Well, springtime is FINALLY here! The markets are veritably bristling with all of the seasons finest ingredients. It’s a great time for inspiration. During one of my many trips to the local markets I was hit with a very whimsical inspiration. One of my favorite ingredients is pork. Shoulders, ribs, chops, hocks, or loins pork is just one of the most versatile ingredients on the market. With fava beans looking so good right now I thought it would be great to do an updated, upscale version of an old classic. Pork and beans with pulled smoked pork hock and fava beans. This paired with the sweet and savory orange fennel broth and a beautiful piece of striped bass is sure to be a winner in your home. So until next month, enjoy!

Here’s a wonderful and refreshing springtime cocktail to try on your friends and family. If you’re got a juicer by all means juice your own fresh pineapple juice for this great tropical style martini. Most stores carry plum wine and sake these days so they shouldn’t be very hard to track down.

Celebrate the season of spring with a night of romance…live the dream of life in beautiful surroundings, inspired by creative food and voluptuous wine. You enter another world the moment you step inside the lobby of The Columbus, A Renaissance Hotel…a world designed for all of your senses…a world to be shared with someone special. Your destinctive and stylish room will be graced with a bottle of Seduction wine and two glasses…dinner for two ($100 gift certificate) will be waiting for you at the breathtaking Latitude 41 restaurant…an evening of romance and joy. Memories and dreams…of your life together.

To entice and excite your palette as he takes you on a culinary journey with our “Chef’s Selection Menu” which features the chef’s choice of our finest, hand picked produce and meats from our daily deliveries of fresh, local and organic ingredients. Reservation and participation of the entire table is required. Acquiesce, and allow yourself to be taken on a journey of sights, aromas, and flavors and have enjoy an experience in food unlike anything you’ve ever had before. Pricing per person $65 for five courses and $95 per person with wine pairings.

In our latest podcast from the kitchen of Latitude 41, Chef Dean James Max guides us through the steps on making his delicious Yellow Tail Snapper with Chickpea Panise and Red Pepper Sauce. If you think it sounds tasty, just wait until you SEE IT!

O'Brien Cellars started as a romantic dream 20 years ago when Barb and I came to Napa Valley on our third date. She said "I dream of owning land in Napa Valley someday". I thought "I dream of marrying you". I decided that if I could get her to marry me, then I would figure out a way to buy her land in Napa Valley.

Dean James Max is true third generation 'foodie'. His grandfather, a chef at an upstate New York resort went on to open and operate a quaint bed and breakfast in Cape May. His father grew up on a farm in New Jersey and started his own farm on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. Max recalls tending his own pepper patch as a small child and enjoying the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay.

It may be that he inherited his chef genes from his grandfather, but his youth was spent in farm coveralls rather than chef's whites.