Wow, how times have changed. It wasn't that long ago when 'wine and apps' meant a glass of dry rose and brie before dinner. Now there are over 450 wine applications to check out for the iPhone. That's six times as many wine apps as were available for the iPhone last year. There are apps for wine reviews, food pairing, wine journaling, games, interacting with other vinophiles, apps to buy a drink for a friend or to find a winery. There are a lot of choices unless you have an Android or a Blackberry, then you already know you are much more limited.

My first download was Hello Vino, a good choice for the wine app newbie. This very popular, free application, is available for the iPhone and Android. Hello Vino bills itself as an app for the wine aisle, offering pairings, reviews and more.

The next thing I knew, I had downloaded a dozen apps but my excitement fizzled fast. Some of the apps got buggy on me and I often couldn't find the information I wanted. For example, I searched for a dry, zingy Verdicchio that I had recently at a nearby restaurant. Drync could tell me the price but not where I could get the wine. Snooth's free version came back with four stores, including one in New York and one in Amsterdam. Thinking I might be missing something I called on a guy who knows a lot about wine apps -- Paul Mabray, founder of Vintank. Vintank is a digital think tank for the wine industry. I asked Mabray why am I having such a hard time searching for a bottle of wine?

"The best app for finding wine accurately is Wine-Locator. Unfortunately, they don't have a large amount of brands supporting their platform. The problem is very simple, imagine synchronizing all the inventory of all the stores that carry wine with their myriad of different inventory systems as well as how they enter wine into those systems (calling it everything from RMCS2008 to Robert Mondavi Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon 2008). The problem has too much inertia."

If you are trying to navigate your way through the dizzying array of wine apps, you should know, Vintank has done the hard work for us. They have tested, rated, and even categorized, 452 wine apps for the iPhone. Check out this super cool wheel chart with Vintank's top 26 apps. If 26 is still too much, then maybe it's enough to just know what's on Mabray's phone. I pinned him down to his top picks.

PAUL MABRAY'S TOP FIVE APPS

CORKBIN

Mabray: "This is an easy journaling concept. I will never write a tasting note, it's just not in me but I do want to know what I had with dinner last night."
Editor's note: This 99-cent application is available for iPhone, iPod Touch, iPad and Android.

DAILY GRAPE

Mabry: "Gary Vaynerchuk's daily reviews are very educational and everybody loves Gary."
Editor's note: This free app is only available for iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad.

DRYNC

Mabry: "With the $4.99 version, you can have access to ten databases including WineZap and Snooth."
Editor's note: The New York Times, Vintank and Mashable all rate Drync one of the top wine apps. It's also available for Android and as a free version.

SOCIAL GRAPES

Mabry: "I am just starting to check this one out. It has the best interface I've seen."
Editor's note: Social grapes is free and compatible with iPhone, iPod touch and iPad. Requires iOS 4.0 or later.

NATDECANTS

Mabry: "Nat Decants is one of Vintank's favorites. She has a good database for her barcode reader and she is on several different platforms."
Editor's note: Canadian wine sommelier, Natalie Maclean wins the multi-platform award. It is free and available for iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Blackberry and Android.

NEXT GEN APPS
The holy grail of wine apps is image recognition. Think of being able to take a picture of a wine bottle and instantly find stores where the wine can be purchased. Snooth Pro and Tesco Wine Finder have image recognition built in. It just doesn't work that well. Mabray says, "The technology is probably 3 to 5 years off." In the meantime, barcodes are the most successful right now. Retailers use them to manage inventory. But consumers can use their iPhone 3GS or 4, with certain wine apps, to scan the barcode and use it to get more information, like reviews. "The downside is that barcodes don't distinguish vintage to vintage and they sometimes are skewed by the curvature of the bottle," says Mabray.

Photo by: rKrov

And then there are QR codes (Quick Response), several Bay Area Bites readers have written in about these. They are those funky squares with little dots on some wine bottles. QR codes are two dimensional bar codes. Consumers can use a smart phone with a QR app to scan the code and find out more details, maybe even see a video, about the bottle of wine they are considering. They are endemic in Japan and I've seen then on wine bottles from Portugal and Spain. But, to be honest, I went to three local wine stores and could not find one bottle with a QR code. There are just not many wineries using them. According to Mabray, "Major suppliers tend to use them on the neckers. The biggest challenge is not the app technology, it's again, about the data on the back end. We have a huge problem in the wine industry with data. We are working on it. It's the biggest obstacle to wine succeeding digitally."

Wine glass photo by Dave Dugdale

Tweet and Taste
Recently, Twitter co-hosted a nationwide wine tasting tweet-up. The event blended the virtual and the actual as people chimed in from Twitter headquarters in San Francisco and across the country from wine stores in cities such as Chicago and in Washington DC. Other Twitterers, like me, followed along, online, salivating at the tasting descriptions, "the Sauvignon Blanc tastes like liquified summer" said one Twitter visitor. Tweet-ups like this one, which was also hosted by Hanh Family Wineries, are frequent online events. They are the perfect use of social media: one part mixer, one part marketing.

