My colleague Natalie MacLean, an independent and award-winning journalist who is author of the bestselling “Red, White, and Drunk All Over” and also edits one of the largest wine sites on the Web, has just launched a new mobile application for iPhone, iPod Touch, BlackBerry, Droid, and other smartphones. Developed by Cerado, this app builds on the success of her Drinks Matcher and includes all the pairings in the original app, plus thousands of wine reviews, recipes, articles, blog posts, glossary definitions, cellar journal, and winery directory.

And best news? This fabu new app is free!

According to Nat’s press release:

“With the Nat Decants Mobile App, you can find the right wines, whether you’re in a restaurant or at the liquor store restocking. It’s like having a sommelier in your pocket.”

Features of the new Nat Decants Free Mobile App include:

- Find 380,000 professionally tested food and wine pairings (not generated by computer algorithm)
- Access thousands of wine reviews by an independent journalist
- Search the reviews by winery, price, score, region, grape, vintage, food match
- Track your wines in your virtual cellar and add your own journal notes and scores
- Search a directory of 10,000+ wineries to buy wine or plan a visit
- Find thousands of tasty, tested recipes for every wine
- Get wine savvy with articles, glossary definitions, and blog posts
- Share on Twitter, Facebook, and e-mail with friends

To get the free Nat Decants Mobile App visit:

www.nataliemaclean.com/mobileapp

On the page above, click on the words iPod or iPhone under the iPhone image to go to the iTunes store for the app. The direct link is:

http://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/nat-decants/id353052386?mt=8

For BlackBerry, Droid, Nexus One, Nokia, Palm Pre and other smartphones, click on those words under the BlackBerry phone image. The direct link is:

http://www.nataliemaclean.com/mobile

A recent press release informed me that the prestigious Culinary Institute of America (CIA) at Greystone. the school’s Napa-based campus (where I’ve had the pleasure to attend many classes and symposia) has created a new wine and beverage certificate program for 2010.

The Accelerated Wine and Beverage Certificate Program (AWBP) will advance a student’s professional skills in the wine and beverage sector. An AWBP certificate will position graduates to pursue career opportunities in numerous segments of the food and beverage industry.

“A deep understanding of wine, beer, spirits - even coffee and tea - is vital to career success in the foodservice and hospitality fields,” said Adam Busby, CMC and Director of Education at CIA Greystone. The pioneering AWBP program will equip students with skills and insights required for advancement toward leadership positions in beverage management in both fine and casual dining, restaurant front-of-house management, wine and beverage retail, wholesale, and more.

The accredited 30-week AWBP will impart knowledge and skills related to sensory evaluation, flavor dynamics, cellar management, and mixology. Food and beverage pairing, service, and hospitality are major components of the eight-month curriculum.

“AWBP students will graduate with a wine and beverage education on par with those skills learned by the CIA’s culinary students,” notes Busby.

The program launches in September 2010 at the CIA’s Greystone campus in St. Helena. Classes will be held at the Rudd Center for Professional Wine Studies, a state-of-the-art complex featuring two tasting theaters ideally designed for the in-depth study of wines and beverages.

Program enrollees must have a bachelor’s or associate degree in hospitality management, culinary arts management, or a related field, or have a bachelor’s degree in another discipline as well as relevant food and beverage industry experience. Financial aid is available for those who qualify.

Experience a world tour of wine, beer, and all things culinary at the Seattle Food & Wine Experience on
Sunday, February 28, starting at 1 p.m., when more than 1,000 wines from around the world join with top chefs and restaurateurs to transform the Seattle Center Exhibition Hall into a global (global and local = “glocal”) gateway for the palate.

The diversity of the wines and culinary traditions represented at the second annual Seattle Food and Wine Experience mirrors our city’s cosmopolitan character and its growing international presence.

Participating in the Experience are 50 California and international wineries, 25 Washington wineries, 15 Oregon wineries, 20 chefs or restaurateur, and 20 culinary, wine, lifestyle, and travel exhibitors.

