Threats of violence and fear mongering will not deter our protest of the Confederate monument in Orange, Texas today (see protest details here).
Continue reading
Category Archives: de rebus texanis
What it’s like to be a black American wine blogger: “It was like a slap in the face, but yet just another reminder.”
The following post was published on Friday by my friend and fellow Houston wine blogger Katrina Rene, author of The Corkscrew Concierge, on her Facebook. She has graciously allowed me to share it here (image via Adobe Stock).
I have been approached by a few people now asking what they can do. What should they say? I honestly don’t know. But…
I can tell you that I’m mentally exhausted and pissed as hell!
I can tell you that the anger and depression has taken my breath away and left me speechless with a great sense of futility.
I can tell you that my husband and I have had these conversations so many times that it’s as natural as “what’s for dinner?”
I can tell you that it cuts me to the core to listen to my husband telling my daughter (b/c I can’t do it!) that people won’t like her, not because of anything she did, but because of what she looks like.
I can tell you that while my daughter can understand such a message, my son (who has his own challenges) will be a different story altogether when his time comes.
I can tell you that I worry about my son, lose sleep because of his challenges, and know that the world will be so much more dangerous for him.
I can tell you that my husband is always outside in front of our house and frequently walks the neighborhood with the kids so that people recognize him and know that he “belongs” there.
I can tell you that if my husband has to knock on a neighbor’s door to return a package, lost pet, etc. he always takes one of the kids with him because he’s “scary” on his own and someone may assume he’s there to do them harm.
Speaking of our neighborhood, I can tell you that my deed restriction still has the old “racial restrictions” clause that only permits people of the “Caucasian Race” to dwell there. I was shocked to see it still there (with a line neatly drawn through it) when I built my house and it was like a slap in the face, but yet just another reminder.
I can tell you that my husband dresses “a level up” wherever he goes because he understands how he is perceived and that the same rules don’t apply to him.
I can tell you that I initially didn’t want my daughter to play tennis because no else there looked like her and I was afraid she’d be singled out. I can tell you that when she used to play matches, I would hold my breath if there was any sort of disagreement because I feared someone treating her badly.
I can tell you that my husband has been pulled over while “driving black” – not speeding, no broken tail light, etc. for almost an hour while the “peace officer” looked for something, expected him to react, but then eventually let him go. I guess he was lucky.
So just imagine if all of these things factored into your daily life, affected the most simple, basic decisions you had to make, and was always there in your consciousness. It’s 2020 and this is our reality. And sadly, ours is better than many.
How sommeliers are keeping guests (and themselves) safe as dine-in service resumes in Houston.
Please check out my post today for the Houston Press on how sommeliers are keeping guests and themselves safe as dine-in service resumes in our city.
It’s a challenging time to be a restaurant worker, even if you are a wine director overseeing a world-class cellar.
Texas is one of the first states to allow restaurants to reopen. As all of the wine professionals I spoke to noted, there is no model for how to execute wine service safely. And neither the state or federal government have provided adequate guidance.
A mere 11 days have passed since our state’s governor superseded local orders to isolate, wear masks, and keep restaurants and other businesses closed. There are anecdotal reports of numerous restaurateurs not following social distancing protocols. But everyone I talked to for this piece is taking it extremely seriously. I was surprised by what some of them told me (including those who didn’t end up in the post).
Thanks for checking it out and please stay safe.
Help us raise an MLK billboard over the Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas for MLK Day. Just $240 needed to meet our GoFundMe goal.
UPDATE (January 15): We’ve reached our goal! Thank you so much to everyone who donated and shared. The GoFundMe is still active if you’d like to donate to our future efforts. We’ll probably raise another billboard in the summer. Thank you to all for the support and solidarity.
We are just $240 short of our fund-raising goal of $600 needed to raise a billboard celebrating the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King that will look down on the newly erected Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas where Tracie grew up.
We have already secured the billboard space: the artwork (above) will go live just in time for Martin Luther King Day and will stay up through most of African American History Month.
The sign was created by a designer from Orange.
It will also be up in time for our Martin Luther King Day protest of the memorial (from 2-4 p.m.). See details here. We hope you will join us.
And if you can’t, please consider giving what you can to our campaign. Every little bit helps.
Graphic designers: we need your help to fight racism in Southeast Texas
“A time comes when silence is betrayal.”
— Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Graphic designers: Tracie and I need your help to design an electronic billboard to be displayed across from the newly erected Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas (on the Louisiana border) where Tracie grew up.
We first began protesting the site — which stands on the corner of Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. and Interstate 10, in view of the freeway — in 2017.
Last year, as part of our Martin Luther King, Jr. Day protest, we used a GoFundMe to raise money for an electronic billboard celebrating Dr. King and his quest to end racism in the U.S. The “ad” was displayed on a commercial billboard that literally looks down on the site from across the road.
You can see last year’s billboard artwork here.
And you can see images of the actual billboard here (on our GoFundMe).
Last year’s billboard was designed pro bono by a designer friend of mine. This year, we’re hoping that someone new will step up to help us with our campaign.
If you’re interested, please shoot me an email by clicking here.
Over the course of our efforts, Tracie and I have been threatened with physical violence, slandered via an anonymous “poison pen” letter, and told that “Jesus Christ [expletive] hates us.”
We stand undaunted by the cowardly efforts to silence us — yes, I’m talking about you, Sons of Confederate Veterans!
Click here to read more about our campaign.
Thank you for your support and solidarity.
Walmart USA: it’s time to stop denying we have a white supremacist problem #HateWillNotDefineUs
The Walmart in El Paso where the mass shooting took place this weekend is just like the Walmart in our Houston neighborhood. You’ll find every gradation of humanity there: brown, black, white, Asian, Jew, Muslim, Christian…
We don’t live on the U.S.-Mexico border like our sisters and brothers in El Paso and Ciudad Juárez. But we do live in the fourth-largest city in America, the country’s most diverse, home to one of its largest ports and transit hubs, where Spanish, Yiddish (yes, I hear Yiddish every week in our neighborhood), Arabic, Vietnamese, Chinese, and countless African, European, and Asian tongues all mingle together every day.
And the Walmart in our southwest corner of Houston, where I bought our daughters their first bicycles and where we shop occasionally, is just like that Walmart in El Paso where a white supremacist murdered and maimed innocents on Saturday morning.
I thought twice about taking the girls to our Walmart yesterday, Sunday, when we needed to get a replacement tube for one of their bikes.
After El Paso, there’s no longer any denying that our nation has a white supremacist problem. Over the last 12 months, white supremacists have killed black people, brown people, and Jews in our country.
In the course of our activism, Tracie and I have seen white supremacy up close and personal: it’s scary and ugly and dangerous. And tragically, it’s very much alive, thriving, and growing in our country.
It’s time for everyone — from politicians in the White House and the Texas capitol to the woman and man on the street, from religious leaders to civic leaders and activists — to call it out for what it is. Honestly, it was time a long time ago. Innocent people are dying at the hands of white supremacists and we must rise up against them.
The first step is to recognize this expanding, horrific problem. The second step is to stand up and speak out: we will not tolerate white supremacy in our communities, churches and synagogues, schools, and place like our Walmarts — where we all gather for back-to-school shopping on a late summer Saturday morning.
Our family’s thoughts and prayers go out to the victims of this weekend’s shootings and their families. And our hearts and minds are filled with resolve to combat white supremacy wherever it lurks in our country.
#HateWillNotDefineUs
What a groovy week in wine in Texas!
Paolo Cantele and I will be pouring his family’s wines tonight at Vinology in Houston from 6-8 p.m. Please come out and taste with us!
It felt like the world of groovy wine had descended on Texas this week.
That was the scene on Wednesday, above, at the Rootstock portfolio tasting preview at Light Years, Houston’s newest all-natural wine bar.
Rootstock, a mid-sized importer and champion of natural wine, had coordinated their events and the incoming winemakers with the Wild World Natural wine festival, which is happening this weekend in Austin. Alice Feiring is the featured speaker and I’ve even heard that natural wine maven and mensch Lou Amdur will be there (I’m so bummed I can’t be there but I have to be in Houston this weekend for a food festival I”m presenting and a blow-out music and wine party we’re hosting at our house tomorrow; message me if you want to come and need details).
That’s Hank Beckmeyer of Clarine Farm, left, with Rootstock rep Dustin Popken.
Hank is good friend but I’m also one his biggest fan boys — a lover of the wine and the man. Such a cool dude and such great wines. Dustin’s also a good friend from our Austin days.
