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Above, you’ll see my place setting for Thanksgiving dinner, though the picture doesn’t really do the table justice. We had an absolutely great time in Schoharie this year over the long holiday weekend. Thanksgiving dinner, prepared by FMIL, was delicious. The turkey, which you can see here, was perfectly cooked and accompanied by her famous stuffing (which was even better the next couple of days!). Keep an eye out for pictures of and a recipe for FMIL’s awesome day-after turkey pot pie. It’s her own creation and I highly recommend it to all of you! Some of the great pictures…

(This column appeared in the 11/26 issue of Dan’s Papers) This summer, if you drove east on Sound Avenue toward wineries like Lieb Family Cellars, Martha Clara, or Macari Vineyards, you probably saw an “Opening Soon” sign for a new winery in Riverhead – Roanoke Vineyards. “Soon” ended up being a couple months longer than owner Richard Pisacano hoped, but after stopping in last weekend, I’d say it is well worth the wait. A Long Island native, Pisacano has worked with vines and wines on both the North and South Forks since high school, including stints at Mudd’s Vineyard in…

In just a few hours, Nena and I will be well on our way to her parents’ house in Schoharie, NY for Thanksgiving weekend. Schoharie, though a tiny little town (with just one light…a blinker), is a beautiful, peaceful country setting for the holiday. Nena’s mom, known in these pages as FMIL, will be creating a spectactular meal for the big day…and her soon-to-be famous turkey pot pie Friday evening. Our contribution to Thanksgiving dinner is, expectedly, liquid in nature. Saturday night, Nena and I are also whipping up a pile of appetizers/tapas/small bites to have as the main meal.…

I just finished reading a very interesting and insightful post on the value of aging wine (or buying well aged wines at a restaurant) on a great wine blog — Vinography, which also hosted Wine Blogging Wednesday a couple months ago! I’ve never had the opportunity to try a Bordeaux from the 60s or 80s…but I wonder if my palate, one used to much younger wines, would be able to appreciate an older wine like that. I’ve had a few wines from the mid-90s (a 1994 Rioja that Nena brought back from Spain and a 1996 Shiraz I picked up…

Don’t you just love Riesling? It’s one of the single best food-friendly wines if you ask me…so why not participate in Wine Blogging Wednesday #4, hosted by Derrick at An Obsession WIth Food? The theme? New World Riesling…and there are a lot of great ones to choose from. Have one with your Turkey dinner…just don’t post about it until December 1st!

I don’t know if this is true (I need to investigate) but my dad sent me a joke email about it…. Some Wal-Mart customers soon will be able to sample a new discount item: Wal-Mart’s own brand of wine. The world’s largest retail chain is teaming up with E&J Gallo Winery of Modesto, California, to produce the spirits at an affordable price, in the $2-5 range. While wine connoisseurs may not be inclined to throw a bottle of Wal-Mart brand wine into their shopping carts, there is a market for cheap wine, said Kathy Micken, professor of marketing at Roger …

Macari’s 2004 Early Wine on our table at Azafran in Philadelphia Even though I don’t always agree with his thoughts on Long Island wine, I read Howard Goldberg’s New York Times column "Long Island Vines" every Sunday. This week, however, he talks about one of my favorite whites, Macari Vineyards’ Early Wine. I love this so much that I even wrote about it in my recent story on host/hostess gifts for the holiday season. It really is "charming" as Howard puts it…and we picked up a bottle to take north with us for Thanksgiving. I think some of my future…

On Sunday, November 21, Peconic Bay Winery hosted its 3rd Annual Thanksgiving Barrel Tasting, just east of the tasting room on the Main Road in Cutchogue, to honor a founding father of American cuisine and to raise money to help the next generation of chefs. Larry Forgione of An American Place restaurant was the guest of honor and proceeds from the event went to a scholarship fund for NYIT’s Culinary Arts Program. With the usual tasting room closed for the day, Peconic Bay’s staff set up a huge tent on its grounds, large enough to house tables featuring food from…

Today is an exicting day here at LENNDEVOURS. First, you’ll notice three new articles in the "Read Me In Print" list to your left. These articles are in Dan’s Papers: Over the Barrel…With Lenn Thompson: Five Turkey Day Wine Tips Gold Coast Grapes Holiday Host/Hostess Gifts: What Wine Should You Bring? Even more exciting, I was asked by Josh at The Food Section to offer my thoughts on Turkey Day wine pairs for his piece titled "Chasin’ The Bird 2004, Part 1: Wine Bloggers Talk Turkey." I love his site, read it every day, and  the fact that he asked…