Category Archives: Food and Drink

Food and Drink Reviews + Dining Out!

Food and Drink, Lifestyle

The Best Bites and Sights of the Summer Fancy Food Show 2026!

Leave a comment

knicks t shirt on monumental band mascot photo by gail worley
Knicks in 5: The Summer Fancy Food Show Gets it (All Photos By Gail)

The annual Summer Fancy Food Show is a full-on sensory adventure —a kind of Foodie Disneyland where there’s something delicious, delightful, or downright unexpected around every corner. Wander the seemingly endless aisles and you’ll discover tempting bites, eye-catching booth displays, and brand mascots roaming the floor with tasty samples to share. Mangia! With its West Coast counterpart, the Winter FancyFaire, heading to San Francisco in January 2027, there’s no better time to revisit the summer show. Consider this a little appetizer for future attendees — and a delicious look back at one of the food industry’s most satisfying events.
Continue reading The Best Bites and Sights of the Summer Fancy Food Show 2026! →

Food and Drink, Lifestyle

How to Build a High-Protein Plant-Based Pantry That Actually Tastes Good

Leave a comment
close up of a plant based meal with a salad beans and tofu
Photo by Pinkya on Pexels.com

Seventeen cans of beans and a bag of protein powder nobody finishes. That’s the graveyard most people build when they decide to eat more plants, and I’ve cleaned out that cabinet in my own kitchen twice.

The problem isn’t willpower. It’s that the default advice tells you to buy meat substitutes that taste like salted cardboard, then act surprised when you order a pizza on Thursday. There’s a better way, and it starts with stocking things you actually want to eat.

If you’d rather skip the stocking entirely and just eat, a grab-and-go high protein meal from the refrigerated section can do the job, especially when lentils or chickpeas sit at the top of the ingredient list. But building your own system pays off longer term. Here’s how to do it without eating the same bowl of quinoa every day for a month.
Continue reading How to Build a High-Protein Plant-Based Pantry That Actually Tastes Good →

Food and Drink, Lifestyle

A Beginner’s Guide to Wine Tasting in San Francisco

Leave a comment
wine tasting event with diverse group enjoying red wine
Photo by Blanca Isela on Pexels.com

San Francisco covers about 47 square miles at the tip of a peninsula in Northern California. Summers stay cool and foggy, with daytime highs often in the 60s Fahrenheit, making wine tasting a year-round activity. Napa and Sonoma are also within easy reach, located roughly one to two hours north of the city by car.

For beginners, wine tasting in San Francisco is an easy way to explore different wine styles without traveling to California’s major wine regions. The city offers urban wineries, neighborhood tasting rooms, and wine bars where you can sample a variety of wines, learn basic tasting techniques, and discover your preferences in a relaxed setting.

A practical San Francisco wine tasting guide starts within the city itself, where areas such as Dogpatch, SoMa, and the Ferry Building place multiple tasting rooms within walking distance of one another. This makes it easy for first-time visitors to compare different experiences without spending the day traveling between locations.
Continue reading A Beginner’s Guide to Wine Tasting in San Francisco →

Food and Drink, Lifestyle

Pink Thing of the Day: Pink Wine with a Flying Pig!

Leave a comment

bottle of pink wine photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

I have to admit, this bottle of Pink wine had me at the name. Bonus points were awarded for the label featuring a flying (floating?) pig — pigs being  be my favorite animal — and I’m  sold before I even know what’s inside the bottle.

Pink is a rosé from Podere San Cristoforo, an organic and biodynamic winery in Maremma, Tuscany. Made from 100% Sangiovese grapes, this dry Italian rosato is described as having notes of white peach, pink grapefruit, citrus and rose petals, with a fresh, slightly savory finish. Yummy. The winery’s whimsical flying-pig imagery seems particularly appropriate for a wine that takes a classic Tuscan grape and gives it a playful personality.

Then there’s the obvious question: Does Pink Wine have anything to do with Pink Floyd? I have absolutely no idea. There’s nothing on the label suggesting a connection, so probably not, but I’m choosing to believe that somewhere in Tuscany, a flying pig is quietly listening to Animals while enjoying a glass of rosé.

Photographed in Encinitas, California.

Food and Drink, Lifestyle

Yes, It Exists: Comics on Coffee!

Leave a comment

comics coffee photo by gail worley
Photo By Gail

Coffee and comic books? Now that’s a crossover I can get behind. I spotted these ridiculously cool bags of Comics on Coffee at Anime NYC, featuring two of Gotham’s most famous residents: Batman and the Joker.

The Dark Knight Roast is a dark roast inspired by Batman, with chocolate and subtle fruit notes, while the Joker’s Blueberry Blast combines dark-roasted Nicaraguan espresso beans with a hint of sweet blueberry — my favorite! (and bonus points for the tagline: Insanely Good!)

Comics on Coffee (now apparently DBA as Heroic Coffee and Tea) has an entire DC-inspired lineup of flavors matched with your favorite heroes and villains including Superman, Wonder Woman, Batgirl, Poison Ivy, Scarecrow and more. Because sometimes, saving the world — or just surviving a day at a comic convention — requires caffeine.