Gather winemakers from 12 wineries in five states along with a few wine writers to taste through two dozen wines and — well, it’s not exactly a party. But I can say that it’s a lot of fun, and it’s educational.
The scene was the barrel room at Waltz Vineyards, in Lancaster County, Pa., where Jan and Kim Waltz enjoy hosting such events. I first visited Waltz six years ago for a similar seminar in which East Coast vintners learned viticulture tips from a leading grape grower and a winemaker from California. My second visit, in early April this year, was for eastern vintners to share their wines and compare notes. It was organized by Paul Vigna, who writes about wine for Pennlive.com and has become a leading voice on Maryland and Pennsylvania wines.
[Wine wonkfest yields good tips for East Coast vintners]
Participating were one winery from Virginia (Keswick); four from Maryland (Black Ankle, Boordy, Crow and Old Westminster); four from Pennsylvania (Allegro, Galen Glen, Penns Woods and Waltz); two from New Jersey (Heritage and Unionville); and one from New York (Paumanok). Aside from Vigna and myself, journalists included bloggers David Falchek and Carlo DeVito, and Linda Jones McKee of Wines & Vines magazine. The event was moderated by Joe Fiola, a viticulturist with the University of Maryland, and professor/agricultural agent Gary Pavlis of Rutgers University.
Nutritional science is too complex to furnish easy answers about what to eat.Illustration by Ben Wiseman
In the early nineteen-sixties, when cholesterol was declared an enemy of health, my parents quickly enlisted in the war on fat. Onion rolls slathered with butter, herring in thick cream sauce, brisket of beef with a side of stuffed derma, and other staples of our family cuisine disappeared from our table. Margarine dethroned butter, vinegar replaced cream sauce, poached fish substituted for brisket. I recall experiencing something like withdrawal, daydreaming about past feasts as my stomach grumbled. My father’s blood-cholesterol level—not to mention that of his siblings and friends—became a regular topic of conversation at the dinner table. Yet, despite the restrictive diet, his number scarcely budged, and a few years later, in his mid-fifties, he had a heart attack and died.
Jermaine Ong
8:30 AM, Mar 17, 2017
2:02 PM, Mar 17, 2017
SAN DIEGO (KGTV) – Stone Brewing is breaking new ground by becoming the first to try making beer using water that “comes from the toilet.”
On Thursday, at the Stone Brewing location at Liberty Station, San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer was among the first to drink the Full Circle Pale Ale.
Stone Brewing Senior Manager of Brewing and Innovation Steve Gonzalez created the beer that uses recycled water, and it ended up being one of his favorites.
He was skeptical, at first, to brew it with recycled water from the Pure Water San Diego program. Now, Gonzalez said, “Among the pale ales that I’ve made, it’s probably in the top three.”
After taking a drink, Faulconer called the beer “delicious.”
Former President Bill Clinton on Friday gingerly waded into New Jersey’s simmering debate over what to call New Jersey’s beloved egg, cheese and breakfast meat sandwich. Claude Brodesser-Akner, NJ.com Read more
Populations who have had a primarily vegetarian diet for generations carried a genetic mutation which raised risk of cancer and heart disease
By Sarah Knapton, Science Editor
10:00PM BST 29 Mar 2016
Long term vegetarianism can lead to genetic mutations which raise the risk of heart disease and cancer, scientists have found.
Populations who have had a primarily vegetarian diet for generations were found to be far more likely to carry DNA which makes them susceptible to inflammation.
Scientists in the US believe that the mutation occured to make it easier for vegetarians to absorb essential fatty acids from plants.
But it has the knock-on effect of boosting the production of arachidonic acid, which is known to increase inflammatory disease and cancer. When coupled with a diet high in vegetable oils – such as sunflower oil – the mutated gene quickly turns fatty acids into dangerous arachidonic acid.
The finding may help explain previous research which found vegetarian populations are nearly 40 per cent more likely to suffer colorectal cancer than meat eaters, a finding that has puzzled doctors because eating red meat is known to raise the risk.
Researchers from Cornell University in the US compared hundreds of genomes from a primarily vegetarian population in Pune, India to traditional meat-eating people in Kansas and found there was a significant genetic difference.
Researchers who have analyzed America’s eating habits say they can sum up what’s wrong with our diet in just two words: ultra-processed foods.
These foods — a group that includes frozen pizzas, breakfast cereals and soda — make up 58% of all calories Americans consume in a typical day. Not only that, they delivered 90% of the added sugars that Americans ate and drank, according to a studypublished Wednesday in the medical journal BMJ Open.
Government health experts advise Americans to get no more than 10% of their total calories in the form of added sugars. But most us aren’t listening. Researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have said that 71% of American adultsexceeded that 10% goal, and that added sugars accounted for 15% of all the calories they consumed.
