Queers! #7: Love, equality and…sniff, sniff…is that a campfire I taste?

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That celebrated (or dreaded depending on your Facebook status), heart-shaped holiday is upon us, so listen in to hear which Valley venues made our best and worst list. What would you do if someone took you to the gay Denny’s to celebrate your love?  We even ask Siri for her recommendations!  And, for those of us who love Arizona, we can’t forget that Valentine’s Day this year marks the  Arizona Centennial — yep, we’re an even 100 years old!

The news coming out of Washington State gave the EDBF crew reason to raise a glass or two and toast to marriage equality. Our festive choice? Charles Smith Chateau Smith Cabernet Sauvignon 08 is a delicious bottle from winemaker and Sammy Hagar’s doppleganger, Charles Smith. 

This month’s episode features a special guest, Derek Bryant, who is a visiting chef and micro brew aficionado from Albuquerque, New Mexico. In honor of the exciting news coming from the northwest, Derek brought us a selection of Washington State brews from Leavenworth Biers and Scuttlebutt Brewing Company, to butch up our beverage choices. Also, listen closely as he describes his latest creation, Bacon Cupcakes.

We thought that Libbie being under the weather would dampen the humor on the show, but as it turns out, she issues more one-liners and random outbursts that keep the whole group in stitches!

A great big special thanks to our new neighbors, Cactus Candy, for sending over a sample of a hometown favorite and a wonderful alternative to chocolates for your sweetie.

The troop rounds off the tasting with some Rogue Voodoo Doughnut Bacon Maple Ale, yup, it is as interesting as it sounds. Tune in to hear the reactions, good, bad and ugly. Beer, it’s back to being for breakfast again.

The Big Gay Wine Train Returns!

Our friends at Out in the Vineyard are at it again! After a hugely successful first year of the Big Gay Wine Train, plans for the 2nd Annual Event have been announced. With last year's event selling out within days of being announced, this year the train is going to be much bigger, but is still bound to sell out so get your tickets now!

Some of the details from Out in the Vineyard:

Climb aboard The BIG GAY Train for a truly unique culinary and wine adventure with 4 of Wine Country's most exciting gay winemakers and winery owners!

The Big Gay Train 2011 sold out in DAYS! Don't miss this unique LGBT winemaker event of the year!

Saturday, March 31st at 6:30pm The Big Gay Train pulls out of the station for the second annual gay winemaker adventure!

Featuring:

Navarro Vineyards has been growing grapes sustainably and bottling wine in Mendocino's Anderson Valley since 1974. For almost 40 years Navarro Vineyards has produced wines that have received numerous accolades in wine books & magazines and wine competitions. You won't find Navarro wines in stores as they prefer to sell their hand-crafted wines directly to the people who enjoy them.

Bjornstad Cellars limited wines are vineyard designations, originating from within the appellations of the Sonoma Coast, Russian River Valley and Sonoma Mountain. These celebrated vineyards came to be because of their unique blend of location, environmental influence and the people that passionately tend them.

With over a century of winemaking experience in Sonoma, Sebastiani Vineyards focuses on crafting small lots of super-premium wines from Sonoma County.

Partners Joey Wolosz, Jeff Durham and Scott Tracy started Gentleman Farmer to create wine for the table, wine that can be paired with food. With this goal in mind, the partners hired up-and-coming talented winemaker Jason Moore (Modus Operandi, Troubadour), who was inspired by their vision and focus on crafting blends of quality and value.

Gentleman Farmer wines are meant to be shared when people celebrate their lives.

"Take The GAY Train" for an extraordinary evening to celebrate OUR Wine Country with the winemakers in the family.

Tickets: $160 Gourmet Express Car / $175 VIP Vista Dome Car

Tickets by phone. Call Napa Valley Wine Train at 800-427-4124 and ask for THE BIG GAY TRAIN!!

If you plan on staying in the area for the weekend, be sure to check out the host hotel - The Chablis Inn. The Chablis is offering an amazing Big Gay Discount for the weekend with rooms from only $99 a night! Visit www.chablisinn.com or call 707-257-1944 for more details.

