Grapes

For Marylanders who have fantasized about getting into the wine business, the time may be, well, ripe. The state has launched a program that pays farmers to grow the grapes needed to produce more made-in-Maryland bottles of cabernet sauvignon, chardonnay, merlot and other wines. The Vineyard Capital Assistance Program will reimburse growers between $2 and $2.50 for each grapevine planted next spring. The program is funded by a $147,000 grant from the Governor's Advisory Commission on Maryland Wine and Grape Growing.

France is the country that sets the standard in the world of wine. Its language is the one used in the industry -- it's not a barrel, it's a barrique. Its grapes are the ones everyone wants to grow and perfect -- cabernet sauvignon and chardonnay. And an annual event on its calendar makes the entire wine world pause for a bit of a celebration.That would be the day that the Beaujolais Nouveau is released. It happens every November -- the actual date, set by France's strict wine authorities, varies depending on when the grapes were picked -- as the first wine produced from that year's harvest is made available for public consumption.

I always roast a larger bird than needed on Thanksgiving so there will be extra turkey to enjoy on the days after this holiday. In fact, my family considers the dishes created from the leftovers to be as delectable as the original roast fowl served on Thanks- giving day.In the past, I've prepared all manner of creations with leftover turkey. Crisp, pastry-topped pot pies laden with morsels of turkey and vegetables are a favorite, as are hot turkey sandwiches served on toasted sourdough bread napped with rich brown gravy.

Jeffrey Crise, former chef-owner of the Ambassador, who made his name as a fine contemporary-American chef at the Hunters Lodge in Ellicott City, has moved to the dining room of the newly renovated Sheraton Columbia Inn.As executive chef, Crise has redone the menu completely. His signature dishes include fried lobster tail over warm soba noodles and seaweed salad with a peanut sauce, and charred beef tenderloin with garlic mashed potatoes and mushroom ragout. Entrees run from $15.95 to $29.95.

Red Emperor and Flame Tokay, black Ribier, purple-blue Concord, yellow-gold Muscat, green Thompson: Autumn grapes have a greatly expanded season, the result of improved varieties and innovative harvesting and storage practices.Like many other fruits, grapes don't get sweeter after they've been picked, so regardless of the variety, look for well-developed color unless you like sour grapes. Red or purple varieties are sweetest when their color is deep and rich; in golden and green varieties, a yellow or amber cast signals sweetness.

I was hanging out with a lively group of women who had recently traded power suits for Pampers. They'd gathered for a weekend of networking while the hubbies watched the kids, illustrating one of the critical lessons of super-motherhood: Babies don't stay babies forever, so you better keep your hand in the game if you want to work again.I was overhearing lots of conversations I'd had -- about a million years ago, I think -- about the isolation of staying at home; the fear of skills rusting away; the helplessness of the modern male; and how those preschool choices will keep you awake nights.

1963: Touch-tone phones1964: High-speed train in Japan1965: Malcolm X's "Autobiography"1965: Chavez boycotts grapes

1998 Georges Duboeuf Viognier, Vin de Pays de l'Ardeche ($9).This exuberantly fruity, fresh wine from the south of France is a magnificent value made from one of the world's great white-wine grapes -- the viognier of the Rhone Valley. Duboeuf's viognier from Ardeche comes close to replicating the classic flavors of Rhone viogniers -- nuts, litchi, coconut, pear, clove, nutmeg and peach to name a few -- for a fraction of the cost. Drink this fragrant, medium-bodied wine young to enjoy its vibrancy.

There is a large shrub I notice in my mother's neighborhood that blooms before the cherry trees and puts out hundreds of small, beautiful flowers that are salmon-colored. Can you tell me what it is?Sounds like the common flowering quince, a member of the rose family. The shrub is often found in older neighborhoods and may reach 6 to 10 feet in height and width. There is a Japanese type that is smaller in stature, reaching 2 to 3 feet in height and width.Beginning in late March, after that severe cold snap, we noticed sap literally raining down from our three 'Heritage' river-birch trees.

RECENTLY I SPENT several days touring the California wine country, and I must say that it was a wonderful experience that I will remember until long after I get this mud out of my ears.I'll explain the mud in a moment, but first I should explain that the wine country is an area near San Francisco that is abundantly blessed with the crucial natural ingredient that you need to have a successful wine country: tourists. There are thousands and thousands of them, forming a dense, continuous stream of rental cars creeping up and down the Napa Valley, where you apparently cannot be a legal resident unless you own a winery named after yourself.

