CircleofFood.com repriint

Embark on an edible voyage of self discovery.
Every person has a unique fingerprint. Perhaps they have a unique flavorprint as well.
A person’s flavorprint is made up of all the flavors, foods, tastes, and aromas that please you most.
These are the flavors that enhance your pleasure and enrich your enjoyment of food and drink. Does the pleasure and satisfaction you experiences through food and drink feed your spirit?
Feeding the body and the spirit is what Flavorbank FlavorSchool wants to do.
You can start by checking out Tasting Classes in the Flavorbank FlavorSchool where you’ll learn to identify those flavors, foods, and favorite things that taste best to you. Think of it as an edible voyage of self-discovery.
Borrowing from the tradition of the wine world, Co-founders Master Sommelier Laura Williamson & James Beard Award Winner Jennifer English will prepare and present “Flavor Flights” that will allow students to taste four or more varietals of any subject in order to find a favorite. FlavorSchool helps the individual student (that’s you) to declare with confidence and expertise what tastes best.
The soon to be one hour Tasting Classes each tour the subtle as well as dramatic differences that distinguish one brand, varietal, or version of an item from another. Imagine tasting five different varietals of whole black pepper for the bold characteristics of each. Have you ever tasted the flavor, texture, and mouth feel differences of chocolates, cheeses, wines, butters, sea salts, pears, or pastes in side-by-side focused tastings led by a flavor expert? Their mission at FlavorSchool is to help you discover becoming the expert in your own world of the amazing flavors that uniquely taste best to you. In other words, to discover your own flavorprint.
Stay tuned for the class schedule. Flavorbank is located at El Mercado Plaza, 6372 E. Broadway Blvd (SE corner at Wilmot), 747-5431.

Wellness for Christmas

Wellness. It could be the official motto for Tucson, Arizona. Tucson is known worldwide for its healing. For decades many relocated to Tucson with an asthmatic child, a sick spouse or other loved one to the healing climate and culture of this beautiful desert oasis called the Old Pueblo.The sunshine, warmth and powerful geography combine with Tucson's "magic" to soothe and heal those who come here, whether it is a visit or a lifetime. Today visitors seeking wellness from all over the globe come to Canyon Ranch & Miraval spas, seek the advice of integrative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil (a Tucson resident) and to soak up the vitamin D rich sun.Tucson, is the perfect home for Flavorbank Spice Market. As a physician, I believe that we are what we eat. A comprehensive wellness plan must include a healthy diet. Healing can happen through one's choice of foods. With the right components, you can eat yourself healthier. Flavorbank Spice Market is one of the treasures of Tucson. It is a powerful, positive, inspiring sensory oasis of a spice market. I find exquisite whole spices for my own recipes. I am drawn to the "Culinary Apothecary" where freshly ground ginger, turmeric, cinnamon sticks as long as my arm and other exciting aromatics are displayed in a spice salon like setting. I have been all over the world and never seen anything like it anywhere else.Every time I go, I am inspired. Not only by the offerings, but by the culture and generousity of the owner to each and every one of us customers.Owner, Cancer survivor & MS patient Jennifer English lives her mission and her passion to help others achieve a path to wellness through her hands-on education. She takes time to help every customer discover the items that will be right for them. She helps you tate the love. "What's for dinner tonight"? I have heard Jennifer ask on many visits. She really means it, and will help you turn your chicken breasts, or veggies, or ribeye steaks into the best you have ever had with her Santa Maria Rubs, Afrikya by Marcus Samuelsson Berbere(my favorite) or exquisite Sarawak black peppercorn and Brittany Sea Salt ( no wait these are my favorites). I give gifts of cinnamon sticks to make cinnamon water to my own friends for their water bottles & dinner partes because it is really healthy for us.Jennifer usually gives away cinnamon sticks to customers too, as if to make sure they are doing that which is most easy and healthy to add to one's diegest.A picture or some words can not fully communicate and dimensionalize the soul, feeling, aroma and inspiration that is Flavorbank Spice market. Taste the love for yourself, visit Flavorbank.