Also, check out an interview with one of the organizers of the event, Mark Vogler on the latest episode of "Queers! Eat, Drink & Be Fabulous!" on QTalkAZ for all of the details you need to make this can't miss event in the Napa Valley.

 

Queers! #6: Street Eats Food Truck Festival, Big Gay Wine Train and more!

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The word of this episode: Jamburrito!!

Your favorite food and wine show is back with an episode full of culinary and vineyard-y goodness!

Coming up THIS SATURDAY in our own backyard, 30+ food trucks descend on Salt River Fields at Talking Stick for the 1st Annual Street Eats Food Truck Festival, presented by New Times!  Food trucks have become a gourmet phenomenon over the past few years, not to mention being helped by Food Network’s “The Great Food Truck Race” hosted by Tyler Florence.  And speaking of Tyler, he’ll be making a special guest appearance at the Food Truck Festival on Saturday.  Aaron Studebaker from Salt River Fields gave us an awesome interview and talks about how the event came to be and gives us the inside scoop on what’s planned for this massive event.  And, you can WIN TICKETS to the event by answering the trivia question on the show and e-mailing us the answer–first person to email with the right answer wins!  A big thank you to Ronnie at New Times for getting us the tickets to give-away on our various shows!

Nathan brings us a great interview with Mark Vogler from Out in the Vineyard about the upcoming The Big Gay Train that is calling ‘All Board!’ in March!  They invite you to join them for their exclusive ALL GAY Winemaker Dinner aboard the world famous Napa Valley Wine Train!  The event officially goes on Saturday, March 31: Enjoy an elegant, perfectly paired, five-course dinner in old world luxury, from Acclaimed Chef Kelly Macdonald.  Looking for more wine-related gay fun?  Check out their Gay Wine Weekend, June 15-17 in Sonoma Valley.

Claudine tells about the amazing experience that she had when she recently checked out Rice Paper, a relatively new Vietnamese restaurant in Central Phoenix.  This new gem has amazing Pho and also specializes in their rolls, which are made with a very thin wrapper (hence the Rice Paper name) which makes them somewhere in-between an egg roll and traditional sushi rolls.  Definitely put it on your list!

Joe dishes about how he just came back from stuffing himself silly at Girl Meets Fork’s Pancake Quest 2012 — an ultimate showdown of eight local chefs vying for the honor of the best pancake in town.  I especially liked those from Orange Table, Smart Kitchen and Elemental Sugar.  If you’re curious about their pancakes from those three, here they are: Buttermilk pancake with fresh ricotta and prosciutto, Meyer lemon butter, ground cherry maple syrup; cream cheese-infused, reduced port wine pancake with fresh raspberry coolie; and grain-free, gluten-free pancake with mesquite flour, pochi berry with chai-infused butter. The event was hosted by Perk Eatery, who put out some pretty amazing spiced sweet potato pancakes with a praline bacon crumble and whiskey bourbon sauce.  An incredible event, to be sure!

Girl Meets Fork is run by foodie and PR gal Susie Timm and is a boutique marketing firm for the restaurant and specialty food industries.  She blogs on her site about food and loves to organize food-related events.  Check out her next event: The 2nd Annual Grilled Cheese Throwdown February 26 at the Hotel Valley Ho.

Last but not least!  Check out this month’s Places, Spaces and Faces Community Dinner on Saturday, January 21st from 6-9pm, at Kitchen Sink Studios in Downtown Phoenix.  PSF is a giant community ‘potluck’ dinner and features a different theme every month and brings the community together for a totally fun night!  Meet new people and discover foods and recipes that you may have never heard of!  Click this link for the official Facebook event.

Wine that we’re drinking on this episode: Callaghan Vineyards Grenache

Queers! #5: The Trouble with Trifle

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Nope, there’s nothing really wrong with Trifle, but it IS a Star Trek geek reference!  Our holiday-themed episode has  great wine and champagne recommendations for you, along with holiday food traditions around the world, how to not completely kill your diet during this ‘season of eating’ and more hilarious one-liners than you can shake a stick at!

We share our own holiday memories with you on this very special show, plus, give the gift of QTalk Arizona this holiday season!  Tell a friend about our fabulous Food and Wine Show, plus our whole lineup of great shows on your local queer podcast network!

