Even though we no longer live in Bavaria, I still like the sound of that area's traditional greeting. Grüß Gott means "Greetings from God" and you'll hear it all over Bavaria, Austria and the Südtirol region of northern Italy.

Welcome to Jim Holmes's Wine, Food and Travel page. I'm just an everyday schmoe with a strong interest in wine and cooking. I'm also fortunate enough to do a bit of travelling to some interesting places around the world. At my site, you'll be able to look at some of the travelogues I've written for family and friends, along with a few photos of the various areas. You'll find various topics to browse through, including cooking, wine tasting notes, travel reports, and other information.
 

The most important thing in our lives these days is little Lydia Joanne Holmes, our daughter who was born on June 20th, 2000 at 10:56AM.  She's really quite amazing!  Look in the nursery for more pictures of our dear little one. (In case you're confused, Lydia's the one on the right in the stylish cap and green blanket.)

Updates!

OK, so I'm six months behind updating this site with photos of our newest arrival: Ezekiel James Holmes, born 14 July, 2004. He's a wonderful kid and a joy to have in our lives. We've got photos and also a few movies of Lydia and Zeke.

What’s Here

• If you're kin, you're most likely looking for photos of the family, cats, etc.  (You might even be interested in the pool we had for guestimating our daughter Lydia's arrival date, weight and sex.)
• Are you interested in cooking? Check out my kitchen, where you'll find recipes, some general thoughts and tips on cooking, plus some help for matching up food and wines.
• We drink wine almost every night of the week, plus I’ve taken some fairly extensive notes during our various travels. Climb down into my Wine Basement (I don't have a wine cellar, only a corner in the basement) for some notes of recent wines we've had.  [ed. I don't keep up with this, so things aren't current at all.  Still, it makes for good reading.]
• Looking for some recommendations on good wine-related and/or cooking books? Take a look at my bookshelves for some thoughts on my favorite books.
• I've got some odds and ends technical computer-related info in my office. Look here if you're interested in programming, Linux or hooking up a home computer system to the Internet via a Firewall. (You shouldn't be using a cablemodem or DSL connection without a firewall!)
• Want to read a few travelogues I've written for friends and family?  Browse through the magazine rack for trip reports, photos of places we've been and some odds and ends stories.
• If you're interested in who I am and why I'm here (to paraphrase Admiral Stockdale), stop by the living room and read a bit more about me.
• Looking for other good sites on the web?  I've got a list of some favorite sites for wine and beer, food, and other odds and ends. I don't have a link to the Dilbert site.

You can also check out Jim's weblog (blog) FrazzledDad, where Jim writes a bit about computer geek stuff, politics, cooking and life as a Dad staying at home with the kids.