Sorry, folks. A la Carte was inadvertently omitted from today’s Food section. Here it is: 

Wine dinners and tastings
-Wines of Estancia are presented by Lauren Culp at Palm Court’s wine tasting tonight at 6:30; $20.
John Arnold with the Victor L. Robilio Company and  Mesquite Chop House Downtown will host a four-course wine dinner March 26, 6:30 p.m. $50; please call 527-5337 for reservations. 

-A four-course dinner at The Majestic Grille tonight features the wines of Francis Ford Coppola. Jay Koeller of the winery hosts the dinner. $55; call 522-8555 for reservations.

-D Vine Wines & Spirits hosts a wine tasting featuring Bogle Vineyards wines from Clarksburg, Calif. on Thursday,  on the patio at Huey’s-Southaven, 7090 Malco Blvd. 6:30 p.m.; $15. Cheese and sausage plates will be included. Call (662) 536-2940 for reservations.

-Great Wines & Spirits hosts a tasting of wines from Israel on Saturday from 1-3 p.m. at Salsa restaurant, 6150 Poplar Avenue in Regalia.  Informal, drop-by format. $5 per person, credited towards any same day purchase at Great Wines. Call 682-1333 with questions.

-Joe’s Wine’s hosts a wine tasting of about 35-40 South American wines at The Vine, 1819 Madison, on April 3rd from 6:30- 8:30 p.m.  Light appetizers will be served.  $35 per person.  Stop by Joe’s Wine’s, 1681 Poplar, or call 725-4252 to purchase tickets.

-John Adams of Star Distributors hosts a five-course oyster dinner with Jeff Dunham, chef/owner at The Grove Grill on April 3.  Kevin Voisin of Motivatit Seafood in Houma, La. will be there to talk about all things oysters. $75; 6:30 p.m. Call 818-9951.

Now, this is cool. A regular blogger sent this link to a map of local barbecue spots that s/he (not getting anything from me!) routed on a Google map. By clicking on the name of the restaurant, you’ll get directions, a brief description and usually an opinion. This is a great tool for both locals and for folks from out of town looking for a good slab or ribs or a sandwich. Click here to go to the map and please, share your opinions, too. Let me know if something’s missing and I bet our blogger will add it.

Have you seen the story online at our home page? Seems that there’s a renewed push from Tennessee grocers to allow the sale of wine in grocery stores. Of course, it seems likely that we’ll find a push back from liquor stores.  Here’s the link to the story :(click here). Sound off, people! Will it happen? If it means we get a Trader Joe’s–I say pass the law, man!

I mentioned that the upcoming “Tuesdays on the Terrace” at Memphis Botanic Garden is this coming, um, Tuesday, in A la Carte on Wednesday, but I just got an e-mail asking me to get the word out that MBG is pushing for a big crowd because they’re announcing the new and improved Tuesdays they’re starting in March. A few highlights of upcoming events include March Madness, a basketball-theme event with wine, beer and game food; Salsa dancers and Latin wines and food in April; and Oktoberfest in the 10th month.

Head over this coming Tuesday and hear more about it. Add your two cents.

I just got this email in. MFM is looking for a volunteer to perform the following duties. Keep reading to find out how to contact them if you’re interested.
1. Maintains and updates farmer and producer applications, regulations, and price structure each season. Sends vendor packets upon request and as needed.
2. Maintains farmer and producer mailing lists.
3. Actively recruits new and diverse local farmers and producers.
4. Works with Vendor Committee to select incoming farmers and producers each season.
5. Works with the Shelby County Health Dept. and TN Dept. of Agriculture on health-related issues, inspections, and fees pertaining to prepared foods, dairy, meat, seafood, and produce.
6. Enforces all MFM regulations, collects stall and other fees, creates weekly schedule, and assigns vendor stalls.
7. Interacts and interfaces with all MFM farmers and producers each week during the market season, in coordination with the Market Manager and Vendor Committee.
8. Maintains the farmer and producer section on the MFM website and writes vendor profiles in coordination with the Market Manager.
9. Works with the Market Manager to visit farmers and producers to ensure product quality, quantity, and locality.
10. Conducts a farmers and producers meeting once a year.
 
If you are interested in learning more about this important role within a dynamic team, visit: www.memphisfarmersmarket.org
 
Click on “Contact Us”
Click the  ”General Information” button
Fill in your name, email address, and phone number
Type ”Vendor Chair Position” in the “Questions/Comments” box
 
You’ll be contacted to further discuss this vital, rewarding position within our nonprofit organization.

Robert Dean of United Liquors would like for all of us to eat duck with his selected wine, a 2005 Carpineto Dogajolo, and I think I might pick a duck up on the way home Thursday. But here’s a beef recipe from tastytuscany.com that sounds good and can be thrown together quickly. Serve it with buttered noodles and a green salad. 

