April 20, 2004 This week’s edition must begin with a report from last Friday night’s gala Napa Spring Wine Fling, presented by The Rake and sponsored by Excelsior Vintage. The party, held in the lovely atrium of the Doubletree Park Place Hotel, was attended by about 60, and featured almost 70 wines from Napa Valley. … Read more
Don’t let the imposters win. You are encouraging their success when you order a rum and Coke and settle for Shasta. When you allow people to offer a cup of java, then serve up Folgers crystals. The worst offense is to say “pass the Parmesan” as you’re looking at a rotund shaker of a fluffy … Read more
I have never been a big fan of Chenin Blanc. If grapes were people, this variety would be your alcoholic uncle, all hail-fellow-well-met as he comes through the door, but a bit bland, short on attention span and interesting conversation, and liable to leave behind him a sensation somewhat different from the initial affable salute. … Read more
May 3, 2004 There is a lot going on in town right now, with some big sales ending and another in full swing. Byerly’s/Lunds’ sale is done, and the Haskell’s Nickel Sale goes through May 8. Surdyk’s is back on the scene with its “20/20” Sale through May 8,, during which they are featuring twenty … Read more
May 11, 2004 “To a wine grape, it’s Eden.” That’s a trademark of the Napa Valley Vintner’s Association. For this wine guy, the Napa Valley Vintner’s Association tasting this past Thursday was heaven on earth. About eighty Napa Valley wineries showcased their best products, filling The Depot in Minneapolis. Being that the afternoon tasting for … Read more
Annie Neeley is a former Rochester courtroom sketcher and police composite artist now living in Florida. She’s been working on this one guy for quite some time. When she met him, he was attractive enough, but hardly dream man material… more of a fixer-upper, really. At first sight, Annie knew she was up to the … Read more
It started innocently enough, with a casual decision to gradually weed beige out of my wardrobe. What has beige done for me lately? What does it do for anyone, really? Have you ever received a compliment on a beige blouse or scarf? Later, while car shopping, I eagerly clicked on a web listing for a … Read more
Michael McDermott and his family may have been the only people to move out of Seattle in the early 1990s, when that city’s high-tech grunge cachet was at its peak. The McDermotts moved to an abandoned dairy farm in Kelliher, Minnesota. The place was soon hopping with strange cattle—tall, hairy bovines with big horns, which … Read more
My mother taught me that little ditty in 1968, when I was nine years old. We had just become the first black family within a country mile of our new home in the then lily-white southeast Denver. I was no stranger to the word “nigger.” I heard it often from the lips of black people. … Read more
Today you are nothing unless you have flawless, supple skin. Lustrous, thick, bouncy hair. Icy white teeth and breath so fresh it cryogenically freezes your date to the couch. (Take that, Fear-of-Calling-Back Man!) Never mind that things are even worse for women. As more and more straight guys get “queer eye-tized,” I fear that it … Read more