Tickets to the experience cost $49 per person and includes access to all areas of the event. A portion of proceeds from event ticket sales will benefit Beecher’s Flagship Foundation. Founded by Beecher’s Handmade Cheese in 2004, the Foundation has given more than $300,000 in support of non-profit organizations providing education about the benefits of pure, all-natural food.

Here are more details on what you can “experience” at the Experience:

• The Tulalip Resort Casino Culinary Exhibition Stage features all the chefs from the resort cooking up their latest Taste of Tulalip creations.

• Starbucks Coffee and Music Lounge features a World of Coffee tasting plus live music by Seattle Times wine columnist Paul Gregutt.

• The Artisan Beer Garden features international and regional breweries plus cider companies.

• Kathy Casey and Columbia Winery are teamed up (the first 300 guests receive her signed cookbook).

• Ruth Chris Steakhouse and Menage a Trios wines pair up to showcase American lamb cooked three ways.

• Chateau Ste. Michelle Culinary Director John Sarich is pairing WA wine with American lamb.

• Maximus Minimus is coming out of hibernation for the day and selling $2 mini-pork sandwiches.

• Frost Doughnuts may end up being the most popular booth based on their recent popularity!

• Beecher’s Cheese will be there sampling cheese and educating attendees about Beecher’s Flagship Foundation (Known as Pure Food Kids) and the beneficiary of event proceeds.

•Seattle’s food/restaurant scene will be preparing gourmet tastes throughout the experience, including Campagne, Ray’s Boathouse, Earth & Ocean, Andaluca, Ponti Seafood Grill, John Sarich of Chateau Ste. Michelle, Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse, The Hunt Club, Pearl Bar & Dining, Cicchetti Kitchen and Bar, Artisanal Brasserie and The Artisanal Table, Salty’s on Alki, Copperleaf Restaurant, Blackfish, Pike Place Brewing Company, TASTE Restaurant, Maximus-Minimus, Frost Doughnuts, Beecher’s Cheese, and more.

Brian Cartenuto, chef/owner of Cantinetta in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood, will take his “serious, soulful Italian food” on the road when he appears at the James Beard House on Wednesday, February 10, at 7 p.m.

The chef describes his style as “refined simplicity.” He’s wowed critics, including Providence Cicero, my colleague and the food critic at The Seattle Times. Provi describes his cooking as “assured,” saying it combines “a wonderful balance of flavors with an element of surprise.”

Among the dishes he’ll prepare in the JB House’s small kitchen, so small that it requires chefs to prep most of their dishes off site? Among the appetizers you’ll find Pancetta-Wrapped Dates with 50-Year-Old Balsamic, Arancini (Rice Balls) with Saffron and Ricotta Salata, and Bacalao (Salt Cod) with Tomato-Olive Sugo.

With Pork Cheeks with Turnips and Citrus Gremolata as a main course, a hearty Grilled Treviso salad for balance, and side dishes including Brussels Sprouts with Duck Confit for the table to share, this dinner promises to be a winner.

To start the month of  February off right, I’d like to mention a subject near and dear to my heart. . .the upcoming Les Dames, Seattle, fundraiser on Thursday, February 25, 5:30 p.m., at the Women’s University Club in downtown Seattle.

La Dolce Vita: Celebrating the Essence of Italy will feature Cucina (an Italian-inspired antipasti feast and grappa tasting), Cultura (a humor-filled presentation by Italian culture lecturer Anne Robichaud), and Ceramica (a silent auction of more than 400 pieces of handmade Italian ceramics). With so many moving parts and bells and whistles, this promises to be one of the year’s best parties!

Tickets are $95, available online, or call (206) 276-5527 for more information. Profits from the evening benefit the Seattle Dames scholarship and community-outreach programs, which have disbursed more than $275,000 over the past 20 years.

If you are planning a trip to New York City this month, don’t miss a visit to the venerable James Beard House on January 20 for the Northwestern Seafood Extravaganza presented by our friend Ethan Stowell, chef/owner/founder of Anchovies & Olives, How to Cook a Wolf, Tavolàta, and Union.

