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CNN Live Today
Interview With Salma Abdelnour of 'Food and Wine'
Aired June 06, 2003 - 10:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Who doesn't like a good meal, and maybe a little bit of wine, and we, of course, all love vacation. Well, that's our focus now as we take a look at some of the best vacations that combine food and wine for food and wine lovers.
We're joined this morning by Salma Abdelnour. She is senior editor for "Food and Wine" magazine joining us from New York. Salma, good to see you. How are you?
SALMA ABDELNOUR, SENIOR EDITOR, "FOOD AND WINE": I'm great. Hi, Leon. How are you?
HARRIS: All right. I am happy to have you here today because you're going to hit three topics that I happen to love: vacation, food, and wine.
So here is what we are going to do. Let's go through the five sites that you brought with you -- or that you brought -- you prepared yourself to talk about this morning, and we'll see if we can squeeze in some information about pricing (ph) as well. First, No. 1, Aspen, Colorado.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. I'm headed to Aspen next week for the "Food and Wine" magazine Classic at Aspen, which is our annual event where we have 4,000 people take over the city of Aspen and we have tons of superstar chefs and cooking classes and parties and wine tastings, and it's a lot of fun. We have a lot of superstar chefs like Daniel Boulud and Bobby Flay and Mario Batali and Todd English, and it is just a blast.
HARRIS: All my Food Network favorite guys. If I go there, how much am I looking to spend?
ABDELNOUR: It costs about $800, but this year's event is actually sold out. It usually sells out a few months ahead of time, so you can always go next summer.
HARRIS: You're tempting us there, you are teasing us.
ABDELNOUR: Right. Well, if next summer is too long to wait, there's always a lot of great stuff happening this summer.
HARRIS: OK. All right. Well, No. 2 on the list is overseas, the Butterfield & Robinson Bike Wine Tour in Burgundy, France. Tell us about that one.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. This is a fabulous, fabulous tour. It's a seven-day bike trip through Burgundy, France, where you ride around and you learn about the history of burgundy wine and you stop at wineries, and you taste a bunch of different wines, and you have dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and you stay at some of the best chateaux, and...
HARRIS: Interesting.
ABDELNOUR: ... the best -- the best part of this trip is that you don't have to carry your backpacks around on the bicycle, because they'll set you up at all the hotels along the route so you can have a really free and easy ride.
HARRIS: All right.
ABDELNOUR: It is a lot of fun.
HARRIS: Good deal. I am going to ask you to do something I know I can't do. Can you move your hair out of the way of the microphone. I think your hair was rubbing the microphone. There you go. Now, if I -- try it again. I think I heard something else there. One more time. There you go.
Now, if we do take you up on the Burgundy offer, how much would you be looking to spend to go over there and enjoy that?
ABDELNOUR: Well, this is actually -- it costs $4,100, but it is all inclusive. It includes all of your meals and all of the winery tours and all of the hotels and everything.
HARRIS: OK. That's a bargain. All right. Next up, if you don't want to go over to France to enjoy some wine, how about Napa, California?
ABDELNOUR: Of course, Napa is always a total paradise if you're a food and wine lover, especially this summer because a bunch of great new places have opened up in the last few months. There's a great restaurant called Angel (ph), which is one of my favorite new restaurants there. It's just a beautiful, stylish little bistro with really rich, delicious country French cooking, and it's right next door to a great new store that just opened called the Napa General Store, which has some of the most amazing cheeses I have ever tasted, and just great archesenol (ph) products from all over California, and it is overlooking the Napa River, so it is a really beautiful setting.
HARRIS: And there is also entertainment and everything out there as well?
ABDELNOUR: Yes -- yes, if you go in August, there's a music and a vineyards festival, which is a lot of chamber music performances being held in vineyards, so you can go and sit in a winery and listen to music and then they have wine tastings during intermission, and you can picnic at some of the vineyards, so it's a great, great summer event.
HARRIS: Average cost if were to go check out that trip for a vacation? ABDELNOUR: It depends. They have different types of pricing options, depending on how many concerts you go to. But it's affordable.
HARRIS: Oh, OK. All right. Well, we'll put that on the list.
And then finally, this morning, the Maine Lobster Festival. That sounds like a pretty interesting idea.
ABDELNOUR: It's a really, really, really fun event. It is held in Rockland, Maine. It is at the end of July, and it is a three-day festival where they have 90,000 people come and they cook up about 12 tons of lobster and they have concerts, people like Willie Nelson have performed in the past. They have races and cook-offs and parades, and it's a lot of great seafood and a lot of fun.
HARRIS: I would imagine that trip has got to be rather affordable.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. I mean, it actually only costs five bucks to get in, and then you pay for your food, of course, but it's all very cheap. It's a great bargain.
HARRIS: That is a very good suggestion, and I'm sure up in Maine, summer weather got to be beautiful up there as well.
ABDELNOUR: Yes, Maine is beautiful during the summer.
HARRIS: Great. Salma Abdelnour, thank you very much for the advice. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Have a nice trip, too.
ABDELNOUR: Thanks. I can't wait.
HARRIS: I'm already jealous of you and your vacation trip out there to Aspen. Have fun, OK?
ABDELNOUR: Thanks. Thanks a lot. Take care.
