Gastronomy 101

Recently, J. and I took advantage of the holiday exodus to go get dinner at Mario Batali and Nancy Silverton's new buzz restaurant, Mozza. Although they're booked till next year, it's still possible to slip in without a reservation if you time it right. Read about how we did it on la.foodblogging .

Merry Christmas! I am back, after all the hullaballoo has died down, blogging from under a pile of brand new books, kitchen stuff, and Nintendo games (because we are still children on some level in my apartment, despite our grown up appearance). We have learned what wine is , now we should learn how to taste it. Tasting a bottle of wine involves all five senses, which is what makes it so daunting. We see wine enthusiasts in restaurants or wine rooms swirling, sniffing, swishing, etc. and it all seems like a secret language that we can't possibly understand. But really what these people are doing is indulging all of their senses, not just taste. Because wine has something to offer to most of them. Let's go through it and see if we can't understand a little bit more about the mysterious ritual of wine tasting. Hearing: The sense of hearing only comes into wine tasting in a very limited way. When choosing a wine, it is important to listen to others to help you make your decisi...

Okay, this whole "Christmas" thing has really been kicking my butt. This year my family appears to be scattered across the globe for Christmas and so not only do I have to procure various gift items for them, and in the case of certain husbands, gift and birthday items, but I have to try to get them all to the correct location at the correct time. And then there are the obligatory holiday parties and the obligatory "full time job." So I am going to guess that I'm not going to get the posts up this week that I had planned. However, I am taking the entire week off next week and one of the activities on my schedule is many blog posts. So please stay tuned.

My latest review, of Il Grano , is up on la.foodblogging. As a bonus for all of my many fans who are dying to know all about ME!ME!ME!, I had a couple of rambling thoughts I didn't include, since I am under no illusions that anyone cares, but since this is MY blog, I can put them here as sort of a "director's cut," if you will. *My Magic Wine Powers : As I was thinking about my wine choices, I started musing about the magical wine power I have. You see, if you give me any list of wines, or a bunch of bottles of wine and tell me to pick one out, I will hone right in on the most expensive one. I am not sure where this talent comes from. My only theories are that I have either inherited some kind of "luxury" gene that causes me to gravitate towards expensive things, or this is my super hero power. I think of this now because in the restaurant, I thought for a moment that instead of ordering different glasses of wine, I might just order a half-bottle. So I turn...

Oh dear. Miss Erin has just reminded me that I have been remiss in my charitable duties! I have been meaning to say something about this, but life has been running me ragged lately and I have been remiss in pretty much all of my real life duties. Just ask the city parking department, the dog licensing bureau, all future recipients of my christmas cards, my birthday-having dad, and others. But I would like to draw your attention to the Third Annual Menu for Hope event, sponsored by food bloggers everywhere to raise money for UN World Food Programme. Generous folks all over the culinary world have put out and donated fabulous prizes to be coveted. All you have to do is follow the donation instructions at the end of the post linked above. For each $10 you donate you will be entered into a raffle to win the prize of your specification. Prizes are also listed on the link above, and you can scroll over the plethora of thumbnail pictures above to see what they are. This is an amazing opport...

I'm such a sucker. I have been amazingly overwhelmed lately. My boss is out of town and I suddenly find myself with my very own law practice. I have tons of work to do, and then my phone rings every two minutes with people asking me questions I can't possibly answer and the work doesn't get done. And then on top of that I STILL do things like take an hour and a half long lunch on Friday and then come back and it's someone's birthday so I sit and hang out with him and talk crap and drink a beer and next thing I know it's 4:30 and I haven't done anything since lunch. And so, I have to spend my Saturday doing someone's estate plan instead of relaxing. And Sunday. Yippee! And then Christmas is coming and I have to get presents and wrap them and figure out how I am going to get all of them to the places they need to go. And I myself am having no christmas this year. Which in many ways is a relief, and in other ways is kind of sad. So all in all I've been ...

I love a good glass of wine, but I know very little about the beverage itself. Since there's a wealth if information available and since knowing about wine will make me sound REALLY COOL, I am resolved to learn, from the bottom up. So I got me the Sotheby's Wine Encyclopedia (thanks, N + Z!), and a copy of " Wine for Dummies ." Don't laugh! It's written by the first female master of wine and her husband, also a wine expert with excellent credentials, so I think they know something about the subject. Also at my disposal: a paycheck I get every two weeks, my tastebuds, and the internet. I figure I will be an expert in no time. As I am a generous sort, I will offer the people on the other side of the internet (you) the opportunity to learn some stuff along with me. I start with the very basic of basics. Using my "Wine for Dummies," and Merriam-Webster, I was able to come up with a list of key glossary terms to start with, since I think it's very im...

I spent this past weekend in San Luis Obispo having an early Christmas, as my parents have decided to spend their Christmas in New Zealand this year. I don't blame them one bit. I would too if I had the time and money. Since I am unable to provide and exotic travel guides to New Zealand, I will instead provide an overview on where I stuffed my face in SLO-town this weekend: Big Sky : Saturday morning breakfast was at my breakfast mainstay, Big Sky Cafe . It's been voted best San Luis Obispo restaurant for 8 out of the last 10 years and when it doesn't win, it still wins alternate awards for things like breakfast and healthy food. My eye was caught by a tantalilzing special of potato pancakes with sour cream and home made apple sauce, but since I was on my last weekend of detoxing, it was a big fruit bowl topped with dried fruits and nuts and honey-orange yogurt. For a fruit bowl it was pretty delicious although a little melon heavy, which is a pet peeve of mine, but the p...

The space that once was Yi Cuisine, on Third St. right near the Farmer's Market has now become Celadon. Celadon is described as a Euro-Asian "galerie culinaire" with chef Danny Elmaleh, formerly of Lemon Moon in West L.A. "Galerie culinaire" seems to mean tapas. They've kept the Asian feel of the decor and the full bar, and the chef adds french technique to the mix in the food. "howard81" gives the place a good review on Chowhound , saying: "the chef, Danny Elmaleh, apprenticed at Melisse and it shows! The food is a feast for the eyes as well as darned good eating! Asian small plates are the order of the day, and not only is the food delicious, but each and every plate that arrived was a work of art!" Celadon is open for dinner daily. Celadon , 7910 W. Third St., Los Angeles, 323-658-8028. David Myers of Sona will open a new brasserie to be called Comme Ça sometime in 2007 on Melrose. The chef will be Sona sous chef Michael David. He had...

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!! Finally, after five years of marriage and five years of my team ALWAYS losing ....... and his team always winning. I WIN! Yay!