Not a New Relationship
The synergy between wine and technology predates the web. Wine billboards, like the CompuServe Wine Forum which started over twenty years ago, served as a way for wine enthusiasts to come together and enjoy their favorite juice. The site is still around in the form of the Wine Lovers Page. In this age of the omnipotent wine critic, more and more people are talking directly to each other about their likes and dislikes and that has been a game changer. Some of the most popular blogs and websites include: Vinography, Dr. Vino, Jamie Goode's blog, Fermentation, Snooth, OpenWineConsortium (a Ning website where you can connect with tons of different people in the industry, bloggers and wineries) and last on this list but not least in my book, Women and Wine, both the popular blog and Facebook site. Really, the list goes on and on and on. Got a favorite wine site? Tells us!

Vaynernation
The Internet has its own sommelier in Gary Vaynerchuk. A Russian Immigrant who helped grow his family's New Jersey wine business, Vaynerchuk has used social media to create a multi-million dollar brand. In 2006 he plunged head first into online video, via YouTube, with a series of very passionate daily wine tastings and reviews. That same year he founded Wine Library TV, joined blogs and forums and began to take advantage of the social web. Ala Tony Robbins, Vaynerchuk has written two books about following your passion (in his case wine and the N.Y. Jets) and appeared on several TV shows such as Oprah, Ellen and The Big Idea. But it’s Vaynerchuk’s daily appearances on the internet, and regular interaction with his fans, via Facebook, Twitter and his blog, that have gained him fame and helped his family’s retail website become such a success. I am loving his new smart phone app. "Daily Grape," is a shorter more nimble version of Wine Library TV.

The Social Winery
Hoping to cash in on the new wine market, several wineries have turned to social media sites to up their sales. St Supery, Wente, Barefoot Wine and Bubbly are among the few out in front. Rick Bakas, head of Bakas Media and past Director of Social Media Marketing at St. Supery Vineyards and Winery, has said that social media can help with sales and wine club retention. Quoting his website, "You have to put faith in knowing your trust will create a tighter bond with consumers, which in turn will lead to sales." And don't think wineries are building Facebook and Twitter accounts only for their millennial consumers, the over forty crowd also uses social media and has more spending power. This realization has prompted Bill Leigon, President of Hahn Family Wines in the Santa Lucia Highlands, to re-focus his marketing efforts more on boomers and the parents of boomers, according to February's Vineyard and Winery Management. If a winery can’t afford to hire it’s own social media director it can go outside. This year, Dry Creek Winery hired Healdsburg-based Social Candy to design and help manage their Facebook fan page. The company creates, video, graphics, and special "Fan Only" Promotions through a Facebook-friendly template system. Murphy-Goode is having some of the most fun with social media. The winery held a 'wine country lifestyle correspondent' contest and launched the blogging career of the very clever and goofy Hardy Wallace.

What’s Next?
If Facebook, blogs and Twitter are the social web tools for today, what’s around the corner? Wine apps is the short answer. The longer answer includes sites with more immersive experiences such as games and animation, interactive store labels and smart corks.

Next post -- a look at the best wine apps.

Oprah did a pretty big thing for the vegan community last week. She had a Vegan Challenge where she and 378 Harpo staffers went vegan for a week, followed by a show on veganism, American eating habits, factory farming, and industrial agriculture. Guests Kathy Freston, Michael Pollan, and Lisa Ling joined. There have been mixed emotions about the show: Was it sugar-coated? Should Michael Pollan have even been there? Did the footage of a Cargill slaughterhouse correctly represent the true horror of animal agriculture (Hint: No. But a new and concise video called Farm to Fridge by Mercy for Animals does. So does Earthlings.)? There was a sense of tip-toeing around the issues, which I’m sure was at least in part due to the infamous Texas Cattlemen vs. Oprah Winfrey and Howard Lyman lawsuit of 1998. Lisa Ling mentioned that they were not allowed to shoot everything at the slaughterhouse, and Oprah even says in one segment “Let’s try not to get sued.”

Oprah Goes Vegan

That’s not to say that good things didn’t come out of the show. One thing most vegans can probably agree upon is that it was huge exposure for the vegan lifestyle. Ten—hell, five—years ago, this wouldn’t have happened. Ellen is awesome, Martha has been great—but really, you can’t get bigger than Oprah in terms of reaching an audience. She opened a dialogue which few media personalities have dared to open.

Not only did Oprah convince her staff to go vegan with her (who collectively lost 444 pounds and gained 84 pounds), but she also instituted Meatless Mondays at the Harpo café and created a Vegan Starter Kit that now lives on her website. It features a grocery list, a 3-week meal plan, a list of simple substitutions, a vegan FAQ, and some Vegan 101 from Kathy Freston (whose new book, The Veganist, was the number one best-selling book on Amazon after the show aired).

