Columnists

One of my favorite winter season activities is tuning into the

Something I get asked a lot is “How did you start writing a newspaper column?” Or, “Do you ever run out of stuff to write about?”

I'm sure many of you in looking over the current state of things

The audience at the Golden Gate Theatre in San Francisco

In 2010, we have a wave of IRA owners converting traditional

Truffled Egg on Toast, Oysters a la Russe, Lobster Rissoles in Mousseline Sauce and Cavados Glazed Duckling. For those of us in the United States who saw last Sunday’s episode of “Downton Abbey” on PBS, these items sound very familiar from a meal scene featuring the downstairs staff.

I support legalization of recreational marijuana and will vote

Last month I got as close to heaven as any oenophile has ever been. I’m not much of a camper, but when Matt Levy, public relations and marketing manager, invited me to attend Camp Schramsberg, a three-day sparkling wine seminar at Schramsberg Vineyards in Calistoga, I jumped at the chance. Schramsberg Vineyards has been producing sparkling wine since 1965 when they became the first U.S. producer to use Chardonnay and Pinot Noir grapes in the méthode champenoise (where a secondary fermentation occurs while the wine is in the bottle - thus producing bubbles). These sparkling wines are so good that in 1972, the Blanc de Blancs was served at the historic “Toast to Peace” in Beijing, between President Richard Nixon and Premier Zhou Enlai. To this day, Schramsberg’s wines are still being served in the White House.

Every year when the discovery takes place, it takes me back to a happy childhood. We were free, unlike today it seems. Bikes were key. We could hop on and ride, ride, ride – to play basketball, or swim at Garm and Ang’s house or go to school.