From the first days of Union, we predicted Ethan’s meteoric rise. Here’s a link to a television interview I did for Seattle PBS station KCTS’s “About the Money” that discusses Ethan’s rise in the Seattle restaurant scene. Congratulations, Ethan!

Tickets for JBF Members are $125; General Public $165.

I was very proud and pleased to see my Pike Place Market Cookbook prominently on display at the Sasquatch Books booth at last week’s Bookfest.

Long-time Sasquatch sales and marketing expert Sarah Hanson was on hand to help talk up and hand-sell all the publisher’s books. I also spotted editorial director Gary Luke, who edited my very own Inside the Pike Place Market, which came out in 1997.

And here I am in front of the full-on display. Don’t forget that the Pike Place Market Cookbook (Sasquatch Books, 2003, $18.95), the Pike Place Public Market Seafood Cookbook (Ten Speed Press, 2005, $14.95) and/or Pacific Northwest Wining & Dining (Wiley, 2007, $34.95) would all make thoughtful and welcome holiday gifts.

I’ve really embraced social media the last couple of weeks, reading wonderful books including “Twitter: Tips, Tricks, and Tweets” and “facebook me: A Guide to Having Fun with Your Friends and Promoting Your Projects on Facebook.”

Yesterday I even attended a workshop presented by the respected Pacific Northwest-based law firm Lane Powell. The workshop was entitled, “Social Media–New Horizons Ahead: Expect the Unexpected.” With such a tantalizing title, how could I not go?

Keynote speaker was Kevin O’Keefe (second from left), CEO of LexBlog, which help lawyers around the world learn about and leverage blogging and other social media. He was a passionate and engaging speaker who told 100 of Seattle’s corporate leaders–mostly 40- and 50-somethings in fields as diverse as law, food writing, and real estate–not to think of social-networking sites as onerous “technology” but as a chance to build “relationships.”

•Leaders of companies themselves (as opposed to young, tech-savvy new hires who may not have enough business acumen) should be involved in social media.

•You can choose to mingle with the influencers on social media sites (reporters and editors, bloggers, customers active in social media, conference coordinators, publishers) which offers a great business advantage.

•Social media requires engagement, but you must listen first.

•Social networking sites are similar to taking a client to lunch. The sites with the highest Return on Investment (ROI) include LinkedIn, personal blogging (which affords more depth than Twitter), and Twitter (which O’Keefe sees as “the single biggest branding tool since the telephone”).

•Reference other thought leaders, he suggests, and retweet useful information to help build relationships.

D. Michael Reilly, Director of Labor and Employment and Employee Benefits Practice Group at Lane Powell, said you can find success on social-networking sites if you are careful about the context and value you offer to the public. How do you best offer something of value?

Mike Nesteroff, a former journalist with KOMO television and now with Lane Powell’s Sustainability and Climate Change Team, said he tweets the same way he worked in the newsroom: “terse, tight, and telegraphic.”

Craig Bachman, who moderated the workshop and works as a trial lawyer and counsel at Lane Powell, suggested never saying anything on social-networking sites that you wouldn’t say in church.

I think that’s a good motto to carry throughout life, and felt that the workshop was an eye-opening and, in some ways, life-changing two hours for many in the room.

On Saturday, May 16, I had the pleasure of cooking live at our local PBS station as part of the KCTS 9 Cooks: Northwest Favorites fund-raising drive. This was the 29th installment of the popular show, which features viewers’ recipes in the companion cookbook, and offers DVDs, printed cookbooks, and other goodies for people to buy and enjoy at home.

This was my second time appearing with long-time host George Ray, and my first time with local cooking school owner Carol Dearth of Sizzleworks! in Bellevue, Wash.

Since I was the first person to appear, I (thankfully) had lots of time to set up my work space. Here’s the gorgeous beauty plate created by my good friend and Seattle-based food-stylist extraordinaire, Joy Delf. Thanks, Joy! As always, I couldn’t have done it without you.