We're back in business this weekend, with food festivals from coast to coast (actually just on both coasts). And since it's finally beautiful outside, there's no excuse to shy away from amazing opportunities to consume ridiculous amounts of strawberries, artichokes and (as always) alcohol.
Savor: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience (May 16-17, 2008) - Don't be turned off by the pretentious name -- instead embrace the chance to attend a reception-style sampling (it's Washington, D.C., what did you expect?) of over 35 appetizers and 96 craft beers. The pairings look amazing, with duos like Santa Cruz Mountain Brewing's Dread stout beer with pan-seared pilsener sirloin tips with shiitake blue-cheese sauce. I'm salivating. Tickets must be purchased in advance.
The Food and Wine Festival at National Harbor (May 17-18, 2008) - And while you're in the nation's capital, check out the tons and tons of exciting foodie events down on the Potomac River. Attend lectures, panels, tastings and shows, and I definitely wouldn't miss the Maine-style clam bake either. With an emphasis on foods from across the globe (food will be divided by continent in the main tasting pavilion), this definitely seems like an all-hit, no-miss opportunity. And there are more!
Esquire has a great list of the 75 skills that every man should master. And among those 75 things are several food and drink-related skills. Here's how I made out.
#7 on the list is "Cook meat somewhere other than the grill." This is the easiest one for me because I haven't cooked anything on a grill since I worked in restaurants years ago (and I don't bbq). #17 is "Make one drink, in large batches, very well." Does iced tea count? If it's booze, I'll have to work on this one. #32 is something I've never had a problem with, "Describe a glass of wine in one sentence without using the words nutty, fruity, oakey, finish, or kick." I usually just say something like "this Cabernet is really, really good!"
Are wine-lovers pretentious, easily-manipulated fools who can't tell Two-Buck Chuck from a pricey Napa cabernet? Eric Asimov inquires.
Urban farmers: now selling at your local farmer's market.
The myths and realities of organics - Curious Cook Harold McGee looks for some real information and comes up kinda empty-handed. Seems everyone has their biases.
The Minimalist does crustless quiche, in cute little ramekins. OMG, the one with sauteed mushrooms sounds so good!
It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you:
a) are a hipster of the American Northwest b) love wine c) have never attended a crawfish boil d) are hungry
If you, like me, find yourself nodding emphatically at these criteria, read on! This weekend offers food festivals sprinkled across the country, promising some of the most interesting and delicious foods I've seen in a while.
There are always excuses to eat, but I find that there are rarely opportunities to just completely go nuts and eat everything in sight. So when these opportunities do come along (vacations to Europe, birthdays, Thanksgiving), it's best to take complete advantage. For me, food festivals definitely qualify as all-you-can-eat events. I remember my parents bringing me to Taste of Bethesda every year when I was growing up, and how exciting it was to chow through streets and streets of delicious foods.
Starting right now, I'll be giving you guys a weekly heads up about upcoming Food Festivals from around the country. Sadly, we don't have too many in the Philadelphia area, so I'll be living vicariously through the comments of those of you who are able to attend -- please relay all of the juicy details!
There are details about this weekend's festivals after the jump. For those who can't attend, perhaps this sweet gallery from Taste of Vail (April 2-5, 2008) will carry us through. Expect more to come!
On a recent trip to Whole Foods, I discovered First Blush gourmet grape juices. It comes in four different varieties that map directly to different types of wine: Cabernet, Merlot, Rosé, and Chardonnay. This is the perfect drink for the yuppie in training. If they get to know their grape juices, it's just a small step to becoming a proper wine connoisseur (when they reach legal age, of course). Who knows - the early start might just be the extra edge they need to help them impress their dates and close business deals. Call it the training wheels of the wine industry.
Each variety is 100% juice and so tasty that you may want to drink it along with the kids. I've been mixing mine with some sparkling water to create a light and refreshing "grape fizz".
I know times are tough (aren't they always?). We may be on the verge of a recession and a lot of people are worried, and maybe some are thinking of turning to a pawnbroker. Well, if you're in Paris, now you can pawn your wine!
The Crédit Municipal de Paris is now accepting wine as collateral for loans to its customers. Leave it to the French to pawn wine. A spokesman for the pawnbroker says that this move attracts customers who wouldn't want to pawn jewelry or the like, but a valuable bottle of wine is discreet enough to remove from the home.
I hope it never comes to the point where I need to pawn my valuables to pay bills, but I guess I'd have to have valuables to begin with. Maybe I should start collecting wine, just in case!
Are you going to have chocolate, lots and lots of delicious chocolate, on Easter? Not everyone does, and that's ok. But if you are, what are you planning on drinking with it? Obviously the kids won't be indulging, but I say what's wrong with an Easter cocktail.
