I’d been holding on to a bottle of Kendall-Jackson Late Harvest Chardonnay since before the holidays, because I wanted to try it with this recipe from winery chef Eric Frischkorn. Somehow the holidays got away from me, and then I was travelling, and suddenly it’s Spring… Anyway, I finally took a crack at the recipe [...]

Here’s a fun promotion that landed in my inbox recently. I’m totally in for the French Cocktail Hour idea  – and there’s also a chance to win a trip to France. Check it out: We should all take a page out of the French party handbook. What other country would have a government agency, the French [...]

A few weeks ago, I was having dinner with my parents, and my dad opened a bottle of Chardonnay he had recently bought on a wine auction site he uses. WineBid.com, I think it was. I don’t know what he paid for it exactly, but I’m sure it was well under the suggested retail price at release [...]

Before we visited India a couple of years ago, my friend and I loaded up on various vaccines and meds, including a supply of Malarone, a prescription that is supposed to prevent malaria. I don’t remember the exact costs of all the shots and pills we each received, but I do remember that it wasn’t cheap. Several [...]

When I switched this site to its current blog format, I had a lot of archived content to transfer over. In fact, I’m not close to finished… Anyway, one of the most requested “help! where did it go?” recipes has been this easy, decadent gratin. The trick is cooking the potatoes on the stovetop briefly before transferring [...]

My friend Joe makes what has to be the world’s most garlicky Caesar salad. It is ever-changing otherwise — the amounts of anchovies and cheese seem to vary in a hard-to-pinpoint relationship to the amount of wine I’ve plied Joe with during the preparation of said salad. But the garlic remains the same. It is seriously, [...]

This is the time of year that I start scouting around for a new crop of Zinfandels to pair with barbecue. For me, the ripe, pepper-laced red berry flavors of the Zin pair wonderfully with all kind of ‘cue — from saucy ribs to smoky brisket and all BBQ goodness in between. Here are a few I’ve [...]