MS. WINO GOES BARGAIN SHOPPING

NEW YEAR'S RESOLUTIONS:

NO MORE "BIG BUCK" WINES;
IT'S NOW "TWO BUCK CHUCK"

By Alice Shane

There’s a flip side to this financial downturn, folks: it’s no longer taboo to brag about the virtues of being a cheapskate. Indeed. Who would ever have guessed that I need no longer speak in hushed tones about my new frugal wine and foodie habits.

Never a big spender when it came to wines – I normally spurn wines over $15 because I’ve always been able to buy perfectly good Riojas or South African chardonnays in that price range.

But when my favorite white Spanish wine jumped from $9.99 to $15.95 at my local discount wine store, I knew it was time to shop around, ending up at the Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, where I “discovered’ 1.5 liter bottles of Barefoot wines – pinot grigio, chardonnay, for $8.98. Lo and behold, this little economy paid off – I discovered that California-based Barefoot wines, owned by Gallo, were respectably delicious (not so their merlot, unfortunately). In the past, I would turn my nose up at larger el cheapo bottles of wine, but no more. Sometimes, wonderful wine comes in big bottles (although I still avoid jug wines).

Emboldened by this “find,” I ventured into even more frugal horizons: Trader Joe’s. Here I discovered their store brand, Charles Shaw. Humorously known as Two Buck (or Three Buck) Chuck, I selected Merlot, Chardonnay, Cabernet, Shiraz and Sauvignon Blanc, exiting the market with one of each at a mere $2.99 per – a deed unimaginable in my past life as a imbiber of wines approved by Robert Parker and/or the wine gurus of the Wall Street Journal.

Mind you, this transformation didn’t occur spontaneously. A writer colleague recently turned me onto Trader Joe’s wines. She was wowed by the fact that their $2.99 merlot rivalled pricier reds she was accustomed to buying. Naturally, I checked this phenomenon out for myself and am thrilled that I did. All five wines I purchased were delicious, particularly the sauvignon blanc and the shiraz, my faves.

WHOLE FOODS: THE MYTH, THE MYSTIQUE, THE MISTAKE

Where Premium Prices Are No Guarantee of Superior Food


By ALICE SHANE

It became blazingly clear after my last visit to Whole Foods where I dropped $242.00 that I may have been brainwashed by clever marketing and media hype.

Gullible me. I believed I was buying fresher, higher quality food than was available at other supermarkets in my New Jersey suburban community. But I’ve since learned that higher prices charged at this supermarket chain do not necessarily translate into premium food:

Flashback: the Cornish hens I purchased in that $242.00 order were spoiled. No sooner had I unwrapped these birds in preparation for roasting, a foul stench pierced the air, permeating my kitchen and dining room, necessitating that I sterilize my kitchen counter and all the dishware and utensils that came in contact with this diseased poultry. Ultimately, we had to settle for take-out because it was too late to defrost anything else for dinner. Close examination of the original packaging failed to reveal an expiration or “sell by” date.

Flashback: the vegetable pate I brought home in the same order was moldy -- despite its $12.99 per pound price tag. The “sell by” date indicated that it had expired three days before my purchase.

Past departures from wholesome freshness ticked off in my mind: I was coming home with bad and/or second rate produce and meats on a regular basis: slimy (organic) carrots which had to be returned, roast beef deli -- so fatty it was inedible and had to be thrown out (at $12.99 a pound), “organic” celery, the stalks of which were internally filthy and bruised; turkey hotdogs that had begun to slime ($6.99 for a package of six) and undercooked rotisseried chicken.

Not one to be snookered, I called the manager and expressed my dissatisfaction with their merchandise. He cavalierly apologized and told me to bring the offending items back for a refund. Only after balking at his suggestion that I make another trip back to Whole Foods to collect a refund -- after a ruined dinner, after enduring the inconvenience of dining on take-out -- not to mention having to sterilize my kitchen environment -- did he make a peace offering of a $25.00 gift certificate – a paltry sum but better than nothing (though I must confess to kicking myself for not holding out for more).

Will I continue to shop in Whole Foods? Well, yes -- but as a more cautious consumer with fewer illusions, no longer mesmerized by media hype and clever marketing. In the meantime, I’m going to give Wegman’s a try.

© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.

Skyline with Lunch at Highlawn Pavilion, W. Orange, NJ

By ALICE SHANE


I had no idea that lunch at the four-star Highlawn Pavilion in West Orange, NJ could be such a visually compelling experience. I’ve eaten there on two previous occasions -- late evening dinners, at dusk, when artificial lighting doesn’t do justice to the full intensity of lush green foliage and trees that open up to the New York skyline from the restaurant’s arched, panoramic windows.

Having arrived late, at 2:00, we were fortunate enough to get a table with a spectacular view. The luncheon crowd had thinned, and without the usual distractions of chatter and bustling waiters, it was easier to appreciate the restaurant’s Florentine ambience – vaulted ceilings, pillars and arches, soft pastels throughout – a setting conducive to sitting back, enjoying good conversation and fine food.

