Tonight Krisi Raymond of Raymond Vineyards will be with us online to tell us about her family’s chardonnay, so this is the place to be at 7 tonight. Remember, post your comments in the “live blog” section below. See everyone at 7.

This dish is fabulous. My friends Larry and Mimmye Goode made it last month and served it with a Gary Farrell Russian River Valley Chardonnay 2005 and the pairing was perfect. I promised I’d get the recipe in case anyone wants to make it when we taste our Raymond Vineyards Chardonnay on Thursday. Larry sent it to me, and here it is. If you don’t join us for wine tasting on Thursday, make this dish soon, anyway. It’s divine.

CHICKEN with PEARS

3 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoon olive oil

3 shallots minced

2 cloves garlic minced

4 chicken breasts (Larry used boneless)

2 pears (firm) peeled, cored and sliced

½ cup white wine to deglaze pan

1 cup heavy cream

zest of 1 lemon

juice of ½ lemon

parsley chopped for garnish

Salt and pepper

Sauté shallots and garlic in butter and olive oil only until tender.  Remove from pan and save.

Brown chicken in same pan, adding salt and pepper to taste.  Remove from pan and save with shallots and garlic.

Put pear slices in same pan and brown lightly.  Deglaze pan with white wine, picking up debris from pan bottom.  Add cream, lemon zest, shallots, garlic and chicken.  Cook until of sauce consistency.  Add lemon juice, garnish with parsley and serve.

If you keep up with the blog, you know I’m devoted to Duke’s mayonnaise (although Carole H. suggested I try Sauers, made by the same company, and it’ll do in a pinch). But my friend Michael sent along this trivia about Hellmann’s I thought you might like to read: 

Most people don’t know that back in 1912, Hellmann’s mayonnaise was manufactured in England. In fact, the Titanic was carrying 12,000 jars of the condiment scheduled for delivery in Vera Cruz, Mexico, which was to be the next port of call for the great ship after its stop in New York. This would have been the largest single shipment of mayonnaise ever delivered to Mexico. But as we know, the great ship did not make it to New York. The ship hit an iceberg and sank, and the cargo was forever lost.
The people of Mexico, who were crazy about mayonnaise, and were eagerly awaiting its delivery, were disconsolate at the loss. Their anguish was so great, that they declared a National Day of Mourning, which they still observe to this day.
The National Day of Mourning occurs each year on May 5th and is known, of course, as Sinko de Mayo.

Ha! Did I getcha? Happy Cinco de Mayo, and if you see my friend and coworker James Dowd today, tell him happy birthday.

Sign on tonight at 7 and taste this pinot noir with our expert, Robert Dean of United Liquors. I’ve heard nice things about this bottle and am looking forward to tasting the wine and spending the hour with all of you. See you tonight!

I posted about fresh wasabi some time last year, and found out yesterday that you can buy it at Blue Fin (which made the list of the Top 10 Downtown restaurants in tomorrow’s Playbook; thank you all for your suggestions).

Anyway, I’m headed down there next week to give it a try. If you go before I do, tell me about it.

Last night I met up with a couple of foodie friends and we started our search for the perfect nachos in Memphis. (They got a jump start on me a few weeks ago, beginning with a plate they described as “glumpy mess” at Huey’s on Poplar at Erin Drive, but last night was my first time out).

We’d planned to go to Belmont, but one of the group had a coupon for Cozymel’s, so we went there. The nachos made a pretty picture, but they ended up with six thumbs down. First, a certain amount of goop is necessary for good nachos, and these were too dry. Plus, they were composed, and we want our nachos diggable. Further, they were on baked flour tortillas, not on corn tortillas.

I remember that R.P. Tracks used to have good nachos, so that’s on our list. And Belmont, which my friend Susie remembers served up a nice dish. We’re talking back in the day here, but we’re hoping both are still good. Where else should we go?

In the past 15 minutes I just came across a wire story about the woman who won the $1 million Pillsbury prize for a cookie recipe that starts with refrigerated peanut butter cookie dough, and ran across the article about Baltimore’s Berger cookies in the May issue of Saveur.

I’ve never been tempted by a peanut butter cookie, although I surely wish I’d created this one. But the Berger cookie is another matter. It’s a vanilla cookie topped with a fudgy icing and looks dee-vine. What I miss the most about Seessel’s is the turtle cookies. I loved them from when I was a kid until they served the last one–and I would love them still if I could get my hands on one. What’s your idea of the quentessential Memphis cookie? We get many requests for the Memphis City Schools butter cookies, and Makeda’s makes one that’s nearly a deadringer.

I found a recipe online for what might be the turtle cookies from McKenzie’s Bakeries in New Orleans, which were nearly as good as Seessel’s. Here’s the link, if you want to take a look: http://herbsaint.wordpress.com/2006/01/13/turtle-cookies/ (here’s the picture, above). I’ll let you know if I try the recipe.

I’m putting together a list of Downtown favorites for Memphis in May. What are your top picks? I’m also doing a roundup of barbecue joints around town for BBQ weekend, and the blogger who created the Google map will finally be revealed…

Everyone ready for a little wine tasting tonight? I am. The saga of the sick dog continues and I’ve given the muscle relaxers for my back a rest for the day so I can enjoy the wine tonight. Be back at 7; Scott Smith from the Wine Market on Spottswood will be here and we’ll have a good ol’ time.

I’m crazy about the new book “Things Cooks Love,” even though some of the items are not exactly ones I consider indispensible. It’s part of a series from Sur la Table, so there’s incentive for selling, but I like the book anyway. There’s more about it in tomorrow’s column, but I want to hear about your favorite kitchen gadgets. A few things I’d hate to do without are my mandoline, my standing citrus press (serves one purpose only, but it does so beautifully), my garlic press (I finally found a good one and I’ll never chop garlic again), and my Kitchen Aid.

What are your favorite things?