One of the simplest ways to add flavor to a dish is to use wine. While not every food benefits, there are many items you cook that can see their flavor enhanced with a bit of the “fruit of the vine.” It’s low-fat, gluten free, and high flavor.

Some recipes call specifically for wine, in detail: [...]

1. Cooking With Booze (and Even Putting Some in the Food) I love cooking with alcoholic beverages. I sometimes put...

I love cooking with alcoholic beverages. I sometimes put some in the food too. Beer, wine, brandy, whiskey and more, they’re all fair game for the cookpot. Especially if you’re trying to impress your date or significant other with something spectacular, like a flambé of a fancy dish. Take it from an expert, though: [...]

1. Important News Concerning Two Essential Food Groups: Beer and Hamburgers This entry is part of a series, Follies 2011» Beer...

Looking for a great dish for a romantic little dinner at home? Well, have we got a deal for you…

Chicken Marsala is one of those ingenious Italian inventions that looks difficult to make, but really isn’t. It can even be a show piece. You’ll love it, [...]

1. Chicken With Orange-Thyme Sauce and Rum-Soaked Bread Pudding This entry is part of a series, RdJ» Tonight’s dinner...
2. The Devil’s Own Chicken, as Hot as Your Conscience Can Stand This entry is part of a series, RdJ Marathon» All...

Davy Crockett once said, “You may all go to Hell, and I will go to Texas.” Trust me, it’s hotter here. We’ve been scorched in Texas for months now. We were 5° F above average for June, after a hot May. The above-average temperatures have continued, and so has the drought. (Rain in isolated [...]

1. It’s Good, It’s Italian, and You Don’t Have to Go to Europe to Get It This entry is part of a series, Austin Scene» Usually...

How cold is it here? It’s so cold:

Starbucks is serving coffee on a stick.
We’ve taken everything out of the freezer so we’ll have someplace warm to sleep tonight.
Our three cats and Sonia the Red Golden are hitchhiking south for the winter.
The power companies are sending letters of condolence with their bills.
Opticians are giving away [...]

I know, Texas Wine Month is over. Gone. Kaputski. Defunct, expired, moribund. Dead, dead, dead. But that doesn’t mean you should stop enjoying wine! Or for that matter, that we should stop talking about it entirely until next October.

While Paula Jo and I were out drinking our way across the countryside foraging through the [...]

After leaving the peace and quiet of the tiny village of Sisterdale, we struck out cross-country to the Big City. Comfort, Texas, that is. It’s the second-biggest metropolis in all of Kendall County, right after Boerne. Last census showed nearly 2,400 folks live there, and rumor has it that it’s grown a tad bit [...]

Sisterdale is a small village in the hills, about an hour north of San Antonio. Once upon a time it took nearly two hours to get there; the roads were narrow and winding. Now the Interstate gets you most of the way there, and a ten-minute drive off the main highway puts you [...]

We have a short break from School this week; only two days, but boy do we need it! Not to mention it’s Texas Wine Month and I haven’t had a chance yet to go on tour. Bummer.

Never fear, though; the beauteous Paula Jo has come to our rescue! She’s done the research and made [...]

It’s amazing how the Internet can distract you these days. With my wife’s birthday only a couple weeks away, I began to search for the ideal gift. Before you know it, I’m looking at bar & wine tools. And what comes up on the first page of such a search? A Wine Rack, of [...]