http://shinealight.ivillage.com/sbo-profile/?ProfileID=9285

Wellness. It could be the official motto for Tucson, Arizona. Tucson is known worldwide for its healing. For decades many relocated to Tucson with an asthmatic child, a sick spouse or other loved one to the healing climate and culture of this beautiful desert oasis called the Old Pueblo.The sunshine, warmth and powerful geography combine with Tucson's "magic" to soothe and heal those who come here, whether it is a visit or a lifetime. Today visitors seeking wellness from all over the globe come to Canyon Ranch & Miraval spas, seek the advice of integrative medicine guru Dr. Andrew Weil (a Tucson resident) and to soak up the vitamin D rich sun.Tucson, is the perfect home for Flavorbank Spice Market. As a physician, I believe that we are what we eat. A comprehensive wellness plan must include a healthy diet. Healing can happen through one's choice of foods. With the right components, you can eat yourself healthier. Flavorbank Spice Market is one of the treasures of Tucson. It is a powerful, positive, inspiring sensory oasis of a spice market. I find exquisite whole spices for my own recipes. I am drawn to the "Culinary Apothecary" where freshly ground ginger, turmeric, cinnamon sticks as long as my arm and other exciting aromatics are displayed in a spice salon like setting. I have been all over the world and never seen anything like it anywhere else.Every time I go, I am inspired. Not only by the offerings, but by the culture and generousity of the owner to each and every one of us customers.Owner, Cancer survivor & MS patient Jennifer English lives her mission and her passion to help others achieve a path to wellness through her hands-on education. She takes time to help every customer discover the items that will be right for them. She helps you tate the love. "What's for dinner tonight"? I have heard Jennifer ask on many visits. She really means it, and will help you turn your chicken breasts, or veggies, or ribeye steaks into the best you have ever had with her Santa Maria Rubs, Afrikya by Marcus Samuelsson Berbere(my favorite) or exquisite Sarawak black peppercorn and Brittany Sea Salt ( no wait these are my favorites). I give gifts of cinnamon sticks to make cinnamon water to my own friends for their water bottles & dinner partes because it is really healthy for us.Jennifer usually gives away cinnamon sticks to customers too, as if to make sure they are doing that which is most easy and healthy to add to one's diegest.A picture or some words can not fully communicate and dimensionalize the soul, feeling, aroma and inspiration that is Flavorbank Spice market. Taste the love for yourself, visit Flavorbank.

Help! We need just 50 Votes

I really need your help. We need to get to 50 votes to get to the next round.
I am really grateful to you for signing up & voting for us.
Times have been tough and we could use the exposure
Thank you so much for being so supportive and encouraging.
Please go to this link and vote for us.
We need just 50 votes to go to the next round!

http://shinealight.ivillage.com/sbo-profile/?ProfileID=9285

Please ask your friends to vote for us too.
Wouldnt it be great for a Tucson Business to make the finals?
thanks a million
cheers
Jennifer English

Three Cheers for Miss Leah Chase & Dookie Chase

here is a link to Miss Leah's delicious cookbooks http://www.ecookbooks.com/search.aspx?searchterm=leah+chase&x=10&y=7

If you can make some chicken as good as Miss Leah....call me!

Why Whille you don't seem to be enjoying yourself!

Why Whille you don't seem to be enjoying yourself!
No Uncle, Im having a miserable time
Auntie told me to eat as much as I wanted and I can't !

Happy Birthday Julia Child

In celebration of August 15th, also known as Julia Child's birthday, a party was given in her honor last night in Tucson Arizona. The menu
needed to be worthy. Boeuf Bourginon might seem like an obvious choice of entree to some to celebrate and honor the original French Chef. After all, it was Julia Child who introduced a developing gourmet nation to it. Boeuf is now being newly rediscovered as a "star" dish by the original Star Chef(www.starchefs.com). With its star turn and attendant hoopla surrounding the marvelously wrought movie Julie & Julia corralling our culinary cultural consciousness, I am frankly surprised not to have seen the savory winey french beef stew in the now ubiquitous "red carpet" footage from the film's premier. The stew as much a star as Streep or Adams themselves. I can see the shot of a French cast enamel dutch oven carried by a kitchen wench in oven mits
stopping to answer the shouts from the papparazzi along the velvet ropeline edge. Boeuf! Boeuf! Look this way! Click! Click!Click! As the obliging wench turns and gently tilts the slightly steaming stew pot just so, in order that a perfect picture can be captured and zipped around the planet for all to see and be inspired by. And to try to make at home. Hooray. It would be the sort of exalted and ridiculous attention that might just have delighted Julia. Because, this great dish deserves such attention and rediscovery.

