south beach

This weekend marks the anniversary of a special event, and we're not talking about the Oscars — we're headed to the 11th annual Food Network South Beach Wine and Food Festival! Last year, we heard insights from Jamie Oliver, discovered we'd been making cocktails all wrong, learned how to prep onions the Scott Conant way, and got in on Anne Burrell's secrets to making pasta. Stay tuned for more lessons from Food Network chefs and celebrity wine educators, tasting tent trendspotting, and, of course, the winner of this year's South Beach Burger Bash!

Anything you're dying to know? Leave a note for us in the comments.

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It's been raining incessantly in San Francisco, quite the departure from our stay in Florida, where we were in town for the South Beach Wine & Food Festival.

As a San Franciscan who'd never seen the staggering good looks of Miami Beach, I was more than happy to head back home to Fog City and be in my element.

However, now more than a week later, I'm longing to be back there. The image that keeps playing in my mind? The serenity of lying in the sun poolside at the classic Eden Roc, where I stayed, with a riveting book in one hand and an even more compelling cocktail in the other.
I can't replicate the sun, sand, and surf, but sipping on one of these warmer-weather libations puts me at least halfway there. I love the combination of strawberries and basil; it's a little earthier than mint. Gin, too, adds a bit of complexity that's not there with vodka. For a cheerful drink recipe to remind you of sunnier climes, keep reading.

For her cooking demonstration at South Beach, Secrets of a Restaurant Chef's Anne Burrell made pasta. Unfortunately, her demo was scheduled bright and early on Sunday morning and the hysterically inappropriate chef was nursing a headache with her ultimate hangover cure: Prosecco on ice. She managed to lead the crowd through the steps to making ravioli and shared some helpful pasta pointers along the way. Read them after the jump.

Top Chef Italian stallion Fabio Viviani was out and about at the South Beach Wine and Food Festival. But he wasn't drinking too much wine or flirting with scantily clad females. Instead he was hard at working promoting a cause he stands fully behind: Bertolli olive oil. The chef has worked with the brand to create a product that is traditionally Italian, complete with three different cooking oils (light, classico, and extra virgin) and a line of vinegars. For the top takeaways from his oil demonstration, read on.

On the final day of the South Beach Food & Wine Festival, wine expert Joshua Wesson and Nobu Miami executive chef Thomas Buckley held a seminar of pairing wine with sushi, a fairly apropros way to end the celebration after four long days of indulging in burgers and grilled cheese.

There, I sampled pairings like sashimi tacos with Alsatian Crémant, vegetable rolls with Greece's Moschofilero, and black cod butter lettuce wraps with a light-bodied Willamette Valley Pinot Noir.

What impressed me the most, however, was the simplicity of preparation involved in making the European- and South American-influenced Japanese cuisine that's so storied at Nobu Matsuhisa's restaurants.

For some of chef Buckley's tips for re-creating Matsuhisa's dishes at home, keep on reading.

We've learned a lot over the years from Laura Werlin, one of the country's foremost cheese experts. In fact, we can't get enough of her new grilled cheese book, which is packed with recipes like this one filled with mozzarella, crispy prosciutto, and broccoli rabe. So it's no surprise that during her seminar in South Beach, we had a front-row seat.

Werlin's class was all about pairing grilled cheese sandwiches — perhaps America's greatest comfort food — with wine, a beverage that can often be associated with fussier settings. I'd never thought to pair the two together, but after an hour of enjoying the likes of gruyère, gorgonzola, and hazelnut grilled cheese with ice wine, I was a true believer.

Lest you think pairing high and low is daunting, take note of Laura's useful tips. To see them, keep reading.