I love cooking, but I’ll be the first to admit that my skills could use a little coaching. Granted, there are times when I take that first bite of a hard-labored dinner, and I’m just about convinced that I could open my own restaurant in New York City. Then, there are those other nights (probably more often than not) when that food hits the trash can, and I hit the take-out menus. Well, East Bay Restaurant Supply wants to help us discover our inner chef with “La Cucina Italiana”- a month of great cooking classes led by prominent Italian chefs.
Friday August 7: The Chef Apprentice – $75
From 5:30 pm-9 pm, join Sacramento Bee’s Stuart Leavenworth – known as The Blogging Chef Apprentice – to learn how to cook Italian specialties created at Oliveto’s. Share Stuart’s “lessons learned” and enjoy a classic Italian meal.
Saturday August 8: “Hot Italian” Pizza Class – $55
Hot Italian’s own Fabrizio Cercatore of La Spezia, Italy will share secrets of authentic pizza making from 11 am-1 pm. Learn everything from dough making to firing in a hands-on lesson followed by lunch.
Friday August 14: Antipasti with Gianluca Varenni – $55
A native of Asti, Italy, Gianluca will provide instruction in creating typical Northern Italian antipasti and composing an appetizing arrangement of light summer fare from 6 pm-9 pm.
Saturday, August 15: Gnocchi with Carolyn Kumpe – $45
East Bay’s own resident Chef, Carolyn Kumpe, will host a lunch hour hands-on gnocchi making class from 11am-1pm. Learn the technique for creating perfect gnocchi every time. Enjoy class, lunch and your very own potato ricer for your gnocchi-making pleasure!
Wednesday August 26: Chef Denise Pardini – $95
Participate in a hands-on cooking lesson and prepare a delicious, four-course Piemontese meal using traditional ingredients with a modern twist. Then, dine with Chef Pardini, a California native who owns and operates La Vita Vera Cooking School in Sinio, Italy.
For more information or reservations visit East Bay Restaurant Supply. You can also purchase your tickets online at http://www.brownpapertickets.com.
East Bay Restaurant Supply, Inc.
522 North 12th Street
Sacramento, CA 95814
916.440.0623
Archives for July 2009
Hanalei Heaven
I’ve been to several of the Hawaiian Islands, but Kauai is in a league of its own. Last month my husband and I got the joy of experiencing the island, and of course its food. We made a mission out of finding the “best of” spots for food during our entire trip. Here’s a run-down of places and dishes that made our favorites list:
Our favorite “Hawaiian Plate” establishment, where they serve traditional lau lau, kalua pork and poke to-go, was on the south side of the island. Located in the small town of Koloa, on the end of the street you’ll find Koloa Fish Market .
I didn’t think anything could beat mai tais on vacation, until I tried the Lavender Pina Colada at the Plantation Gardens. I must also give a shout-out to their curry-coconut seafood stew. Yum.
We ate so much on our trip that by the time we dined at The Beach House, which is known as a locals spot for ocean-front special occasion dinners, all I wanted was a salad. The Beach House menu is so much more than salads, but the watermelon salad holds its own: it includes caramelized macadamia nuts. Enough said.
For fresh fish you must go to the fish market found in Hanalei’s Dolphin Center. It’s a small fish counter right on the water, which can usually be identified by the line of customers out the door waiting to get their hands on that morning’s catch. We stopped here several times throughout our trip and tried different fish, sashimi-style! They even have wasabi and soy-sauce packs to go, making it easy to feast on the fresh fish at home or on a beach picnic.
I found true food heaven in Hanalei. A small town (population of about 500), Hanalei is home to many shops and restaurant, and the best shaved ice truck in the world! Yes, the world. Hands down. Here’s what they do at Wishing Well Shaved Ice: scoop of macadamia nut ice cream, topped with hand-shaved ice (off the block – old school!), then they add your choice of flavored syrups. Ask for a “snow cap” which means they drizzle the entire thing in condensed milk. As you eat the cold treat it gets better and better – the ice and sweet syrups melt with the ice cream and condensed milk to create a gooey, sweet, creamy treat. We ordered one every time we drove by the Wishing Well truck.