But during this otherwise dull, depressional summer of unseasonable rainy & cool temperatures all along the eastern shore. Our comfort food craving might reasonably be drawn to such fabulous, warming, fulfilling, hearty fare. I mean, who craves piping hot beef stew in the midst of a heat wave? Summer 2009 has been perfect Boeuf weather. The movie has also stimulated our Beouf fantasies and cravings. So simple beef stew with wine or Beouf Bourgignon it shall be for our celebration.

Though let me say there is very little that is purely simple about crafting a Beouf from Mastering the Art of French Cooking(www.ecookbooks.com). Like all simple things, it is actually very hard to do well. Let alone perfectly. But Julia gives us a fighting chance with mostly precise direction and near fool-proof description. Assumptions for 21st centure culinary duncery notwithstanding ( ie; browning to a non-browning experienced cook).

But this is not the eastern shore, and it is the wild west and it has been hot. And so on a really hot Tucson night, during the dog days of what has felt like the longest hottest summer in recent memory, Boeuf Bourgignon seemed a most unlikely menu choice for a table full of VIP guests from the worlds of food, science, medicine & entrepreneurship. Yet the circumstances of this unique moment in time, including our cultural clamoring for comfort, and collective thoughts of Julia made our desert dinner decision a no-brainer.

So I dove in, like Julie Powell and a multi-generational sorority of women before me to make the now world famous version of this classic stew. Good wine, grass fed beef from Montana thanks to Bryant Family Farm Beef (www.bryantfamilyfarm.com), purveyors to the US Culinary Olympic team, perfect mushrooms, European butter.Check. The result was a grand success according to all those at table. But the most gratifying moment came when I recalled my own time with Julia and how she would have loved the fact that wonderful friends came together for a swim in the Arizona twilight, with joyful music playing and twinkling stars complying in the perfect desert sky. She would have loved that we toasted her and used her recipe and that it turned out per her instructions in Mastering. That the recipe for boeuf works and triumphs, even in the hands of a passionate serventless amateur cook-housewife like myself, would cause her to raise a glass in our honor right back. Happy Birthday Julia and Thank You. Bon Appetit!

Drink Biograph Whiskey ...

Drink Biograph Whiskey and see moving pictures

Boston Medical Center Culinary Apothecary in Action

We have been talking for a decade or more about how food is our first and best medicine. Medical schools do not devote enough time to the importance of food. Nutrition science is one things, but translating Nutrition Speak into Food Speak is another matter. Congratulations to the Boston Medical Center for getting it! 3 Cheers.
Now lets get one of these in every community in America!

You must watch this!

http://www.necn.com/Boston/Health/2009/07/30/Prescriptions-for-food/1248987457.html

Shall I be an Angel Daddy?

Shall I be an Angel Daddy?

Bon Appetit Editrix Barbara Fairchild on Sunday Brunch 7/19

In the August Issue of Bon Appetit magazine the surface theme is fresh, light ideas for summer ( including a week of no-cook dinners (p.78)!) and the cover shot of the Ultimate Turkey Burger (p.48). In hot hazy hunger you might miss the most important news in the issue. In the Letter from the Editor, the incomparable Barbara Fairchild makes the case why Julia Child still matters. And in the month that marks what would have been Julia's 97th birthday ( August 15th) we are reintroduced to the impressive life's work of the woman to whom we all owe a cultural debt of gratitude. The one-and-only Julia Child. Barbara Fairchild knew Julia and spent treasured time in her company at table and in the kitchen. She saw firsthand the powerful, multi-generational impact Julia had. It was intense, universal and to Julia herself it was even a bit surprising.

On August 7th, Julie & Julia opens in theaters with the living legend Meryl Streep as Julia Child and Amy Adams as the one-of-a-kind Julie Powell upon whose inspirational blog and book the movie is based. I have my own Julie Powell & Julia Child connections including Trick-or-Treating at Julia Child's Cambridge home(I have long since forgotten what the Halloween candy given out was) and presenting Julie with her James Beard Award for her blogging in the early days of the blogosphere's notice from the venerable JBF. (Julie made the evening's most memorable acceptance speech: she cursed in utter shock at winning and then cursed again for being so uncouth as to curse in front of the most assembled bold faced names in food, with me standing to the side on stage with the winner envelope in my hand) But that part of the movie was left on the cutting room floor ( I wonder who they got to play me?).

