Imbibing Archives - Melanie Young

More Smart Sip Tips & New Regulations to Note

On May 12, 2018 / Healthy Living, Imbibing

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemail Talk about raising awareness of from you lips to your hips! While everyone was enjoying their Mint Juleps to cheer on the Kentucky Derby and Margaritas for Cinco de Mayo last week, a new Food and Drug Administration (F.D.A) regulation was rolling out requiring restaurants and other dining and drinking establishments with more than twenty locations to list calories counts for cocktails, wine and beer. The guidelines were announced earlier this year. You can watch the recent NBC News report here. Like the calorie counts we see on menu items at similar establishments, these are intended as helpful guidelines to educate consumers […]

Stuff Your Bird. Not Your Body. Thanksgiving Tips

On November 23, 2017 / Healthy Living, Imbibing

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemailGobble this up……. The average individual consumes 3000 calories during a Thanksgiving meal. Add wine and cocktails, and this number can top 4500, according to the Calorie Control Council. That’s more than double what our daily caloric intake should be. We all want to enjoy our holiday meal and not worry about calories. An occasional splurge is part of giving thanks with family and friends. But, there are ways to incorporate moderation into the celebration and feel better the day after. 1. Eat lightly the day before with a focus on fresh vegetables and fiber. 2. Crunch it! Snack on an apple, sliced raw veggies or a handful […]

Fabulous Women! This Mom of Three Sons Makes Moonshine

On February 19, 2017 / Imbibing, Inspiring Women

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemailTroy Ball is a self-described “Vandy Girl.” (a Vanderbilt University alumna with a certain style for those of you who wonder). She wears pressed jeans and pearls and has impeccable southern manners. She has grit, grace and gumption (my three favorite qualities besides fearless and fabulous). Troy is also the mom of three adult sons, two with special needs. At one point she decided to uproot her family to Asheville, NC, where the climate was better for her sons. There, she started her life over after running successful businesses in Texas. At 50 and faced with the reality she needed […]

A Mystery Meal Cooks Up Inspiration

On February 6, 2017 / Cooking Tips, Imbibing, Nutrition and Diet

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemailThe invitation was sudden, subtle and enticing. Boarding the bus to New York this past week, we ran into someone we’d recently met at a dinner party. He quietly came over to us after we were seated and said, “Would you like to come to my house for a mystery meal?” “Why not!” We answered, intrigued with the idea. Let’s face it: David and I have been in a dining rut at home eating various versions of greens, beans, mushrooms and fish every night. We could use a little mystery to spice things up. He asked us about our […]

Getting Things Off My Chest: Give Yourself Permission!

On October 18, 2015 / Attitude Adjustment, Imbibing

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemail I recently had the opportunity to check something off my travel “bucket list”- hunting for Mother’s Nature’s black and white diamonds in Italy. (aka truffles). The season for the best truffles is short, October to December, and restaurants around the country lure devoted fans with pricey “truffle dinners.” I’ve only enjoyed truffles shaved over dishes at places like SD26 (sadly now closed), Spago Beverly Hills and Spiaggia in Chicago. So, an invitation to go to the source was a dream come true. Our generous host was Livia Colantonio, proprietor of Castello delle Regine in Umbria, who opened up her majestic home- literally […]

Getting Things Off My Chest: If You Can’t Be With the Wine You Love…..

On June 15, 2015 / Attitude Adjustment, Imbibing

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemailI have a game I like to play socially called “Define Your Wine” I ask people to describe themselves as a wine and why. Try it sometime with wine drinking friends. I tell people I’m a Viogner: soft and lush filled with a vibrant character filled with notes of peach, apricots and violets. A Viogner can be finicky about her climate. She doesn’t like too much cold or direct sun. She’s a DIVAlicious blonde grape; please don’t compare her to everyday Chardonnays. This article actually refers to Viogner as the “Beyoncé of grapes.” The wine writer Lettie Teague recently […]

Liquid Diets Are Not My Cup of Tea

On May 24, 2015 / Healthy Living, Imbibing, Nutrition and Diet

Share this…FacebookGoogle+TwitterLinkedinemailWho remembers Carnation Instant Breakfast? You just needed to add milk or water to these nutritious, artificially flavored, sugar laden meals-in-a-packet. My mother drank them before she took off for work. I drank them before I took off for school. We both tolerated the taste in the spirit of fast, nutritious and calorie conscious consumption. It’s still in the marketplace along with an assorted other liquid meal options. Flash forward. Today, I dread the idea of liquid meals. They remind me of being ill or watching my sick father consume Ensure (also a nutrient dense but sugar laden drink) […]

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