Kathy Freston on Being a Veganist

While the kit is pretty good for basic info, it does include a lot of processed foods, and TONS of Kashi (who seems to be a sponsor, owned by Kellogg Company). PETA has had a Vegetarian/Vegan Starter Kit on their site for years. Believe it or not, not all vegans agree with all of PETA’s tactics, but for all the controversial things they’ve done, they’ve also done a lot of good. One of those good things is their kit. It’s interactive and approachable, with traveler tips, recipes, and a shopping guide of what’s vegan at your regular, everyday supermarket (note: They are not all healthy—just vegan!). The shopping list is very handy for vegans just starting out or living in areas that are not vegan-friendly.

I referenced kits like these when I first became vegan, but as the years have gone by, I’ve grown a lot in my knowledge of what makes my life easier, healthier, and tastier and I’ve naturally moved beyond the basics. With the help of blogs, cookbooks, videos, and yes, even celebrities, I’ve compiled, not only a great pantry and fridge, but also a strong library of resources. What better way to append the efforts of Oprah’s starter kit and online “resource center,” than to add what I know? New and exciting vegan information, products and places pop up everyday, so please feel free to comment and add resources that should be included. For those either committed to or just flirting with the idea of going vegan, I hope that this list proves useful.

In My Vegan Pantry/Fridge:
These are not your standard tofu/veggie dog/beans suggestions that most beginner vegan guides list. But they are essential for me and for most vegans I know. There is a whole world beyond what most people consider "typical vegan ingredients."

1. Cashews: For nut cheeses, milks, sour cream, cream cheese, pumpkin pies, cream soups, the list goes on...
2. Nutritional Yeast: To create cheesy sauces, add savory flavors, and as an alternative to parmesan. It's also a source of B-12.
3. So Delicious Coconut Milk Creamer: For coffee and to add something creamier to dessert recipes than your standard soy/coconut/hemp/almond/rice milk.
4. Seitenbacher Vegetable Broth and Seasoning: It doesn't have crap for ingredients and adds tons of savory flavor to sauces and broths. You can get it at Whole Foods.
5. Wine: Get a vegan variety and use to deglaze pans, pump up sauces, or add more flavor to veggies.
6. EatPastry cookies: I always have tubs of this dough in the fridge to eat raw (you can do that when it's vegan!) or baked. The gluten-free variety is amazing.
7. Coconut Oil: For frosting. Extra virgin if you don't mind the scent or prefer something unrefined. Otherwise you can get unscented.
8. Ener-G Egg Replacer, flax seeds, and/or applesauce: All can be used as egg replacements in baked goods.
9. Vegenaise: As good as non-vegan mayo. Stay away from Nayonaise.
10. Earth Balance Natural Buttery Spread: A great butter replacement for cooking, baking, and just on toast. I prefer the soy-free variety.

Best Local Places to Shop for Unique and Standard Vegan Groceries:
Rainbow Grocery (San Francisco)
Berkeley Bowl Marketplace (Berkeley)
Whole Foods (Everywhere)
Farmer Joe's Marketplace (Oakland)
The Food Mill (Oakland)
New Leaf Community Markets (Santa Cruz area)
Veg Food Finder for Stores in the Bay Area

Vegan videos and cooking shows (because Food Network STILL refuses to produce a vegetarian cooking show):
Miyoko’s Kitchen (with Bay Area native and vegan cheese aficionado, Miyoko Schinner)
The Post Punk Kitchen with Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero

Vegan Blogs/Websites:
The Kind Life: Alicia Silverstone’s blog is just as approachable, smart, and, well, kind, as her book, The Kind Diet.
The Spunky Coconut: A cooking blog that often features gluten-free, casein-free, and sugar-free vegan recipes.
Vegan Good Things
Crazy Sexy Life
My Face is on Fire
What the Hell Does a Vegan Eat Anyways?
I Eat Trees
Vegan.org
Vegan.com: Check out their Ultimate Vegan Guide.
VegWeb : They have over 13,000 recipes and anyone can submit one!

Bay Area Vegan Resources:
vegansaurus
The San Francisco Vegetarian Society
SF Vegan Drinks
VegNews
Bay Area Vegetarians: Veg Food Finder
The Vegan Restaurant Guide to San Francisco & The Bay Area (pdf) by Friends of Animals

Cookbooks (Oh my goodness, there are SO many, but here’s a good variety):
Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero
The Urban Vegan: 250 Simple, Sumptuous Recipes from Street Cart Favorites to Haute Cuisine by Dynise Balcavage
The Gluten-Free Vegan: 150 Delicious Gluten-Free, Animal-Free Recipes by Susan O'Brien
Vegan Soul Kitchen: Fresh, Healthy, and Creative African-American Cuisine by Bryant Terry
The Conscious Cook: Delicious Meatless Recipes That Will Change the Way You Eat by Tal Ronnen

For Parents:
Vegan Lunchbox
Vegan Dad
That's Why We Don't Eat Animals: A Book About Vegans, Vegetarians, and All Living Things (children’s book)

Meet the Animals:
Farm Sanctuary in Orland, CA
Animal Place Sanctuary in Grass Valley, CA near Vacaville

iPhone apps:
VegOut (powered by the HappyCow Compassionate Eating Guide)
VegWeb Recipe Finder
Vegan is Easy (based on Barnivore’s database)
Animal Free

Worth the Splurge:
Vitamix
It’s not just for smoothies. It’s a must for nut-based cheeses, sour cream and milks, as well as homemade vegan ice cream, pureed soups, and sauces. This is seriously the best purchase I have made in years and it has opened up doors for me in my culinary adventures at home.

