Last Friday night I was lucky enough to dine out at San Francisco's new hot spot, District. The place was packed, the meal was delicious, the bartenders handsome (and the owner hot!), and most importantly the wine was fantastic. I chose the Buil & Gine Verdejo Nosis Rueda, from the section labeled exotic whites. This Spanish wine was crisp, smooth, and a teeny bit spicy. It carried a light yellow color, a round pleasant texture and had a fruity palate and nice finish. Three of us went through two bottles because it was so fabulous! Only 1500 cases were made and I am definitely going to buy myself a bottle.

The Verdejo (pronounced bear-day-ho) paired nicely with the pop in your mouth calamari, the oozing arancini (which was to die for!), and the crunchy pizzetas. To take a look at these delicious dishes, read more

Macaroni and cheese is the ultimate American comfort food. Its warm creamy texture soothes the soul and easily feeds a large crowd. If you've never cooked before, making a homemade mac and cheese complete with a béchamel and an eternity of cheese grating can be awfully intimidating. Thus I've found two recipes: one for those who have plenty of experience in the kitchen and one for those who are just gaining their kitchen confidence. Both recipes create an equally delicious delectable side dish that your family will love. To view the two delectable recipes, read more

• Summer is almost here and that means it's burger grilling time! Learn how to make the perfect burger and watch a video making an inside-out lamburger. - New York Times
• Summertime also means lots of droolworthy fruit. Serve up a pretty pavlova topped with luscious berries. - LA Times
• With hot weather around the corner, we could all use a few recipes for cool dishes that beat the heat. - Chapel Hill News Observer



• Memorial Day weekend means picnic time, help yourself to classic picnic recipes, environmentally friendly picnic gear and picnic worthy picks. - San Francisco Chronicle
• Rhubarb leaves his friend strawberry behind for an awesome rhubarb custard pie. - Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune
• Two more of my favorite food bloggers have bookdeals, this time it's the gals from Chocolate & Zucchini and Gluten-Free Girl. - Seattle Times
• Not warm enough for grilling in your neighborhood? Here are some great ideas for ribs, rain or shine. - The Oregonian

I love blue cheese, including Blue Stilton, but always try to keep it off of my hands while eating it. It's too stinky and I don't want to have that potent odor lingering around all night long. This is why I am flabbergasted to hear that the Stilton Cheesemakers' Association has commissioned a Manchester-based aromatics company to create a wearable Eau de Stilton perfume. The scent will be earthy, yet fruity and feature a "symphony of natural base notes including yarrow, angelica seed, clary sage and valerian." Nigel White, of the SCA, stated:

"Blue Stilton cheese has a very distinctive, mellow aroma and our perfumier was able to capture the key essence of that scent and recreate it in what is an unusual but highly wearable perfume."

I'm a little skeptical, but admittedly, I can't wait to get a whiff of it.

Source: Ananova via Neatorama

Have you ever seen the film Eat Drink Man Woman? It's got a great opening scene where the father, a senior chef who is losing his sense of taste, is preparing a large dinner for his daughters. In four and a half minutes you see at least seven different dishes being prepared - that's seven of the 100+ recipes used throughout the film! Every time anyone mentions this movie, I start drooling and need to have Asian food asap! To see the foodilicious opening scene for yourself, and get a recipe for a simple cucumber chicken salad, read more

The weather has recently warmed up and I've moved all of my casual dining outside. When eating outdoors on an everyday basis, an easy-to-clean outdoor tablecloth is a must and so are fun, plastic plates. Last week I asked you to help me find some new dishwasher friendly outdoor plates with summery and bright colors. You saved the plates in the Yum Market with the keyword tag Outdoor Plates. Some of you (thanks mellie_608 and SU3!) went crazy and bookmarked a whole bunch of absolutely gorgeous plates. I love these floral plates for their stand out shape and oceany color palette. mellie_608 found these, which come in a set of various prints, at Safeway.

More cool plates so read more

In a world of counterfeit handbags and bootlegged movies, is it really surprising that there is now an uprising in counterfeit wine? Bad wine in a fancy bottle can mean tarnished reputations, bad word of mouth and overall loss of sales for small vintners.

In one case, rocker Sammy Hagar (yah, that Sammy Hagar who owns over 10k bottles of wine), was almost scammed into purchasing a case of bogus wine.

"They had broken down some big formats at the chateau, supposedly, rebottled them in and put new labels, new corks, new everything, but those weren't original bottles."

To combat fraud, some wineries are turning towards radio frequency ID chips (so they can track real bottles) and bond paper (the kind of paper stock bonds are made from) to ensure authenticity. However most wineries have not focused on it at all, but since it decreases the value of their real wines, they're starting to look in to it more. Either way it's a difficult one to hunt down, most people will probably never know they got scammed, and those that do usually realize too late.

Source: Avenue Vine

When an uncontrollable urge to eat a burger strikes, don't go running to your favorite fast food joint - make a delicious gourmet burger in the comfort of your own kitchen instead. Burgers, like sandwiches, are a great meal for the hectic middle of the week. They are comforting, filling, and have an endless variety of flavor combinations. Tonight make your burger with crisp bacon bites mixed in to the patties, sweet caramelized onions smothered in steak sauce, and smoky thick slices of Gouda cheese. My mouth is watering just writing this - yours will be too when you view the recipe, so read more

Are you hooked on diet soda? If you're like Amanda Sanchez, a 29-year-old mother of two who drinks 12 cans a day, then you might want to cut back. Health experts think that consumption of diet sodas might lead to health consequences down the road. There have been no major studies stating that diet sodas are bad for you, however Dr. David Katz, a nutrition expert at the Yale School of Medicine believes that it could be damaging to your skeleton.

"There is some evidence that the acid load of soda, regular or diet, has an adverse affect on bone health. I would be very worried that if you are drinking 12 cans a day, diet or regular, it's potentially going to do damage to your skeleton, and eventually that can be a very serious problem.

However, the folks at Coca-Cola don't believe that's the case. Diana Garza, the communications director of Coca-Cola North America stated:

"Great taste. No calories. Wholesome ingredients. How could you drink too much?"

Even if there wasn't an ongoing debate on whether or not aspartame is safe, I don't think I could really consider it "wholesome," and I'm pretty confident that 12 cans of anything a day is probably 10 cans too many.

Source: ABC News