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Does anyone have any recommendation for a short term {month or more} professional or at the very least a very serious amateur cook, school in the Naples area?

Thank you! RNB looks perfect for my needs. I appreciate the tip.

I am in the planning stages of remodeling my kitchen from the ugly "L" tract home monster to a open plan "country" kitchen with all the bells & whistles to feed my hobby of preparing food for family & friends. To that end I have been researching stove/ranges. My last "pro" kitchen I had a restaurant Wolf. It was big, great heat, huge oven but no convection or broiler. I've looked at Viking, Wolf {home series} , Aga and Bertazzoni. The Bertazzoni is a new import from Italy. It looks great, has five burners, big oven w/ convection and best of all is about $1500. less then the home grown brands. You can buy a lot of toys for a kitchen with an extra $1500! The question is. does any of my egullet correspondents have any experience with the Bertazzoni stoves. Any other suggestions?

A restaurant owner in Mexico asked me for recommendations for wine education in the EU. He wants to get a basic understanding in one to two weeks. His family is Belgian, but he can go to France or Italy. All I know is the Spurrier schools in Paris & Rome. Any suggestions? He will be in Europe in May-June.

I have them on my tasting room wall. Great art as well as an accurate resource to locate all of the great Burgundy estates. They are produced by "Art & Cartographie" in France. Searching the web I found them at www.chamberstwines.com

This comes under the heading of a "adventure". This Ristorante is half way between Imola and Dozza, south of Bolana. Off of the Via Emilia some 8 Km out in the country it is actually a adjunct to a prosciutto producer {no, you can't smell the farm}, and is extremely popular with the locals who usually appear in large family groups. To say the place is lively is an understatment. The menu is made up of "Specialita tipche romagnole" and it doesn't get much better. Pork {suprise}, mushrooms, truffles, regional pastas etc. The wine list, mainly local producers also inculdes some incrediable bargains from all of the northern regions. It is easy to get a great bottle at a great price. My favorite dish was Stinko. Basically this is what we know as Oso Bucco but here it is pork shank that has been braised in balsamic vinegar and arrives at table with a mahogany glaze of the balsamic that is crisp like a skin. The underling pork is tender and succulent. My wife's favorite was the fresh pasta with chicken livers in wine sauce, again simple and elegant. Over the course of a few weeks we ate our way through a good part of the menu and I can honestly say there wasn't anything, even the odd and unfamilar, dish that we didn't like. Bar-Ristorante Valsellustra di Bianluca, Via Valsellustra, 16 Tel: 0542-684073

I have eaten well in Rome for over 20 years starting when I was on a very tight budget and now when I can easily afford La Rosetta and the like. Truthfully, I have found that the most memorable meals have often been at the least expensive and least pretentious ristoratnte, osteria, trattoria or enoteca. Here are a few of my favorites. Ristorante Alla Rampa, Piazza Mignanelli, 18. My old favorite that I first went to in 1985, behind American Express off of the Spanish Steps. They have the most incrediable Antipasta bar in Rome. Last year it was 10 Euro's. Meat, fresh fish, vegetables,cheese, you name it they have it. A great way to sample a lot of Rome's bounty. On a side street, an alley, by the Piazza Rotundra is Antonio al Pantheon Via Dei Pastini, 12. This is a family place, almost communal tables, they tend to move tables around to accomadate the diners, where locals come for dinner, read papers and now aday work on laptops. Wonderful fresh pasta {classic Caico de Pepe & Carbonara} and seasonal vegetables done perfectly. Good, inexpensive house wine. I took seven people {including three teenagers} and had a a bill of around 140 Euros. My Enoteca pick has to be hands down Cul De Sac Piazza Pasquino, 78 just off of the Piazza Narvona. Crowded, fun, benches at wooden tables with wine suspended over your head. Pate, terrines, cheeses and great bread with a glass of wine, makes for a truly "Roman" adventure. Finally the new kid on the block. A five minute walk from the Spanish Steps, past stores with clothing and leather goods that I can't afford let alone wear, brings you to a complex of gastromonic and wine stores under one rood. Gusto is at Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9 & Via della Frezza, 23. Here is a wine store, a cooking equipment store, a pizzeria, a Ristorante, a enoteca, a cheese bar, a cigar bar etc. all very, very hip, modern. You can spend a lot or very little depending where you chose to land. The trick is to go around to the Via della Frezza, basically the back of the building, where you'll find the entrances to the various cheese, antipasta and panini bars. The pizzeria and the Ristoranta face the Piazza. For an introduction to Itlaian wine, try to take an early evening tasting at the International Wine Academy {Setup by Steven Spurrier, everybody speaks English} By the Spanish steps, in the the Vicolo del Bottino, this is the alley that leads to the Metro stop. check out thier schedule at www.wineacademyroma.com. The tastings are guided and are reasonablly priced.