From all of us at “Queers!”, have a safe and joyous holiday season!

Joe, Claudine, Nathan and Libbie

Queers! #4: Great Wine Buys, Pumpkins Debunked and Surviving Thanksgiving!

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OK, it’s not quite turkey day yet, but we’ve got a Thanksgiving-related show for you anyway!  Nathan gives us some great wine pics from the Wine Enthusiast Magazine Top 100, Joe debunks pumpkin, Claudine raves about Mu Shu Grill and Libbie pairs turkey and wine!  And, what does Siri recommend for your pumpkin pie fix?

Notes and helpful links form this episode:

Libbie and Nathan recall their adventures at the recent Wine Stomp in Southern Arizona.  We can tell you that they didn’t win, but they at least tried!

Nathan talks to us about some great inexpensive wines from the Wine Enthusiast Magazine Top 100.

Joe gives us the low-down on pumpkin through the ages and why it has become such a craze these days, plus other Thanksgivings around the world.

Claudine dishes about her experience at Mu Shu Grill — she just can’t say enough good things about it!

Is it possible to pair some wines with the venerable turkey?  Libbie’s got the full glass of information on that one!  Plus, is it ok to get a bit tipsy and relaxed to make the holidays go over well?  And how to do it with class and style!

What’s up with the new developments at 7th Ave and McDowell?  Is it ok that they are putting in national chains just to redevelop the area?  We’d like to see otherwise, but at least they are re-using existing buildings.

And to round out, we highly recommend buying local and supporting your independent shops and restaurants this holiday season, it keeps our local economy headed in the right direction!

From all of your tipsy hosts at your favorite food and wine show…

Have a safe, indulgent and truly ‘happy’ Thanskgiving!

Joe, Claudine, Nathan and Libbie

Queers! #3: More wine, please!

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We were so busy trying to get as many details into this episode that we even forgot to introduce ourselves!  (Going around the room during our ‘Queers’ intro it’s Joe, Nathan, Claudine and Libbie — for those playing along at home).

Claudine and Libbie, along with their partners, took a trip to San Francisco, Sonoma and Napa that has both Nathan and Joe totally jealous and they give us the details of their adventures.  From walking the wrong way and down a hill in SF to their relaxing and wine-sampling travels in wine country, we get the entire divine tale.

Nathan tells us about the wonderful trip he took recently to the Harvest Festival in the wine country of the Verde Valley of Arizona and Joe mentions the fabulous weekend (which started off with a wine tasting) up in the Red Rocks of Sedona enjoying their Pride festivities.

Ever wanted to add something a little extra special to your dessert?  How about liquor-infused whipped cream?  Yes, there is such a thing!  (Joe heard about it, strangely enough, on the NSFW show on TWiT)

Joe gives his full review of Rum Bar and the Breadfruit in Downtown Phoenix.  Hint: order the scallops, they’re totally hot!

As we enter fall, what’s your favorite food of the season?  We share our own favorites and stories.

Shameless plugs for our co-hosts blogs:

Libbie (winedayatatime.com) | Nathan (winephx.com)

Queers! #2: Cheese is the Wine of Food

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On this edition of Queers! Eat, Drink and Be Fabulous…

Wine Focus:

Nathan introduces us to three great summer wines that can be had for $10.  (Get ‘em at Total Wine)

Libbie talks about the upcoming Grape Stomp and Festival at The Farm at South Mountain, that Arizona is now a bona-fide Wine Destination and that is is coming up on Harvest Season in Arizona Wine Country.

Food Focus:

Joe de-mystifies bacon and where it comes from, the bacon mania that has gripped the world, the question “is bacon better than sex?” and his favorite places to get your bacon fix!

Claudine discusses the newest trend in restaurants: iPads replacing menus!

Restaurant Reviews:

Joe talks about a little-known CenPho dive to get great food, awesome sandwiches and even a giant breakfast burrito:Cranberry Hills

Claudine shares her divine recent experience enjoying brunch at St. Francis.

Rumors / Gossip:

Anthony Bourdain vs Paula Deen! No, not celebrity deathmatch — but Anthony says Paula is the greatest threat to America!  Is she the Butter Terrorist??