Jan 1 – Chef Stephanie Hersch

Posted on December 27, 2021 by Guy

Follow up from last week’s show talking about the cooking school “La Peetch”, Julia Child’s former Southern France vacation cottage and now home to “The Courageous Cooking School” – why not talk to someone who spent the last 16 years with Julia Child as her Executive Personal Assistant, Chef Stephanie Hersch!

While crossing the Atlantic on Oceania’s Riviera I had the distinct pleasure of meeting an old acquaintance Chef Stephanie Hersch.  I first met Stephanie while helping start the South Florida Chapter of The American Institute of Wine & Food (AIWF).  I crossed paths with Stephanie and Julia a number of times throughout the years as I started the Wichita Chapter of AIWF and attending the Food & Wine Classic in Aspen for many years.  Imagine my surprise when while on the cruise I discovered Chef Stephanie Hersch is now one of the talented Chefs who teaches hands-on cooking classes on Oceania.

While it was great to catchup with Stephanie, I for sure wanted to share her story with my listeners.  I had the pleasure of recording a show in the magnificent cooking studio on Riviera during our cruise.

Stephanie Hersh dreamed of a job in the culinary world, but she never imagined she would have a front-row seat to the life of the biggest culinary icon around, Julia Child. Stephanie became Julia’s executive assistant in the most unlikely of ways, when a chance phone call came into the secretarial school she was attending after time at the Culinary Institute of America. The only catch? Julia wanted an office assistant, not a starry-eyed culinary school grad. Stephanie talked her way into the job and wound up becoming Julia’s right hand for almost 16 years. Today, Stephanie is a chef instructor with Oceania Cruises and is based in New Zealand.

While on the Oceania cruise and enjoying an extensive array of fine wines, one that particularly caught my attention was an inexpensive Sauvignon Blanc from Pedroncelli.

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2019 Pedroncelli Dry Creek “East Side Vineyard” Sauvignon Blanc 
Brightly aromatic and very varietally correct-true to the Sauvignon Blanc grape. The clean and fresh flavors are layered with pear, Meyer lemon and tropical fruits. Our Sauvignon Blanc is crisp with notes of citrus, green apple, grass and a touch of minerality. The finish is quite refreshing. Please enjoy upon release or within a year or two as no aging is required. ABV13,5% 100% Sauvignon Blanc – Stainless fermented, no oak.  And the critics say:

  • Harvest Challenge Wine Competition
    98 Points, Double Gold, Best of Class and Best of Dry Creek Valley AVA
  • Sonoma County Harvest Fair Wine CompetitionGold Medal
  • Sunset International Wine Competition97 Points & Double Gold Medal
  • North Coast Wine Competition93 Points & Gold Medal
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Dec 25 – Courageous Cooking in Southern France

Posted on December 20, 2021 by Guy

My guest this week is Makenna Held, Host, and Co-Owner of La Pitchoune (often shortened to La Peetch) the former vacation home of Julia Child and husband Paul.  Makenna and Julia share a number of things in common:  They are both incredibly tall, deeply passionate about French cooking, have a ‘what the hell’ attitude in the kitchen, and call Smith College their alma mater.

Nestled just outside of Grasse, France ‘the house that Julia Child built’, La Pitchoune, adorns the hillside with it’s jewelbox charm. Home to the only working pegboard kitchen, styled after the walls of E. Dehilerin in Paris. La Pitchoune is home to the Courageous Cooking School half the year, and a short-term vacation rental the other half the year. Our food focus here is instilling solid French cooking techniques grounded in new flavors.

Courageous Cooking™ recipe-free school, runs April-June, and September-October. To book the Courageous Cooking school follow this link: www.lapeetch.com/cookingschool

Makenna in addition to being host and co-owner of La Pitchoune is a graduate of NYU’s Global Affairs program, studied Philosophy at Smith College, mastered whipping up mousse’s, sauces, and the like at Le Cordon Bleu, Paris, and now studies the gendering of food at the European Graduate School’s Critical Studies program.  Learn more on Facebook

Check some great photos from La Peetch on Instagram

 

Good life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2020 Chehalem INOX Unoaked Chardonnay
INOX, Chehalem’s 100% stainless steel fermented and aged Chardonnay, is a perfect example of the range of this varietal. The 2020 offering is rich and bright, with initial stone fruit aromatics jumping out of the glass. They give way to notes of lemon curd, dried mango, and honey. The mouthwatering palate is weighted by a slight viscosity that creates an alluring texture on the finish that begs for another sip.
Critical Acclaim

JS91 James Suckling:  A clean, pretty nose of sliced apples, apricots, lemons and jasmine. It’s medium-bodied with crisp acidity. Wonderfully fresh and zesty. Drink now.

