Feb 22 – Brad’s RAW Made Easy

Posted on February 17, 2014 by Guy

Joining me this week is Brad Gruyno founder of Brad’s Raw Foods and author of “Brad’s RAW Made Easy”

Brad Gruno is someone who loved a good steak and never could have imagined going raw, until he did and it changed his life, his health, and his career. Three months after going raw he was forty pounds lighter and had eradicated his high cholesterol, insomnia and depression. It also put him on a whole new path and gave him a mission to share what he learned.

If you’ve been curious about raw foods, but are a little afraid that dieting this way is too hard to do, takes too much time, or is too expensive, then this is the book for you. With a simple 3-phase strategy that shows you how to make the transition, eating this close to nature has never been easier.

www.bradsrawchips.com

 

In the second half I’ll be talking to Ashley Ruckman from KETCH about a great wine event next week…

If you’re a wine or art enthusiast, or your heart belongs to the arts, Palette to Palate is the event for you. This annual fundraiser is one knock-your-socks-off sensory experience! Join us in 2014 for food tasting, wine tasting, and both silent and live art and wine auctions.

Main Tasting: $75 per person | Table of 10 $750 – VIP Pre-Party: $250 per person

Sample exquisite wines and enjoy delicious bites in a private pre-party you won’t want to miss.

The Food & Wine Tasting:
Wichita’s best restaurants, caterers, and tasty-treateries will be on the menu. Walk-about the sampling stations to indulge in the delish bites and wines.

The Wine Auction:
Wichita wine enthusiasts have never seen an auction like this one! Wines donated from private collections are sure to please.

Don’t forget…The 5th Annual Strong Ale Fest is at the Anchor in Old Town Today!  The fun starts at 1:00 p.m. February 22; 1109 East Douglas – You can still get tickets at the door. Over 100 hand crafted specialty Ales to sample from!  Tickets are only $40 at the door.    www.strongalefest.com

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2012 Meiomi Pinot Noir

Meiomi (May-oh-mee) is a Pinot Noir that gets its fruit from the most noteworthy coastal areas in California. The wine is crafted, lush, balanced and luxurious. Three of the California’s most sought after coastal growing regions brilliantly meld together in this deeply flavored, stylish and truly balanced Pinot Noir; at its most fundamental core, it is an approachable, food friendly wine with a style and place all its own.

Deep, rich garnet color. The wine opens up with aromas of ripe berries, fresh cranberry, candy apple and malted vanilla, some of which carries through to the palate. There’s a hint of Granny Smith apple on first sip that beautifully balances out the rich cream soda and cherry cola notes. It is an extremely layered wine, both in structure and flavor, with a slight earthiness and sweet oak on the finish. The wine almost contradicts itself, managing to display freshness and maturity all at the same time, which is achieved through careful blending.

 

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Feb 15 – Reverie Coffee Roasters & More!

Posted on February 10, 2014 by Guy

This weeks show will be coming to you LIVE from Reverie Coffee Roasters at 2611 East Douglas with Andrew Gough and staff.

This relatively new shop is dedicated to teaching people about the process from when coffee leaves the farm to when it gets to your cup.  It’s all about fair trade, single-origin coffee that can be traced back to which farmer grew it and even on what plot of land the beans were grown, not unlike the way we think about wine.   Reverie Coffee Roasters provides quality fresh roasted coffee beans to consumers and business alike.  You can not only learn how beans are sourced and roasted, but also create your own flavor profile and blend that the store will keep on file for future use.

Half of the 3000-square-foot space is dedicated to retail sales of everything coffee; grinding equipment, coffee brewing machines, grinding equipment, gourmet coffee flavorings and more.  There is a cafe seating area and customers can purchase cups of fresh brewed coffee to go.

Reverie currently offers six single-origin coffees – from Mexico, Colombia, Sumatra, and Ethiopia – as well as three blends and all the usual specialty coffee drinks.

