Country onions, wine and bubbles make my heart race

I'm not a country music fan, but I've seen enough magazine covers to know who Trisha Yearwood is. Yet when I saw her on "Live With Regis and Kelly" earlier this summer, I was about to change the channel. Then I noticed she was standing with the co-hosts next to a grill.

I turned down my MP3 player and continued my cardio workout at the Y as I watched her wrap bacon strips around a sweet onion, stuff it with butter and stick it on the grill. There didn't seem to be much to that recipe, yet the results made the uber-perky Kelly Ripa break into a "happy onion dance" (her words, not mine).

My heart raced as well (the elliptical machine or the recipe, you decide) and since then I haven't been able to stop thinking about that recipe. Today's piece on Trisha gave me the perfect opportunity to track it down.

You can find the recipe at www.regisandkelly.go.com. See if it doesn't make you dance as well.

Great wine on a great lake: After the success of last year's inaugural Lake Geneva Wine Festival, the planners are ready to do it again.

Tickets have gone on sale for myriad events planned for the Sept. 4-7 festival at the Grand Geneva Resort and Spa.

Seats at the Friday and Saturday seminars, which cover topics such as cellaring wine and Australian grapes, cost $35 each. An $85 ticket buys you the chance to sample dozens of wines and gourmet nibbles at Saturday afternoon's Grand Tasting and Auction.

Thursday evening's wine dinners at various restaurants around the lake cost $150 each, while Friday's multicourse dinner featuring Moet Hennessy wines costs $225 per person and will be held back at the resort. Sunday winds down with a Champagne brunch cruise for $100.

Check out www.lakegenevawinefestival.com for details and to purchase tickets.

From Cannes to Chicago: If you didn't make it to the French Riviera this summer, you can snag a taste of it at the Mexx Kitchen in Chicago.

The restaurant, a small dining room adjacent to Rande Gerber's The Whiskey at the Sutton Place Hotel, 1015 N. Rush St., will feature Champagne Piper-Heidsieck in a signature cocktail, the Piper-Heidsieck Piscine. Originally served to celebs and jet-setters during the Cannes Film Festival, the aptly named Piscine (that's pool to you and me) is simply the maker's Cuvee Brut served over ice in a brilliant red champagne glass.

For a limited time only, Piscine will be available by the glass at Mexx Kitchen so we can enjoy a little piece of the Riviera.

• Contact Food Editor Deborah Pankey at food@dailyherald.com; (847) 427-4524 or c/o Daily Herald, P.O. Box 280, Arlington Heights IL 60006.