The only problem with that is sometimes its hard to pair chocolate with beverages other than wine. Wine does generally go superbly with most chocolates, but you'd be surprised to find out that beer can be a great pairing as well. Maybe a nice brandy with that chocolate bunny might be nice. You'd probably have to play around with pairings, but I suggest you do that before Easter Sunday. However, here is something that might help. This article on pairing chocolate with different beverages offers a short list of sure fire matches.
Perhaps you're not planning on gourmet chocolates this year, but it's something to think about all the same. After the kids have crashed from the sugar high and been sent to bed, you may be planning on helping them get rid of the candy. A nice glass of wine, or beer, might be the perfect companion for those chocolate eggs!
A lot of people enjoy an adult beverage now and then (some of them more than others). Did you ever wonder, though, if one was worse for you? I know that thought never has crossed my mind, but apparently it occurred to some researchers and so they set about to look into it.
In a new study published in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, scientists scanned the brains of people diagnosed with alcoholism and found differences in the size of the hippocampus. That's the area of the brain responsible for spatial tasks and memory. Beer drinkers came out with the least damage, followed by those who preferred spirits and wine, respectively.
"The size of the hippocampus was largest in the healthy group – 3.85ml. In beer drinkers it was 3.4ml, while the average for spirit drinkers was 2.9ml, and for wine drinkers, 2.8ml."
Of course there are a lot of other factors that could have played a part here, and this is only very early research. The study does suggest that beer is either less bad for your brain or that it protects your brain a little more than the other beverages. What do you think? Is this all hogwash, or is beer better?
It seems that wine is really in with the 20's crowd and they're a changing force in the market. Starting around 2003 their impact on the industry started to show. The "Millennial Generation" love wine, and what they like isn't all big Cali Cabs or Oaky Chards. For them it's all about fun and offbeat wines like Malbecs from Argentina or a Tempranillo from Spain. And I can relate. These are the wines I love. Sure I'll dive into an Old Vine Zin, or Big Bold Cab, but show me something new, interesting, and different, like a golden and lively Ribolla Gialla , a Sangiovese blend from Maremma, or a dry sparkling wine like Gruet from New Mexico; and I'm all over it.
As one of the early Gen X crowd, sometimes called Gen Jones, I saw the whole change in the wine industry first hand; working in wine shops in the NYC area in my late teens and early 20's. When I started, French wine was it. Old world, elegant and refined, somewhat snooty; and not very accessible. Boring, just like the older Baby Boomers before me who had brought back an interest in wine to the US. These were wines that seemed more for show than enjoyment. (The younger Baby Boomers were more into vodka and illicit substances.) To a few of us young Gen X'ers, German whites, dry or sweet; were daring and fun. Most of the rest had a White Zin as their first wine, sort of a Gateway Wine that led to trying something a bit more serious, but not stuffy. Californian wines started to make a showing, and slowly took over to become the Big Jock on the Block. Later The Aussies stepped up to the plate where they overwhelmed the world with good wine at a low price and in Quantity. The wine industry keeps tabs on these trends and just love where it's heading.
So you tell me. Wine? What do you like? What Generation are you? Baby Boomer, Gen Jones, Gen X, Gen Y otherwise known as the Millennials?
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new Astor Center in New York City. Some of you may have heard me mention one of my favorite shops, Astor Wine & Spirits before; like when I reviewed St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur. When I lived in NY I stopped by there on a weekly basis, now it's more like 6 times a year, which is pretty good when you consider it's over 400 miles from my new home in Mid-Coast Maine.
For the past three years I have been hearing rumors about the Astor Center being developed by Astor Wines & Spirits and they finally opened just last month. The Astor Center is a state or the art culinary education and events center where they have panels, workshops, symposia, seminars, courses on every aspect of the food and beverage world. They have three beautiful spaces for their events, courses, and seminars. The Study- a seminar hall with stadium seating looking down to a teaching kitchen and podium from comfortable seats set at counters set up for professional tastings; with a light box, running water, and a sink for every seat. No spitting in nasty slop buckets here. The Kitchen- A huge, top of the line teaching kitchen with every gadget you can imagine. The Gallery- a multi-use space for wine pairing dinners, food festivals, lectures, and other events.
Their presenter list is nothing short of amazing with top experts in all areas of the culinary world joining together to explore both the cutting edge and historical aspects of food and beverages. There is a strong focus on wines, spirits, and cocktails; something you would expect from the Astor Wines folks. F Paul Pacult, Jim Meehan, Maximilian Riedel (of Riedel Crystal), Kara Newman, Brian Van Flandern, Timothy Sullivan, Henry Sidel, and more experts on various libations are on hand to delve into the glorious world of all that is wet and tasty; for beginners and experts, consumers and those in the trade.
