New Red Wine From One of My Favs..Apothic

If you have never tried Apothic Wine, from California, what are you waiting for! It is one of my favorite under $10 bottles of wines out there, especially the red blend. So when I got an email the other day announcing the "Apothic Dark" I was very intrigued, and once I read that I was invited to a tasting party Saturday before the wine goes on sale, I was down right giddy!

The event is at the Old Town School of Music and is open to the public. It looks like they are tying it in with a live story telling event, so maybe some dark wine and scary stories in honor of Halloween?

I have met the master wine maker from Apothic, and the guy is not only much younger than you would think, but he knows he grapes. If you are looking for a great table red wine, definitely try out Apothic.

Here is info on the event: http://themoth.org/events/event/fall-from-grace-the-moth-in-chicago

Making Ribs & Dry Rubs

I am going to one last BBQ tomorrow in Chicago before winter jackets and hats are needed! I have some beautiful Berkshire baby back ribs that I got from Allen Brothers. I plan on making a homemade BBQ sauce with chipotle, orange, and honey, so I wanted a dry rub to compliment those flavors.


Here is the recipe I just came up for a Smoked Ancho dry rub. It has sweet, heat, and some flavors that really pop out. Check out the color and fat content of these rubs, going to fall of the bone!

2 tablespoons ancho chile powder 
1 tablespoon sweet paprika
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tablespoon ground cumin 
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground coriander
½ cup soft brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt

New Flavor City from Tuscany Almost Ready

My creative team is putting the finishing touches on a brand new FlavCity from Tuscany. After two incredible weeks in August,  I already want to go back! I was blown away by the beautiful vistas, the mountainous terrain, and the insanely tasty food. Literally every dish I had in Tuscany was pure perfection, and the fact that prices were very reasonable(even after the euro conversion) made my wallet very happy!

Everyone knows I am an Extra Virgin Olive Oil fanatic, and there was no shortage of fresh, peppery, earthy EVVO in Tuscany. I interviewed second generation olive growers and learned about every step of the oil making process. Of course no trip to Tuscany would be complete without indulging in the famous Chianti Classico, and indulge I did! In the name of research, I drank as much Chianti as I needed to learn all about the famous sangiovese grape.

I then retreated to the seaside town of Anzio(one hour west of Rome), and decided to cook right on the beach and feed all my pizano's! I took all the inspiration from Tuscany and created a Bruschetta alla Tuscano, with all those flavors of Tuscany that I will never forget!

Here are some photos from our shoot on the beach. The locals were looking at us like we were crazy, but once they tried my bruschetta, it was like I was one of the family!

Getting Ready for Food Network's NYCWFF

One of the top wine & food fests in the country is Food Network's Wine & Food in New York. Flavor City was lucky enough to get an all access press pass for the event, and will be hitting up all the hot parties and getting interviews with food celebrities. So if you don't have tickets to this sold out event, I've got you covered! http://www.nycwff.org/

In my continuing effort to make travel more affordable for everyone via credit card points and miles, I want to share how I just booked my round-trip ticket to NYC for free. I will be flying outbound on American for only 7,500 miles, and returning on Southwest for 14,000 miles.

Outbound: Thanks to to stockpile of British Airways points, I can take advantage of their partnership with AA to book a one way ticket for way less than it would be if I went through AA directly(12,500 points). That is because B.A. using distance to figure how much they charge for reward tickets, so always using B.A. for domestic travel on AA. Here is the current offer for 50,000 B.A. bonus points with Chase
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/ba/50AFWaffiliates?AFFID=xDpEzOEw4a4-_IaF8aH1_tj1beieTOJBSw&pvid=F516562912&jp_cmp=cc/296439/aff/3-10002045/na

Inbound: I also have a stockpile of Southwest Rapid Reward points due to the fact they have 5 credit cards in their family, each offering up to 50,000 bonus miles. Even though 14,000 for a one-way flight is not the best deal, it balances out after the great deal on my outbound flight. Here is the link to some of the 50,000 bonus point Chase rapid reward credit cards:
https://creditcards.chase.com/a1/southwest/2ffaffiliate?CELL=6H8X&AFFID=xDpEzOEw4a4-O4h3aO0z5E.pNoQWymvKCA&pvid=F516562987&jp_cmp=cc/296508/aff/3-10002012/na