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The question is, have I ever NOT taken a culinary vacation? Food is such a part of my life that while I enjoy art, scenery, etc, I always prioritize that fantastic sandwich in the strip mall, the excellent cheese shop, the tiny 5,000 cases a year winery. And I've always driven my travel companions nuts by discussing the next meal while eating the current one! This had lead me to excellent smoke houses on the Oregon coast, true Mexican food in various wine areas (WA), Oysters fresh out of the bay (wa and ca), sampling grapes as they went into the Co-op in Durnstein Austria - then enjoying vast amounts of last year's vintage... that fabulous deli sandwich in Napa, many cheeses, meats, pastries, wine, etc. in Europe. Ok, I admit it, I travel on my tummy and those trips to cathedrals and museums are just a way to kill time until the next meal!

I guess my friends and family are wierd - we always ask what the guest wants before they come. They know that I need protein in the morning, and I can never keep up with their allergies. Nothing like having them wake up and not have a breakfast that they can eat. This can backfire though... I specifically enjoy a particular brand of soy sausage, and told my Mom if it couldn't be found, I can happily do without for a few days. She, being a kind Mom, bought non meat burgers - yuck!. Which I then ate for breakfast each day.... because Mom bought them. so it can all backfire....

So, Carolyn, what did you do, and why?

Edited: I answered my own question. So...what makes WSET better than the CIA? What are your criteria for this decision?

I'm making a mid life career redirection, and looking to move into wine. I'm not quite sure yet what I want to do, but most likely something educational - teaching, writing, personal advisor, etc. I love wine and want to help open this world to others. My background: I'm a CIA grad (got 100 in the wine class) worked as Chef and Pastry Chef, managed Cafes, did high end event planning, and currently work with the public to answer cooking questions via email. I've been tasting wine since the age of 4 (long story, not a child alcoholic), and I know that I know a fair amount about wine, but I also know that there are gaps in my knowledge. I'm willing to take courses, be certified, etc. I currently live in the Northwest, but will gladly relocate on either a temporary or permenant basis. I've looked into the Wine Professional program at Central Washington University as well as the CIA: http://www.cwuce.org/wine-education/ http://www.ciaprochef.com/winestudies/immersion.html Cia Preps you for the basic certification. I'd move on and complete higher levels as I move forward. So here are my questions for you wine professionals: What's the best way to get a solid foundation in wine - I think these courses look good, with the CIA one looking better. Do you have any other classes/courses that you'd reccommend? Does a newbie in the wine world need a certification? Will that help me get in the door of a winery or retail situation? I know that my CIA degree opened doors that would otherwise have been closed to me... Any feedback is welcome and much appreciated.

Very dissappointing. I saw the show on Portugal and she e-nun-ce-at-ted every freaking word as if she was lecturing to morons. She went so slow when citing local names I wanted to hurl my shoe at the TV. She knows NOTHING about food, expressing distaste and alarm when asked to pick up a knife and cook. If she's going to play Saint Julia, that's fine, I think she's a good choice. But the woman herself does not know food and simply should not be hosting a food show.

If ya'll can wait until December, I'm sure my Dad will take me there over Christmas break.

I just returned from Sonoma and Mendocino. Back to reality *sigh*. Breakfast at the bakery on the square in Healdsburg both mornings, fantastic sticky buns and scrambled eggs. Lunch at Jimtown store very good, although I felt that the Hobbs sandwich was a little out of balance - proscuitto, fig and Pt. Reyes bleu, which was too strong for the combo. Dinner at Barn Diva - cold atmosphere, really tough steak, excellent frites. Dinner one night at The Farmhouse - they kindly allowed us to share our courses and the sommelier let us have half glasses of 3 different wines for our courses. Foie two ways, Rabbit three ways and the killer cheese plate. Very nice, indeed. Other than these, lunch at Genova deli in Napa - excellent, excellent stuff. Slanted Door in SF - Caramelized Pranwns to die for. Mendo has become heinously expensive, with all entrees starting at $22 and soaring.... had good onion soup and bright, tasty salad in the lounge of the Hotel and a good steak at the Cafe. Otherwise, had the excellent Austrian Seed bread from Cafe Beaujolais brickery (always a fav), and groceries from the Harvest Market in Ft. Bragg - was I missing something? Everyone says it's such a great place... maybe for the coast it is, but it wasn't the foodie heaven I've been lead to believe it would be.