As I promised in my last post here is the mini-review of the "Mastering Wine II" class at the CIA, Napa. The class was amazing in what you get exposed to and learn in a realtively short time. Every lesson was backed up by tasting and his STP {Systematic Tasting Process}, though unwieldy at first, once you get "it" the method becomes second nature and really teaches you how to evaluate and ID wine. Great week and at $995. a bargin. Tim Gaiser, is a M.S. and is the education director of the Court of Master Sommeliers. {www.mastersommeliers.org} This is the cerification group for American Master Sommeliers. Check thier web site then check out the CIA professional studies program. Email me if you have questions.

I can recommend the Professional Wines Studies at the Rudd Center. They have a Certification as a Wine Professional. The Rudd Center is at the CIA - Greystone capmus in St. Helena, Napa. The facility is state of the art and designed just for the teaching of wine. The teachers are headed up by Karen MacNeil and draws from a wide range of professionals from UC Davis, Wine Industry, Publishing as well as the CIA staff. I took "Sensory Analysis" with John Buechsenstein (UC Davis) and was amazed at the quality of his instruction. I am now starting "Mastering Wine" w/ Tim Gaiser and I am sure that the week long course will be well worth the time. {I'll post a review after I finish}. Joan Zoloth, administers the program and can be reached at 707-967-2565 or on line at www.ciaprochef.com

Ristorante Mugolone Via dei Pellegrini, 8-12 Siena Tel: 0577-283235/283039 Perhaps my favorite in Siena. Small, elegant dining room with gracious service. My Veal chop was the best I have ever had and the fresh pasta w/ truffles was, in all its simplicity, perfect. I'll be back in Tuscany this June and nothing will keep me away from visiting again.

I have worked for a small family winery as a cellar rat for many years. email me at ben@cellarmasters.com and I will set you up with a tour that will be unlike any other in Napa.

One rainy night this last April my wife and I had one of the best meals of our trip at Ristorante Mugolone, via dei Pellegrini, 8-12. Near The Piazza del Campo, the dining room is simple almost elegant, a very adult - untourtisty room. Antipasti of local boar products, a fantastic veal chop and a variety of contorni each beautifully done. Dinner, wine & service ran 97 Euros.

Ok. Here is more information than you probaly want or need but ... Cellaring temperatures & humidity varies with who you ask, The following is a sample of the best folks in the business. Who Temp Humidity Broadbent -most 55 F 60% Old wines 50 F Port 60 F Hugh Johnson 50 to 57 F 60-70% Vandyke Price 45 to 50 F Steven Spurrier 50 to 54 F 60-70% Dennis Foley 49 to 52 F 70% Courtiers-Jures 54 F Gold 55 F 75-80% Cellar Masters {*] 54 F 65-70% {*} that's me, my business is building wine cellars, wine storage facilities and wineries. The subject of humidity is, I think, a bit overdone. The tradition of high humidity came from old world cellars, which were just that, cellars cut into the earth and naturally humid. There is one in Scotland that is at 48 F and walls drip with humidity, of course there are very few lables on the bottles. High humidity 80% plus is great in barrel rooms at wineries where evaporation through the barrel staves can reach 15%, which at $30-$75 per bottle is a significant loss. A bottle on the other hand is different. First you have the glass bottle itself impervious to air, then you have a cork 1.5" to 2.18" which is covered by a capsule of tin, plastic, wax etc. Assuming thatthe bottle is laying down, as it should for storage, the wine is in contact with the cork keeping it moist. It would take a pretty high temperature and a healthly airflow across the dime sized top of the bottle to dry the cork out to the degree that the wine would be spoiled. The high temperature by itself would accomplish that far faster than the drying out of the cork. A 70 F cellar can accelerate the aging process by 5 to 6 times and in all probably ruin the wine. 60-70% humidity seems be a reasonable range and easily achievable by most self contained wine coolers and absolutely achievable by commercial cooling systems.