All of that added sugar makes people more likely to be overweight or obese. That, in turn, sets them up for serious health problems like Type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer (not to mention lots of cavities).
Ironically, all of the CDC’s outbreak warnings on its homepage are currently for items on the so-called “healthy” foods list.
The U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) is warning of four potentially fatal, multi-state outbreaks – all victimizing people who eat foods typically considered healthful:
Alfalfa Sprouts,
Organic Shake and Meal Products,
Packaged Salads, and
Cucumbers
Nine people in either Minnesota or Wisconsin who ate alfalfa sprouts have been diagnosed with the outbreak strain of Shiga toxin-producing Escherichia coli O157 (STEC O157), which can cause hemolytic uremic syndrome, a potentially-fatal type of kidney failure. The CDC has linked the infections to sprouts produced by Jack & the Green Spouts.
“This outbreak does not appear to be related to the ongoing multistate outbreak ofSalmonella Muenchen infections linked to alfalfa sprouts produced by Sweetwater Farms of Inman, Kansas,” the CDC reports.
Thus far, 13 people infected with the outbreak strain of Salmonella Muenchen have been reported from four states have been linked to Sweetwater Farms sprouts.
I became infamous at Le Cordon Bleu in France (at least in my own mind) on a relatively quiet and peaceful classroom day of wine tasting. I am on stage but the theater is a dimly lit classroom in the 15th Arondissement of Paris and I am an American widow with three grown children wearing a uniform that matches my nine other youthful women classmates. Can I succeed at performing the international protocols of a flawless 7-minute wine analysis that ends with a perfect food and wine pairing while standing in front of my peers, professor and the man from Margaux?
With a grimace, and a bit of pride, I always think back to this life-changing moment in the spring of 2012 when I was preparing for intensive wine exams. After studying ten months in Paris at Le Cordon Bleu’s first year of wine management, I still had my doubts about performing the 7-minute wine analysis and, if given the choice, would rather have performed the 7-minute AB workout even if it entailed wearing my spandex shorts in front of my other twenty classmates.
My classmates snickered, but I think they were secretly happy that I broke the traditional standards of food and wine pairing that day. It certainly opened the doors to the steps I follow when it comes to choosing the perfect wine for holiday gatherings.
The internationally accepted rules of a wine tasting analysis chronicle in detail the visuel, or visual; olfactif or aromatic; andgustatif or taste of a particular wine, analyzing the future of the wine in terms of age, serving temperature, whether to carafe or decant, and finally, what dish to pair with the wine—all in 7-minutes or less. And the key ends with unlocking the door to choosing the correct wine for your meal.
I hold the glass of 2009 Chateau Kirwan Bordeaux in my hand like a singer ready to begin a melody. “This bouncy and forward 2009 Bordeaux from Chateau Kirwan, which is predominantly Cabernet Sauvignon blended with Merlot, Petite Verdot, and Cabernet Franc,” I exclaim, “could be paired with a lovely garlic-rubbed grilled leg of lamb served with roasted rosemary potatoes and sautéed green beans with toasted pine nuts . . .”
Monsieur Professor is proudly smiling at me and begins to clap with my other nineteen classmates and the man from Margaux.
“Or,” I sheepishly announce over the first seconds of applause, “it could be paired with a thin-crusted pizza covered with caramelized onions, crispy pancetta, sautéed shitake mushrooms, and Gorgonzola cheese.”
The clapping stops abruptly, “Why you do that!” Monsieur Professor shouts at me after my offbeat pairing suggestion. “You just gave perfect wine analysis and then ruined it by your food pairing . . . pizza, mon Dieu, not with Chateau Kirwan from Margaux!”
I genuinely want that bottle of Chateau Kirwan from Margaux with pizza. Ce n’est pas chouette (that’s not cool) for a traditional French food and wine pairing but for me, an American, it is.
I suggest using my basic pairing principles—that so abruptly disturbed my French classroom that day—to explore and have fun with food and wine pairings during the holidays. By matching a wine that’s either similar or opposite to the dish or ingredients being served, you can produce delectable and unique pairings. It’s all about the personal adventure when it comes to food and wine pairing.
I pair wine using a simple technique that I learned from a famous sommelier in France. “Wine pairing should be looked at like we look at couples,” he shared. “There are two types of couples in this world. There are the couples who are similar to one another and make each other whole almost like being one person and then there are the couples who are completely opposite and one would never put them together.”
Yet both couples work together and form a powerful bond…
1. Is this wine similar to the dish?
Ex: A heavy beef stew with lots of pepper and bay leaves would have flavors similar to a peppery, earthy red wine like a Cabernet Sauvignon or a spicy Pinot Noir. The bold aromas and flavors of the wine are similar to the strong and spicy ingredients in the stew.