Many years ago, in the early 90's before I actually moved here, I stopped by when I was staying at the Westin. As I was up to pay for my pain au chocolat, two roaches ran across the counter. I've never been back. I know it was a LONG time ago and many changes have been made since, but I can't bring myself to stop by again. Cheers, ← The Pike Place Market is 100 years old next year and located at the waterfront, so it's no surprise that there were roaches, if not other 4, 6 and 8 legged critters. I've been down there at night and seen... well, I don't want to put anyone off their feed. But it's nothing I haven't seen in other historic markets as well. I enjoy Le Panier, but you have to get there early before the tourists if you want a seat at the window!

Here in Seattle, our second biggest coffee chain named Tully's does follow Charbucks around and opens shops as close as they can to Charbucks locations. While it's not great coffee, it's certainly better than the bitter brew at Charbucks.

I knew there was something that keeps bringing us back to that place!

No problem, Ling! I'm not sure which book this recipe is from - if I had the book I wouldn't be bothering you fine folks! I think it's from her Provencal book... This was a french restaurant/bistro, so that would fit... I just can't imagine that it was correctly covered with salt, as that would just be damn wierd. I wrote to the Patricia Wells website and received an answer that they cannot answer recipe questions. I think their pastry chef is on crack...

I think it's important if it is the recipe as they're citing a particular chef - when you do that you need to do it right. As well, they have cited other chefs and their dishes, and so far, they've been true to those recipes. The taste: in one word: Bizzare. As a former Pastry Chef who has made olive oil cakes, I've never seen this. I really think it was their own abberation and shall not order it again. Although I think they should warn people if they're salting the cakes. It was an odd end to an otherwise fine meal.

Ok, I'm not totally ignorant, but I had an interesting experience the other night. At the end of a lovely dinner in a local restaurant, we ordered a piece of "Patricia Wells' Peach Cake". It arrived, a single layer of dense cake with peach slices baked inside, in a pool of cream. I took a bite, tasted salt, and switched to a new spoon. Second bite was salty again - there was salt in the cream. My friend dragged her finger across the top of the cake (which looked like powdered sugar), tasted it, and exclaimed "There's salt ON the cake". We figured that they had mixed up the salt and sugar, but we asked. We were told that since it was an olive oil cake, it was properly dusted with salt. Now, I've never heard of this in my life - is this something new? What's the scoop? Am I just behind the times, or has salt really taken over the world?

Ah, the Pigs on Parade was truly great! The Pike Place Market has Rachel, the big bronze pig under the main Market clock. Rachel is an icon, landmark, and piggy bank - If you're meeting friends in the Market, you meet at "The Pig", and if you have spare change, you put it in Rachel to help fund the low income medical clinic. Thousands of tourists have photos of themselves perched on her back. The Pigs on Parade was a fantastic assortment of Rachel's fiberglass offspring, decorated by local artists. They were auctioned off for charity after the Parade and showing. UPS gave away little plastic pigs, (Here I pat mine, sitting on my desk). They saved extra pigs and now they get decorated up as reindeer and put on the rooftops of the Market at Christmas, red one in front, pink ones following, tethered together with garlands of white lights and evergreen halos. Bizarre and completely Seattle!

Others have made perfect reccos for the food, but only two people have mentioned the wine. That's just one more thing that makes us so very special...

