Kate of Accidental Hedonist is calling for nominations for the Second Annual Food Blog Awards. This year, the nominations will be reviewed by a group of judges, who will narrow each category to five blogs before readers can cast their votes. So head on over and nominate your favorite food (and wine) blogs.

As some of you already know, Nena and I are buying a house — our first house. After weeks of waiting around for lawyers and banks to get everything together, we finally know when we’re closing: December 12th. We’re very excited (and freaked out) but one of our big projects will be to rennovate the kitchen (no surprise there I’m sure). I have a feeling that the on-going project will be chronicled here on LENNDEVOURS, so stay tuned. The kitchen, and the rest of the house, is realy a blank slate. We’re looking forward to making it ours. If I…

When you cut the foil capsule on a bottle of wine…this is not what you want to see — significant wine leakage. If wine is getting out, more air than you want is getting in. I have no way of knowing if poor quality cork, improper bottle corking or improper storage before it got to me is to blame, but it sure is disappointing. What I do sometimes, to help avoid ruined bottles like this is slip the capsule off (it’s just for looks, it doesn’t protect the wine in any way) and check the bottles in my rack regularly.…

It’s been over a year since the last time I cut my thumb with a chef’s knife, but it happened again this morning as I diced a little filling for my omelette. This one was a bit more serious a gash…so reluctantly I went to the ER to have it checked out. No stitches required, but they glued it closed and wrapped it up…as you can see at right. So, I get to wear this bad boy for two days and then turn to regular bandaids (I hope). One good thing about having extremely sharp knives — it didn’t hurt…

Every wine-loving household should have three wines — one pink, one white and one red — that are always on hand for casual, everyday drinking or bought by the case for entertaining. Often called "house wines" these are inexpensive wines that you enjoy drinking on their own that are also versatile enough to pair with the foods you eat most often. Long Island wines have a reputation of being over-priced for the quality (a definite falsehood), but there are several locally made wines that are great choices for house wines. The following are available for less than $13 per bottle…

Alexa Gifford has been named executive director of the not-yet-open New York Wine & Culinary Center (NYWCC). She joins the not-for-profit organization after more than five years with the Finger Lakes Tourism Alliance, most recently as the organization’s president. Under the direction of the NYWCC’s board of directors, Gifford will manage the Center’s operations and lead a staff of full- and part-time personnel. "The excitement is building for the opening of New York Wine and Culinary Center, and naming an executive director is an important step," said Rob Sands, COO and president of Constellation Brands, and chairman of the NYWCC…

November 17th has become a bit of a wine holiday in America. Every year, the third Thursday in November means that Beaujolais Nouveau hits wine shop shelves and, to many, this marks the beginning of the holiday season. In reality, this “event” is much more hype than holiday. In fact, it can be considered the Valentine’s Day of the wine world – an occasion created largely by marketing and advertising. Beaujolais Nouveau is made from Gamay grapes and is sold a few months after harvest, making it the first red wine many of us taste from any given vintage. And…

You know me as Dan’s Papers’ fearless wine writer (or the owner/editor of LENNDEVOURS), but Monday through Friday, I play a very different role – that of an Internet marketing manager in the high technology industry. Rarely do the two careers cross paths, but my experience with the local wine industry’s Internet marketing initiatives (or lack thereof) has finally driven me to consider Long Island’s wine region from my “day” job’s perspective. Simply put, the Long Island wine industry deserves good grades for its wine, but when it comes to using the Internet to promote itself and its wares, it…