"What all did this involve?" is a question many curious family members, friends, and fellow wine professionals ask about certification.

Here's the next update of my Sommelier Studies series, focusing on one of my absolute favorite grape varietals.

The Maestro has decided he can't quit his love of learning, and I'm going "back to school," as it were––toward the end of this year, I'll...

For the next few installments of the Maestro's "Clues for the Clueless," allow me to answer some of your most pressing wine questions.

I excitedly watched the weekend weather forecast for the Charlotte metro area develop over the past week––a massive winter storm was set...

Perhaps it was the sense of impending doom resulting from waking up every day in this pandemic, now again in a terrible phase, that...

As a child of Utah, I remember July 24 fondly as Utah's statehood anniversary, dubbed Pioneer Day––a little extra 4th of July, with...

Today I present another of my neglected posts from back in the early parts of quarantine in Iowa, with the hopes that you, too can find...

One of the cooler trends we've been seeing emerge during the pandemic from restaurants are take-home, heat-and-eat style dinners. These...

I really enjoyed issuing a series of absolutely meaningless "Big Drunk Gay" awards last year, highlighting the very best things I ate,...

Like much of the country, I woke up on Wednesday morning feeling pretty darn terrible. Not just because of the amount of rum I drank the...

I always love exploring the various cuisines of the world, but know relatively little about African culinary traditions. I have, however,...

Now that I am back in the south, some of my memories of the south come back from time to time, and my discovery of the wonders of grits...

Ah, we have a new series to inaugurate! "Quarantine Cuisine" no longer seemed quite right, since I am, for all intents and purposes, not...

Well kids, what can I say? Life is crazy, and my dearth of posts this past month was due in part to my grand adventure in Alaska, yes,...

Things have been slow around here recently, mostly owing to the fact that my much-anticipated trip to California had to be shelved due to...

I suppose now that we are out of the most intense aspects of the "Quarantine" these days, at least in Iowa, I have decided to rename the...

Things are getting warmer around the country! With that in mind, I decided to present one of my very favorite beverages for warmer...

Rounding out our order from D'Artagnan was a beautiful breast of duck, one of my favorite proteins to cook, and one that is sure to make...

Back when the pandemic was just starting, I noticed that our old reliable supplier of fresh seafood, Fulton Fish Market, was offering a...

Happy Mother's Day to all the mamas and mama figures out there! It's been a wonderful day here in Cedar Rapids. Despite some really...

Some nights call for a simple, classic meal. Mom and I have been working diligently on transforming our kitchen, and things are slowly...

I had received some feedback recently that my Quarantine Cuisine series features a) entirely dinner items and b) entirely meat or...

Somehow, springtime just screams for citrusy cocktails, which I suppose is why the Quarantini Series has been oriented toward tipples...

As quarantine drags into the 40-plus day timeframe, I find myself seeking increasingly interesting and challenging dishes to keep myself...

How are we lucky enough to have barbecue in our lives? I do not claim in the least to be a barbecue expert, so don't @ me, BBQ pros (very...

Spring is inching, or centimeter-ing, closer here in Iowa, but we have been cursed by a week of low temps and high winds. Took a walk...

If you are like me, thirty-plus days of quarantine has begun to spark days of pronounced lethargy and depression––days where you stare...

As long as we can't travel physically, we might as well travel culinarily! Korean food is having a real moment in the Unites States....

We have been drinking a not-very-small amount during this fiasco, and margaritas seem to form the backbone of the consumption. Magically,...

I wasn't planning on creating anything transcendental with this meal, so the Quarantine Cuisine series was supposed to next travel to...

Apologies for the delay in posting this next installment! The Maestro's computer suffered an unfortunate cracked screen, so a new one had...

This week I present a double dose of seafood, because our Fulton Fish Market order was particularly large (so we could trigger the free...

Well kiddos, as you may have noticed, the world has stopped moving. Restaurants and bars are closed, the stock market is crumbling, the...

I'll admit that while I know a good amount about wine, I tend to absorb information as it comes to me. For example, I knew pretty little...

It's been a while since I posted last, mostly because the semester has started and is beginning to get into full swing! (In the words of...

Figured the best way to start a new food and wine blog is writing about a wine that I come back to over and over again when I am seeking...