Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

Slow Cooker Ropa Vieja

I spend 20+ years in South Florida and love Cuban food, which is easy to find there and delicious. Since moving north, I’ve not found it in many places, and if I have, it just isn’t the same. I was so excited when one of the avid contributors to my Food & Wine Chickie Facebook […]

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Easy to Find Thanksgiving Wine Recommendations

You have just over a week to get to the wine store to find the ‘perfect’ bottle for Thanksgiving. In the USA, more wine is sold around Thanksgiving than any other holiday. Choices can be overwhelming with so many wines at various prices and for bottles that need to please people with very different palates. […]

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Carrot, Apple and Ginger Soup

Carrot, Apple and Ginger Soup

At our home, we make soup nearly every weekend when the weather’s cooler. While we have some favorites that we often default to, we also like to try new flavors to change things up. This week, I did a velvety, stellar carrot, apple and ginger soup that was absolute fall in a bowl. This recipe […]

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2020 Famille Gueguen Chablis Celine & Frederic

2020 Famille Gueguen Chablis Celine & Frederic

Earlier in the season, I bought several of these food friendly Chablis in anticipation of warmer weather. This 2020 Chablis is great to have on hand for outdoor sipping and served as an aperitif. This affordable French wine would be perfect paired with oysters on the half shell then with lighter fish or summer salads. […]

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Aperol Gin Cocktail

Aperol Gin Cocktail

My foodie pal Justin, who lives in New Jersey, is hilarious and sarcastic in the best possible way and he’s been a constant inspiration in my pursuit of craft cocktail mastery. I’ve been following his posts on Instagram (you must follow him too: https://www.instagram.com/justinelmini/) and recreating some of his libations since the start of the […]

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Kopke Port Wine Tasting in Greece

Kopke Port Wine Tasting in Greece

A couple months ago, I was contacted by Kopke Port Wine about a tasting kit the Portuguese winery was offering some wine writers, and, as a novice to port tasting, I jumped on the opportunity to secure a samples kit. When the kit arrived in its handsome wooden box, I wrapped it in bubble wrap […]

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Bhramari Brewing Company Opening in Charlotte

Bhramari Brewing Company Opening in Charlotte

I was recently invited to attend the pre/soft opening of the Charlotte outpost of Asheville’s cult brewery Bhramari Brewing Company and loved the transformation of the space from what was previously home to Salty Parrot Brewery. Unlike its sister to the west, the Bhramari Charlotte location won’t feature a kitchen or a full cocktails menu. […]

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2019 Limerick Lane Zinfandel Los Amigos and Limerick Lane

2019 Limerick Lane Zinfandel Los Amigos and Limerick Lane

I’ve been a huge fan of Limerick Lane Cellars (www.limericklanewines.com) wines for many years. This boutique Sonoma wine producer makes some of my very favorite California Zinfandel and this bottle was outstanding. I love their motto “while we lack pretension, we are very serious about our craft”. I was fortunate enough to visit Limerick Lane […]

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10 Easy to Find Kosher Wines for Passover

Kosher wines are made across the world, even here in the United States. To be considered “kosher”, wines must be produced using kosher-certified ingredients and tools/equipment, under the supervision of a rabbi. Passover kicks off this week and for those of you who still need kosher wine recommendations, here are 10 Passover kosher wines that […]

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Roasted Salmon with Peanut Udon Noodles

We have a fish market near us that has the very best fish and seafood I’ve ever purchased at a store. A couple weeks ago, they had AMAZING king salmon, and while I rarely buy salmon, this was too gorgeous to pass up. I took it home and realized we had very little fresh ingredients […]

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