Tightwad Tuesday: Our Favorite Happy Hour Spots
What could be better for a Tightwad Tuesday than our favorite happy hour suggestions? Here are a few of our local favorites for the occasional after-work drink and appetizer. We’d love to hear about yours as well, so leave us a comment below if you’ve got one to share!
Christine Schunk – “My favorite is Bistro 33 in Davis – their daily usual happy hour only goes until 6:30, which is too early for this working girl. But, on Monday nights they have Pub Quiz nights where happy hour goes late into the evening and is pretty entertaining. Plus, some of my favorite menu items are on the half price happy hour menu, including the Salt & Pepper Calamari and the Sweet Potato Fries with Three Dipping Sauces.”
Kim Bedwell – “Il Fornaio because it fulfills two main requirements: 1) It’s walking distance from the office and 2) Free food!”
Liz Conant – “A good patio is the selling point for me. I like Capitol Garage for the beer selection and happy hour prices. And, both the Rubicon and the Tower Café have great patios and both happen to have their best specials on Tuesdays.”
Brittany Mohr – “Tokyo Fros and McCormick & Schmick’s are my favorites: Tokyo Fros has delicious, high-quality sushi rolls for half price, which honestly just can’t be beat. McCormick & Schmick’s (a client of ours) offers full meals at their happy hour and unbelievable prices. My personal favorite is the tasty $2.95 cheeseburger with fries!”
Cecily Fuller – “Fuzio is a definite favorite when I’m in the Italian mood. Their Universal Pastas (a long list, all of which look delish) are half off every Wednesday. Then on Thursdays, bottles of their featured wine are half off. Tonight’s special event is a Heringer Estates wine tasting where $10 buys you a tasting flight and one free appetizer from 6pm-8pm!”
All-time Great Food Slogans
As part of a recent brainstorm, we were asked to think of a few all-time great food slogans. It was really no surprise when “a few” actually turned into almost 50! (Hey, we are the Sac Foodies after all). Here are a few of our favorites:
• Rrrrruffels have rrrridges
• Guinness. It’s good for you
• Milk chocolate that melts in your mouth, not in your hand. (M&M)
• Pork: The other white meat
• Barq’s has Bite!
• The incredible edible egg
• Redbull gives you wings
• Kid Tested. Mother Approved. (Kix)
And the list goes on….and on….and on! So we thought we would ask our readers to share a few all-time great food slogans with us and we’ll even choose one random winner to receive a Sacramento Zagat guide. All you have to do is leave a comment below with that one slogan that you never could get out of your head and you could win! We will choose a winner on Wednesday at noon. We can’t wait to see what you come up with!
Weekend Lineup
The weekend is almost here and there is so much going on this weekend that you have no excuse for showing up to work next week without something to report. Try checking out one (or both!) of these great family-friendly, all-about-food events.
Capay Tomato Festival 2009 – If you like tomatoes, picnics and music, then this is the event for you! Pack a picnic and spend your Saturday evening relaxing on Farm Fresh To You’s farm during the Capay Tomato Festival 2009 – an heirloom tomato tasting and benefit concert hosted by Farm Fresh To You with proceeds going to The Kathleen Barsotti Non-Profit for Sustainable Agriculture.
The night will kick off at 5:00pm and will include an heirloom tomato tasting, silent auction, regional artwork and of course lots of delicious food and local wine. And, while you’re picnicking, enjoy some great music by West Nile Ramblers, a bluegrass band straight out of Davis, and The Bob Woods Trio, a Sac-based rockabilly band.
More event details are available on the Farm Fresh To You Web site.
31st Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival – Calling all garlic lovers! Visit the 31st Annual Gilroy Garlic Festival this weekend (July 24-26) and you will be in the presence of 2,000 pounds of garlic being used in ways you probably could never have imagined.
The main attraction of this year’s event will be the Garlic Showdown on Sunday, hosted by Bravo TV’s “Top Chef” star Fabio Viviani in which four prominent Bay Area chefs will match up in an “Iron Chef” competition on the official cook-off stage.
Other garlic-focused fun going on throughout the weekend includes the popular Gourmet Alley, hourly cooking seminars, the Great Garlic Cook-Off, live music, a children’s area, arts & crafts from across the country and, of course, a chance to meet the newly crowned 2009 Miss Gilroy Garlic Queen!
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