Hometown : Frostburg Members: Derek Shank, keyboards and vocals; Josh Grapes, samples, effects, keyboards and vocals; Curt Tompkins, drums and vocals; Kenny Tompkins, guitar and lead vocals Founded : 2006 Style : experimental electro-pop Influenced by : Mum, Deerhoof, Panda Bear Notable: The Christmas Lights is the brainchild of Kenny Tompkins, who recorded the band's debut album, Walk Like a Human, at home by himself. Tompkins recruited Grapes, Shank and his brother, Curt, to perform the pieces live.

When Harford County's newest vintners went shopping for land, they brought along a shovel. They found soil nearly ideal for growing grapes, on a property sloped to catch the right amount of sun. Almost as important, Peter and Mary Ianniello settled on a spot with sweeping views of the Chesapeake, near Havre de Grace and just minutes from Interstate 95's supply of potential sight-seers. Their Mount Felix Manor winery advertises the growing conditions in the vineyard - and the ambience of a 19th-century mansion.

The Martha Lewis, one of Maryland's few remaining skipjacks, will return to its home port in Havre de Grace today with a cargo of watermelons from the Eastern Shore. The crew promises to give away dozens of hefty melons in exchange for a donation to the Chesapeake Heritage Conservancy, the ship's owner. "Be here about 6 p.m., and the crew will sign the watermelon, too," said Mac Taylor, a volunteer sailor who was making the three-day trip to St. Michaels and back. The ship, flying its Maryland and Havre de Grace flags, sailed from its berth in Tydings Park Thursday, loaded with about 400 pounds of grapes, harvested that same morning at the nearby Mount Felix Vineyard.

Winemaking is still a tiny part of Maryland agriculture, but in recent years, it has been growing faster than your front lawn during the rainy season. Four years ago, there were 12 licensed wineries in the state. That number nearly doubled in 2006 and just about tripled this year. At present, there are 34 wineries in the state, according the Maryland Wineries Association. They are scattered throughout the state from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. The industry is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Winemaking is still a tiny part of Maryland agriculture, but in recent years, it has been growing faster than your front lawn during the rainy season. Four years ago, there were 12 licensed wineries in the state. That number nearly doubled in 2006 and just about tripled this year. At present, there are 34 wineries in the state, according the Maryland Wineries Association. They are scattered throughout the state from the Eastern Shore to Western Maryland. The industry is showing no signs of slowing down any time soon.

Callused palms and bandaged fingers; broken fingernails stained black with dirt - Hollywood actor and director Emilio Estevez proudly shows off his vineyard worker hands as he walks the vine rows. Four years ago, Estevez planted this half-acre pinot-noir vineyard around his Malibu, Calif., home. Today, wine labels featuring a pen-and-ink drawing of his front-lawn vineyard - a wink to the ego satisfaction of bottling his own wine - are ready to be slapped on his first serious vintage, the 2007 pinot noir aging in a single half-sized oak barrel in his wine cellar.

Virgilio Guglielmi, a white-haired 77-year-old whose cheeks were a little red after a few glasses of his homemade red wine, claims that he was born in the vineyards and started drinking wine in Italy as soon as his mother stopped breast-feeding him. Don't laugh. "That's not a joke," he said. Wine, he intoned as bocce balls clinked in the background, is the best solution for managing stress. "Sometimes I'm down and I go down to the wine cellar and a few minutes later I'm happy," he said.

This dish came about out of necessity. We first had it at my sister's house when she and my nephews decided to cancel restaurant plans at the last minute and let Aunt Donna prepare dinner based on groceries at hand, which included a bag of quick-frozen tilapia fillets. We loved the quick-fix results, based on the tube of grits my sister described as an impulse purchase from Trader Joe's "to see how it works." Grits and polenta lovers understand how perfection can be achieved by balancing the smooth, chewy texture of this nearly bland starch with the savory bite of seafood.

For months, Larry Vande Kieft, his wife, Emlagene, and friends, Tom and Daneene Lucas of Bel Air, made the trip to Harford Vineyard to make wine. They tested and blended spices until they had created their own blend of a Sangiovese. Vande Kieft, a physicist, said he was intrigued by the wine-making process. "I learned about yeast and the way the acids in the grape juice ferment," said the 75-year-old Street resident. "When you first taste a wine in the early stages of fermentation, it's coarse.

Would you rather earn $50,000 a year while other people make $25,000, or would you rather earn $100,000 a year while other people get $250,000? Assume for the moment that prices of goods and services will stay the same. Surprisingly, research shows that the majority of people select the first option; they would rather make twice as much as others, even if that meant earning half as much as they could otherwise have. How irrational is that? This result is one among thousands of experiments in behavioral economics, neuroeconomics and evolutionary economics conclusively demonstrating that we are every bit as irrational when it comes to money as we are in most other aspects of our lives.