Food & Wine

NAPA – When you stop at the security gate at Palmaz Vineyards and look into the distance, you're able to take in all kinds of things – the gentle slopes of Mount George, a private road that winds along a field of grapes, the expansive sky of the Napa Valley.

One invention transformed the course of Southern cooking.

Rome is eternal. Tuscany's terrific. But there's lots more to Italy. And every region has its own trademark wines.

Calling all former members of the Sacramento Home Winemakers Club: An important anniversary celebration is coming up, and the group would like to see you and your wines.

Learn how to bake impeccable breads in this class taught by Gail Von Huene, the founder of Steel Magnolia Kitchen

If they follow their usual timetable, federal and state agricultural officials any day now will release their annual calculation of vineyard acreage in California.

When I informed my husband that I was going to make pork with a rhubarb sauce, he dismissed the idea out of hand. He does not like sweet in his savory.

I am looking for a cut-out cookie recipe that was first published in The Bee's food section in either 1990 or 1994 for the Super Bowl in which the San Francisco 49ers were playing. The cookies were in the shape of football helmets and decorated with the 49ers logo. The icing had maple flavoring in it.

The Sacramento Bee hosts a network of high- quality news providers and bloggers in the Sacramento region. Here is a sampling of the best of the current food and dining blogs.

Making granola bars is easier than making cookies. There's no butter and sugar to cream, so there's no need for a mixer or bringing butter and eggs to room temperature.

Common Grounds, an independent coffee shop in Davis, served its last cup on Easter Sunday.

Payam Fardanesh and Srijun Srinuanchan spent weeks crafting the perfect carbonated beverage, based on a family recipe. Now, Silk Road Soda is selling in cafes and restaurants across the region.

Anani Lawson, whose vaunted work history includes a total of 10 years as sommelier at two of America's greatest restaurants, arrived in Sacramento amid plenty of fanfare in January, taking the reins at Enotria and pledging to transform it into a Michelin-starred restaurant.

After 27 years at its original midtown location, Rick's Dessert Diner is relocating. But it's not going far.

The arrival of spring means brunch season now kicks into high gear. And along with eggs Benedict and Belgian waffles, nothing beats a bloody mary with a chunky celery stalk poking over the rim as part of a late-morning meal.

Spring. Too early to haul from the recesses of the closet the white pants and the white shoes, but not too early to start stocking the refrigerator with bottles of pink wine.

Basic knife skills are at the heart of cooking. Learn how to slice, dice, mince and much more in this class with Dionisio Esperas.

Sean Minor Wines, headquartered in Sacramento's Sierra Oaks neighborhood, recently received some news that the company's been ranked among the nation's best. The April issue of Wine & Spirits Magazine features its 24th annual poll of the favorite wines served in restaurants, and Sean Minor Wines earned two nods.

• Stealth Cooking makes Mulligatawny soup

It may be an awful cliché, but one of my favorite wine sayings is this: "Wine improves with age. The older I get, the better I like it." One of the greatest opportunities at the annual South Beach Wine & Food Festival that took place in Miami Beach in February was the chance to attend "vertical" tastings of some of the world's top wines.

I am looking for the recipe for friendship bread. I need both the starter and cake recipe.

When Nathalie Dupree needed a big favor, she turned to Facebook. And that social media link brings the "Julia Child of the South" to Sacramento next week for two special appearances, celebrating the book "Mastering the Art of Southern Cooking."

At one time or another, Jana Begor has tried most of the commercially advertised diets, not to mention the grapefruit diet and the cabbage soup diet. She became a vegan. She tried the raw food diet.

Thursday was a big day for Pushkin's Bakery, the fledgling gluten-free/dairy-free bakery that opened on Valentine's Day.

It's only fitting that Pushkin's Bakery opened on Valentine's Day, for the fledging husband-and-wife business began as something of a love story, one tied to a medical mystery solved in part through the magic of gluten-free baking.

In midtown Sacramento, where Randy Paragary got his start almost 45 years ago, he is his own competition. The restaurateur said that he didn't realize until the recession, though, just what a good idea it was to have restaurants in both the casual and white-linen dining segments.

Sacramento County public health officials are investigating Mulvaney's B&L restaurant as the source of a possible norovirus outbreak in late February.

It's lean, local and literally a different animal. Today's lamb has become the locavore's sustainable meat of choice, grass-fed and sourced from family farms.

Early on in their annual update of grape acreage in California, the federal and state agricultural officials who track this sort of thing include a long list of synonyms for the names of grape varieties. Mataro, for example, also can be called mourvedre, sangiovese can go by brunello, valdepenas can be substituted for tempranillo, and so on.

The husband is Jewish and I am his shiksa bride. As young marrieds, we ignored both traditions equally. But when we had children, we began celebrating Jewish and Christian holidays alike, so that as the kids matured they could naturally gravitate to the rituals that moved them the most.

Whether it's Easter, Passover, a bridal shower or Mother's Day, spring celebrations call for a light and bright dessert.

If you remember when kosher wine meant mostly cheap and sweet, you probably also know the second part is no longer true. Today, there are plenty of quality kosher wines made around the world.

Today's dish is a vegan version of the classic linguine with clam sauce, minus the clams.

'm looking for a recipe for a chocolate cake made from a cake mix and cherry pie filling. Has anyone made this cake or one using other combinations such as applesauce with a spice cake mix? Thanks for any help with these recipes.

Fans of Monster Energy, the popular high-caffeine energy drink, may not notice the change: Its ingredients will be the same and its familiar label bearing a green, clawlike monogram will change only slightly.

Potluck is what the name implies – an eclectic compilation of food, market and festival news

Tate's Kitchen makes "cucumber roll things"

Food Network star and Southern cookbook author Paula Deen, who a year ago announced that she has type 2 diabetes, is sharing her tips on cooking to live a healthier, longer life.

Sacramento's culinary scene hasn't quite experienced the pedigree of someone like Anani Lawson, who has served as Enotria's general manager since January.

It's a film fest for all five senses.

Rocklin-based dessert bakery chain Icing on the Cupcake plans to open a sixth Sacramento-area store in Granite Bay in the late spring.

Two months after Coca-Cola Co. bought its Sacramento bottling and distribution operation, Coke is closing the production facility on Stockton Boulevard.

In a move prompted in part by increased competition for Sacramentans' food dollars, downtown dining fixture Spataro Restaurant & Bar will shut down after the last diner is served on Saturday.

Mezzetta has been a household name in Northern California for decades, with its jars of olives and peppers crowding refrigerator shelves from Sacramento to Crescent City.

Spataro Restaurant & Bar at 1415 L St. in Sacramento will shut down after close of business on Saturday and reopen as two restyled venues in mid-April.

During the distractions of the year-end holidays, you may have missed the news: Researchers at Michigan State University concluded that three corporations account for slightly more than half of all wine sales in the United States.

Can we all just agree that unless you're a frat boy (or girl), green beer belongs nowhere near your lips on St. Patrick's Day? Because there really are so many other ways to celebrate the holiday, not to mention far more appealing methods of sipping a green beverage.

The dreaded "D" word has the California wine industry on edge. We're talking about "drought," given that January and February were deemed the driest on record in the northern Sierra Nevada, the heart of water supplies for California farmers.

I was giving one of my periodic talks at local libraries the other day, and someone asked if I knew a good way to prepare artichokes.

Trimming artichokes can be a long, painful process, but it doesn't have to be. Here's how Russ Parsons learned to do it many years ago from a friend who had been a line cook at Commanders Palace in New Orleans, where they go through thousands of artichoke hearts every brunch.