USA! USA! CA-LAH-FOR-NIE-AAH

Gary V, proudly goes to some heavy hitting California reds for your tasting pleasure. Watching his with a bit of spring in the air makes me want fire, wine and RED MEAT.

Enjoy.

But SaucyJoe, what does this have to do with wine, bbq or music?

Hush, and enjoy the show. There will be time for that other stuff this weekend.
First, we have a little offering from Pee Wee. Some clever stuff here.

Pee-wee Gets An iPad! from Pee-wee Herman

A new way to explore food and wine expertise

It looks like our friends at GuruTrack are preparing a feature on the Women of Wine for their debut issues (online at gurutrack.com/wine-gourmet.html) this January. Their site is new, but they are promising to give us "backstage access" to the experts we love, and we're rooting for them to pull it off.

We see so many press releases and social media missives about the experts and their breakthrough moments in 2009, it will be good to hear more table-talk opinions and down to earth comments from those making food and wine mojo this year.

One note, the GuruTrack site is just opening so expect changes and maybe some "coming soon" placements. membership is still free though, and even if you subscribe, it is a three-tier build up and you won't pay full boat until month three. Pretty cool. They're also looking for more guru nominations, so if you have someone you'd like to see interviewed, go to their "sneak peek" page and send them a lead.

When the cold hits Grand Prairie

Well, we have definitely dipped the mercury to a new yearly low as of today, and it looks to be getting colder. What better opportunity to prepare cold weather comfort fare for serving inside the new ice shanty we've installed on the pool surface.

At first, Libby wasn't too thrilled with the view, but once we sampled some of the fresh fish dishes prepared in the shanty's saloon dining area, everything was just dandy. Avery's taken to playing the pie-ah-nee (as he likes to call it) in the saloon, working for tips and sarsaparillas, and Meredith is now going by the name of Miss Lilly, and keeping the peace by luring the rowdies outside so Cam can wallop em with a chair.

Never quite thought the whole SJ clan could pull off such an enterprise, but I guess cold weather brings out the adventure in us all. Cheers to SJ Nation, hook em horns, and Happy 2010!

Alphabet Juice

Check out our review at GuruTrack of Roy Blount Jrs' new book Alphabet Juice.

A delicious interview w/ him this morning on Bob Edwards, and a book for everyone you know who has a love of language.

Leading w/ Compassion

All,
Saw this today, published it on GuruTrack, and felt it merited sharing here.

AND, Let's get those preparing for Thanksgiving posts stirring.