While I was fortunate to know Julia Child, I am equally fortunate to know Barbara Fairchild. I see many similarities in these 2 great women. Like Julia, Barbara is unfailingly generous, gracious and seemingly surprised by the anonymous and suddenly in person gratitude of cooks everywhere and the scope of her inspiration to legions of young ( and like me not so young ) women in the food media business. Of course we all have to thank Julia, but we have to thank Barbara as well. Thank you for inspiring us all and challenging us to do ever-better work. For raising the bar one step ahead of our booming culinary culture and for making that world seem ( and be) accessible for so many of us. Actually that is exactly the lesson Julia would have been most proud of, and it is clear that Barbara Fairchild was paying attention and taking notes during those sessions with Julia. Julia was generous with her time and teaching because she wanted us all to have a place at the table and for that table to get broader and longer for us all. At Bon Appetit Barbara makes it possible for us to participate (as Julia wished us to do) in the conversation. She makes us part of the culinary community. Like Jullia she is all about inclusion and genuine welcoming.

So join me this Sunday at 2pm pacific time where Bon Appetit Editor-in-Chief Barbara Fairchild generously makes time to visit with us and continue the conversation. We will celebrate the August issue and the idea of no-cook meals for dog-days of Tucson summer. Tucson's own El Guero Canelo is featured as one of the 10 Best Hot Dogs in the US. (p.26) and most importantly we will toast to the memory, legacy and Birthday of the legendary Julia Child. Her 90th birthday was celebrated in Washington D.C. and I was lucky to be among the guests at a small dinner at Ris Lacoste's 1789 Restaurant. But at a larger party at the Four Season's Hotel Patrick O'Connell and his crew from the Inn at Little Washington served up ( at Julia's request) cheeseburgers, french fries, and ice cream sundaes ( all favorites of the French Chef!). Of course these were the best cheeseburgers you ever ate. But it underscores how REAL Julia was. So this week when it seems way way way to hot to cook. Look to the pages of Bon Appetit and no-cook a dinner, or go to El Guero Canelo for a Sonoran Hot Dog, or to your favorite burger joint and have a humble hamburger or Hot Dog and enjoy it with gusto for Jullia. And with your second juicy bite thank Barbara Fairchild while you're at it.

Hallelujah Cocktail

Hallelujah Cocktail

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Tales of the Cocktail, the annual culinary and cocktail festival announced Robert Hess as the 2009 Cocktail Brand Ambassador

Tales of the Cocktail, the annual culinary and cocktail festival announced Robert Hess as the 2009 Cocktail Brand Ambassador
In his role as cocktail brand ambassador Robert will continue to promote Tales of the Cocktail. Robert has been involved in Tales of the Cocktail since our first year and our most ardent supporter. He has been very instrumental in the growth of Tales of the Cocktail into the premier spirits event in the world.

About Robert Hess
Robert Hess operates DrinkBoy.com and lives and works in Seattle, Washington. He traces his interest in the cocktail to a childhood fascination of bartender. . He is a ceaseless evangelist of quality cocktails, working with restaurants, bartenders and consumers to help them better understand how to advance their craft.

He is one of the founders of The Museum of the American Cocktail (www.MuseumOfTheAmericanCocktail.org, which is housed in New Orleans and recently formed The Chanticleer Society (ChanticleerSociety.org), a worldwide organization of cocktail enthusiasts, which promotes a sharing of thoughts, ideas, and experiences.

He is the host and executive producer of The Cocktail Spirit a web-based video series being presented through the Small Screen Network (www.SmallScreenNetwork.com. His videos provide easily accessed information and instructions on how anybody can make great cocktails. And he recently authored “The Essential Bartenders Guide”, an introductory guide to cocktails which puts quality first and in a way that is approachable to all.

About Tales of the Cocktail
Tales of the Cocktail is an internationally acclaimed festival of cocktails, cuisine and culture held annually in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event brings together the best and brightest of the cocktail community—award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders, chefs and designers—for a five-day celebration of the history and artistry of making drinks. Each year offers a spirited series of dinners, demos, tastings, competitions, seminars, book signings, tours and parties all perfectly paired with some of the best cocktails ever made.

