The Oscar’s is a night that can make a winner out of anyone. This Sunday is like the Superbowl for movies and moviegoers alike.  The beauty of an event like the Oscars is that any kind of party to get together can be suitable. To celebrate the 82^nd Oscar’s ceremony, I’ve decided to give my friends an opportunity to wear that old cocktail dress that’s hiding in the back of their closets.

Taking my cue from the celebration of the ceremony just miles from my own house, I may not get a red carpet but dinner and wines are definitely a must. With this year’s award ceremony recognizing the work of Meryl Streep with a Best Actress Nomination for her role as Julia Child in Julie & Julia what better choice for dinner than something from her cookbook itself.

More importantly than the French cuisine though would be to find a perfect French wine to compliment the food itself. Keeping true to the spirit of the awards being in California as well as our French dinner, a bottle of wine or two from the vineyard Lyeth might be perfect. Lyeth, a Coastal Vineyard’s favorite, is a vineyard located in California that’s traditions; processes and inspiration all come from France. My well-dressed guests are going to be treated to a dinner fit for the stars.

Now it’s time for the award show to start. To make the viewing of the actual awards a bit more entertaining for my guests I have two things planned. A betting pool, costing the price of a ticket to the very first Oscar’s of five dollars to participate. The guest that guesses the most winners correctly would win the money.

While the guest or guests to guess the correct winners for the top categories: Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Screen Play would win their very own Oscar. I plan this prize Oscar to be a bottle of wine. Maybe a bottle from Rotta, yet another featured vineyard in the Coastal Vineyard Wine Clubs , one of the oldest vineyards in California being founded only nineteen years before the first Oscar ceremony in 1927.

I might place one of the Rotta wines within an Oscar themed gift bag, taking a page from last year’s Oscar bags that actually did include a bottle of wine for celebrities. Or I could create Oscar statues out of bottles of Chardonnay , already a golden light color and perfect in shape and color for the craft. Coastal Vineyards features a great wine club for Chardonnay’s of just California wines that would be perfect for keeping in our California Movie theme.

Fancy Dresses, dinner, prizes and plenty of wine throughout the night the 82^nd Oscars are going to be fun even for those of us on the outside of the Kodak Theatre. The winner of the night … anyone enjoying the show with me.

Lesley Lopez

Signing Off and Pigging Out,

Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock

Be sure to visit our Wine of the Month Club by Clicking HERE!

Baconopolis …  Baconopolis, by any other name would you … could you possibly smell and taste so seductively sweet, salty, sizzlingly savory and sensually sensational! I for one, think NOT!

Baconopolis (Round Two) “This time it’s Porkual!” … took place on Friday night, February 26th from 6:00 -8:00 PM at the ever so awesome Palace Ballroom in the wondrously Washingtonian city of Seattle.

Surprising to none, the event featured bacon, bacon and more bacon.

Specifically … 10 delightfully different, delectable dishes of bacon oriented fine dining fare, from items that seem to naturally go together like a “hand and glove,” to other recipes that go together more like “penguins on unicycles” and “low salt, no fat nuclear submarines.”

The entire event was brought to us by the good folks over at the Palace Ballroom and their illustrious owner, Mr. Tom Douglas, who is also noted in the “foodie” world for being a semifinalist for the prestigious 2010 James Beard Foundation award for Best Restaurateur.

The menu included:

B.L.A.T. (the classic with avocado)

Bacon Cured Whole Pig

Bacon Cornbread Muffin

Pork n’ Beans

Bacon Explosion

Elvis’ Favorite: Hot Peanut Butter, Banana and Bacon

Classic Carbonara

Bacon Fried Rice

Bacon Biscuit Sandwich with Gravy

Bacon Filled Doughnut with Maple Glaze and Bacon Salt

OK … so I was momentarily distraught to discover they were NOT servi9ng my favorite “Pork At The Bottom Yogurt, the entire event was utterly amazing?

Absolutely everybody had a wonderfully awesome time and as predicted, totally PIGGED OUT!

We can’t wait till next year.

Senseless In Seattle!

Signing Off and Pigging Out,

Rocco “Boss Hog” Loosbrock

Be sure to visit our Bacon Club by clicking HERE!

The idea of wine is essentially romantic for many of us. Personally when I think of wine and romance, the first thought that comes to mind is that Cleopatra seduced Mark Anthony on the Nile with this ancient wine that can still be found today. There’s no doubt that wine is romantic, it’s the drink of choice at proposals dinners in every chick flick ever created. So for the most romantic day of the year wine should be present, but it’s not just the drink that can spice up your special couples day.

As I’ve late, I’ve become a fan of USA’s White Collar. Aside from the main plot of the series, in the pilot the main character “Neal Caffrey” escapes prison just months before finishing out a four-year sentence. He is searching for his wife that apparently is leaving him. What he finds in her place is an empty bottle of wine.

It is explained that the empty bottle was a symbol of their relationship, it was a fancy bottle refilled with cheaper wine as a sign that they knew things would one day get better. Neal spends the better part of the first few episodes trying to figure out what hidden messages the bottle might hold for him. Being a hopeless romantic, I loved this idea and this story so much it got me thinking.

Valentine’s Day can be an expensive holiday, but you don’t need to spend tons of money to be romantic. Also you don’t need to just be romantic one day a year, but one soapbox at a time. Currently I have an empty bottle of 2008 Monterey Chardonnay and a full bottle of 2006 Paso Robles Cabernet Sauvignon.

Both wines are featured at Coastal Vineyards, specifically chosen from the California region and emphasis boutique and special qualities not often found at your local market. This already puts me a step ahead of the game; the wines themselves are special and not found in everyday markets.

The empty bottle can be used to leave a message in a bottle, a clue for your significant other. Taking a book out of Neal’s book, maybe it can be a wine from Santa Barbara region like many of the Coastal Vineyards wines tend to be because that’s where you met, or a place you both love to go? Write right on the label or stick a rolled up note into the empty bottle itself. Or use the empty bottle as a vase for a single red rose, no matter how romantic a dozen are a single rose is always somewhat more romantic. Leave the bottle in an obvious place, the dining room table or the bar? Or put it on a tray with breakfast in bed before you leave for work. Either way the message might be a delightful surprise. Now personally, I would use my full bottle of Cabernet Sauvignon with the romantic dinner.

Cabernet is often described as the king of wines and considered to be a great pairing for meats and cheeses. This leaves many options from comfort foods like four cheese macaroni to a grilled steak. The meal and the personal note would all depend on personal preferences but romance can come in all sorts of packages. This year might be a great year to venture into the realm of classic with a twist, wine and empty wine bottles make a great way to set up a memorable evening.

Lesley Lopez

Signing Off and Pigging Out,Rocco “Boss Hog” LoosbrockBe sure to visit our Wine of the Month Club by clicking HERE!