Tips Guides

It can be embarrassing if you are out on a date at a fancy restaurant and you don

More and more wineries around the country are offering tours of their facilities and tastings of their products. These tastings are fun for novices and experts alike. You don’t have to travel to Europe to experience world class wine and wine-making facilities. Vintners throughout the United States are producing wines which can compete with any wine from anywhere in the world.

The most widely-acclaimed and successful wine-making region in the United States is California’s Napa Valley. The Napa Valley is just 30 miles long, only a few miles wide, and nestled in Northern California. A number of world famous wineries are located in this region. One such winery which will appeal to race fans and wine fans alike, is the Andretti Winery in Napa, CA. The Andretti Winery was founded by legendary Indianapolis 500 champ, Mario Andretti. Perhaps the most famous and most successful Napa winery is the Robert Mondavi Winery located in Oakville, CA. Mondavi offers tours year-round except on major holidays. Making an appointment is recommended but not necessary.

California isn’t the only place you can visit an American winery. You may not have realized this, but there are also wineries in the Northeast. One such winery is the Mount Nittany Vineyard and Winery located in Centre Hall, Pennsylvania. Mount Nittany Winery produces a variety of dry and semi-dry whites, dry and semi-dry reds, and sweet and semi-sweet wines. Tours are offered throughout the year. Advanced notice is necessary. Here you’ll learn all about the wine-making process as well as some history of winemaking in the Central PA region.

New York features some of the oldest wineries in the country. The first wine grapes were planted there over 300 years ago! The first serious wine-making operation there began in the 1860’s. One popular New York winery is the Applewood Winery in the town of Warwick, in the Hudson River Valley, located barely an hour away from the hustle and bustle of New York City. Applewood Winery produces a wide variety of wines, some of which you’ll find nowhere else as they’re made from unique local ingredients such as Macintosh apples.

Wine makers have set up shop in the South, too. One such winery is the Habersham Winery located just outside Helen, Georgia. The Habersham Winery has been in operation for over 20 years. The Habersham Winery offers tours for groups of 10 or more and requires an appointment. You can visit their gift shop any time, though. Here you’ll find their complete selection of wines, as well as gourmet foods, and local treats.

Another lovely Southern winery is Chrisman Mill in Nicholasville, Kentucky. They produce a number of international recognized, award-winning wines. Come by the winery Tuesday through Sunday and enjoy a sumptuous lunch in the Chrisman Mill Cafe. Enjoy their surprisingly excellent wines and be impressed with their chef’s top-notch cooking.

If you’re looking for a fun way to spend a day, a weekend, or even a whole week, travel to a winery or wine-making region and discover the wealth of wine produced throughout the country.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Florida. Find more about this as well as other wine gift baskets at http://www.winegiftbasketsplus.com

Actually, there is no such thing as a “perfect” choice when it comes to choosing wine to go with your meal. Taste is too subjective, and what is perfect for one person could spell a disaster for someone else.

However, there are some rules that do need to be taken into consideration, such as red wines going with beef, and white wines going with fish, chicken, and seafood. Just make sure you choose the best wine you can afford, mainly because they are usually higher quality and provide much more variety when it comes to aroma and flavor.

If you’re planning on a main course featuring beef, it is important to weigh the strength of its flavor against the strength of the wine’s bouquet. If you’re looking for a wine to go with your rather flavorful meal, choose a wine that is equal in its intensity. On the other hand, you could always choose a lighter wine to go with this type of meal, if you’re looking for a contrast. It all depends on what you’re trying to feature, the wine or the food.

One popular pairing is a Grenache, with its rich black pepper bouquet, and Steak au Poivre (steak with pepper). If you happen to find a Grenache from the Gigondas region of the Rhone Valley in France, you’re in luck. A more subtle dish, such as Steak Tartar, goes best with a Merlot or Cabernet Sauvignon, as these wines are less intense in flavor and bouquet.

