spotlight

The Cardinal’s Slipper Pantoufle du Cardinal   “Wine is the intellectual part of a meal while meat is the material.” Alexandre Dumas   Dumas The name Alexandre Dumas is writ large across French history through the late 18th and the 19th...

The Soul of Napa, a Very Human Tale “Wine to me is passion, It's family and friends. It's warmth of heart and generosity of spirit. Wine is art. It's culture. It's the essence of civilization...

Il Mangera le Riche - Révolution and Food    Nothing would be more tiresome than eating and drinking if God had not made them a pleasure as well as a necessity. Voltaire   Fête Nationale Française, (known as Bastille...

On Uby Pond  The Little Pond Terrapin The European Pond Terrapin (Emys orbicularis), is a little freshwater turtle in the family Emydidae, it can live to over 100 years old, and is endemic to the...

A Dinner with Destiny   10,000 Miles, 200 Years, 6 Generations “Some food and wine dinners are all about the pairing, then there are those rare occasions, maybe only a handful of times in a...

All Dressed Up in a Sour Place "Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, for wise men say it is the wisest course." William Shakespeare   The taste of Place The French term Choucroute Garni, means ‘dressed...

The Black Prince and a Hill of Beans “Cassoulet, like life itself, is not so simple as it seems.” -Paula Wolfert   The Black Prince The prince was born Edward of Woodstock, into the House of Plantagenet and...

  Eternity He who binds to himself a joy Does the winged life destroy He who kisses the joy as it flies Lives in eternity's sunrise William Blake - 1757-1827   The Beast Provence is a geological masterpiece millions of years in the...