WS91 Wine Spectator: This white bursts with aromas of peach blossom and lemon zest, taking on a lush, succulent texture toward a crisp finish. Drink now.  #58 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
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Dec 18 – Hot Little Suppers

Posted on December 14, 2021 by Guy

My guest this week is Carrie Morey with her latest book “Hot Little Suppers.”

Hot Little Suppers is more than just a book on cooking for families–it’s an invitation to get together and have some fun in the kitchen.

Nobody is better equipped to tackle the subject of incorporating family into the process than Carrie Morey, who grew up cooking with her mother and whose daughters have worked side-by-side with her in her kitchen and business, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit.

Structured by seasons, the 120+ recipes are divided into easy-to-prepare weeknight meals and slightly more involved weekend dishes. Carrie incorporates beautiful, bright flavors from a range of culinary traditions.

In Hot Little Suppers, Carrie shares delicious recipes such as:

  • Tangy Thai Chicken Salad
  • Pork Ragu with Pappardelle
  • Meatloaf with Crispy Onions
  • Fried Green Tomatoes
  • Veggie Tortilla Soup

Embedded within each section are tips for involving kids in the adventure, suggestions for serving a crowd, and variations on recipes that can satisfy different dietary restrictions and palates.

Additionally, each chapter includes recipes for sides, drinks, and desserts that make tasty accompaniments, as well as sidebars with “Hot Little Tips” for everything from tailgating like a pro to starting dinner conversations with teens.  Hot Little Suppers includes material about staples to keep on hand for putting suppers together, Carrie’s secrets to organizing your pantry, and beautiful photography throughout that captures techniques, finished dishes, and warm lifestyle shots of Carrie’s family.   Get a copy NOW!

Carrie Morey founded her handmade biscuit business in 2005 with the goal of making the tender, buttery, made-by-hand biscuits of her mother accessible across the country. Over 15 years later, Callie’s Hot Little Biscuit is widely recognized as an iconic Southern brand with national retail exposure, 4 grab-and-go eateries in Charleston, Atlanta, and Charlotte, a food truck, and a cult-like following. Carrie is the author of two cookbooks: Callie’s Biscuits and Southern Traditions and Hot Little Suppers and is currently starring in a culinary docu-series, How She Rolls, about biscuits, business, and balance in her life as an entrepreneur debuting on PBS Spring 2021. She resides in Charleston, SC with her husband and three daughters.  www.calliesbiscuits.com  Carrie is on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
Chandon Brut Rosé
In the glass, this Rose is a pretty pink with intense ripe strawberry, juicy watermelon, and fresh red cherry fruit aromas and flavors. On the palate, this wine is creamy and seductive with a defined structure from the Pinot Noir added in its final stages.  Chandon Rosé is very fond of salmon and tuna sushi, and also goes well with beef, duck, and lamb.

Wilfred Wong of Wine.com  WW92
The Chandon Brut Rosé is lovely and enticing. This wine exhibits a pleasing mix of fresh red fruits, earth, and dust in its aromas and flavors. Pair it with Thai Basil Chicken, and go lightly with the red chiles.

Wine Enthusiast  WE90
Smooth and luxurious, this rich and balanced wine layers persimmon and ginger over white cherry and raspberry for a complex and delicious expression. It is smooth, medium bodied and balanced toward the soft side.
Wine Spectator  WS90  #70 Wine Spectator Top 100 of 2021
A festive sparkler, vibrant and generous, with layered strawberry, fresh ginger and spice flavors that build toward the snappy finish.
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Dec 11 – Miserable Holiday Stories

Posted on December 6, 2021 by Guy

My guest this week is Alex Bernstein with his latest in the Miserable series; Miserable Holiday Stories.

Ten hilarious short stories for anyone who hates the holidays!
The holiday season is one of laughter, fun, generosity, and time with friends and family . . . or so it’s supposed to be. But we all know that the holiday season can actually be absolutely depressing, no matter how hard we try. So from the wit of humorist Alex Bernstein comes this “miserable” collection of short stories based around Christmas and Hanukkah.

