Learning About Wine While Traveling

One of the best perks of being a travel writer, aside from the great trips we take, is the interesting people we meet on those trips. I got to know Lynn Hoffman while riding a bus through most of Italy and Germany one year, and became friends with him while tasting the local wines and beers of the Dolomites and German Alps.

Lynn is a novelist, with a couple of great books to his credit. His first, The Bachelor’s Cat, is a really fun read about how he found a stray kitten, and through the kitten, found love. His latest, Bang Bang, is a funny and satirical novel about gun control. But, Lynn’s background is actually in food and wine, and he wrote The New Short Course in Wine as a textbook for college-level hospitality classes.

It’s the definitive Wine 101 resource for learning everything from terminology to tasting, including learning about which grapes are used in which wines, what goes with what, and even what kind of glass to use.

Even though I know a thing or two about wine, I learned several things in reading Lynn’s book, and still refer to it often as a reference when I’m writing about wines. You can contact Lynn with questions or to find out where to buy his books at drfood44@verizon.net

One Strike, You're Out

As a food writer, the rule of thumb is that if you have a bad experience at a restaurant, you should give it another try, but when both the food and service are below average, I feel it would be a disservice to send someone else there to spend their hard-earned money in these tough economic times.

Positioning themselves somewhere between the budget Olive Garden and the pricier Carraba’s, the Macaroni Grill offers similar fare and a faux-Tuscan atmosphere. I started with a cup of Chicken Toscana soup, which turned out to be a great deal at $2.99 as it was actually a bowl of soup with some fresh, hot bread. It was a hearty soup with bow-tie pasta, spinach and other veggies, and chunks of white meat chicken and was plenty for a light meal.

Unfortunately, my appetizer, a Shrimp and Artichoke dip, was disappointing in many ways. It arrived late, about 10 minutes after my soup, and instead of being a rich, thick dip, it turned out to be more of a watery soup consistency with some tiny shards of shrimp and some spinach, and no artichokes that I could see. The accompanying crostini was so hard I was afraid I would break my teeth on it. When I expressed my disappointment to my server, his response was “Well, nobody else has complained about it today.” Not exactly a testament to Macaroni Grill. My waiter never offered to replace the dish or take it off my bill, so I’ve taken Macaroni Grill off my list.

Eating Apple Butter and Hospital Food

On my recent visit with my aunt in Strasburg, I received my annual order of four pints of apple butter that she and the ladies at Lebanon Church put up every fall. Since Shenandoah apples are the best in the world, this is great stuff! I love it on pancakes, and have been experimenting with using it on pork chops and all sorts of things.

It’s really come in handy this week, as I’ve been spending most of my time at Edward White Hospital here in St. Petersburg. My elderly neighbor had a bad fall and fractured her hip, as well as gashed her head. I was surprised to find out that hospital food has come a long way. While she was eating turkey, mashed potatoes, and carrots, I was drinking a lot of really bad coffee. That apple butter and a box of frozen Eggo waffles has literally saved my life this week!

Eating Lunch with Alfred Hitchcock

Every year around this time, my sister and I take a beautiful drive into the Shenandoah mountains to meet our aunt in the charming town of Strasburg for her birthday lunch. Jackie Kennedy used to come here to explore the antique shops…something we planned to do after our lunch.

In past years we have eaten at the Victorian Strasburg Hotel, but this year my aunt wanted to try a new place that had just opened. She couldn’t remember the name of it, but said to look for the mannequins in the window. My sister, who was driving slowly down the street, said “Do you see any mannequins?” and I replied, “No, just a couple of old people at a window table”, and sure enough, that was the place. The “old couple” are supposed to be Alfred Hitchcock and his mistress, according to our friendly waitress.

The name of the restaurant is Frankie’s Rt. 11 Rathskeller, but it isn’t German in any way, shape, or form. In fact, for Strasburg, it’s downright contemporary in décor, with a nice wine list and a good selection of salads and sandwiches for lunch, and several interesting entrees on the dinner menu. I had a really good chicken club sandwich, while my sister and aunt tried the chicken salad and a salad with chicken tenders. The highlight of my aunt’s birthday meal, was by far, the homemade chocolate pie with whipped cream. I barely managed to grab a shot of it before she ate the last bite! The menu is full of comfort food standards, with most dinner entrees under $15 and lunches in the $5-7 range.

They don’t have a website yet, but just drive down W. King Street and look for the old people at the window table.