2. Is this wine opposite to the dish?
Ex: A creamy white sauce over pasta would pair well with a nice Sauvignon Blanc. Why?
The acidity in the wine is opposite from the creamy, smooth sauce and actually subdues and balances both flavors.
In pairing traditional holiday dishes, use the basic concepts above (try on your own first) and if you get stumped here are some cheat notes:
Be bold, brave and thankful that your pick does not include the man from Margaux. Simply take that adventurous wine leap believing that your personal palate will always catch you. And even if your palate fails you with the hours of thought you put into that special holiday food and wine pairing, who cares, try again later. Toss out the old ideas about failure and embrace it as your best friend because, when it comes to wine, there is always another chance to get creative with another even more provocative pairing.
A viticulturist, award-winning winemaker, and published author with over 25 years of experience in the wine industry, Paula Moulton has worked with wine talent such as Joel Peterson of Ravenswood Winery, Mike Benziger of Benziger Family Winery, and Jean-Luc Thunevin (Bordeaux’s Bad Boy wine). She has appeared on the Today Show, CBS, NBC, ABC, FOX, CRN, and other major media outlets as an author and wine industry leader. Moulton holds a BA from U. C. Berkeley in Rhetoric, an AS in viticulture from Santa Rosa Junior College, and a Wine Management degree from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, France. Learn more about Moulton at www.paulamoulton.com.
Carrie Armstrong’s fixation with ‘clean’ eating began, as it so often does, with good intentions. Struck down by a virus eight years ago, she was bed-bound and unable to lift her head off the pillow let alone walk.
Doctors said there was little more medicine could do so, to speed up her natural recovery, she began researching alternative remedies and healthy, body-boosting diets online.
“My first thought was no wonder I had got so sick because I’d been eating badly for years,” says the 35 year-old sports presenter from London.
“But then I starting reading about the transformative affects of giving up meat and sugar, then carbohydrates and it went from there.’
Ridgewood NJ, Whole Foods Market of Cambridge, Massachusetts, is recalling bulk and packaged Curry Chicken Salad and Classic Deli Pasta Salad sold in stores in ME, NH, MA, RI, CT, NY and NJ because it has the potential to be contaminated with Listeria Monocytogenes,
Listeria Monocytogenes is an organism which can cause serious and sometimes fatal infections in young children, frail or elderly people, and others with weakened immune systems. Although healthy individuals may suffer only short-term symptoms such as high fever, severe headache, stiffness, nausea, abdominal pain and diarrhea, Listeria infection can cause miscarriages and stillbirths among pregnant women. Consumers should seek immediate medical care if they develop these symptoms.
No illnesses have been reported.
The salads were sold prepackaged, in salad bars, in store’s chef’s cases and in sandwiches and wraps prepared in the stores. The effected products were sold in stores between October 18 and October 22, 2015 and have a “sell by” date of October 23, 2015
Longer fasts might help with weight loss but Americans eat all day long
It’s official: Americans’ 24/7 culture of work, entertainment and digital connectivity now also extends to our dietary consumption patterns, new research finds.
Americans’ erratic, round-the-clock eating patterns, suggests the new study, have probably contributed to an epidemic of obesity and Type 2 diabetes. But they can be changed, and the restoration of a longer nighttime “fast” shows promise as a means to lower weight and better health, researchers add.
How much do American kids love apples? They account for 29% of fruit consumed each day
In a study that detailed the consumption patterns of just over 150 nondieting, non-shift-working people in and around San Diego for three weeks, researchers at the Salk Institute in La Jolla found that a majority of people eat for stretches of 15 hours or longer most days — and fast for fewer than nine hours a night.
We snarf a tidbit at a midmorning meeting, nibble for much of the afternoon, knock back a drink or two with dinner and keep noshing till bedtime. Fewer than a quarter of the day’s calories were consumed before noon, they discovered. And more than a third of participants’ average daily calories, the research revealed, were consumed after 6 p.m.
Despite participants’ typical claim to consuming three meals a day, “a breakfast-lunch-dinner temporal pattern was largely absent,” the researchers wrote in an article published Thursday in the journal Cell Metabolism.
This past spring, Americans’ spending at restaurants surpassed their spending at grocery stores for the first time ever:
At the same time, a recent survey showed that “Among those [making $75,000 or more] who are not saving as much as they believe they should because of spending on lifestyle purchases, 68 percent blamed dining out as the main reason. Among millennials (ages 18-34), 70 percent blamed dining out.”