• 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced
• 4 beef flank steaks, about 4 ounces each, pounded to 1/4-inch thickness
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 cup red wine
• 1 28-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• zest of 1/2 lemon
• 1/4 cup pitted and chopped black olives
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
• 1/2 cup beef stock
• 1 teaspoon sugar

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, warm the olive oil. Add the scallions, and sauté for 1 minute. Season the flank steaks with salt and pepper, and add them to the skillet. Sauté until they brown, then flip, and add the wine. Sauté until the steaks are cooked through. Remove the meat to a plate, and keep warm.

Prepare the sauce: Add the crushed tomatoes, lemon zest, olives, parsley, beef stock and sugar. Cover and cook for 10 minutes, stirring often with a wooden spoon. Serve the sauce over the steaks. Serves 4

Read my Whining & Dining column in tomorrow’s paper and find out about my dinner last week with Morgan Freeman. Yep. Morgan Freeman. You’d have to look long and hard to find someone less celebrity-obsessed than I am, but I gotta tell you: This was a thrill. He’s quite the charmer and I had a fabulous, fabulous evening. To top it off, the meal at Madidi in Clarksdale was excellent. The best tuna I’ve tasted, great softshell crab, good wine and excellent company all ’round.

Morgan was completely gracious to all the folks who came up with their digital cameras and at one point, I was snapping so many photos for people that I had no idea who the cameras belonged to. Bill Luckett, Morgan’s partner in Madidi and Ground Zero, was kind enough to invite me to join them when I called earlier in the week to check on the status of Ground Zero in Memphis (no date yet, but everything’s a go, he said).

I just got a call from my daughter, who was waiting on a parking place at Oak Court mall when someone else took it. She saw the people when she was walking in and said “I had my blinker on. You had to see I was waiting on that spot.” To which the son replied:

“If you weren’t a baby killing tree-hugger, I might’ve let you have it.”

First, she has a John Edwards sticker on her car, which doesn’t make her any of the above. Second, and this is what gets me, the mother said nothing to her teenage son! Man, if my daughter had said something like that to someone, we wouldn’t have moved until she apologized. (And that still goes, even though she’s grown.)

Then I check messages and had the nastiest phone call from a woman mad because I didn’t include her favorite ethnic restaurant on my dining list on Friday. As I said in the article, I’m sure I’ve forgotten some. But she’s accusing other restaurants on the list of being run by the Mafia, for Pete’s sake.

Why are people so angry and mean? Let’s relax everyone. Have a glass of egg nog. Take a few deep breaths. See your doctor about a prescription. Whatever it takes. Let’s have a little peace and goodwill…

Sorry, guys. It’s easy to let time slip away when you take a few days off work… I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. It was another busy weekend for us, and I ended up with a cold and feeling blah. The holidays are so busy this year!

But here’s something kind of fun. At a party Saturday night a friend wasn’t eating his paella and when I asked why, he said he’d filled up on Ro-tel dip at his granddaughter’s birthday party that afternoon. That got a good laugh and got us thinking about all the different ways folks use Velveeta in the South. There’s even a Velveeta fudge!

So I’m soliciting Velveeta recipes and maybe this’ll turn into a story. My mother-in-law, by the way, was served Velveeta on white bread after giving birth to her children. Nothing has ever tasted as good as those sandwiches, she said.

So share with me. Tell me what you do with Velveeta processed cheese product.

Seems like I recall that someone talked about Totino’s pizza when we posted about “food we lie about.”

This is from AP: General Mills says it’s recalling almost five million frozen pizzas sold under the Totino’s and Jeno’s label because of possible E. coli contamination.
The company says the problem may come from pepperoni produced at
an Ohio plant. General Mills says state and federal authorities
have been investigating 21 E. coli illnesses in 10 states including
Tennessee.
Nine of those 21 people reported eating Totino’s or Jeno’s pizza
with pepperoni topping at some point before becoming ill. Eight of
the cases were reported in Tennessee.
Symptoms of E. coli can include stomach cramps and diarrhea.
People typically are ill for two to five days but can develop
complications including kidney failure.
—
Eds: The specific products in the recall, with SKU, include:
Totino’s Party Supreme, 42800-10700.
Totino’s Three Meat, 42800-10800.
Totino’s Pepperoni, 42800-11400.
Totino’s Pepperoni, 42800-92114.
Totino’s Classic Pepperoni, 42800-11402.
Totino’s Pepperoni Trio, 42800-72157.
Totino’s Party Combo, 42800-11600.
Totino’s Combo, 42800-92116.
Jeno’s Crisp ‘n Tasty Supreme, 35300-00561.
Jeno’s Crisp ‘n Tasty Pepperoni, 35300-00572.
Jeno’s Crisp ‘n Tasty Combo, 35300-00576.