Ma Vie en Rose: Rose Levy Beranbaum Memoir Release
About this Event
A Celebration of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Ma Vie En Rose
Join us at Foppiano Vineyards in Healdsburg, California, for an intimate evening celebrating the release of legendary baker and cookbook author Rose Levy Beranbaum’s new memoir, Ma Vie En Rose (My Sweet Life). Tickets are all-inclusive, giving guests the opportunity to enjoy the full evening of conversation, food, wine, and special treats.
The evening will feature Rose in conversation with Eileen Joy Spitalny, co-founder of Fairytale Brownies; Melissa Yanc, owner of Quail & Condor; and Woody Hirschfeld, for a lively discussion exploring baking, storytelling, entrepreneurship, creativity, and Rose’s remarkable career.
Guests will enjoy special bites from Point Reyes Farmstead Cheese Company, beautiful bread and seasonal dips and stone fruit galettes from Melissa and the Quail & Condor team, and take-home Fairytale Brownies featuring custom labels inspired by Rose’s memoir.
An intimate gathering of food lovers, chefs, media, and members of Sonoma County’s culinary community, this special evening offers a chance to celebrate Rose’s extraordinary legacy and the sweet story behind Ma Vie En Rose.
About the Participants
Rose Levy Beranbaum is an internationally known food and baking expert. She has been called the “diva of desserts,” “the most meticulous cook who ever lived,” and “legendary baker.” She has published fifteen books. The Cake Bible was inducted into both the IACP and James Beard Cookbook Hall of Fame (seven other awards include the Who’s Who and Les Dames d’Escoffier International Philadelphia Chapter Outstanding in Her Field Award). Her memoir, Ma Vie en Rose, includes time capsules of the evolving golden age of the food world, interwoven with her career. Rose also has written for major food magazines, and had a PBS Show. Rose is a designer of equipment for baking and cooking. Her popular blog is Real Baking with Rose. She lives in New Jersey with her husband and partner Woody Wolston.
Woody Hirschfeld An email to Rose's website in 2003, to ask some questions from The Cake Bible, became a journey's beginning of many email discussions and recipe testing from his Minneapolis home to his becoming Rose's first-time assistant for testing and writing Rose's Heavenly Cakes and, in 2021 her husband. With the production of The Baking Bible, Woody moved east to be able to work and write side by side with Rose. After collaborating with Rose on five of her books, Woody co-authored The Cake Bible 35th Anniversary edition in 2024. Woody contributed dozens of “Time Capsules” to give Rose’s memoir, Ma Vie en Rose, a’common thread’. The Time Capsules highlight events, publications, a prominent person(s) in the food and cookbook world, with additional text relating to Rose if relevant.
Eileen Joy Spitalny is the co-founder of Fairytale Brownies, the beloved gourmet brownie company she launched with kindergarten friend David Kravetz in 1992. Brownies.com went live in 1994 making it one of the first – if not THE first - food e-commerce sites. A passionate entrepreneur, quoted leader, and storyteller, she has inspired countless business owners through her journey of building one of America's most recognized specialty food brands from a beloved family recipe. Her organization is also very involved with the national non-profit KABOOM!, helping end play space inequity across the US.
Melissa McGaughey
Melissa (Yanc) McGaughey has spent 16 years in pastry, opening her first bakery in Denver at 23 before leading programs at Bien Cuit in New York and Gjusta in Los Angeles. She relocated to Northern California in 2019, where she joined SingleThread as Hotel Pastry Chef and won Food Network's Holiday Baking Championship. In 2020, she and her husband, Chef Sean McGaughey, bootstrapped Quail & Condor, a retail bakery in Healdsburg that has since been named a James Beard Award semifinalist for Outstanding Bakery (2025) and recognized by The New York Times as one of the best bakeries in America. They followed that with Troubadour Bread & Bistro in 2022, a bakery and coffee bar by day and a seven-course tasting menu bistro by night, which earned a Michelin star in 2026. In December 2025, the couple expanded beyond Sonoma County, partnering with longtime friend Chef Matt Vawter to open Threefold Bakery in Breckenridge, Colorado. Follow along with Melissa on Instagram.
Media Inquiries:
Emily Haws
[email protected]
Where is it happening?
Event Location & Nearby Stays:
USD 75.00
