Oklahoma City's own Big Truck Tacos wins a spot on Food Network's "Great Food Truck Race:

Big Truck Tacos is going national.

The gourmet taqueria owned by Kathryn Mathis, Cally Johnson and Chris Lower won a nationwide online contest, earning them $10,000 and a chance to compete on Food Network's "Great Food Truck Race” next season.

The announcement was made Sunday during the finale of the inaugural season of the show, hosted by Tyler Florence.

The Great Food Truck Race America's Favorite Giveaway was conducted on the cable channel's website. Fans from across the country were allowed to vote up to 10 times a day through Sept. 10.

Have I ever been to Big Truck Tacos? My goodness, no! Big Truck Tacos is hip and trendy. I'm a middle-aged father of two; I don't do hip and trendy. Not my pay grade.

Good for them, though, and all their fans. Good for Oklahoma City, too. Further evidence that we, in fact, rock.

Lard!

Turns out, lard's not so bad for you:

Wait long enough and everything bad for you is good again. Sugar? Naturally better than high-fructose corn syrup. Chocolate? A bar a day keeps the doctor away. Caffeine? Bring it on.

Lard, however, has always been a ridiculously hard sell. Over at least the last 15 years, it's repeatedly been given a clean bill of health, and good cooks regularly point out how superior this totally natural fat is for frying and pastries. But that hasn't been enough to keep Americans from recoiling—lard's negative connotations of flowing flesh and vats of grease and epithets like lardass and tub of lard have been absurd hurdles. But no longer. I'm convinced that the redemption of lard is finally at hand because we live in a world where trendiness is next to godliness. And lard hits all the right notes, especially if you euphemize it as rendered pork fat—bacon butter.

As with all foods, most are fine in moderation. A little lard won't kill you; slathering on your food for every meal every day will, but then so will a lot of things.

Sting Sells Wine

As if Sting isn't busy enough making music and re-uniting with The Police, now he'll be selling wine:

After singing of “Fields of Gold,” British rock star Sting is tending fields of grapes as he prepares to market red wine made at his country estate in Tuscany.

Some 30,000 bottles of wine produced on the property will go on sale in September, mainly in Britain and the United States, Paolo Rossi, the estate's manager, said Thursday.

In 1997 the former Police frontman purchased a 16th-century villa, called Il Palagio, in Figline Valdarno, a small village some 19 miles (30 kilometers) south of Florence.

Sounds yummy.

But Sting's no ordinary farmer:

Over the years he has turned the surrounding 860 acres (350 hectares) into an organic farm that also produces honey, olive oil, fruit, vegetables and Tuscan salami.

“When I came here to Figline I wanted first of all to feed my family,” Sting said on Tuesday during an event at the village where the 57-year-old star spoke of the time he spends at Il Palagio.

“I also wanted to use agriculture with practices that would nourish the land and not deplete the land and so we went to traditional methods with farming, we got rid of pesticides, we shunned monoculture, and it works, the farm is also a garden,” he said in the remarks broadcast by local television Rtv38.

Of course, being a successful organic farmer is easier if you don't have to rely on that stream of revenue as your primary source of support.

I'm being facetious, of course. There are all sorts of ways to be creative and Sting has found another way.

Ebert on Fire

Once again, Roger Ebert is on fire:

If I were on Death Row, my last meal would be from Steak 'n Shake. If I were to take President Obama and his family to dinner and the choice were up to me, it would be Steak 'n Shake--and they would be delighted. If the Pope were to ask where he could get a good plate of spaghetti in America, I would reply, "Your Holiness, have you tried the Chili Mac or the Chili 3-Ways?"

A downstate Illinois boy loves the Steak 'n Shake as a Puerto Rican loves rice and beans, an Egyptian loves falafel, a Brit loves banger and mash, an Indian loves tikki ki chaat, a Swede loves herring, a Finn loves reindeer jerky, and a Canadian loves bran muffins. These matters do not involve taste. They involve a deep-seated conviction that a food is absolutely right, and always has been, and always will be. These convictions are fixed at an early age. I do not expect to convert you.

We're a family of converts, especially Emily. Some years ago, Clara discovered the wonders of Steak 'n Shake and on a road trip through Tennessee, we managed to sample this cuisine. We've been hooked ever since and every time we hit the road, the choice stop is Steak 'n Shake. Now Oklahoma City's closer to perfection with two Steak 'n Shakes in the metro area.

Now, I won't waste time trying to convert Mr. Ebert to be a true believer of Oklahoma's own Sonic but my word to him would be to give it a try and see if there isn't room for another establishments on his top eatery list. (Yes, I know Mr. Ebert's medical condition likely prevents him from enjoying solid food. Still, if it's possible, he shouldn't deny himself the treat of Sonic. Life is too short.)