"tastings" news and stories

Saturday May 13, 2006, the Make-a-Wish Foundation is hosting a benefit event at Los Angeles' Pacific Design Center. The 13th annual Uncork a Wish will feature wines from Stag's Leap, Niebaum-Coppola and Rombauer Vineyards and food from restaurants like BOA Steakhouse, Sushi Roku, The Cheese Store of Beverly Hills, Pink's and Mr. Cecil's Ribs. $250 VIP tickets are sold out, but general admission tickets at $125 (advance)/$150 (door) are avilable.

Proceeds from the event and auction benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses.

The question we must ask before buying a ticket, though, is "With Pink's hot dogs, would that be red wine, white wine, or better yet, a rose?"

Over at 101 Cookbooks, Wayne Bremser recently did a great post about his experiences tasting olive oils at this year's San Francisco Fancy Foods Show. I was glad to hear that I'm not the only one that over-uses the word "grassy" to describe olive oil. Wayne goes over some tasting techniques used by exhibitors at the show to get beyond "the 'G' word." Along with some humorous talk about lots of people making strange slurping noises, there's a good list of imported and domestic olive oils, including several rising Australian producers.

[Photo: The Cook's Thesaurus]