The Uva From La Mancha Octavo Arte Verdejo, La Mancha, Spain I stumbled upon this wine at a dinner in Ha Noi this past week and found it absolutely delightful. Matched as it was with...

  Tasting with Thibault   A fascinating tasting of Troplong Mondot wines with my old friend and great man of wine, Thibault Odent. Thibault is genuinely funny, irreverent, and cheekily mischievous; tasting wine with him is...

ODE to Joy The Moors arrived on the Iberian Peninsula from North Africa in 711 AD, establishing a civilization known as al-Andalus, which was ruled by a series of caliphates for over 400 years. On...

Champagne de Saint Gall Union Champagne is a winemaking co-operative based in the village of Avize. Champagne de Saint Gall is the name of the Champagnes produced by Union Champagne. Founded in 1966, it comprises...

  CRAB FEST -CODA & EPILOGUE: Decapoda Brachyura  "To eat is a necessity, but to eat intelligently is an art!" — Grimod de La Reynière  Decapoda Brachyura Serotonin is a neurotransmitter in the brain, sometimes referred to as...

  CRAB FEST -ACT FIVE: Guillotine Gastronomy  “The discovery of a new dish does more for the happiness of the human race than the discovery of a star.” ― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin Let them Eat Crab! When he...

  CRAB FEST -ACT FOUR: The Claw Who Came to Dinner  “Tell me what you eat and I will tell you who you are.” ― Jean Anthelme Brillat-Savarin  The Claw at the Table Born into a wealthy family,...

CRAB FEST -ACT THREE: Shedding Shells "Crab and sea snail are both rare creatures to me." — The Venetian Lagoon, (1786) -Goethe Expat-istentialism Thinking about Rabbi Abraham Twerski’s comment that, ‘times of stress are times that...