HARRIS: All right. See you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired June 6, 2003 - 10:48 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
LEON HARRIS, CNN ANCHOR: Who doesn't like a good meal, and maybe a little bit of wine, and we, of course, all love vacation. Well, that's our focus now as we take a look at some of the best vacations that combine food and wine for food and wine lovers.
We're joined this morning by Salma Abdelnour. She is senior editor for "Food and Wine" magazine joining us from New York. Salma, good to see you. How are you?
SALMA ABDELNOUR, SENIOR EDITOR, "FOOD AND WINE": I'm great. Hi, Leon. How are you?
HARRIS: All right. I am happy to have you here today because you're going to hit three topics that I happen to love: vacation, food, and wine.
So here is what we are going to do. Let's go through the five sites that you brought with you -- or that you brought -- you prepared yourself to talk about this morning, and we'll see if we can squeeze in some information about pricing (ph) as well. First, No. 1, Aspen, Colorado.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. I'm headed to Aspen next week for the "Food and Wine" magazine Classic at Aspen, which is our annual event where we have 4,000 people take over the city of Aspen and we have tons of superstar chefs and cooking classes and parties and wine tastings, and it's a lot of fun. We have a lot of superstar chefs like Daniel Boulud and Bobby Flay and Mario Batali and Todd English, and it is just a blast.
HARRIS: All my Food Network favorite guys. If I go there, how much am I looking to spend?
ABDELNOUR: It costs about $800, but this year's event is actually sold out. It usually sells out a few months ahead of time, so you can always go next summer.
HARRIS: You're tempting us there, you are teasing us.
ABDELNOUR: Right. Well, if next summer is too long to wait, there's always a lot of great stuff happening this summer.
HARRIS: OK. All right. Well, No. 2 on the list is overseas, the Butterfield & Robinson Bike Wine Tour in Burgundy, France. Tell us about that one.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. This is a fabulous, fabulous tour. It's a seven-day bike trip through Burgundy, France, where you ride around and you learn about the history of burgundy wine and you stop at wineries, and you taste a bunch of different wines, and you have dinners at Michelin-starred restaurants and you stay at some of the best chateaux, and...
HARRIS: Interesting.
ABDELNOUR: ... the best -- the best part of this trip is that you don't have to carry your backpacks around on the bicycle, because they'll set you up at all the hotels along the route so you can have a really free and easy ride.
HARRIS: All right.
ABDELNOUR: It is a lot of fun.
HARRIS: Good deal. I am going to ask you to do something I know I can't do. Can you move your hair out of the way of the microphone. I think your hair was rubbing the microphone. There you go. Now, if I -- try it again. I think I heard something else there. One more time. There you go.
Now, if we do take you up on the Burgundy offer, how much would you be looking to spend to go over there and enjoy that?
ABDELNOUR: Well, this is actually -- it costs $4,100, but it is all inclusive. It includes all of your meals and all of the winery tours and all of the hotels and everything.
HARRIS: OK. That's a bargain. All right. Next up, if you don't want to go over to France to enjoy some wine, how about Napa, California?
ABDELNOUR: Of course, Napa is always a total paradise if you're a food and wine lover, especially this summer because a bunch of great new places have opened up in the last few months. There's a great restaurant called Angel (ph), which is one of my favorite new restaurants there. It's just a beautiful, stylish little bistro with really rich, delicious country French cooking, and it's right next door to a great new store that just opened called the Napa General Store, which has some of the most amazing cheeses I have ever tasted, and just great archesenol (ph) products from all over California, and it is overlooking the Napa River, so it is a really beautiful setting.
HARRIS: And there is also entertainment and everything out there as well?
ABDELNOUR: Yes -- yes, if you go in August, there's a music and a vineyards festival, which is a lot of chamber music performances being held in vineyards, so you can go and sit in a winery and listen to music and then they have wine tastings during intermission, and you can picnic at some of the vineyards, so it's a great, great summer event.
HARRIS: Average cost if were to go check out that trip for a vacation? ABDELNOUR: It depends. They have different types of pricing options, depending on how many concerts you go to. But it's affordable.
HARRIS: Oh, OK. All right. Well, we'll put that on the list.
And then finally, this morning, the Maine Lobster Festival. That sounds like a pretty interesting idea.
ABDELNOUR: It's a really, really, really fun event. It is held in Rockland, Maine. It is at the end of July, and it is a three-day festival where they have 90,000 people come and they cook up about 12 tons of lobster and they have concerts, people like Willie Nelson have performed in the past. They have races and cook-offs and parades, and it's a lot of great seafood and a lot of fun.
HARRIS: I would imagine that trip has got to be rather affordable.
ABDELNOUR: Yes. I mean, it actually only costs five bucks to get in, and then you pay for your food, of course, but it's all very cheap. It's a great bargain.
HARRIS: That is a very good suggestion, and I'm sure up in Maine, summer weather got to be beautiful up there as well.
ABDELNOUR: Yes, Maine is beautiful during the summer.
HARRIS: Great. Salma Abdelnour, thank you very much for the advice. Appreciate it. Have a good weekend. Have a nice trip, too.
ABDELNOUR: Thanks. I can't wait.
HARRIS: I'm already jealous of you and your vacation trip out there to Aspen. Have fun, OK?
ABDELNOUR: Thanks. Thanks a lot. Take care.
HARRIS: All right. See you later.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