When you think of artisan cheese, fine wine, and a diverse, sustainable menu, most people don't think of Pleasant Hill, a small city nestled between Concord and Walnut Creek. Pleasant Hill isn't known for its exotic food culture, so the few gems that are hidden within the town's borders are not only rare, but well hidden. Locals know the game, though. They know about Nibblers Eatery.

While the name doesn't exactly evoke visions of decadent cheese plates, locally grown produce, or handcrafted chocolate desserts, that's what you'll find on the menu at Nibblers. With a constantly changing cast of dishes, the offerings at Nibblers are not your run-of-the-mill Contra Costa County fare. Guests will be tempted by the large selection of small plates -- indeed they make up the entire menu -- all developed by owner and Chef de Cuisine Daniel Clayton. Clayton's background is diverse, with stints at Culinary Institute of America's Graystone campus and Lark Creek restaurant in Walnut Creek. Passionate about fresh, seasonal foods, he brought those values home when he opened Nibblers with his life partner (and Nibblers pâtissier) Trace Leighton.

With a creative small-plate menu that rotates monthly, Daniel and Trace keep diners on their toes with a host of new things to try. Here's a sampling of their January dinner plates:

• Crispy duck confit & fuyu persimmon salad -- baby lettuces, Indonesian long pepper, sundried cherry vinaigrette
• Butternut squash risotto cake -- romaine chiffonade, sweet pepper aïoli
• Pan fried Iacopi brussels sprouts -- roasted shallots, sunchokes, farm egg, aged sherry vinegar
• Prosciutto wrapped Knoll kadota figss -- Shaft blue cheese, pedro ximenez glaze
• Skillet fried Peruvian Lantern scallops -- Buddha's hand julienne, baby fennel, maitake mushrooms, citron emulsion
• Frog Hollow warren pear flat bread -- Sonoma goat cheese, pignoli, Buddha’s hand zest

Besides the dinner offerings, Nibblers' cheese selection is enough of a reason to make the trek out to Pleasant Hill. Just a few of my favorites off their recent cheese menu:

• Achadinha capricious, portuguese style olive oil rubbed goat cheese
• Azienda tetilla, galician semi-soft cheese with sweet milk flavors
• Cypress Grove truffle tremor, triple créme goat with flecks of truffle
• Matias torta la serena, buttery sheeps milk cheese with complex nutty flavor
• Synnøve gudbrandsdalsost, norwegian caramelized goat's whey cheese

For those inclined to imbibe, I recommend taking a close look at the Nibblers beer and wine list. As one of the premier wine bars in the far East Bay, Daniel and Trace are known for stocking notable yet short-run vintages that will intrigue, possibly even educate, the most learned San Francisco wine snob.

Overall, Nibblers is a gem in the otherwise drab culinary culture of the deep East Bay. There are only a handful of fine restaurants east of the Caldecott, and Nibblers is definitely one of them. Perhaps, though, the Nibblers can best be described by their mission statement:

Why small plates?

Small circles of friends & family.  Small communities in big cities. Small family owned farms.  Small artisan dairies & bakeries. Small neighborhoods. Small, intimate restaurants. And many, many small plates of irresistible food.

Creamy Red Kuri Squash Shooters from Nibblers Eatery & Wine Bar
Recipe provided by Daniel Clayton and Tracy Leighton

Ingredients:
1 medium red kuri squash, rinsed, quartered, seeded
2 T butter
1/2 medium onion, diced fine
1 carrot, peeled and diced fine
2 celery stalks, diced fine
1 bay leaf
1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup cream
1/2 tsp nutmeg, freshly grated
Pinch white pepper

Method:
1. Fill a 5 quart pot halfway with cool water. Heat to simmer.

2. Add quartered squash and cook on medium high heat for 5 minutes to blanch. Remove squash to cool and reserve blanching liquid.

3. In medium pot, melt butter and add onion, carrot, celery, and bay leaf. Cook until onion is translucent, stirring occasionally.

4. Meanwhile, scoop or cut squash out of skin.

5. When vegetables are soft, remove bay leaf, add squash and stir. Add 1/2 cup blanching liquid to squash and stir until moisture is evaporated. Repeat this several times, until squash is mostly melted.

6. Add another 1 1/2 cups blanching liquid and stir in completely. Add milk and cream and mix. Add nutmeg and white pepper. Bring to a boil and then remove from heat. Puree mixture with immersion blender or run 2 cups at a time through food processor. Press through a fine strainer, return to pot, adjust seasoning, and heat to serve in tall, warm shot glasses.