There’s not a standard coffeemaker in use on the premises. Instead, Reverie’s baristas use methods including cold brewing, vacuum brewing and “pour over” brewing to make coffee. The shop also carries a full line of Monin syrups.

Reverie has been steadily growing its wholesale business and now counts Cocoa Dolce, Watermark Cafe, Caffe Moderne, Anna Murdoc’s and R Coffeehouse among clients. Beverage catering and coffeemaker sales are other avenues of business.

Andrew Gough

Gough, who calls coffee “the most complex beverage in the world,” had a cupping table built so wholesale customers could sample and recognize the differences between, say, a dark roast Sumatran coffee and a lighter brew from Ethiopia. A dozen factors ranging from climate to growing elevation to soil influence each cup, Gough said.  “A big part of our business is education and training,” he said.  They are planning on workshops and seminars on roasting, tasting and creating blends.

Andy Gough plans on keeping his “Day Job” for now, but the day to day operation will be handled by a talented staff of Barista’s and coffee roasters.   They look forward to sharing their passion and enthusiasm for bringing the very best coffee to local businesses as well as walk-in customers.  Follow Reverie on Facebook and Twitter and learn more at www.reverieroasters.com

Reverie Coffee Roasters is open at 7:00 a.m. weekdays, and 8:00 a.m. Saturday.  If you like coffee, stop by this Saturday and be a part of The Good Life!

I’ll also be telling you all about a great BEER event; The 5th Annual Strong Ale Fest is Saturday February 22, 1-4:00 p.m. at The Anchor.  1109 East Douglas.  Featuring over 100 Specialty Ales reserved exclusively for this great event.  Learn more and get tickets at www.strongalefest.com

Speaking of craft brews…Reverie’s Espresso blend was recently used in a Coffee Porter created by Walnut River Brewing Co. in El Dorado, I’m looking forward to trying that brew.  Walnut River makes some fine beer!

 

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2012 Butter Chardonnay from Napa Valley 
Delivering on its name, this wine has an ethereal creaminess on the palate, woven with smooth vanillin scented oak. Tropical flavors of pineapple and honeydew intertwine delicately on the mid pallet and linger on to the finish.

 

Produced by JaM Cellars (JAM stands for John and Michelle)
JaM was created by Napa Valley vintner John Truchard with the idea of giving wine lovers easy to appreciate, reasonably priced California wines with big fruit and soft tannins. The wines of JaM Cellars are produced by renowned Napa Valley winemaker Rob Lloyd who obtained his Masters Degree in Enology at UC Davis in 1999. Soon after, Mr. Lloyd became the winemaker at Napa’s Rombauer Winery* where he helped them become named Wine Spectators Top 100 Wines in the World in 2007.

*Yes, this wine is similar in style to Rombauer Chardonnay and half the cost! 🙂

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Feb 8 – The Al Tiramisu Cookbook

Posted on February 3, 2014 by Guy

My first guest this week is Award-Winning Chef and Restaurateur Luigi Diotaiuti with his new book “The Al Tiramisu Restaurant Cookbook.  The book is a unique collection of 100 of the restaurant’s mouthwatering recipes and tells the history of Washington DC’s “most authentic” Italian restaurant as well as the life story of its chef/owner.

Dining at Al Tiramisu restaurant, located in the heart of Washington, DC, is like taking a trip to Italy without leaving the country. The award-winning restaurant is cozy, warm, and joyful—reflecting the effervescent and playful personality of Chef and owner Luigi Diotaiuti. Now Chef Luigi lets home cooks everywhere experience his Italian culinary heritage and favorite recipes with his new book, THE AL TIRAMISU RESTAURANT COOKBOOK: An Elevated Approach to Authentic Italian Cuisine, a collection of 100 of the restaurant’s most popular recipes. The book is also part culinary memoir taking readers from Chef Luigi’s birthplace in Basilicata, Italy, to kitchens in Sardinia, Paris, Venice, Tuscany and ultimately Washington DC. Each chapter is devoted to a distinct phase in the chef’s career and features recipes that can create a complete menu.

