Lifestyle

There is something beautiful about watching paella being cooked over an open fire in a large open pan. This image was magnified this past week where at least a dozen different paellas were being made for the Berryessa Gap Paella Cook-Off, the Please The Palate pick of the week. Berryessa Gap is a winery based in Winters, in Yolo County, California, located 30 miles from Sacramento and 60 miles from San Francisco. Owned by the Martinez family who originates from Spain, they celebrate their Spanish heritage each year with the annual Paella Cookoff and Dinner. This year marked the 11th annual event and more than a dozen local chefs came out to make paellas, many from their own family's recipes.
17 November, 2018
It is not uncommon to hear about wineries in Napa who have started to explore other wine regions, such as Paso Robles and Santa Barbara, which are more affordable and offer different soils and micro-climates. But Fess Parker Winery in Santa Ynez Valley is reversing that. With a 30-year history in Santa Barbara Wine Country and a portfolio that includes Burgundian and Rhone varieties, as well as sparkling wine, Fess Parker has now expanded to Napa Valley with their label Addendum, which you can read about in my column in the Napa Valley Register.

Fess Parker Winery is a third-generation winery in the Santa Ynez Valley. Fess Parker, an American film and television actor best known for playing Davy Crockett and Daniel Boone in the 1950s and 1960s, purchased a 714-acre ranch in 1988 with the idea to run cattle, grow a few acres of grapes and one day establish a small winery. He envisioned it as a family business to hand down through the generations.

15 November, 2018
Queen is one of the greatest bands of all time. I eagerly anticipated the opening of the movie Bohemian Rhapsody and while it is not a perfect movie, it is the Please The Palate pick of the week. I grew up on the music of Queen, although I did not know at the time that some of the anthems that my friends and I sang as kids were by them. There was "We Are the Champions" and "We Will Rock You." And, when I was nine or ten years old, my friend and I would ride the ski lift chair and every time we saw someone fall, we would sing loudly, "Another one bites the dust, another one bites the dust, and another one down and another one down, another one bites the dust."
03 November, 2018
Want to plan a wedding in wine country? Or perhaps a yoga retreat, a business conference, a family reunion or a getaway with friends. If you are tired of hotels, Triple S Ranch in Napa might be the answer. Triple S Ranch Napa is an historic California 1860’s ranch located in the hills above Calistoga. Approximately a 10 minute drive from Calistoga, you will head down a country road until you arrive at the Ranch.
23 October, 2018
Summer may be over but that is no reason not to head to the beach. After all, the sun is still shining and it is still warm out here in Southern California. So last weekend, the first weekend of October, I headed to the Santa Monica Pier for the 4th Annual Off the Hook Seafood Festival. Kicking off National Seafood Month, Off the Hook Seafood Festival is helping raise awareness for the sustainable seafood movement as well as raising funds for Heal the Bay who is working hard to protect our Santa Monica Bay. An important cause centered around good food makes Off The Hook Seafood Festival the Please The Palate pick of the week. The seafood festival, with the mission to offer a "fun, foodie fundraising event that celebrates our beloved sea creatures, chefs, fishermen and ecosystems, and preserve our world’s oceans", took place on the Santa Monica Pier with the Ferris wheel and roller coaster in the background. 
13 October, 2018
Bacaro is the Italian term for a simple simple restaurant or wine bar, typically found in Venice. And, in Italian, when you want to pluralize a singular word, you change the -o to an -i, for example bacaro becomes bacari. And in a way, that is what Bacaro LA, a wine bar in downtown LA, has done. They have multiplied and gone from the single Bacaro LA to multiple locations with Bacari PDR, Bacari GDL and Bacari W3rd. Bacaro LA is an energetic, casual space with an international selection of wines and Italian-style tapas. It has been a favorite spot of USC students. And across the city Bacari PDR in Playa del Rey, is a popular neighborhood restaurant near the beach. In between the two, there is Bacari GDL in Glendale and Bacari W3rd, opening soon on West 3rd. Standing alone on the corner of Vista del Mar and Culver Blvd, Bacari PDR is a wooden structure that looks like it was pieced together board by board. There is a small patio for outdoor dining and inside there is a bar and the main dining room, with a smaller dining area tucked behind the bar. All in all, it is not a big space and a bit tight, but there is a casual, comfortable charm to it.
11 October, 2018
Last month, the 70th Annual Emmy Awards took place in Los Angeles. Lots of sparkling wine was being poured and that wine was not Champagne.....it was a sparkling wine from Italy, the Ferrari Brut Trento DOC! I wrote about how an Italian wine became the official sparkling wine of the Emmys in a recent column in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here.

The 70th Annual Emmy Awards took place this week, and throughout all the pre- and post-Emmy events, as well as at the ceremony itself, sparkling wine was being drunk.

Logically, you might think it was Champagne. But, in fact, the Official Sparkling Wine of Emmy Awards is from Italy. It is Ferrari Trento Brut DOC, a blanc de blanc made from Chardonnay and matured for two years in the bottle.

04 October, 2018
I traveled to the Willamette Valley in Oregon this past week for my first time. I have been to Portland but had never explored the neighboring wine region until now. But, my first trip there already has me planning my next trip. I tasted so many delicious wines, met so many winemakers and heard so many stories. And throughout it all, I felt welcomed and at home with the warm community and that is why the people and the wines of Willamette Valley are the Please The Palate pick of the week. I am blessed to travel to wine regions around the world and meet winemakers. Every where I go, I meet friendly people who are driven by passion. But there was something palpable in the sense of community among the winemakers of Willamette Valley. The Willamette Valley is more than 100 miles long and spans 60 miles at its widest point. It is located between Oregon's Cascade Mountains and the Coastal Range. There are approximately 3,438,000 acres of vines planted and more than 500 wineries. As the Willamette Valley has grown, it has become difficult for winemakers to all know each other. Of course, they all feel that the source of their grapes is the ideal location but they share a general love and respect for the entire region. And despite not knowing each other, there is admiration and respect for each other and a sense of community and pride. Throughout the week, I was struck by some of the thoughts shared by the winemakers I met. There is Stephen Hagen of Antiquum Farm who feels his wines are "intense expressions of who we are and where we are."
29 September, 2018
My newest addiction is food tours. Each time I head to a new country, I search out a food tour to take on my first day in the city. It is a great way to get a sense of the place and an understanding of the cuisine, which I feel enhances the rest of my trip. I shared some of the great food tours I have found in a recent story in the Napa Valley Register which you can read here. The late Anthony Bourdain once said that “Food is everything we are. It’s an extension of nationalist feeling, ethnic feeling, your personal history, your province, your region, your tribe, your grandma. It’s inseparable from those from the get-go.”
On his show, “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown,” he filmed 96 episodes over 11 seasons in which he shared his passion for culture, food, travel and adventure. His enthusiasm was contagious, and we were all inspired explore the world through food.
Or, at least, I was.
After all, what better way to explore a different culture than through its food? Of course, there is architecture, art, religion and nature, but food has so many meanings and incorporates everything. Food is a cultural identifier. Food is shaped by location and by history. Food can represent status and pleasure or can be for survival. Food is also about community and is a unifier across cultures.
As I traveled to countries for my first time, I have found myself in search of food. Yes, I like to eat. And, I can think of no better way to learn about a city and a culture than through its food. But, how does one decide where to go?
27 September, 2018
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