“I’d never even heard of South African wine before!” said the woman sitting in front of me. “What is Pinotage?” The woman untouched by Pinotage and I were the first…
Read moreWine Memory Lane: South Africa
Refine Your Palate With Olive Oil
“It’s Berkeley” is a phrase I hear a lot. You made your bike out of kelp and plastic bottles? You’re on the Macro-Antarctic diet? Your kids love Tunisian Chemlali extra-virgin…
Read moreEasy, delicious duck paired with vibrant red wine
Today, my good friend Alex is receiving the Cartaví Internacional award for the Spanish selection of her wine list at Veritas, in New York. On many a night, Alex and I hosted impromptu…
Read moreHappiness Is a Ripe Avocado
How can the “greatest city in the world” be bereft of decent quality avocados? I have no idea. This is why I left New York for California. Well, there were…
Read moreReviving Zombie Baguettes
The other day I spied a five-day-old unsliced baguette in my kitchen and satisfyingly kneed it in half. I put more force into it than was necessary, but it felt…
Read moreA Visit to Fort Awesome
Beyond the shipping brontosauruses of Alameda and past the blocks of abandoned naval barracks exists a mecca of glee: Rock Wall Wine Company. I was positively giddy when I left, and…
Read moreFlavor-Blasted Spaghetti and Meatballs
I consider myself gifted when it comes to gift giving. Unless a loved one is completely inscrutable, in which case I’ll harness my inner Sherlock and do my best not to succumb…
Read moreA Chicken for Every Broken Heart
There’s only so much consoling one can do over Gchat. I decided to escalate my efforts to help my friend get over a recent breakup by preparing her Dolores’ Brokenhearted Chicken,…
Read moreCheese-pocalypse Now
“A highway tunnel in Norway will be shut down for several weeks after being damaged by blank.” The only fill-in I could think of was impossible. Whenever I think of Norwegian…
Read moreDon’t Stop Believing
Hold on to that feeling – the feeling that you can eat and drink what you want; the feeling that wine is meant to be savored; the feeling that you…
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