National Geographic, of all places, has put together a helpful glossary of the newest in vineyard standards and and farming practices. We all know about organic wine, but what about wines that, say, pair well with your astrological sign? We've summarized a few for you here:
Biodynamic wine - Is grown using biodynamic agriculture, which means that farmers pay close attention to the holistic properties of the soil, and the relationship that is established between the soil, plants, and animals. Farmers also use astrological signs as a guide to planting and harvesting. Sound hokey? Maybe, but you can bet wine made from a biodynamic grape has been tended to with the utmost in TLC.
Low-sulfite wine - Sulfites occur naturally in wine, but winemakers usually add more to prevent spoilage and oxidation. Some organic wine, as regulated by the USDA, cannot contain added sulfites, to the relief of people who are allergic. These wines tend to contain about 10 and 20 parts per million of sulfite, compared to conventional wines with 80 to 120 ppm or higher.
LIVE/Salmon Safe wine - LIVE stands for Low Input Viticulture and Enology, Oregon's initiative to limit the use of chemical pesticides on its farms. Salmon Safe works with LIVE to ensure that chemical runoff isn't affecting nearby salmon. If you buy wine with either of these labels, it means an independent contractor has inspected the vineyards and assured that they were compliant with rigorous standards.
We already know that although it's creamy and delicious, eggnog might be one of the worst Holiday cocktails out there. However, there are a few others that you might want to avoid just to get a jump start on those health- and weight-related New Year's Resolutions:
White Russian, made of coffee liqueur, vodka, and cream, it has 863 calories!
Mudslide, which is basically a White Russian with the addition of Bailey's Irish Cream and chocolate syrup. No wonder it's 851 calories.
Hot Buttered Rum Latte exceeds the recommended daily intake of sugar by 36 grams.
Chocolate Martini is probably the least evil on the list because "chocolate is healthy." It's also 438 calories.
Admittedly, we had never heard of the Blushin' Russian, and wonder why not because it has delicious Amaretto in it! Oh yeah, maybe because we'd rather take 404 calories as a Big Mac.
Mulled Wine is bad?!?! We were crushed, but if you make it yourself and cut back on the sugar, you'll do better than the usual 356 calories and 40 grams of carbs.
Eggnog, surprisingly, is lower than the previous half dozen drinks with only 343 calories, but we think it's evil comes from the fact that you drink at least one every night, everywhere you go, from Thanksgiving to New Year's.
Brandy Alexander has 297 calories. Oh well. There goes another luscious creamy drink.
At 210 calories, Irish Coffee is the slimmest of the cocktails, but let's not get crazy. It's still 210 calories that you could down in 20 seconds (you'll also burn your mouth, but that's not the point, now is it?)
Have you ever stashed a Coke in the freezer, hoping to chill it quickly, then forgotten all about it, only to have it explode all over your frozen peas?
We're back in business this weekend, with food festivals from coast to coast (actually just on both coasts). And since it's finally beautiful outside, there's no excuse to shy away from amazing opportunities to consume ridiculous amounts of strawberries, artichokes and (as always) alcohol. 
Esquire has a great list of the 
A
It's a good weekend for attending a food festival if you: 
There are always excuses to eat, but I find that there are rarely opportunities to just completely go nuts and eat everything in sight. So when these opportunities do come along (vacations to Europe, birthdays, Thanksgiving), it's best to take complete advantage. For me, food festivals definitely qualify as all-you-can-eat events. I remember my parents bringing me to 
I know times are tough (aren't they always?). We may be on the verge of a recession and a lot of people are worried, and maybe some are thinking of turning to a pawnbroker. Well, if you're in Paris, 
Are you going to have chocolate, lots and lots of delicious chocolate, on Easter? Not everyone does, and that's ok. But if you are, what are you planning on drinking with it? Obviously the kids won't be indulging, but I say what's wrong with an Easter cocktail.
A lot of people enjoy an adult beverage now and then (some of them more than others). Did you ever wonder, though, if one was worse for you? I know that thought never has crossed my mind, but apparently it occurred to some researchers and so they set about to look into it.
It seems that wine is really in with the 20's crowd and they're a changing force in the market. Starting around 2003 their impact on the industry started to show. The "
I just have to tell all you Slashfoodies about the new 
We already know that although it's creamy and delicious, eggnog might be one of the worst Holiday cocktails out there. However, there are a few others that you might want to avoid just to get a jump start on those health- and weight-related New Year's Resolutions:
A fraking amazing Battlestar Galactica cake
Iced Tea 101
Pierogies + cheese + onions + kraut = Parmageddon!