About the New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society
The New Orleans Culinary and Cultural Preservation Society is a non-profit organization committed to preserving the unique culture of dining and drinking in New Orleans and the storied bars and restaurants that have contributed to the city’s world-wide culinary acclaim. This organization supports members of the hospitality industry through education and the production of events like Tales of the Cocktail and, most recently, Trails of the Cocktail, a scholarship program for emerging talent in the New Orleans cocktail industry.

Every summer spirits from around the world descend on America’s most soulful city. This summer will be no different as Tales of the Cocktail returns. Join us for a spirited schedule of cocktails, cuisine and culture that will stir even the most idle of souls.

For more information on Tales of the Cocktail, visit www.TalesoftheCocktail.com and register your name to receive email updates, ticket-sales announcements and to view the exciting line-up of events and celebrity presenters for 2009. TICKETS ARE ON SALE NOW.

This party girl loves a bargain and she loves Half-Bottles of the Widow. We find that sometimes a 375 is just enough to wash down a meal or get the party started. Thanks to our friends at Crush Wine & Spirits for this amazing deal. It makes the rest of us feel like we have a friend in the business. Actually you have at least 2 friends in the business. Crush Wine & Spirits, and Me.

When I was a little girl my Nana Kitty would open splits of Champagne and let me have a baby sip. Look how that turned out. Try this at home. Responsibly please!

Veuve Clicquot Half-Bottle Madness

The Famous Yellow Label at only $16.80!

The Perfect Summer-Fun Format

What could be better than Veuve Clicquot, in the ultimate personal format, at only $16.80? Perfect for aperitifs, picnics, sunsets, quiet Tuesday night celebrations...Priced like this, feel free to think of it as a regular-sized bottle for under $34 (that's about 15% off!) SUMMER SPECIAL!

If we spend a lot of our time combing the globe for the rarest bottlings on Earth, we're also hardly ones to turn down an OUTRAGEOUS deal on one of the world's most popular wines.

So today we indulge, HEAVILY, in the spirit of summer and offer out Veuve Clicquot's world-famous Yellow Label Champagne at only $16.80 a bottle. Compare this to regular bottles which are out there at $40+ and the value here becomes as obvious and as immediate as the "Yellow Label" itself.

This is perhaps the most famous and well-known bottling in the world - at this price, I'll keep it very short.

The half-bottle format is perfect for the spontaneous, easy-go-lucky vibe the summer brings. If the grand dinner parties are fewer and farther between, hopefully your weekend jaunts, picnics, BBQs and more casual, more immediate get-togethers are on the rise. This is the perfect scene for Veuve Clicquot's famously powerful, dense and crisp Champagne. At $16.80 a bottle, grab a full 12 half-bottles and you'll still be only at about $200. Or - think of it this way: The half-bottle at this price delivers four flutes of Champagne at $4.20 a pour!

The price, however, has already gone up for us - while we've squirreled away as much as we possible could at this price, quantities are limited. Like summer, when it's over, it's over... There's a reason this is one of the world's most popular Champagnes and today we offer it out at a nearly inconceivable price. Order immediately by replying to this email or calling the store at (212) 980-9463. All orders will be fulfilled first come, first served - no exceptions!

Robert Schagrin
Managing Partner
Crush Wine & Spirits

Veuve Clicquot

Yellow Label Half-Bottles (375ml)

Special Email Price: $16.80
Compare at $20 and well above!

Price valid only while quantities last
Veuve Clicquot 375mls are in stock!

Net / No further Discount

I need your help! Find a cookbook

I am hoping you can help me find a cookboook. It is a fundraising cookbook from the 1970's to help elect Father Drinan to Congress from Massachusetts. Do you know what it is actually called and where can i find a copy. as a young girl I submitted a recipe for it that is now lost to my family. I would love to make the recipe for my own kids. Please help me find it. Thank you & Cheers JE

7th Annual Tales of the Cocktail

The internationally acclaimed festival of cocktails, cuisine and culture returns for its seventh year in New Orleans, July 8-12, 2009.

