Food

In the wine tasting world, if you have a wine that starts with the letter A, you have a distinct advantage. Tasters have a “clean” palate and are starting fresh. J Vineyards starts and ends with one letter, J, and …

Paccheri is a pasta shape that is all the rage in the US at the moment. It’s been in several cooking magazines of late, mentioned on blogs and featured on hot restaurant menus, but I haven’t seen them sold in …

I do my diligence with attention and care when it comes to considering a restaurant and its dinner and wine list.  Does it live up to its story by delivering the goods, like listing all the ingredients for each menu item …

A leading wine publication, Wine Enthusiast, has revealed its Top 10 Wine Travel Destinations for this year, and many are real eye-openers.  It based the choices on international wine countries, extraordinary food and cultural points. Italian locations could have taken up …

Pesce crudo (Italian for “raw fish”) and Japanese sashimi both rely on ultra-fresh seafood, but that’s where the similarities end. Italians near the coastline have been eating raw fish for a long time. In particular, fisherman with their returning catch …

It is a well known occasion among knowledgable wine consumers that the beginning of the California wine revolution began with an extraordinary blind wine tasting of French and California wines in Paris in 1976, known as the Paris Tasting. In …

Frank Mangio loves his job.  First of all, he describes his office as a “cozy wine bar,” complete with overstuffed furniture, walls covered with photographs and several coolers housing more than one hundred bottles of wine. Not a bad place …

To the east of Rome lies Abruzzo, one of the hidden gems among the patchwork that is Italy.  A sparsely populated land of stunning natural beauty and ancient customs, the motto of Abruzzo is Forte e gentile, a strong land …

I have a food blogger confession. Truth be told, I used to be terrified of the spaghetti squash. I would gracefully cast my eyes aside as I passed them in the market figuring if I didn’t see them, well then, …

Between the Central California coastal city of Lompoc and the town of Buellton, just west of the 101, lies 30,700 square acres of the Sta. Rita Hills.  This pristine, peaceful land is located in Santa Barbara County and is part of the Santa Ynez Valley AVA. ( American Viticulture Area) …