AUGUST 28, 2015 LAST UPDATED: FRIDAY, AUGUST 28, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY GLORIA GEANNETTE
MANAGING EDITOR |
THE RIDGEWOOD NEWS
Walking into Latour by the train station in Ridgewood feels a lot like stumbling into a restaurant somewhere in Provence.
The walls are awash with cornflower blue with yellow highlights and decorated with paintings that evoke a beautiful day in the sun-dappled countryside. The updates were designed by village merchant Tony Damiano from Mango Jam.
And then there is the food, which is lovingly prepared by chef/owner Michael Latour and his chef de cuisine, Anders Carlson using modern French techniques. Much of it is sourced right from Latour’s garden in Ramsey, which is expertly managed by his sons Alexander, 13, and Michael, 18. Joining in the family operation is wife, Christine, who in addition to her own successful career, is the restaurant’s accounting wizard.
The current bounty includes zucchini flowers, the delicate yellow blossoms that Latour loves to feature on his summer menus. He explained the process with the kind of enthusiasm that any fellow foodie would understand.
The trendy nutritional advice that’s more likely to make you ill than healthy
Isabel Hardman and Lara Prendergast 22 August 2015
The supermarket aisle has become a confusing place. It used to be full of recognisable items like cheese and butter; now you find yourself bamboozled by all manner of odd alternatives such as ‘raw’ hummus, wheat-free bread and murky juices. You have to stay pretty alert to make sure you pick up a pint of proper milk, rather than a soy-based alternative or one free from lactose. Supermarkets have become shrines to ‘clean eating’, a faith that promises happiness, healthiness and energy. Food is to be worshipped — and feared.
As with all growing religions, you know it by its disciples. On The Great British Bake Off, one contestant, Ugne Bubnaityte, has denounced cake as a ‘nutritional sin’ and she hopes to win with low-fat, vegan and gluten-free recipes. Commercially, she’s on to a winner: the market for gluten-free food is soaring and is forecast to grow by 46 per cent, to £560 million, within two years. For those who can’t wait, there’s always the NHS, which wrote 211,200 prescriptions for low-protein or gluten-free food last year (including cakes and pizza). As Dr James Cave, editor of the Drugs & Therapeutics Bulletin, puts it, the NHS is ‘acting as bakers and grocers’.
The high priestesses of this new religion are a group of young, attractive women who amass hundreds of thousands of followers online as more and more people turn to them for guidance. Essentially recipe bloggers, they are becoming revered for telling us what to eat and what not to eat. In an age of confusion, they seem to offer a path.
There’s 25-year-old Madeleine Shaw, a ‘holistic nutritional health coach’ who believes in ‘enlivening the hottest, happiest and healthiest you’ and offers a ‘chia seed egg substitute’ to use in recipes. Ella Woodward, 23, bounced back from a rare illness after adopting a new plant-based diet and entices her followers with sweet potato brownies. Tess Ward, 23, has written a cookbook called The Naked Diet which replaces the conventional chapter headings — ‘Breakfasts’, ‘Starters’, ‘Mains’, ‘Puddings’ —with ‘Pure’, ‘Raw’, ‘Stripped’, ‘Clean’ and ‘Detox’. And there’s the Hemsley sisters, Jasmine and Melissa, whose bestselling cookbook The Art of Eating Well contains no recipes with grains, gluten or refined sugar.
Woodward recommends raw, rather than pasteurised, coconut water, which is tinted pink ‘because of all those antioxidants’ and warns about the dangers of dairy. Milk, she says, ‘can actually cause calcium loss in our bones! This is because milk causes the pH of our bodies to become acidic which triggers a natural reaction in our bodies to bring the pH of our blood back to neutral’. When we drink milk, she says, calcium is drawn from our bones in order to rebalance the acidity it causes, which can result in a calcium deficit.
A box of Wheaties cereal and a can of limited-edition HefeWheaties beer.Photo: AP
Wheaties to create the ultimate breakfast beer
By Associated Press
August 13, 2015 | 5:50pm
These Wheaties may not be so good with milk.
Wheaties says it is partnering with a craft brewery to create a limited-edition beer. The 16-ounce cans will only be available in the Minneapolis-St. Paul market starting Aug. 26, according to Wheaties parent company General Mills.
It’s not exactly clear what makes it Wheaties beer, besides being made from wheat.
General Mills says the beer will be called HefeWheaties in a nod to a German style of beer called hefeweizen, which is typically made with more than 50 percent malted wheat.
“We’re not saying it’s a breakfast beer, but we’re not saying it’s not,” said Ryan Petz, president of Fulton Brewery, the Minneapolis-based brewery that is making the beer.
Petz said the beer is also intended to tie his company to heritage of Minneapolis, which is also home to General Mills’ headquarters. Fulton will consider making the beer more widely available depending on how people react to the initial run, he said.