The event brings together the best and brightest of the cocktail community—award-winning mixologists, authors, bartenders and chefs—for a five-day celebration of the history and the craft of the cocktail. This year, the most spirited event of the summer invites everyone to “Stir Your Soul” with a spirited series of dinners, cocktail demos, tastings, competitions, seminars, book signings, tours and special events all perfectly paired with some of the best cocktails ever made.

To put the event in quantifiable terms you can taste, Tales of the Cocktail 2008 used 85 pounds of mint leaves, 40 pounds of super-fine sugar, 280 liters of lime juice, 350 liters of lemon juice, 1815 lime wedges, 2115 lemon twists, 2340 jalapeño slices, 50 pounds of ginger root, 12 pounds of cherries and satisfied the taste buds of thousands of cocktail lovers from across the world.

http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/

Jennifer English

Jennifer English is one of America's most exciting and articulate culinary personalities. She is an award winning talk show host, national tastemaker, entrepreneurial success story, and a broadcast pioneer as well. With the launch of The Food & Wine Radio Network in December 1999, English and her company Brandnewmedia, LLC began a new chapter in broadcasting by becoming the first national talk radio network dedicated exclusively to the delicious, entertaining and dynamic world of food, wine and the good life. Joining Jennifer to give voice to our shared passion have been the world's most interesting and influential tastemakers including: the late great Julia, Jacques (both of them) Chuck Williams, Anne Willan, Thomas Keller, Sara Moulton, Alfred Portale, Charlie Trotter, Rocco, Nobu, and the great Ducasse...

http://www.talesofthecocktail.com/people/speakers/1439

Driscoll’s Berries

Driscoll’s research and development teams use natural breeding methods to create patented varieties. Then our conventional and organic berries are grown on family farms. Finally, Driscoll’s food safety program ensures the wholesomeness of our berries and the safety of our consumers, employees, and independent farmers.

For over 60 years, Driscoll’s has helped people in the communities where we live and work.

http://www.driscolls.com

Cocktails & Rituals

I love rituals and seasonal traditions. As we prepare to head to New Orleans for Tales of the Cocktail 2009 I got to thinking about my own rich experience with cocktails and why the passionate study of their historic and cultural significance are merited. I can not think about cocktails without associating them with the great women "dames" in my family. They had their own cocktail personalities. My Nana Kitty drank stingers with gusto. She worked back-of-the-house in the hotel business for nearly 50 years. My Nana Sawyer was a lady who when ordering her second drink would joyfully announce the aerodynamic drinkers reality which was "because you can't fly on one wing!" My favorite toast also comes from Nana Sawyer which is borrowed in spirit from Sweet Charity with Shirley MacLaine. The first offer of the toast goes "Up Yours" and the responding toaster says " and double it." A racy ritual indeed.

My Madrina is my paternal grandmother ( I have two) and she was lace curtain Irish from Boston. She was far too much of a lady to order a second drink. She would merely say " you may compliment the bartender." This was her delicate way of in fact saying " another one, just like the first." But by the time for the third drink, she would proclaim, "I'm their drinking grandmother." Although no such confirmation was required. Another grandmother was a Radcliffe graduate who was elegant and refined and drank Presbyterians. Light please.Last but not least was my Granny, my paternal grandmother. She lived on Riverside Drive in New York in the 1930's and lived across from an apartment where Babe Ruth would attend parties. She introduced me to my favorite cocktail, the Calvados Sidecar. I can just imagine her picking out a perfect lemon at Gristedes and looking up to see the Babe & Mrs. Ruth grocery shopping. Recognizing the familiar faces from the neighbors frequent parties they exchanged hellos. It really happened.

But when it comes to holiday drinks my own Mother was the one who set me straight about season and rightness. My favorite holiday drink is a Crown Royal Manhattan. When I was 25 my mother took me to the legendary Lenox Hotel piano bar. It was the first week of December, Thanksgiving had just past. The Lenox had sing along back then. The waitress came and my Mother ordered 2 Crown Royal Manhattan cocktails. Up. I asked why? She informed me that now that I was 25 I could fully appreciate this complex and sophisticated sip. ( she was right) But I reminded her( though I didn't need to) that I had turned 25 months ago in June. She informed me that not until after Thanksgiving could one fully appreciate and enjoy a Manhattan. She was right again. Now every holiday season, I have a ritual of going to the best hotel in town and having the barman make me a Crown Royal Manhattan. I toast to my mother and thank her for this wonderful gift. Then I proceed to enjoy that long missed flavor in that first sip.