They seem to be trying to mix it up more than usual. Did anyone see the Food TV Holiday special? Flay, Chiarello, Emeril, RayRay and Sandra Lee all "made" dinner. Now those, pairings were funny! Watching Chiarello's face as he "helped" Sandra make her appetizer dips that she then squooshed out of a cut plastic bag into whole vegetables was priceless. The end result was nasty glop oozing volcanically over the edges of peppers and a hollowed out cauliflower. Just horrifying. And one of the women ( I think it was RayRay) was so distracting to Flay that he burnt the garlic completely black for his lobster dish. Kept right on trucking though, as I wondered if the Food TV garlic budget had run out so they couldn't reshoot that sequence. I'm not sure it'll be so hapless as everyone thinks. Remember that they let the Iron Chefs know the potential ingredients before hand, and they come prepared. Then again, you know what they say about the best laid plans...

I just figured that the name "Whole Foods" related to the fact that this is the term that's been used in England/Europe for decades when referring to organic, whole grain, healthier foods, usually vegetarian, without preservatives. This style of eating was mainstream over there years before it became prevalent in the US, and this seems to tie in to their tag line "World's Leading Natural and Organic Foods Supermarket"

In hospital for abdominal surgery in San Francisco, my first meal, the night of surgery was fried shrimp and tater tots. After abdominal surgery. I was so stoned on percocet I ate it... complications ensued... argh... Here in Seattle, Swedish hospital changed to a restaurant style ordering system while I was incarcerated... er... after back surgery. After a few days of jello, it was delightful to have a made to order grilled cheese sandwich and chocolate shake at midnight. Yep, I awoke from my drug induced stupor, picked up the phone and asked for my favorite comfort food, and it arrived within half an hour! I've been in restaurants with worse service and food. It was lovely, propped up at a slight angle (couldn't actually sit up for several more days), eating my grilled cheese, hitting the Happy Button on my morphene drip.. quite a fine time.

The Three Girls Meatloaf sandwich is pure Americana. Be sure to ask for the Meatloaf Sauce.

I've asked everyone for City Kitchens gift certificates for Christmas. That January sale is coming right up!

When Etta's opened, they had an appetizer that I got every single time: Salmon Three Ways. Smoked salmon ribs (they left some meat on), pickled salmon and cold smoked salmon - all house prepared. Delicious, every one of them. I keep asking them to bring it back, but they never do.

The Internet is a fabulous place for those who use it with good intent. Unfortunately, it's an even better place for those who don't. Purposely post my real name? It'll never happen. ← So what you're saying is that you're not actually Bob Seeger? ← Nah. I just like the possibilities inherent in that lyric. There are sadly, not enough times in my own life when it's all up to me to decide.

I greatly enjoy using and posting on eGullet and other boards, but I will never, EVER post my real name, here or anywhere else. As a single woman who lives alone, my privacy is more important to me than some potential journalistic need to quote me. I post in a respectful manner, and hold myself accountable for how I interact with other people, both online and in person. I willingly use my real name in PM's to other users. I understand that while some people may feel that using their own name is necessary for their professional integrity, I am a private individual, so there is absolutely no need for anyone with access to a computer to know who I am. Unlike the example of dozens of one name coming up in a New York phone book, my name is unique and I can easily find my own name, address, and phone number in several different Internet phone book listings despite not being listed in the actual local phone book. For $40, I'm assured by these jerks that any user can access even more personal data, including my address history and social security number. I am currently being harassed by someone who got my name and address from an Internet interaction due to a purposely violated privacy policy. This happened on a local website, so this person is within 15 miles of my home address. It's not pleasant to fill out a police report, or inform my building neighbors, landlord and employer to the situation, in case this a**h*** comes after me in a more physical manner as he has threatened. I didn't enjoy buying that mace which I now carry with me. I'm pissed that I had to place fraud alerts on my credit reports because it looks like he's going to rachet it up and go after my finances. The Internet is a fabulous place for those who use it with good intent. Unfortunately, it's an even better place for those who don't. Purposely post my real name? It'll never happen.

He was only answering Alton's questions.