Friday, November 21, 2008

Signy Coleman is cookin' up a lot of great stuff these days


You might have first spotted the beautiful Signy Coleman in the 1980s Huey Lewis and the News videos "Heart and Soul" or "I Want a New Drug." Or you might have caught her as one of the new Valentine Girl prospects Sue Ellen Ewing was checking out on our beloved "Dallas" in 1987. Or you might have first seen her as Celeste DiNapoli on our beloved "Santa Barbara." Heck, you might have even first spotted her as Hope on "The Young and the Restless," a longtime character that was only killed off earlier this year.

Well, BRBTV had the lovely Ms. Coleman on the phone a week or two back, and she filled us in on a whole lot of great stuff she's got going on in her life. In the next installment of a sort of "SB" series, following in the path of our interviews with David Baker and Anthony De Longis, we'll tell you a few of the thoughts she expressed to us about what she's got going on now.

Primary on Coleman's agenda at the moment is "Snaggin' the Stag: A Culinary Agenda," a cookbook she and her sister Bethany have been collaborating on. Wrapped up in that particular project, it's evident when you talk to Signy, are great recipes, some fab continental adventuring, and a whole lot of love. The extended title is "Luring the Hart from Forest to Table, A Book of Cookery," and the writing is rich in imagery and emotional as well as culinary connection. Coleman and her sister traveled to exotic locales like Morocco to secure the inspiration and the research in great taste.

"It's sort of memoirs of food and love and the chase that's involved," she tells us. "We tested all the recipes. We dressed, we photographed, everything is ours. We researched. There's a lot of historical information, as well. It's just really sexy and interesting and funny. My sister is as passionate about food as I am. There are so many good stories about food and love. ... Everybody's got a good story about food."

It's a subject matter for which Coleman truly has a passion.

"I pore through cookbooks and Bon Appetit magazines," she says. "I read cookbooks like people read novels. When you write something and step back from it objectively and think, omigosh, I would want to read this, you get very excited about it."

Also on Coleman's agenda right now is the completion of the official Signy Coleman website, which she and her sister have been working on. Coleman says she found a need for it after reading some less-than-true stuff about herself around the Internet.

"No, I am not married," she laughs. "And I haven't been for years! And yes, I am actively pursuing George Clooney!" (OK, that was a joke! Read: Joke!)

But besides that great stuff, Coleman also does volunteering work and cares for her daughter Isabella, who's still at home (her older daughter Siena, whose dad is Coleman's "SB" costar Vincent Irizarry, is at college).
That's a pretty full **plate**, so to speak! We'll have another excerpt of our interview next Wednesday, when we'll talk a little about her time on "Dallas" and "SB."

You'll see the full interview with Signy Coleman in the next edition of the BRBTV reference book "Send Me to Santa Barbara," the fourth edition, which we hope to publish in the next few months. (Keep in mind that the purchase of any e-edition of a BRBTV reference guide entitles you to all free future updates!)



Photo by Lesley Bohm and used by permission; copy at your own risk

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