If you're purchasing a sparkling wine this holiday season, it's easy to keep it local. After all, some of the finest American choices are produced in our own backyard. Following is a list of my top-ten local sparkling wine choices. Half of these wineries are set in Carneros, an area that covers parts of both Sonoma and Napa Valley that is perfectly suited for Pinot Noir and Chardonnay grape growing (the two varietals most commonly used for sparkling wines). The other half are located in other parts of Napa, Sonoma and the Anderson Valleys.

As you'll see, some of these wineries are large and well-known, while others may not be as familiar to you. While creating this list I tried to include a variety of vintners, from multi-nationally owned estates to smaller family-owned wineries. When the information was available, I've included Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast ratings, as well as any major prizes won. For comparison's sake, you'll also find the least expensive bottle from each vintner listed. These are officially priced between $20 - $30, but I've seen many in stores for around $15. Obviously more expensive varieties are also available if your budget allows.

So keep it festive and local this New Year's Eve, but most of all, stay safe.

Note: I'm avoiding using the term "champagne" as it's only allowed for French wines made in the Champagne region. All the wines below are produced in the same way that champagne is created -- by inducing the in-bottle secondary fermentation of the wine to effect carbonation.

Sonoma

Gloria Ferrer
Gloria Ferrer is a standard-bearer for California sparkling wines. According to Wine Spectator, “Gloria Ferrer reliably produces some of California's best sparkling wines.” I had some on Christmas day and can attest to its festiveness. The Sonoma Brut, which is dominated by Pinot Noir, has a 90 2009 Wine Spectator ranking and is priced around $20.

Domaine Carneros
Established in 1987 by Champagne Tattinger, Domaine Carneros is an organic certified winery. They focus on making three traditional styles of sparkling wine: Brut, Brut Rosé and Blanc de Blancs. With consistent rankings in the 90s from both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, Domaine Carneros provides reliably excellent sparkling wines. Their 2006 Brut Cuvée Sparkling Wine made from Pinot Noir and Chardonnay gets a 91 Wine Spectator ranking and costs $26 a bottle.

Iron Horse
A small family-owned winery, Iron Horse has been producing sparkling wines for over 30 years. Wine & Spirits Magazine named them Sparkling Winery of the Year nine times and their wines have been served in the White House since Reagan first had it served to Gorbachev. Their Classic Brut, which is 3/4 Pinot Noir and 1/4 Chardonnay, sells for a little over $30 a bottle with typical Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast ratings in the 90s.

J Vineyards & Winery
I like this winery for a few different reasons. The first (and biased) reason is that it is owned and run by a woman (Judy Jordan), which seems like a rarity in the wine industry. They are also dedicated to sustainable farming practices. And, because taste does matter, it's good to note their Brut Rose was the Sparkling Sweepstakes Winner at the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition earlier this year. Their J Cuvée 20 Brut NV sells for $20 a bottle.

Schug Carneros Estate
Founded in 1980, Schug is a family-owned winery. They are dedicated to sustainable winemaking practices, finding the most environmentally friendly and efficient way of growing the grapes, and creating habitats for various bird species (which I really love). Their Rouge de Noirs Sparkling Pinot is $30 a bottle.

Napa

Domaine Chandon
If you're looking for something distinctly French, Domaine Chandon is a great local choice. Founded in 1973 by Moët -– the champagne winery -– it was the first French-owned sparkling wine venture in the United States. Consistently ranked in the 90s by both Wine Enthusiast and Wine Spectator, Domaine Chandon provides a classic sparkling wine choice. The Brut Classic, which has a 90 point Wine Enthusiast 2009 ranking, is priced at about $20.

Mumm Napa
Located in Rutherford along the Silverado Trail in the Napa Valley, and started by the French G.H. Mumm company (one of the largest champagne producers in the world), Mumm Napa is one of the largest local sparkling wine producers. Their Brut Prestige, priced at about $20, ranks 89 for Wine Spectator and 90 for Wine Enthusiast.

Schramsberg Vineyards
Located in Calistoga, Schrambsberg Vineyards is the oldest sparkling wine vineyard in California and is also a certified Napa Green winery. Consistently ranking well for both Wine Spectator and Wine Enthusiast, Schrambsberg is a great local choice. A bottle of Mirabelle multi-vintage brut costs a bit over $20.

Anderson Valley

Scharffenberger Cellars
Scharffenberger Cellars is one of the largest sparkling wine producer in the Anderson Valley. With a history that includes being previously owned by John Scharffenberger of Scharffenberger chocolate fame. Scharffenberger Non Vintage Brut received a gold medal from the San Francisco Chronicle Wine Competition earlier this year. Their Brut is 2/3 Pinot Noir and 1/3 Chardonnay grapes and sells for just under $20 a bottle.

Roederer Estate
Set in the Anderson Valley, Roederer Estates is the California branch of the French company Champagne Louis Roederer, which has been making champagne for over 200 years. In 2009, Wine Spectator Magazine gave their Brut NV a Recommended – Top Wine ranking. It sells for about $20 a bottle.

