Speaking of wineries, the eyes of Texas are upon Napa Valley. With that typical “everything’s bigger and better here” braggadocious attitude, some Texan wineries believe they’re on track to become the next Napa Valley. I’m not so sure about that. I’ve lived in the Bay Area all but four years of my life. During that…
I live 25 minues from the nearest Sonoma County winery, but rarely venture north by northeast to spend a day wine tasting there, or in Napa, another 15 minutes away. Why? Because at one time, you could just walk in, pay a few bucks for a “souvenier glass” and taste to your palate’s content. Now,…
I’ve been to gay bars. I’ve seen transvestites entertain. But I’ve never seen anything quite like Asia SF, a SOMA bar and restaurant featuring “gender illusionists” — the scene of my twin David’s and my birthday bash last night. The waiters are “girly men” — males who’ve had cosmetic surgery, breast implants and other nip/tucks…
Since 1852, jeans were just jeans, Levi’s were the denim of choice and if your body wasn’t a perfect fit, that was life. But in the past few decades, scores of designers began catering to the female shape, from Gloria Vanderbilt and Jordache to Tommy Hilfinger and Ralph Lauren. Check out Blue Cult Denim. They…
When the author of the recently published Boutique Hotel Guide for Europe was searching through her Thesaurus for categories, none jumped out at her. So Harriet O’Brien created her own with a peculiar, yet appealing, list of categories that people might be searching for when looking for a specific type of boutique hotel. They include:…
Hip hotels may come and go. But any of the Kimptom Hotels just seem, well, hipper. Case in point: The Hotel Monaco Seattle and it’s “Room with a Vroom” promotion offers: • A Vespa scooter for a day; • Complimentary wine and beer in the lobby during its happy “Hour of Indulgence; and • Room…
I own a time share with one of the leading companies and have traded it for fabulous vacations in Florida, California, Colorado and Aruba. To that end but a bit different, SailTime offers fractional ownership on U.S. coasts and overseas of high-end sail boats and guarantees members a minimum of seven sailing times each month….
hola, amigos! here is my favorite yeast bread recipe. enjoy! laurennnnnnnnnn “…You better come on in my kitchen, it’s goin’ to be rainin’ outdoors…â€? –Robert Johnson, from “Come On In My Kitchenâ€? One late summer afternoon when I was five, our Mother called my sister Rae and I in; out of an all-too-infrequent cooling afternoon…
A new Portuguese tapas and wine bar in the heart of Times Square is a great place to taste hard-to-find wines from Portugal. TÃntol, which is the Portuguese slang word for red wine, has a wine list of more than 150 reasonably priced Portuguese and Spanish wines, as well as 30 wines by the glass…
In America, we’ve blogged about themed room art hotels in SF and NYC. In Europe, they’re becoming more popular, too, and the Berlin’s Propeller Island City Lodge is a new bright light in the art hotel universe. Here, each of the 30 rooms is a unique art installation and very reasonably priced. In the Forest…
A few miles north of the Golden Gate Bridge is the Buckeye Roadhouse. It’s also a mile downhill from the scene of a horrendous 28-car pile-up last Saturday morning from a rare 3-6″ snow and ice storm that hit the area. The Buckeye has been a fixture on the side of Highway 101 for many…
For a limited time only, Oceania Cruises is offering free airfare, as well as two-for-one fares on some of its European voyages this Spring, including trips to Italy. These are two extraordinary, luxuriously appointed ships with expertly trained European staff to cater to only 684 passengers per cruise, the finest cuisine at sea and the…