Flavorbank celebrates 40th Anniversary

The Food & Wine Radio Network Salutes & Congratulates Flavorbank on its 40th anniversary. The longtime "Official Spice Company" of the James Beard Award Winning Food & Wine Radio Network offers the finest whole spices that money can buy. "Flavorbank is the Cartier of Peppercorns" according to Jennifer English.

What difference does quality make in a category where mediocrity coupled with trader greed meant that we never learned what the best tasted like? "Quality makes all the difference" says Chef Albert Hall of the award winning Acacia at St. Phillip's restaurant in Tucson, AZ. High quality spices are the cornerstone of seasoning which is the foundation of flavor. Better spices will make everything you cook and eat taste better. It is that simple. Remember that every recipe in the world says 'season to taste' which means using one good sea salt and one good pepper.

Pepper and spices are steeped in tradition — a product so integral to the evolution of world trade and culture that it was used as currency in place of gold for 2000 years — the peppercorn is aptly crowned “The King of Spices.” Today, the historical spice that drove man to explore the globe continues to outsell all other spices. Unfortunately, the market is full of mediocre quality goods. Several factors can determine a peppercorn's flavor and taste. The type of plant, farming conditions, harvesting techniques or even the shipping methods can dramatically alter its characteristics. Flavorbank locates the very best growers worldwide and imposes strict quality control testing to ensure fresh, potent, and full-flavored products. Flavorbank's wide variety of peppercorns and pepper blends appeal to a variety of tastes and preferences. We know that freshly ground pepper is the only way to achieve the wonderful taste, distinctive aroma, and full depth of flavor that pepper can deliver. This appreciation explains why Flavorbank's fine quality peppercorns have been used and enjoyed by award-winning chefs and everyday cooks alike for over 40 years.

Come and have something with me at _ _

"Come and have something with me at _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ "

Some people love oysters ..

Some people love oysters and others fish
And many think beans a very fine dish
But there is another YOU can't be without
Say what is the matter with
Sauerkraut?

Laura Williamson, Master Sommolier in Aspen, Colorado

Certified Master Sommelier, Court of Master Sommeliers
One of approximately 130 Certified Wine Educators in the World

When it comes to understanding the beauty, balance and grace of wine and food, Laura is one of the top minds in the world. (Yes, in the world.) One of only 130 Certified Master Sommeliers and Wine Educators on the planet, Laura sits on the Court of Master Sommeliers and lectures regularly about the world's wine regions, the techniques of preparing food and wine, and the skills of wine collecting.

Throughout her 17 year career, she has worked in top restaurants including La Tour and Sweet Basil in Vail, Boulder Wine Merchant and Flagstaff in Boulder, and Kimo's on Maui, to name a few. Along with her work with VinTabla, she is also a senior consultant for Small Vineyards Imports and finds inner balance and grace through her dedicated practice of Anusara yoga.

Tucson, Arizona

http://www.dovemountaingrill.com

http://www.vintabla.com

"She was encouraged to pursue the Master Sommelier accreditation by her mentors Wayne Belding and Sally Mohr of the Boulder Wine Merchant and achieved this coveted distinction of which only 78 Americans (including just 13 women) had attained prior to her success in 2005."
http://www.mastersommeliers.org/member=72

Gilles de Chambure, Master Sommelier at Meadowood, Napa, California

""The wine in the glass is from a neighboring vineyard. The honey on the table is from our hives and the olives are from our orchard. The heirloom tomatoes are picked at the perfect ripeness each day and taken straight into the kitchen.""

Meadowood

Meadowood is a center of social, cultural and viticultural life in Napa Valley and a second home for those who enjoy the beauty and hospitality of the wine country. The property features championship croquet lawns, seven tennis courts, a nine-hole walking golf course, hiking trails, swimming, a full-service health spa, a wine educator, an annual cultural affairs calendar, guest rooms, suites and cottages and Michelin two-star dining in The Restaurant at Meadowood.

Meadowood
Napa Valley 900 Meadowood Lane
St. Helena, CA 94574
Telephone (800) 458-8080
http://www.meadowood.com

Isn't it aggravating when...

