Students to perform at Chapman University

From Register Staff

Prior to national release in commercial theaters, a new film starring Kirk Douglas — as well as numerous area residents and the Napa Valley landscape — will get its wine country premiere at Copia on Friday night at 8.

BURBANK -- Superstitious by nature, speedskater Chad Hedrick recently grabbed the last fortune cookie on the table and cracked it open.

LONDON -- Author J.K. Rowling said in an interview published Tuesday that her mother's death while she was writing the Harry Potter books led her to make her hero suffer the death of his own parents.

NEW YORK -- For years, Seth Green has been popping up across the media horizon like Bugs Bunny from his countless rabbit holes. Here's a guy as hard for the audience to get a bead on as Bugs is for poor Elmer Fudd -- and arguably he's no less inventive.

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A VOENA CHRISTMAS -- VOENA, Voices of Eve 'N Angels, is the internationally acclaimed, multi-ethnic children's choir that combines inventive a cappella vocal arrangements with percussion, dance and theatrical elements. A joy for the eyes, ears and heart, and one you won't want to miss. Dec. 3 at 8 p.m. and Dec. 4 at 3 p.m. at Copia. $25 general/$22.50 member. Info, 259-1600.

Reavis selected for award

The International Order of Job's Daughters held its 116th semi-annual installation of officers Saturday at the Napa Masonic Memorial Temple.

Napa Community Adventist Church

When the weather gets cold, wet and dreary, I find myself humming this little ditty at least several times each day. Take it from me, winter is a season that would be much better served in paradiseSthe Hawaiian islands, to be exact. Each year in November, my wife and I pack our kids, a few summer clothes and head out to the middle of the glorious Pacific in order to stave off the rainy, cold weather blues. We've visited all of the Hawaiian islands, but keep coming back to the one that, as a family, we find to be the most enjoyable - Maui.

Maui Visitors Bureau

Education

Rex Stults takes post with Napa Valley Vintners

Ivo Jeramaz, vice president of vineyards and production at Grgich Hills Cellar, went to his great-uncle, Miljenko ("Mike") Grgich, and told him about a lecture he had attended on biodynamic farming. It was, he told him, like going back to what our grandfathers did, farming without chemicals and pesticides.

Stag's Leap Wine Cellars names Pruss winemaker

PITTSBURGH -- Distinguishing fine wine from plonk is usually left to connoisseurs and winemakers, who rely on their senses, rough chemical measurements and the whims of nature to produce an exceptional tipple.

To us, a wine shop is a playground. We stop at almost every one we see and always enjoy strolling along the aisles. It's fun to see old friends -- "Look, they have a Bully Hill" -- and even more fun to see labels that are new to us. But we understand that many people find wine stores confusing, overwhelming or just plain annoying. All those wines, all those labels, all those neck cards claiming a 90-point rating from someone for just about every wine on the shelf (and often for a different vintage to boot).

Winter storms made a mess in California's wine country, but the rains were not expected to wash out the region's valuable grape crop, officials said.

Europe's third largest bank by assets is working quietly behind the scenes to return a world-renowned Champagne operation to its founders.

Filippi's is open

Shortcut Crab Bisque

Dungeness Crab Cakes

Adapted from "Puddings A to Z" by Marie Simmons, Copia

The Dungeness crab season thus far has been fairly dismal -- with a late start because of disputes over prices, it was well into December before the San Francisco fleet headed out to begin bringing in fresh local crab. Then the storms of December kept the yield low -- the Friday before Napa's New Year's Eve floods, reports had it that no fresh Dungeness crab was to be found anywhere in Napa.

All across America, parents are putting toys together and teens are hooking up shelves for racks to hold tons of CDs. Millions are having problems because there just aren't that many good screwdrivers out there. Some are using bent or broken tools or the wrong-sized ones, or worse, a coin or butter knife to do the job.

When it comes to New Year's resolutions, it's a good idea to include some home improvement resolutions that will save time, money and keep your home in good shape.

This time of year, a slice of Key lime pie is the next best thing to a trip to the Florida Keys. Okay, maybe not the next best thing, but good eating anyway.

Big apple trees

Cold, gray, wet January days give us the perfect excuse to be indoors planning spring and summer gardens. Is there a more pleasurable way to spend the time than looking at seed catalogs and imagining bright summer blooms and harvests from the vegetable garden? We have to avoid walking on soggy garden soil anyway, especially clay soil, so as not to compact it.

The floodwaters are receding, but it's still January -- gray, lifeless and cold. That is, unless you're Napa interior designer Thomas Bartlett, who can escape the dreary month with a quick plane trip and drive to his hacienda in La Penita de Jaltemba, Mexico.

Grossi-James

Mueller-Baxter

Johnson-Hickman

BOND ’ Deborah Bond vs. Jason Bond, Dec. 22, 2005

ALFARO JIMENEZ-MENDOZA MARAVILLA -- Everardo Alfaro Jimenez, 26, Archer Avenue, Napa, to Adriana Mendoza Maravilla, 18, Claret St., Napa.