Saturday and Sunday was the Robert Bland Culinary Salon where High School and College Students, as well as professionals competed in both hot and cold food categories

Then, there’s one of the greatest guys I’ve ever met, Chef Jeff Roberto (Sushi Jeff) of Sushi on a Roll. He was one of the most gracious and entertaining hosts we’ve had the pleasure to work with. Sushi on a Roll (SOAR) is a really cool sushi only catering company.

The picture is very similar to one that hung on the bulletin board of my office for four months while I planned my escape from corporate America, I was 24 years old. I cashed my $1,600 IRS refund check, piled all my stuff in my parent’s garage, threw on my new backpack, and headed off on a grand adventure…

I was talking food segways with a friend of mine the other day:  milk leads to cookies; peanuts lead to beer; Ruffles Ridged Potato Chips lead to French Onion Dip; and two glasses of wine, a fan request and a chat with my sister-in-law leads directly to ginger pumpkin soup.

Today, I had an unexpected culinary surprise, all because of a very well prepared piece of toast.

Although tamed down and classed up, we hit the road with all the same zeal of a college road trip. Arguably, there are few better places for road trippin’ than Arizona. This time, we pointed south to a small part of Arizona we had yet to explore but had heard a lot about, Sonoita and its wine country.