Obviously, this premier New Jersey restaurant is pricey – at dinner hour, it’s easy to drop $200 (including a bottle of wine). Yet, the luncheon menu is customer friendly – with a number of entrees attractively priced at $15, $17. I ordered the tasty Duo of Shrimp and Petite Crab Cakes entrée, accompanied by a generous tossed salad. My companion, a meat and potatoes kind of guy, had a small filet with baby vegetables at $26.00, which he consumed with gusto. I dived into the bread basket of toasted cheese bread and delicious warm raisin-nut rolls and was glad I did, piling on additional calories via the dome-shaped chocolate truffle that more than satisfied my chocoholic cravings.

We ordered glasses of Zenato Pino Grigio – a pleasant wine I often buy at Whole Foods for $11.99 a bottle -– not the most inspired choice, but, hey, this was lunch and, at $8.50 a glass, it was at the lower end of the white wine spectrum that ranged from $8.00 a glass to $18.00 for a California chardonnay.

After all was said and done, lunch here tallied up to about $100, including tip and gratuities, and well worth it from every perspective.


© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.







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Phobic About Food: The Restaurant Double Whammy

Contaminated Food Imports, Unscreened
Illegal Immigrants Imperil Restaurant Diners

By Alice Shane


For a moment, forget the brouhaha over transfats and think bacteria, botulism, E.coli, microbes, pathogens – bad things that can happen to restaurant food and, ultimately, to you.

This is an issue I’ve been concerned about since coming home one evening after dinner at an expensive restaurant and having to reach for the Imodium. It occurred to me that, perhaps, I should eat out less often. I’ve been sporting aprons and consulting cook books with greater frequency ever since.

Think food imports -- contaminated pet food may be the first wave of a potential food time bomb. The FDA isn’t prepared to protect you, let alone your cat or dog. Nine-million shipments of imported food arrived in the USA last year, landing on your table and in restaurants. But the FDA inspected less than 1% of those imports. Anytime you sit down to dinner, you’re dining on at least three different types of imported food – say, poultry from Mexico, lettuce from Guatemala, seafood, asparagus and broccoli from China.

Let’s assume that, when preparing food at home, you thoroughly wash veggies, fruit, seafood –precautions you can’t count on at restaurants. The gruesome reality is, a lot of imported produce is tainted with human fertilizer and toxic chemicals that are illegal in this country.

Frozen fish imported from China has been found to be contaminated with veterinary antibiotics or turned back for being just plain filthy. Poisonous puffer fish, mislabeled as monkfish by Chinese exporters, has already reached our shores, sickened people and, supposedly, withdrawn from distribution.

Now, think illegal immigrants. According to labor statistics, 24% are engaged in food preparation – and ignorant about sanitation. I’m not talking about crop workers, although that’s a major concern. I’m referring to illegals who work in restaurants as fryers, cooks, dishwashers. And I’m not talking Taco Bell. Illegals work behind the scenes in upscale restaurants, too – a well-known national chain of pricey steakhouses comes to mind.

Think tuberculosis, polio, leprosy, typhoid – diseases that largely disappeared years ago but are now being reintroduced by illegals, according to the Centers for Disease Control. There’s also hepatitis, influenza, malaria, mumps, SARS, cholera, dengue fever, Chagas’ disease to worry about if you’re a disease phoebe like me.

Unlike legal immigrants who must submit to medical examinations before entering our population, illegals working in restaurants (or picking crops) have not been immunized against communicable diseases, nor are they medically screened before they sneak into the US. Restaurant owners are not required to certify that food workers are disease free. Ask yourself, is a food handler at your favorite restaurant spreading a particularly virulent form of TB known as Multi-Drug Resistant Tuberculosis endemic to Mexico? Who will ever know?

Illegals employed in restaurants may or may not be trained in the nuances of hand washing and the wearing of rubber gloves, though restaurant owners are mandated to instruct kitchen workers and waiters in these precautions. A New Jersey restaurant inspector tells me there’s so much turnover among restaurant employees that many owners and managers avoid going through the sanitation drill.

So where does all this gloom and doom leave you, the food consumer and restaurant junkie? Stay tuned.

© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.

Castle Hill Inn, Newport, RI

NOT YOUR ORDINARY GETAWAY

Alice Shane

You won’t discover Castle Hill Inn between the pages of Budget Travel Magazine, though it is mentioned in Travel & Leisure as one of the Top 500 Greatest Hotels in the World. For good reason: it’s rooms and beach cottages have spectacular views facing the ocean and Narragansett Bay, impeccable service and a fine restaurant offering gourmet breakfasts and dinners.