It's almost New Years Eve, and you know what that means -- a lot of folks will be getting their drink on. If you have a gluten sensitivity, it doesn't mean you need to miss the revelry. A lot of hard alcohol is naturally gluten-free, and for those not into hitting the hard stuff, there are quite a lot of companies making gluten-free beer and cider.

Gluten-Free Liquor Selection
Most hard alcohols don't contain gluten, so if you prefer to make mixed drinks, you're in luck! Here is a list of alcohols that are generally gluten-free and safe to consume if you have a gluten sensitivity. Note: Product recipes can and do change, and some brands may add caramel coloring to their liquors, which may contain gluten. Be sure to check the label before imbibing! Only you can be responsible for your gluten intake.

• Absinthe
• Bourbon
• Brandy
• Cognac
• Gin
• Grand Marnier
• Grenadine
• Jägermeister
• Kahlua
• Mead
• Ouzo
• Rum
• Sherry
• Southern Comfort
• Tequila
• Triple Sec
• Vermouth
• Vodka
• Whisky

Gluten-Free Champagne
The traditional drink of the evening for New Years Eve is Champagne or sparkling white wine, but is it gluten-free? Traditionally, sparkling wines are not made with any gluten-y ingredients, so it is usually safe to consume. As with any food or beverage, you should still check with a manufacturer before buying a bottle to double-check that they haven't added any non-standard ingredients to their product.

Gluten-Free Beer
A great default drink if you're just looking to have a mellow night is beer. Anyone with a gluten sensitivity will tell you that beer is a sore point -- until recently, gluten-free beer options were few and far between. These days, there are almost too many varieties to count! Here are a few of the best gluten-free beers, at least a few of which you should be able to find in most large natural grocery stores:

• Green's
• New Grist
• Redbridge
• O'Brien
• Glutaner
• Bard's
• Rampano Valley
• Mission Amber

Gluten-Free Cider
Cider is a lot of people's drink of choice, since it's sweet and relatively low alcohol. Standard ciders often contain caramel coloring or other gluten-y additives, so it's important to check the label before drinking cider. The following brands are know to contain no gluten products, and have proven safe to drink in the past:

• Ace Cider
• Blackthorn
• Blue Mountain
• Cider Jack
• Fox Barrel
• Magner's
• Newton's Folly
• Original Sin
• Spire Mountain
• Strongbow
• Woodchuck Granny Smith
• Wyder's

Where Can You Buy Gluten-Free Beer and Cider?
Here in the Bay Area, we're lucky enough to be surrounded by shops that provide a huge selection of gluten-free products. Here are a handful of places you'll find a variety of gluten-free alcohol beverages. When you shop, be sure to let the manager know you appreciate the fact that they stock gluten-free products!

The Wine Mine
5427 Telegraph Ave, Ste D1
Oakland, CA 94609
(510) 547-9463

Mollie Stone's Market
Mollie Stone's supermarket has eight locations around the bay, and each location carries a good selection of gluten-free beer and cider.

Whole Foods Market
With locations all around the Bay Area, there is probably a Whole Foods near you.

Take Care!
No matter what you're drinking, don't forget to take care of yourself by eating a big meal early in the evening and drinking lots of water throughout the night. And if you wake up with the obligatory hangover on New Years Day, there are always hangover cures to help through.

Happy New Year!

Twilight, True Blood, and Vampire Diaries are just three of the newest examples of how vampires refuse to go dustily into that good night. And they're also why I found myself researching and writing VampireSmarts ("The Question & Answer Game that makes learning about Vampires before dating them easy & fun!") and digging up some of the wildest information about vampires a few years ago.

According to Rosemary Ellen Guiley's book The Complete Vampire Companion, there is some guy named Damien Vanian who is living la vida muerte in London. Damien Vanian, aside from having a name that's the undead equivalent of Amelia Bedelia, is supposedly "London's most famous living vampire." I didn't learn a whole lot about the guy, but I did learn that he came up with a blood substitute recipe.

There Will NOT Be Blood*

1 part tomato juice
1 part orange juice

Additional tasting notes on this recipe are that you should drink this cocktail warm -- ideally 98.6°F, because that's body temperature. Also, Vanian believes this effectively mimics both the taste and appearance of clotting blood, so you get all the blood bang without the worries of coming down with the Black Plague. Oh, yeah, that's another fun fact I learned when researching vampires: don't drink human blood. Not only can it be bubbling with bacteria and diseases, it might also act as an emetic.

I should note that since my primary source was published about 16 years ago, I have no idea if this guy is still living (or still living-dead, as it were), so if this concoction makes you vomit, don't blame me.

(*Trademark me. Damien-Banana-Fanna-Fo-Vanian did not come up with that cool-ass name.)