When it comes to white wines, there’s a reason why they go best with seafood, chicken, turkey, etc. These are usually lighter meals, and as such are complemented well by the more subtle flavors of white wines. It is usually the sauces these meals are prepared in which help determine the wine to be enjoyed. The Alsace region has a great Pinot Blanc, which has a spicy taste to it, and thus it goes well with a turkey dish flavored with paprika. One should not count out a Burgundy, though, as it has its place among spicier poultry dishes.

There are some forms of poultry which are richer than others, and duck is a good example. Dishes like this are best served with an acidic wine, such as those from the Sangiovese area of Tuscany. If you’re going for a grilled chicken or turkey dish, though, you should probably choose a German Riesling or Chardonnay.

Sometimes, people focus too much on what meats to serve with wine. Cheese and fruit are often forgotten, but these foods can bring out a wine’s flavor in different ways than meats can. There is an old tradition followed by many Portuguese involving serving a high quality Port with fruity desserts. A touch of a fine Gewurztraminer can often bring out the best in some of the stronger cheeses on the market.

Perhaps you’re looking for something to complement your bisque, or cream based soup. You can’t go wrong with a Chardonnay, with its hint of apple or pear flavor. But, perhaps a Sauvignon Blanc would be more to your liking, as it has vegetable undertones and would emphasize the flavors of your soup.

Gregg Hall is an author living in Navarre Beach, Florida. Find more about this as well as wine gift baskets at http://www.gourmetgiftbasketsplus.com

We often wonder what we should eat for optimum health and even the government has recently flip flopped its food pyramid which you can see at MyPyramid.gov.

Here’s an overview of the 2005 dietary guidelines from the government.

First off, according to the new government guidelines a healthy diet is one that emphasizes fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat milk products and will include lean meats, poultry, fish, eggs, and nuts.

The diet will also be low in saturated fats, trans fats, cholesterol, salt, and added sugars.

The main theme the government is proposing now is to eat a diet rich in grains and to make half of the grains you eat whole grains. Whole grains contain the entire grain kernel — the bran, germ, and endosperm, some examples would be:

According to an ever-increasing number of studies, food and food additives are the most common trigger for migraine headaches. Some studies put food as the culprit behind kicking off the physiological reaction that causes migraine headaches in as much as seventy percent of cases. Other, however, lay the blame for good at a much lower percentage.

It would be an exercise in futility, or at least an exercise in filling up what precious free (headache-free) time you have to test every single food that is related to triggering migraines. You definitely get ahead in the showdown by becoming aware of what foods you commonly eat that are known to trigger the deathly, pounding pain that drives you mad.

Avoiding a suspected food trigger or group of food triggers entirely, however, is not the answer. Doing this can adversely affect other areas of your health, not to mention that you’re just asking for headaches (migraine or otherwise) by skipping meals or not eating enough.

Certain foods are almost guaranteed to be at the top of your list when hunting down the triggers of your migraines. For instance, foods that are rich in the amino acid tyramines (aged cheese, red wines) should always be considered. In addition, if you eat a lot of hot dogs and deli foods and notice you have a lot of migraines as well, you should know that certain nitrates used in large amounts in these kinds of food are probably the trigger.

Chocolate is often a major suspect in the hunt for the true killers of head peace because of its high content of phenylethylamine, but several studies have questioned the validity of this dichotomy. Monosodium Glutamate (MSG) is probably public enemy number one when it comes to food additives and migraines.