Faced the same problem our last trip. Found the seaside hotels in Fiumicino village either unopened or not quite what we would want to stay in. Finally found, by default {it was late}, the Hotel Satellite Palace. This is the hotel used by the air crews. Our room was a solid three stars, very comfortable. It is modern vs. charming but close to the airport. Took us all of 20 min to drive vs. the 10 min from Fiumicino village. In short convenient, reasonable {140 Euros} and they obviously know how to get you to FCO on time.

To decant or not to decant. That is the question. As Gordon Cook said, he sometimes uses a pitcher. A fancy crystal decanter is impressive but it all goes back to function. The pitcher, the decanter it's pretty much the same, it's really a matter of asthectics. The idea is to areate the wine. Young wines often are the best candidates for decanting as it allows off odors to blow off and helps to bring out some flavors. There are on the market funnels that are designed for maximun arreation. In decanting older wines the purpose is to separate the sediment from the wine leaving clear wine. Again there are specialized funnels on the marklet with screens that assist in keeping the sediment out. The old idea of opening a bottle and "letting it breathe" is really not very effective. The surface area is about the size of a dime. The better route is, if you can, pour a glass, swirl it then sample it. The let it rest in the glass for 10-20 minutes and taste again. You will be surprised how the wine has changed. Obviously all of this is for red wines. Very, very seldom have I seen white wines decanted.

Santa Barbara: La Super Rica Montecito: Trattoria Mollie Buellton: The Hitching Post - Retro w/ 800 deg grill! Santa Ynez: Chef Rick's - just opened Trasttoria Grappolo - Reservations on weekend very necessary. Los Olivos: The Brothers at Matteis Tavern, again reservations are advised. The food fabulous - the veal chop is near perfect . Cambria - When I visit I cook at my rental, I never had a really notable meal in town.

I was fortunate to be given six bottles of various vintages and varietals some years ago just after Sothebys auctioned them off. Since then I have used them for special occasions and am down to a 1932 red port and a 1940 white muscat. Both the white and the pink muscat from the '39 & '40's vintages have been remarkable. A flavor profile of a sauternes {in particular an older Lafaurie-Peyraguey, say a 1950} with a hint of Maderia. Complex, we have drunk them by them selves, as you might with a fine Port. You are in for a treat. Sothebys may have the monograph that Serena Sutcliffe wrote on the history of the Masandra Collection on thier web site. Worth checking out

After a good shaking, such as shipping, across the country or ocean, or even a construction project, I always recommend a 10 to 14 day rest for the affected wine.

Obviously this a subject that has a lot of sides, probably all vaild to varying degrees. My experience in France was that a host {hostess} would be offended if I brought wine to a dinner party. As I was told it was that the host, being the host, was solely responsible for the guests enjoyment of the food and accompaning wine. Maybe things have changed but it made sense to me at the time. I run a wine businees and I am often asked to suggest, purchase or outright "bring the wine" to parties I'm invited to. Flattering, but. Often, when dealing with friends or family, I'll bring a selection of wines in a carrier and conveniently stash it. If there is shortage wine or the opportunity to introduce a new varietal or find into the proceedings I pull something out of the stash. I guess it all boils downto how well you know your host.