No matter what holiday you celebrate, this quirky yet bittersweet compilation will be sure to have you longing for mid-January. Whether you want these tales for yourself or for a loved one you really don’t care about, Miserable Holiday Stories will be sure to have any holiday “realist” prepared for the misery they feel during that blessed holiday season.

Alex Bernstein is the award-winning author of the Miserable series of books (Miserable Adventure Stories, Miserable Holiday Stories, Miserable Love Stories), and Plrknib. His work has appeared at McSweeney’s, NewPopLit, The Big Jewel, The American Bystander, Yankee Pot Roast, Swink, Litro, Back Hair Advocate, Corvus, BluePrintReview, Hobo Pancakes, Gi60, The Rumpus, The Legendary, MonkeyBicycle, and PopImage, among numerous others.  Please visit him at www.promonmars.com.

Follow Alex on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2016 Chateau De Haut Coulon, Bordeaux
Château Haut Coulon is a blend of 60% Merlot, 25% Cabernet Sauvignon and 15% Petit Verdot. While concentration, ripeness and boldness are quite clearly the watchwords at Château de Haut-Coulon, this is not at the expense of elegance. An intense nose reveals aromas of plum, pipe tobacco, cherry, spice and violet. The palate is rich and full-bodied, with soft, mouth-coating tannins and an intensely saline mineral core. The finish is elegant and distinguished.  JS91

Located in the village of Sainte-Eulalie, in Cadillac, Bordeaux, the Haut-Coulon vineyard is planted with three classic Bordeaux varietals: Merlot, Cabernet-Sauvignon and Petit Verdot. With only 3.86 hectares, this is a small, family-estate property, but one of the most interesting geologically: its soils contain blue montmorillonite clay. Since 2018, the estate has been converting to organic viticulture. Wines are fermented with indigenous yeasts, in-barrel with manual punch-downs. In the winery, truncated conical tanks of aerated concrete optimize tannin and flavor extraction.

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Nov 20/27 Dec 4 – Three Great shows

Posted on November 13, 2021 by Guy

I’m  traveling a bunch so here is the next 3 shows 🙂

November 20
My guest this week is TikTok  wine star David Choi @winewithdavid
Choi makes wine for a living in Napa Valley in California (Magna Carta) and the Loire Valley in France (Angel Falls). His credentials are exemplary. It would have been very easy for him to fall into that same gatekeeping aspect of wine snobbery that’s pervasive in wine media and reviewing. But that’s just not his jam. Instead, Choi offers insights into inexpensive wine choices that manage to hold their own with much more expensive bottles, along with practical pairing ideas.  Instagram
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2018 St. Didier Parnac Mission de Picpus Malbec from Cahors
Bright, buoyant black fruits signal a wine that is both ripe and layered with spice from wood aging and tannins. Made to be drunk young, the wine is ready now. IWC95

…

Hope you have a Great Thanksgiving with some fine wine!

November 27
This week’s guest is Wayne Luciano proprietor of Just Like Home (JLH) sauces
Just Like Home Kitchen Recipes® was created by Wayne Luciano, a passionate foodie who grew up in an Italian-American family in the Boston area, and Nathan Sheets, founder of Nature Nate’s Honey Company, with a true servant’s heart and dedicated purpose.

All of the original recipes for our line of homecrafted pasta sauces are from real pasta sauce lovers across America, who were selected from dozens of entries as part of a nationwide recipe contest. The name, likeness and signature of the original recipe creators are proudly displayed on the front of our packaging.  Helping The Homeless (learn more)
…
Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
2018 Riboli Winery Maddalena Zinfandel, Paso Robles
Maddalena Zinfandel shows flavors of ripe red fruit, including bright raspberry and spicy black plum. Barrel-aging contributes notes of cocoa and oak. The mouth is round with a rich, silky texture that is framed by soft tannins.  TP92

…

December 4
This week it’s all about great wine for the holidays!  Entertaining, party wine, wine and food pairing, with my guest Jim www.jimlaughren.com  Jim Laughren loves wine. And has for a very long time. He is a former importer and distributor of fine wines from around the world. He is also a Certified Wine Educator who has both taken and taught dozens of classes and seminars dealing with various aspects of wine and spirits.

But it’s sharing—with you!—that means the most to him. And it’s writing that allows him to share his knowledge, experience, and passion with all the people he’d love to meet but probably won’t have the chance to.  “Wine is a joy, a gift of the gods, bounty of the earth, and should be shared and celebrated. ”

Good Life Guy’s Wine of the Week:
Something sparkling and bubbly to celebrate the holidays!

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