Now, if you're totally grossed out by that drink, but still feel the need to ape the vampiric lifestyle, consider stocking your bar with these delicious blood-like beverages:

• Clamato, cranberry, and pomegranate juice: those health-improving antioxidents are very important, even to vampires.
• Red wine: try a bottle of something from Vampire Vineyards. Because it means "blood of Jove," I'm sad they no longer make a Sangiovese.
• Mineral water: helps thin out the tomato-based drinks and brings a little sparkle back into your life.
• Bloody Mary mix: duh.

San Francisco's Board of Supervisors is considering imposing a fee on alcoholic beverages, which would go to pay for programs associated with alcohol abuse. But critics say the fee would burden businesses in already tough economic times.

Host: Michael Krasny

Guests:

• John Avalos, member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors
• Rich Higgins, brewmaster at Social Kitchen And Brewery and president of the San Francisco Brewers Guild

Furthur playing at the Lands End Stage Saturday evening

The Outside Lands festival that took place in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park August 14th and 15th was dedicated to integrating local food, wine, music, and art to create two days of entertainment, indulgence and education.

A Taste of the Bay Area, Wine Lands and Eco Lands provided festival goers with the opportunity to experience quality food from Bay Area restaurants, California wines from some obscure local wineries, and lessons on urban farming and sustainability...all in between music sets that took place on four separate stages.

The area now known as Golden Gate Park used to be referred to as the "Outside Lands" back in the Gold Rush era, "a great sand waste" that was not legally part of the city of San Francisco until 1866. By 1860 the park had been transformed into a recreational space for citizens to enjoy. This festival reclaims the name and celebrates the social value that the park environment contributes to life in an urban area.

This slideshow features some of the festivities from Saturday August 14th.

There's nothing like the "Bauer Bump."

Blogs, Tweets, Yelp write-ups, email newsletters, check-ins on Foursquare-- the new social-media options may be the shiniest, coolest toys on the block right now, as evidenced by the full house attending The Future of Food Media, one of several industry seminars presented as part of SF Chefs 2010.

But after a 90 minute discussion between Oracle corporate chef Robbie Lewis, Yelp executive Ruggy Joesten, Marlowe owner Anna Weinberg, PR specialist Andrew Freeman, and moderator Paolo Lucchesi of San Francisco Chronicle's Inside Scoop SF, it came down to this: A great review from Michael Bauer, the Chronicle's longtime head restaurant critic, is still the golden ticket that every restaurant dreams of, the one sure-fire way to guarantee a full house for months to come.

For the longtime print writers, editors, and public-relations folks in the audience (as well as, presumably, Bauer himself, who was seated unobtrusively near the back of the room), it was satisfying to hear Anna Weinberg, owner of Marlowe, insist that Bauer's dubbing their lamb-laced bacon cheeseburger the best in the city had an instant, and huge, impact on her business.

(And that burger was no accident; Weinberg and her chef Jennifer Puccio did loads of food trend research before opening, looking for what local diners really get passionate about. Which turned out to be, unsurprisingly, pizza and burgers.)

For all that Yelp's Joesten had to say about his company's proprietary, scam-searching algorithm for rating and ranking user reviews, a smart professional critic whose palate and judgment you trust is still a more reliable guide than a blogger hoping for perks and freebies, or an anonymous poster with any number of axes to grind.

And there's the other bonus: good writing! Among all the long-winded digressions about data mining and statistical analytics (which got many of the industry types and interested foodies fidgeting in their seats and yes, probably checking their tweets), no one mentioned the enjoyment value of professional criticism until the closing minutes, when audience member Jan Newberry, food editor of San Francisco magazine, noted that no one goes to Yelp for the prose, whereas good criticism is also good writing--entertaining, informative, able to put a restaurant, its chef, and its scene into a social, gastronomic, and cultural context.

(As a former restaurant critic for both the Bay Guardian and San Francisco magazine, I was often asked how I "got paid to eat." My response? I didn't get paid to eat, I got paid to write. Eating was just what I happened to write about.)

Still, there was lots to say about how a restaurant, or a chef, can build a community and a brand through judicious use of Twitter, blogs, Yelp, and more.

As Weinberg noted, "It's a free 24 hour a day focus group. Looking on places like Yelp, you can start to see trends. If 10 posts in a week tell you the soup isn't so great or the bartender was rude, you know that maybe it's time to get a better soup, or a better bartender."

Said Lewis, "You can use to engage your customers, start a direct dialogue with guests, ask for feedback rather than it getting blasted all over the internet. It can be great for customer touch-back, especially when they've given you positive comments. Thanking someone for a positive post builds loyalty instantly."

According to Lewis, customers love to get a glimpse "behind the velvet rope," and hearing that the sommelier is really jazzed about a new Cab or that the pastry chef is doing something fantastic with the season's first pluots can galvanize these would-be insiders into showing up that very night.

But how much transparency is too much?

Said Lucchesi, to much laughter from the audience, "You know, Eric Ripert of Le Bernardin in NYC just started tweeting. Now, he's James Bond suave, with an olive-oil French accent, probably one of the world's most respected chefs. But his tweets read like a 12-year-old girl is writing them!"