“As chef-owner of Al Tiramisu, I love to keep learning and refreshing my skills. But as a teacher at heart I also enjoy sharing my knowledge and discoveries with others, whether it’s my staff, guests, students in my cooking classes, or audiences on television and radio programs,” Luigi explains. “In that vein, I also offer culinary tips in these pages that I accumulated over my long career. I share advice on selecting top quality products and where to buy them, and on using authentically Italian cooking techniques.”

Chef Luigi Diotaiuti

“But the heart and soul of this book are my treasured recipes. Each recipe is special to me and starts with a bite-size memory of an event, person, or emotion that the dish evoked. They are culled from family recipes and from those of friends and colleagues in far-off places. Many appeared on the very first Al Tiramisu menu in 1996 and remain on the menu today. Others I have created more recently and I am very excited to present them in my book.”  Learn more about Chef Luigi and the restaurant here!

In the second half I’ll tell you all about a great Italian wine from Tuscany.  Tenuta La Badiola lies in the heart of the Tuscan Maremma, southwest Tuscany. It is located in a delightful natural setting of gently rolling hills carpeted in olive groves and vineyards. The view from the estate stretches to where the turquoise of the Mediterranean waves merge with the intense blue of the Tuscan sky.  Learn more here!   This wine is rated 93/100 by the Beverage Testing Institute and 90/100 by Wine Spectator.

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2009 Tenuta La Badiola 642

“642° is produced on the ‘Tenuta La Badiola’ estate at the 42nd degree of latitude in the Tuscany region of Maremma. It’s unique blend of 6 different types of grapes creates a rich, luscious, complex and extremely elegant wine that combines the best of tradition with a new interpretation of European varietals.”

Area of Production: Maremma (Tuscany, Province of Grosseto)  Designation: Maremma Rosso IGT

Cepage: Cabernet Sauvignon, Merlot, Petit Verdot, Syrah, Sangiovese, Montepulciano (The grapes used to produce 642 are organically farmed and vinified, although the wine is not organically certified).  Alcohol: 14%

Wine Notes: Aromas are of wild berry fruits, like blackberry and dried plum which then yield to richer impressions of candied fruit and dark chocolate. Nuances of vanilla and tobacco leaf. Rich and full-bodied in the mouth, this wine has tannins that are perfectly balanced and well integrated. A lively acidity brightens its fruit. The long-lived, delicious finish is infused with aromatic, ripe fruit.  Recommended Food: Game, steak, and roasted meats. Also pairs with Aged Cheeses.

Pick up a bottle at Jacob Liquor Exchange on North Rock Road and join us 🙂

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Feb 1 – Beer Drinker’s Guide to Fine Wine

Posted on January 29, 2014 by Guy

Emmmm BEER!   Yes I love beer too, and when teaching wine appreciation at Wichita State University I am often asked “Why don’t you teach a beer appreciation class.”  It’s usually asked by wives attending wine class without their beer loving husbands.  While I have expanded the beer palates of some to add wine to their adult beverage portfolio, now there is a book that can do a better job at that than I.

Jim Laughren, Certified Wine Educator (CWE) and also a beer enthusiast has put together a great book; “A Beer Drinker’s Guide to knowing and Enjoying Fine Wine.”

If it’s time to expand your horizons, impress some clients, or introduce your better half to that new wine bar down the street, here’s the ideal wine guide. More Oz Clarke road trip than Jancis Robinson compendium, A Beer Drinker’s Guide to Knowing and Enjoying Fine Wine is a friendly, arm-around-the-shoulder wine primer that educates and enlightens from a beer drinker’s point of view. No arcane disquisition or convoluted wine writing, just a witty, easy-going explanation of wine styles and varietals, tasting and scoring techniques, the major international wine regions and inside tips for buying or selecting the perfect wine for any occasion, all in clear, concise language, infused with nuggets of beer lore, the keys to understanding winespeak, and much more. All in all, a fun, enjoyable and surprisingly informative take on the wonderful world of wine.

