As is always the case, one holiday ends and another is launched into our consciousness almost instantly. Those crumbs from the pumpkin pies are just being swept away, but The Holiday Season is officially here and Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa shopping has begun. What to get? Where to get it? It’s the annual quest. We’d like to make things a wee bit easier for you, as we’ve found some great items for the food lovers on your list. Buy one, buy several! Either way, you will seen as one of those “good gift givers”!
To kick off your Thanksgiving preparations, Wave Hill Breads Bakery & Cafe is offering a series of holiday cooking classes, the first of which is: Pumpkin Desserts Three Ways (plus the Art of Presentation) from 10:00 - 1:00, Saturday, November 17th. Join Executive Pastry Chef Matt Kirshner for an in-depth Pumpkin experience, including lunch in the Café. Matt will be showcasing Pumpkin Creme Brulée, Chiffon Tart, and Soufflé. The class will be limited to fifteen pastry afficionados, and the fee is $100, so if you’re interested, sign up soon - their initial classes filled within hours! To reserve, stop in or call us at 203-762-9595, or email Wave Hill at info@wavehillbreads.com. We promise you’ll be a star at your holiday table.
Also, don't miss Family Fun (4+) - Rolling, Baking, Decorating Cookies with Chef Matt Kirshner. Saturday, December 15, 9:30 to 11:30, including lunch, $60 per person.
Years ago, around the time The Brady Bunch was infiltrating almost every T.V. set in America, it was unlikely that your mom would have picked up dinner in lieu of cooking a homemade meal. While it’s true that familiar words in your household at the time may have included Wendy’s, Burger King and Arby’s, you weren’t pulling up to the drive-in window to order healthy, gourmet food. At home it may have been a casserole or a roast while mom always remained neatly coifed, and eating meals at the table as a family were normal.
Fast - forward 40 years and life is a lot different. In our fast paced world today we often find ourselves in a pinch, pressed for enough time to prepare a well-balanced meal for our disappearing family dinners due to time constraints. Enter Cinch, Fairfield’s newest “Gourmet Food Market.” A market where you shop for high quality meals that you just heat and serve in your own home. “Eat your heart out Carol Brady, let me tell you a little bit about the life of a 21st century family on the go.”
“The SoNo scene has lost a bit of luster and we'd like to help bring some flavor back downtown,” says Chris Hickey, Co-Owner of The Spread opening October 2012.
Mr. Hickey, and his partners, Christopher Rasile, Andrey Cortes, and Shawn Longyear may be just the men for the job. With strong backgrounds in hospitality and almost legendary careers managing Bar at Barcelona’s SoNo and Greenwich locations, these four partners are poised to create some dining buzz in Michael Young's former Habana location.
But, despite boasting one of the largest bars in Fairfield County, The Spread is not just about creative cocktails. Enter the talented Chef Arik Bensimon, most recently the Executive Chef at Napa & Co., and now you’ve got yourself some serious culinary street cred to compliment the talent behind the bar.
As if on cue, the day I attended class at the Rhubarb Kitchen, a cooking school with an emphasis on all things British, the sun disappeared and the weather turned appropriately overcast and drizzly. A perfect backdrop for learning about the delights of the very English ritual of Afternoon Tea.
But first, a little about the women who run this show. Rebecca Binks (aka “Becs”) grew up in Kent and learned the highlights of English food from her grandmother, mom, and eight aunts. A former banker and world traveler who has lived in France and Spain, Becs landed in New York City where she met Lisa McMullan. Lisa, an Irishwoman, grew up surrounded by lush farmland and her culinary path is inspired by a true farm to table experience. Lisa practiced as an optometrist, but her love of food always lingered in the background.
Gavrielides Restaurant Group, the family behind Harbor Lights, Eastside Café, and Overtons, all located in Norwalk, have added yet another egg to their already full basket of food establishments.
Recently opened “Estia”, which shows off the Gavrielides family’s Greek roots, is a welcome addition to SONO’sWashington Street. It’s official: This tiny block now proudly boasts a veritable potpourri of cuisine, and with Greek cuisine now on offer, it is fast becoming a diners paradise. Let’s hope Estia, along with its’ neighboring partners in crime can live up to the increasing demand for quality, sophisticated food, so SONO can continue to thrive.
The kids are going back to school, and so should you! Lead by example and take one of Saugatuck Craft Butchery's fall/winter classes. They are offering their usual Butchery 101 classes, as well as a special Holiday Edition. All registration is now done online, so visit the Craft Butchery website to reserve your spot. See below for details on all available classes.
They are also conducting pig butchering demonstrations- unlike the classes this is not hands-on, but it is still a great way to watch and learn as our butchers walk through the basic anatomy of a pig, artfully carving it into primals, then individual cuts.