After I hit the Light Years event, where my buddy and natural wine pro Steven Dilley was literally slinging his now legendary Bufalina pizzas (with a line that stretched literally around the block), I headed over to Nancy’s Hustle where owner and wine director Sean Jensen was pouring some equally groovy natural wine.
Nancy’s Hustle is such a great example of what’s happening here in Texas: soulful, thoughtful food paired with equally meaningful wines. I was blown away by the enthusiasm and table-side knowledge of the servers. Man, this place was killing it on Wednesday night and the vibe was just right.
Earlier in the day, I had presented a master class on Moscato d’Asti at the swank Pappas Bros. Steakhouse downtown.
That’s me in the photo with a whole lotta Moscato d’Asti right there. It was a super cool event.
Shit, even Eric Asimov wrote a story about the renaissance of Texas winemaking in this week’s Times.
It’s just felt like one of those weeks when the wine stars have aligned seamlessly over my adoptive state.
Come see me and Paolo tonight at Vinology, come to our house party tomorrow, or come out and see me at the Houston Pasta Festival on Sunday where I’m emceeing! Wherever you are this weekend, DRINK GOOD WINE AND EAT GOOD FOOD! And ROCK ON!
Texas BBQ and Italian wine tasting and seminar, February 25 in Houston
In a time before Frankin Barbecue in Austin and Killen’s Barbecue in Houston, smoked meats were simply part of the everybody-everyday Texas culinary fabric and landscape.
“We don’t go out for bbq,” said Tracie, then my girlfriend, 10 years ago now.
“We eat [family friend] Melvin’s or Uncle Tim’s,” she explained.
When we shared news of our wedding plans, Melvin exclaimed (and this is not a joke, people): “how am I gonna get my smoker to La Jolla?”
Today, 10 years gone, Texas BBQ has conquered the world. Even in faraway Como, Italy, Houston Chronicle BBQ columnist J.C. “Chris” Reid found authentic Texas smoked meats.
On Monday, February 25, Chris will be presenting a tasting and seminar exploring the alchemy of pairing Texas BBQ with Italian wine (a heavenly match imho). The paper’s wine writer Dale Robertson will join him on the dais and I will be moderating the session.
We’ll also be joined by three of Houston’s leading pit masters, who will be sharing their secrets and their smoked meats with 80 lucky registrants.
This event will sell out quickly, folks, and registration has just opened.
Details follow below. I hope you can join us!
Btw, check out Chris’ thread here. He’s the world’s greatest living expert on Texas BBQ.
*****
The Italy-Texas factor: How to pair Texas BBQ with Italian wine.
seminar and tasting
Monday, February 25
Presented by
Italy-American Chamber of Commerce Texas
and
Taste of Italy
trade fair and food festival
Hilton Post Oak
2001 Post Oak Blvd.
Houston TX 77056
Click for festival information and registration details.
Leading Texas BBQ expert J.C. Reid and veteran Houston wine writer Dale Robertson explore the magic and science of pairing classic Texas smoked meats with Italian grape varieties and wine styles. They will be joined by 3 top Houston pit masters who will share some of their smoking secrets as well as insights into matching their foods with wines from the Old Country.
Continue reading
VIDEO (EXPLICIT): “Jesus f*%@ing hates you!” The Face of Racism in Orange, Texas
Tracie shot the video above as we protested the Confederate Memorial of the Wind in Orange, Texas yesterday. The man ranting at us was one of just a handful of people who expressed their disapproval of our protest. The overwhelming number of passersby gave us the thumbs up or stopped to share a kind word.
But the Confederate memorial supporter who threatened us is indicative of the people who oppose our efforts.
The video speaks for itself.
Continue reading
Help us protest the new Confederate memorial in Orange, Texas: GoFundMe goal of $1,000 to purchase billboard ad
Update, Friday, November 2: Thanks to everyone who contributed to our Go Fund Me campaign, part of our protest of the newly erected Confederate Memorial in Orange, Texas. It only took us two days to meet our goal of $1,000. Thank you! It means the world to us to know that you support us in our efforts!
Please donate to our campaign here.
Tracie and I are raising money to buy one (1) month of advertising on a billboard that stands across the road from the newly erected Confederate Memorial of the Wind, a monument built by the Sons of Confederate Veterans on Martin Luther King, Jr. Dr. in Orange, Texas along Interstate 10.
Continue reading
Do Bianchi 