And then…

Jim and I will discuss his latest article available at The Huffington Post; “Super Brews, Super Bowl, Super Afternoon”

If you like BEER, are hosting or attending a Super Bowl party this article is for you.   It’s full of ideas and reason on what you might want to take or serve your beer loving football fans during the big game.  Think variety and let all those BIG name small producer micro-brews take center stage.  Since it’s a long game, there are other options to consider…like taking or providing wine for those like my wife who doesn’t like bitter beer face.  Jim finishes the article with some great hand-crafted beer suggestions for fans of either team.  Some of his suggestion are available locally too!

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2010 Stickybeak Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon 

Plush red in color, the 2010 Cabernet has exotic aromas of blackberry, cardamom and black pepper with layers of mocha oak. The palate has a deep and brooding concentration, finely structured tannin and soulful intensity with layers of dark fruit flavors.

The Facts:
Vineyards: Napa Valley – Oak Knoll District and Pope Valley
Varietals: Cabernet Sauvignon  Harvest Date: October 18-24,
2010 Bottling Date: August 2012 Alcohol by Volume: 14.1%
Titratable Acid: 4.7 g/L pH: 3.84
Maturation: Aged for 18 months in French oak (50% new)
Winemaker: Wayne Donaldson

www.stickybeakwines.com   GetYaSum at Jacob Liquor Exchange and join us!

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Jan 25 – “Stuffed” comfort food, Paso Robles AVA

Posted on January 23, 2014 by Guy

How’s that New Year’s resolution going?  This book may not help, it’s a beauty and filled with some killer fun recipes you may want to use for your Super Bowl party.

Dan Whalen joins us with his brand new book “Stuffed – The Ultimate Comfort Food Cookbook.”

Dan is a mad scientist of comfort food. Dan’s recipe takes a full-sized cheeseburger, stuffs it into a ravioli and calls it dinner. Another puts pineapple and bacon into jalapeno peppers to create a tasty, flavorful appetizer. With every recipe so fun and different, you’ll be able to make dishes that your family and friends have truly never seen before.

Dan is the genius behind the popular blog, The Food in My Beard. His recipes have been viewed over 6 million times and his work has been featured in Bon Appetit, Fine Cooking magazine and on Boston.com and Huffington Post. www.foodinmybeard.com 

Recipes include Cheesesteak Stuffed Soft Pretzel Calzones, Chicken Stuffed Waffles, Cheddar Sriracha Stuffed Mushrooms and Cherry Pie Stuffed Chocolate Cake, so get ready to take the best comfort foods and stuff them with even more awesome flavor. With Stuffed, you’ll be making the best tasting dishes you’ve never even dreamed of.

In the second half Chris Taranto, Communications Director for The Paso Robles Wine Country Alliance (www.pasowine.com) joins us to talk about this great Central Coast region.

Paso Robles American Viticultural Area (AVA) was established in 1983 with 17 wineries and 5,000 vineyard acres.  The fastest growing AVA in California with 32,000 vineyard acres and more than 200 bonded wineries.  Paso Robles is also the largest and most diverse wine region in California with 30 distinct soil series, many microclimates, varying topography within 614,000 total acres ranging from nationally distributed, mid-size to boutique wineries.

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2010 Rosenblum Cellars Paso Robles Zinfandel

Complex fruit drives this 2010 Paso Robles Zinfandel, opening with a heady combination of mulberry, rhubarb and plum. Licorice and hints of violet complement the rich, dark fruit aromas. On the palate, bright acids give lift to fresh raspberry and black cherry flavors, followed by firm tannins that accompany the long finish. The wine has an appealing versatility for food, perfect for almost any pasta dish, whether a creamy Carbonara or a meaty ragù.

Pickup a bottle or two at Jacob Liquor Exchange
North Rock Road & 29th Street and join us!

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