Isn't it aggravating when you're dining out and you upset a bowl of soup?

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Alisa Barry from Bella Cucina Artful Food

I was inspired to live this life daily and bring the riches of Italy home. Bella Cucina Artful Food celebrates this passion for living soulfully. To learn more about how Bella Cucina artful food was created and celebrates the artisan tradition of bringing foods from the earth to the table, continue the journey... http://www.BellaCucina.com

Jennifer talks to Nick from FoodieFights.com

http://www.foodiefights.com

Once upon a time, there were two bitter rivals, blogging away day after day in an effort to prove themselves the more superior foodie. A dual was challenged, and the battle was set. One man took up his whisk, and the other his spatula. At dawn on the day of the battle they would each present their culinary creations. As the flour settled on that fateful day, a new partnership would be formed. Enter FoodieFights. A blog battlefield. An arena for food bloggers to enjoy friendly competition. A place for experiments and new combinations.

Nick and I had more fun that day than expected and found new flavor combinations we hadn’t tasted before. This prompted us to start this new website that would hopefully challenge bloggers to try new things and take some risks. Really make things interesting! If you have a blog, check out the rules below and join the next battle!!! - Dan.

Gus Balon's Has the Best Pie in Tucson

I recently spent the day with my friend Kelli Fling at her beloved Tucson eatery Gus Balon's diner. ( Gus was Kelli's grandfather and a fabulous man. We miss him) This photo diary shows what it takes to make the best breakfast in town. According to Jane & Michael Stern, in Road Food and epicurious.com, Gus Balon's serves up one of the 10 Best Breakfasts in America. We agree.

As a former judge in the National Pie Championship ( watch for me at 3am on Food Network some late night) I know a thing or two about pie. Gus Balon's has the best pie in Tucson. Try the rhubarb. yum.

Tribute to Kay Williams, Room Service Manager Ritz Carlton Boston

My Great-Grandmother's Name was Kay Williams, but everyone that knew her called her Kitty and she love the hospitality business. Winter was spent in service at the grand hotels in Florida and summer in legendary sea side palaces like the Monmouth and the Essex in Spring Lake New Jersey. In her "dotage" she returned to her native Cambridge , Massachusetts to become the night room service manager at the venerable Ritz Carlton Hotel in Boston. As a very small girl I would visit this enchanted place. I discovered the "back of the house" there and have happily never been the same.

Nana Kitty, how we knew her and loved her, spent her day-off with us. She would get a club sandwich boxed lunch from the kitchen staff, a jar of "Stingers" from the barman, a racing form from the newsstand, and a cab at the corner. She would travel out to Chestnut Hill, a suburb of Boston to stay with us and help my young Mom with the house while she was going "back-to-school". Her "day-off" was filled with chores. But it was filled with bedtime stories of glamorous life in the golden age of the great hotels. Nana Kitty always stayed in my room with me in the small house on Moody Street. She was a Great Dame, and even if I didn't fully comprehend the unique mix of hardworker & Auntie Mame whose savoire fare, panache, and infectious belly laugh began to rub off. I have a dozen or so pictures of her, and in every one she looks to be in mid-belly laugh. She looks like she loved life, It also looks like life was hard too, but she bore the load with incredible gusto & grace.

When I began to find my own self as both a hardworker and a connoisseur, I did so with the legacy of Nana Kitty in my heart. The long-retired doorman who used to give me a penny upon my arrival was gone, and a penny no longer got you a gumball, yet I looked forward to my Ritz visits as a homecoming. Later in my life on return annual visits to the blue crystal & gold dining room at the old Boston Ritz Carlton for my birthday dinner, "Tito"the Captain , who was himself a young man during Nana Kitty's tenure always greeted us like long lost family. And in the manner of authentically warm welcoming that pros know how to offer when favorite customers return whom one is genuinely happy to see, I became spoiled.

Nana Kitty has been gone for over 30 years, but I cherish the mementos of our connoisseurs collaboration. It spawned a collection of culinary artifacts that inspire, inform everything I do on The Food & Wine Radio Network, on TV, in my consulting, writing, speaking, teaching & tasting. If you enjoy what you discover, go to the best hotel in town tonight and order a Stinger and make a toast to Kitty. She would really like that.