an expected 2,500 runners this year.

The Daily Gazette interviewed Peter Goutos, just days before the event begins on Friday morning in front of the Saratoga Springs City Center, discussing the race’s inception, growth, and its future.