The Mayor was a no-show to the Grand Tent's grand ribbon-cutting shortly after the panel concluded, but that didn't stop the crowd from oohing over the dramatic sabering of a magnum of Domaine Chandon, or the star-studded posse of chefs and restauranteurs clustered around the thick orange ribbon. And with a scissor and a snip, the crowd surged forward to check out Friday's main event, "Hog in the Fog," a food-and-cocktail walk-around under a big white tent in Union Square.

It helped to like pork in all its myriad forms, since besides the figs, grapes, and Cowgirl Creamery cheeses offered at the CUESA table, there was almost nothing for vegetarians, save a lot of tasty cocktails. Table after table offered pork cured, pork braised, pork shredded, or pork confit'd.

No pork crudo was in evidence, but there were plenty of jiggly slices of "head and hoof" terrine topped with pickled mustard seeds. (Made by Chris Cosentino of Incanto, as if you had to ask).

Poggio's Peter McNee laid out a lavish spread of salume, all made from a single pig, including sliced "pigstrami," mortadella, chocolate-brown "bloodella," and more, plus poached cotechino sausage over lentils (a classic Bolognese pairing) and fermented summer sausage on sauerkraut.

Homer Simpson would have been in heaven ("Porkchops and bacon, my two favorite animals!") but after the sixth or seventh porky bite, the octopus tentacles made by A16's Liza Shaw starting looking mighty good.

Nicolette Manescalchi, Liza Shaw and Ross Wunderlich

Why octopus? "Well, I love squid, octopus, all that stuff." said Shaw. Sometimes you have to choose between cooking for the people or cooking for chefs. Today, I decided to cook for the chefs. The people will follow!"

And her octopus tentacles on a stick, with slippery onion and a vivid, herby green-tomato salsa verde, were double-plus good.

You could wash down all that pork with many different cocktails, as long as your taste ran to tart, dry, and spicy. San Francisco bartenders continue to love their bitters, from the aromatic bitters (made from cinnamon, allspice, cardamom, and cassia) in the Rye Buck (Wild Turkey, house-made ginger syrup, lime) from Rye to the orange bitters in the cayenne sugar-rimmed Smoking Gun (Combier orange liqueur, Hennessey Black cognac, smoked peach puree) from Otis.

Everything seemed to have lemon or lime, ginger or cinnamon, plus a dash of herbal/anise flavor, in the form of Chartreuse, Herbsaint, or absinthe. Acknowledging that bartenders have their groupies and their name-brand just like chefs, each bar table had a board announcing the bartender's name and his (yes, they were all male) liquor of choice above the table.

The next morning, it was time for the Anolon Chef Challenge: Restaurant Family Feud (Delfina vs. Spruce), hosted by the Food Network's Aida Mollenkamp and judged by Jan Newberry, Steffan Terje (Perbacco, Barbacco) and Chronicle editor Miriam Morgan. The same conference room was now a Top Chef-style kitchen, with portable cooktop (but no running water), myriad bottles of wine and olive oil, and both a secret ingredient and a mystery basket of seasonal produce, courtesy of CUESA.

The secret ingredient? Local sustainable seafood, including Monterey Bay squid, sardines, and sole. The produce basket had just about everything you could find at Ferry Plaza: tomatoes of all sizes and colors, new potatoes, corn, herbs, figs, nectarines, melons, plums, onions, leeks, and more. The challenge? Three courses, one hour, two chefs on each team.

Mark Sullivan from Spruce

As you might imagine, chefs know how to focus, and halfway through their allotted time, you could hone a Wusthof knife off the single-minded attention beaming down from Delfina's Craig Stoll and Anthony Strong and Spruce's Mark Sullivan and Ben Cohn.

Craig Stoll from Delfina

They had little time or energy for chit-chat, which left Mollenkamp to carry the show, without TV's benefit of tomato-chopping close-ups or suspense-building commercial breaks. But the judges did chime in here and there, as when Mollenkamp asked Terje about his favorite summer produce.

"Summer is hard for me," Terje admitted. "It's like culinary ADD. Winter is more forgiving. Now, when something hits the market, you have to be ready for it right away."

Delfina dishes

The final menus? For Delfina, handmade tonarelli pasta with sardines, fennel, grapes, capers, and toasted breadcrumbs, followed by an impromptu toss of charred peppers, anchovies, and poached squid with pureed and diced tomatoes, lemon, capers and olives, and finally rolled sole poached with fish fumet, white wine, and herbs over tomatoes stewed in tomato juice and camomile tea.

Spruce dishes

For Spruce, the meal began with a clear tomato-water gazpacho with diced tomatoes and mint, followed by seared sardine over a pork-and-tomato broth with peppers and smoked paprika, then poached sole and squid with leeks, potatoes, and a basil pistou.

The winner? By just the smallest of margins, Delfina. The audience cheered, the chefs toasted each other with well-deserved beers, and the audience, tantalized by unbearably delicious aromas (but no tastes) during the past two hours, headed to the Grand Tent for another chef-and-cocktail go-round.