Monday, October 24, 2011

The Food Lover's Guide To Wine

Last summer I took my son to a spectacular seafood restaurant in London where we had a giant platter of seafood--oysters, crab, shrimp, mussels. You get the picture.  The sommelier suggested a Muscadet.  It was an unforgettable meal with the perfect wine pairing.

So the last afternoon before flying home to Los Angeles I took my son, his wife, and my cousin to a different restaurant where we also ordered giant seafood platters.  Unfortunately, this time the Southern Belle ordered a bottle of Muscat.  Yuck!  A very expensive yuck

If only I had read THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO WINE by Karen Page and Andrew Dornenburg I would have known, Muscadet crisp, dry and great with seafood is quite different from Muscat a dessert wine, which while it's delicious with chocolate, is dreadful with oysters.

But THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO WINE is more than a listing of wines.  I've learned the secrets of sommeliers, tips from great chefs, the role of wine in a meal, how to compose a menu, and so much more.  Best of all, THE FOOD LOVER'S GUIDE TO WINE is going to make this year's holiday gift giving so very, very easy.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Fix Congress, Fix America

This email quoting Warren Buffett has been going around, but instead of sending it to 20 people I thought I would post it. Enjoy:

Warren Buffett, in a recent interview with CNBC, offers one of the
best quotes about the debt ceiling:

"I could end the deficit in 5 minutes," he told CNBC. "You just pass a
law that says that anytime there is a deficit of more than 3% of GDP,
all sitting members of Congress are ineligible for re-election. The
26th amendment (granting the right to vote for 18 year-olds) took only
3 months & 8 days to be ratified! Why? Simple! The people demanded it.
That was in 1971...before computers, e-mail, cell phones, etc. Of the
27 amendments to the Constitution, seven (7) took 1 year or less to
become the law of the land...all because of public pressure.

Warren Buffet is asking each addressee to forward this email to a
minimum of twenty people on their address list; in turn ask each of
those to do likewise. In three days, most people in The United States
of America will have the message. This is one idea that really should
be passed around.

*Congressional Reform Act of 2011*

1. No Tenure / No Pension. A Congressman collects a salary while in
office and receives no pay when they are out of office.

2. Congress (past, present & future) participates in Social Security.
All funds in the Congressional retirement fund move to the Social
Security system immediately. All future funds flow into the Social
Security system, and Congress participates with the American people.
It may not be used for any other purpose.

3. Congress can purchase their own retirement plan, just as all
Americans do.

4. Congress will no longer vote themselves a pay raise. Congressional
pay will rise by the lower of CPI or 3%.

5. Congress loses their current health care system and participates in
the same health care system as the American people.

6. Congress must equally abide by all laws they impose on the
American people.

7. All contracts with past and present Congressmen are void effective
1/1/12. The American people did not make this contract with
Congressmen. Congressmen made all these contracts for themselves.
Serving in Congress is an honor, not a career. The Founding Fathers
envisioned citizen legislators, so ours should serve their term(s),
then go home and back to work.

If each person contacts a minimum of twenty people then it will only
take three days for most people (in the U.S. ) to receive the message.
Maybe it is time.

THIS IS HOW YOU FIX CONGRESS!!!!! If you agree with the above, pass it
on. If not, just delete. You are one of my 20. Please keep it going.