Lou & Lucy's Leftovers

One of my favorite things to do when my wife and I go to Florida in the spring is buying my daily, ready-made Cuban sandwich from the Publix Super Market up the street.

A Cuban sandwich is usually made with sliced roasted pork, sliced ham, Swiss cheese, pickles and mustard, sometimes salami on a crusty bread - and then it's pressed.

Meatball variations will make you the MVP at any Super Bowl party

Sometimes there's a disconnect between the proclamations of food gurus and what regular folks eat.

Not so in the case of meatballs.

Once labeled "dish of the year" by Bon Appetit magazine, meatballs are welcome everywhere.

Stromboli - part pizza, part calzone, all party

A stromboli is kind of a cross between a grinder and a calzone.

Bread dough is rolled out, filled with sliced meats, cheeses and vegetables, then rolled up into a tube and baked.

Chef's Best: A taste for tapas

By Nina M. Scott

Tapas, those delicious little snacks common throughout Spain, have become increasingly popular in the United States. But even though I have served tapas for years, I was unprepared when three seniors at Amherst College, where I teach, asked me to create a course about them.

Wine pairings for Super Bowl chow, from chili to Cheetos

Wow. The street price for a ticket to Super Bowl XLV is reportedly $2,000 and up - way up. And an RV parking space for tailgating at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis is $900.

You gonna drink a $6.99 six-pack of light beer with that? I think not.

Here are some wines with friendly prices to go with the requisite chow:

Valley Bounty: Radishes

A radish is not just a radish - they come in varieties that can be quite different in flavor and appearance. And that's a good reason to try them all. Black Spanish radishes, for example, have a dark skin and a spicy white flesh. The sweeter Watermelon radishes are gem-like with a surprising and beautiful fuscia interior hidden underneath their white skin. Both are a crunchy, flavor-packed addition to a salad or an antipasto platter of pickles, cheeses or cured meats.

Tastings

TASTINGS

Amherst Wine & Spirits, 233 N. Pleasant St., Amherst

Today, 2-5 p.m., Chile's Cabernet Sauvignon

Coopers Corner Liquors, 31 Main St., Florence

Friday, 4-6 p.m., wine

Doyle's Package Store, 84 Maple St., Florence

Friday, 3:30-8 p.m., wine

Provisions, 30 Crafts Ave., Northampton

Today, 4-6 p.m., High & Mighty Beer