And what did you do this past Martin Luther King weekend? On the spur of the moment, we drove up last Sunday to Healdsburg, about an hour away from San Francisco. Despite its proximity to home, we decided to stay overnight at a bed & breakfast as a special treat. Just spending two days in this picturesque town felt like taking a week’s vacation. It was relaxed and just lovely, surrounded by vineyards and the natural beauty of Sonoma County.

We found ourselves in the middle of Winter Wineland. A $25 ticket bought us a wine glass, an ID bracelet, and access to more than 90 participating wineries for wine tasting. [more…]

This week’s issue of TIME magazine reported the death of Momofuku Ando, 96, in Osaka, Japan. And why should his death be of consequence to Americans?

Mr. Ando invented a food product in 1958 that has touched the lives of struggling college students the world over: he is the father of instant ramen noodles. As an encore, he invented Cup Noodles in 1971. Today, instant ramen is a multibillion-dollar industry; 85 million packages were sold in 2005, according to the TIME article. [more…]

My sons and I have been debating whether the “You!” identified as Time magazine’s person of the year includes me and other Baby Boomers or just refers to Generation Y/Millennials (those 12 to 29 years old in 2006). Unlike my sons, I don’t have a MySpace or Facebook page, I’m not in starring in a video on YouTube and I haven’t rated a seller on ebay.

But I beg to differ. I do blog (not as often as I intend to) and I have contributed to a travel wiki and I have added a book review to Amazon. So I am exhibiting a bit of personal control on the Information Age in my own modest way.

While it’s true that most of us who are computer literate aren’t taking advantage of all the ways we could imprint our opinions and personalities on the great world, we are making our thoughts, feelings and ideas known. Even in the area of food. [more…]