By Judi Gallagher

Emeril and Norman compare ideas before whipping up extraordinary wine dinners for the Naples Winter Wine Festival.

It has been a good week for culinary events. First, down in Naples I attended the newly added “Meet the Chefs” event for the Naples Winter Wine Festival, (with plans to return for a weekend getaway to the Inn at Fifth). From Emeril Lagasse to Norman van Aken, the famous chefs mingled with some of the culinary locals for a delightful afternoon of tasting and insight. Norman Van Aken sees a “better late than never attitude” with the farm to table movement slowly catching on in Florida. Emeril, who is looking fit and trim, has recently added small plate dining to his New Orleans restaurant; and everyone agreed that supporting the Naples Winter Wine Festival, (which raised $5 million this year) is a toast to the children of Collier County. Next up on the Wine Festival circuit-Sarasota’s own Florida Winefest and Auction, April 23^rd- 26^th with some new seminars and tastings added to fit all budgets. I recommend grabbing your tickets early before they sell out. 

The big hitters celebrate their newest event for the Naples Winter Wine Festival.

It's all about the food, right?

The annual Girl Scout Cookie Bake off on Sunday, March 1 was a great sugar rush, and I was thrilled to be preparing a dessert for the cooking demo with weatherman and great cook, John Scalzi. While John was creating his trifle with two types of Girl Scout cookies, I attempted a baked lemon pudding with lemon chalet cremes- of course we did have to try a few boxes to help tweak our recipes- (recipes will be on www.judigallagher.com).

John Scalzi and I whip up a little fun together for the Girl Scouts.