Admittedly, it’s quiet now in Newport – yachters have yet to moor their boats in the city’s marinas and many of the Gilded Age mansions Newport is famous for are still closed to tourists. But we were only too happy to avoid crowds, check out sailboats offered for sale at the Oyster boatyard and to luxuriate in our cozy Harbor House accommodations where we had an up close view of the Narragansett. We also planned to indulge our passion for seafood.

Our comfortable, immaculate room, priced at off-season rates, had a gas fireplace --the perfect warmer-upper on cool evenings and chilly mornings. Thick terry bathrobes hung in the closet, cookies were on a night table when we arrived and chocolates appeared at turndown time. True, the bathroom was tiny and the hand-held shower required a learning curve, but there were generous bottles of toiletries and plenty of ultra thick towels.

Dinner in the Inn’s dining room offers a fabulous, panoramic view of the Narragansett and an eclectic Southwestern/New England menu -- expensive, of course -- our three-course price-fixed dinner tallied up to $222.00 after taxes and gratuity – a drop in the bucket compared to the 5-course and 8-course tasting menus accompanied by wine which could easily skyrocket to $300-$400 for a couple.

But the service was impeccable and the food good (though not exceptional). We ordered the pan-seared scallops appetizer and the chile-barbecue glazed grilled cold water lobster tail entrée. Dessert was chocolate fondue with assorted fruits, petit fours and cookies – all dippable and yum yum.

Gourmet breakfasts, included in the cost of the room, offer an extravagance of delicious choices – eggs benedict with smoked salmon and Portabella mushrooms, lobster hash, “create your own omelets,” freshly baked breads, miniature coffee cakes --- all graciously served by attentive waiters.

If you’re yearning for a great escape from the hustle of urban life, this is it.

© 2007; Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.

Wino's World: Uncorking The Truth Behind Synthetic Corks, Screw Off Caps

By Alice Shane

If you’ve been having problems uncorking bottles of wine, it’s because, increasingly, vineyards are using synthetic (plastic) corks instead of the natural product. Plastic corks are notoriously difficult to extract from bottles, which is why I prefer the real thing.

Wineries are jumping on the synthetic cork band wagon because they want to avoid “corked” wine, whereby cork can become moldy and/or crumbly, supposedly affecting the taste and smell of the wine. But wine experts say the mold is caused by seepage which is no big deal.

Either way, my preference is for real cork because I hate struggling with plastic. There’s another minus associated with synthetic corks: no one knows how they effect wine over the long term – something I don’t give a hoot about because the wine around here doesn’t last long!

SCREW OFF CAPS STINK!

If you’ve been assaulted by the stench of rotten eggs upon opening a bottle of wine with a screw off cap, you’ve got lots of company – particularly if you drink New Zealand or Australian wines.

Industry mavens say screw off caps eliminate “cork taint” which supposedly attacks 5% to 10% of all wines. Yet, wine analysts at the International Wine Challenge this year reported that 2.2% of screw cap closed bottles emitted foul odors due to sulphidisation, resulting in smells reminiscent of sulfur, burning rubber or burnt matches.

Industry stats reveal that 1 in 50 screw capped wines are afflicted with this odiferous chemical reaction. However, these aberrations haven’t stopped the well-known Australian winery, Wolf Blass, from screw capping all of its wines by the end of 2007.

Remember: Hold your nose if you happen to buy a bottle of screw capped wine!!


© 2007, Alice Shane/Alice Shane Communications. All rights reserved.

Calcium: Burns Fat, Flattens Tummies (Maybe)

By ALICE SHANE

We all know that calcium is good for our bones and teeth. But scientists say it also controls body fat and weight by adjusting your fat-burning machinery.

Park Avenue diet doctor/nutritionist Jana Klauer, MD, advises her patients to consume 1200 mg of calcium daily – the recommended dosage of dairy-derived calcium many of these studies suggest.

True, a lot of research into the weight loss properties of calcium has been financed by the dairy industry and companies that sell products like Yoplait yogurt. But there must be some validity to all this -- studies supported by government grants report the same thing. The Heritage Family Study, conducted at six US medical centers, for example, confirmed that low calcium consumption is tied to a higher percentage of body fat – partularly in the tummy area. Researchers at Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska, theorize that weight gain in midlife could be attributed to low calcium intake.

Now that we’re chomping at the bit to drink our milk and eat our yogurt, we're wondering how calcium’s weight control powers really work. A University of Tennesse study suggests that calcium stored in fat cells influences how fat is stored and broken down by the body: the more calcium in your fat cells, the more fat it will burn. So drink up, eat those calcium-rich products -- just make sure they’re low fat versions.

A caveat, though, from the prestigious Mayo Clinic: their study of 90 obese subjects suggests that a diet with 1400 mg. of calcium failed to result in greater weight or fat loss than a much lower dosage (800mg) of calcium. Oh, well, there are few absolutes in this life!

But chug-a-lug your milk anyway. What have you got to lose? Some weight, maybe.