There simply isn’t enough space here to provide a comprehensive list of all food and food additives suspect to play a part in triggering migraines, but here a list of the most common:

peanuts and peanut butter

caffeine in all products, not just coffee

dairy products

yeast

some beans (which includes peanut), as well as broad, lima, Italian, lentil, soy, peas

avocados

dried meats

sauerkraut

pickled herrings

canned soups and packet soup mixes

chicken livers

ripe banana

soy products as well as the bean itself

sodium nitrate, which is used to preserve hot dogs, bacon and cured meats

the preservative benzoic acid and its associated compounds

MSG, common name for monosodium glutamate, a flavor enhancer which is now in almost universal use in almost all processed foods

nuts

sourdough breads

cheeses which have been aged, i.e. cheddar

red wines, beer, champagne, vermouth

chocolate

anchovies

As alluded to early, going without food or severe curtailing of your diet is nothing but another trigger and should be avoided. Instead, plan regular meals throughout the day. You might want to try to a restrictive diet, in which you limit your food intake for about a month. (Restrictive diets are not recommended if you are pregnant, however, because by avoiding the potential trigger, you could also be upsetting your balance of nutrition.) If you experience no change in your migraine routine, you can probably assume that your trigger is not food-related. On the other hand, should you find that migraine situation improves over the course of this restricted diet, then simply add foods back your daily routine one at a time. If it is a certain kind of food that you are eating turns out to be responsible, the headache should probably trigger within twelve hours of consumption.

Eating a certain food should trigger a headache within 12 hours. Then you can limit those few foods to which you are sensitive. Never restrict all your possible food triggers. For one thing, it’s probably not going to help you narrow it down and for another avoiding all your favorite foods is just going to make you more stressful which may trigger the headache anyway.

Test yourself with food triggers to determine if food actually is a trigger for you.

Gregg Hall is a business consultant and author for many online and offline businesses and lives in Navarre Florida. Get delicious food at http://www.deliciousfoodgifts.com

I woke up this morning with this question on my mind. Why do I drink coffee? Let’s see if I can count the ways. First of all, I even make my coffee before going to the bathroom. That must be important if it is the first thing I do after waking up. So I got the first part of my question answered. It is important.

I have been making coffee for years. Quite a few years ago, I discovered that it doesn’t take near as much water to make coffee as some people will have you believe. During my quest for the perfect cup of coffee, I found out that the grocery store brands of coffee off the shelves are only good if nothing else is available. So I start buying whole bean coffee and either grinding it at the store or at home.

What a pleasant surprise to experience the aroma of my coffee without even brewing any while grinding the coffee. The aroma brings an excited anticipation of what lies ahead. My favorite mixture of coffee to water is 7 heaping scoops of coffee to 10 cups of water. You can’t brew this in a percolator as it will plug up the stem. Now I got my coffee brewing. I just have to be patient.

Back to my question of why I drink coffee. I learned a long time ago about caffeine deprived headaches. I thought people were kidding or exaggerating but I skipped my coffee in the morning and the mother of all headaches came upon me out of nowhere. I decided then I wouldn’t miss my coffee. So I guess the second reason I drink coffee is because of the caffeine addiction I have.

I got to liking different coffees from around the world. Sumatra and Ethiopian are just a few of the coffees I truly enjoy the taste. I prefer the dark roasted coffee beans. I am looking for full bodied and kick me in the pants taste. French roast and espresso are really good. I was traveling several years ago working in England, Europe, and Norway. I can truly say without doubt, I never had a bad cup of coffee. It was always strong, full bodied, full of taste and definitely had my caffeine fix. There was nothing like sitting at a sidewalk cafe in Paris with my beautiful wife and enjoying a cup of espresso.

I guess after thinking about it, I just like the taste and flavor of coffee. As a side note, flavor coffee to me is for sissies. I don’t care for chocolate, cream, or anything else added to my coffee. I want to enjoy the pure taste. I want to please my palate. By the way, weak coffee is a waster of perfectly good water. To sum it up, coffee is important to me. I am a caffeine addict. The most important reason I drink coffee is because I just like it.

Jerry Johnson owns the Specialty Coffee Cafe a specialty coffee store as well as several other successful webstores. Our coffee is roasted to your order and shipped within 24 hours. Visit the SpecialtyCoffeeCafe.com for great buys on coffee.