Ahh...harvest time. So many veggies, so little time before they spoil. Wondering what to do with that bumper crop of gorgeous organic tomatoes and gigantic squash from the garden? Don’t let them go to waste! Instead, come to the Wakeman Town Farm on Saturday, September 8th from 9am-12pm, and learn how to can and preserve your harvest to enjoy all winter. During this three-hour workshop, you’ll learn the basics of canning and how to make both delicious jam and tomato sauce. You’ll even be able to take a few jars home to stock the pantry! Cost is $35 if pre-registered, $40 at the door. Wakeman Town Farm, 134 Cross Highway, Westport. Space is limited; please register early.
White Gate Farm in East Lyme, CT, a favorite eastern Connecticut farm stand and Dinners on the Farm venue, is unveiling their new commercial "Farm Kitchen" and a series of cooking classes featuring talented Connecticut chefs.
The series will officially kick off this Friday at White Gate Farm for what they are calling a "Grand Unveiling" on August 24 at 7 pm ($10 per person). The evening will feature a preview of the hands-on kitchen and farm-fresh hors d'oeuvres, wine and chef's presentations. They will also unveil the full season of classes, dates and participating chefs this evening.
Interested in showing off those latte art skills? Or perhaps you just want to learn the basics and sip your way through a fun evening. Either way you are in luck. Espresso NEAT in Darien is hosting their inaugural Thursday Night Throwdown (TNT) Latte Art Competition on July 12. A $5 buy-in will get you into the evening's event. This first event of the season is a customer invitational (everyone is invited). Prizes and sponsors to be announced.
It must have been good karma to take over the former Wave Hill bread kitchen in Wilton, because the AMG Cooking School, which opened it’s doors in July, has truly found the right ingredients for success.
Alison Milwe-Grace and her partner, Olivia Savarese, are not new to cooking having run a catering and event planning business for years. When the professional kitchen space at the old Wave Hill Breads came on the market, they saw an opportunity and jumped at the chance to open a cooking school. They have been hosting both adult and kids classes ever since.
The good friends added their own personal touch to the space. Gone are the wooden bread racks and flour dusted floors. A cozy candlelit living room and dining area serves as the entrance, while the kitchen features a huge work area complete with famous chef quotes on chalkboards to serve as inspiration.
The expert butchers at Craft Butcherywill be kicking off 2012 with a comprehensive butchering curriculum. Owners, Ryan Fibiger (seen above) and Paul Nessel will be providing both hands-on butchery experience as well as lecture and demonstration segments. For cooks and eaters who are serious about their meat, these butchering classes are designed to give attendees an up close look at the techniques that are use to break down pork, lamb or beef into their individual cuts.
"Butchery 101: Swine" will be held on January 10th and 24th (more information below), but Craft Butchery is happy to customize these classes and demonstrations to create a more consumer or professional chef-focused discussion based on your level of interest. Classes can be done on a half or whole pig, lamb or side of beef. It provides the chance to really experience all aspects of how an animal is butchered and the audience will take home a lot of Craft Butchery's excellent meat. Boys night out anyone?
Fairfield County Foodieis a local blogger who is passionate about her food. She had me at "It’s no fun going out with folks who only ever order salads." Here is her recap of our recent CTbites Invite: Da Pietro's cooking demo & lunch event.
I laughed, I learned and I ate scrumptious food all in one afternoon.
Today I attended a fabulous, intimate event organized by CT Bites and Da Pietro restaurant in Westport: A cooking demo and lunch with Chef Scotti. I found out about it through “CT Bites Invites” that I had signed up for. Man! Am I glad I did!
The moment I entered the restaurant, I noticed all the happy smiling faces. Everyone was simply delighted to be there … after all, who wouldn’t be delighted to spend an afternoon with Chef Scotti?
The white truffle. Available for only a few months a year, this buried treasure is sold for $2500 a poundand is one of the most sought after ingredients on the planet. They are elusive, hidden underground. No longer sniffed out by pigs who had the audacity to occasionally eat them, the white truffle hunters have been replaced by the more trust-worthy canine. Their complex delicate taste is revered be chefs and diners everywhere, but you can only find white truffles in one place...the Piedmont area of Italy...and Fairfield County.
October-early December is white truffle season, and in celebration of these sublime fungi, Chef Matt Storch of Match Restauranthosted a 12 course White Truffles Cooking Class at Clarke Culinary Center in Norwalk. Each course featured raw shaved white truffles (added at the last possible moment to preserve the taste of their ethereally earthy flesh). The smell alone could have kept the foodie in me satiated for days.
And now a word from our 10 yrs old food critic....
Cake, bacon, and cinnamon; these are the words that my nose told my brain as soon as I walked into the kitchen at Aux Delices. I was so delighted that I was going to be cooking a scrumptious meal and not trying something that a professional chef created.
The cooking class that I went to was instructed by Lynn Manheim. She is also the cooking school director. The first recipe that we made was scones. Most of the ingredients were out on the table but the sugar and the flour were in two big bins. Mrs. Manheim shows everyone exactly how to do each step and how much of each ingredient to use. She will wait for everyone to finish one step before she goes onto the next, and if you need some help Mrs. Manheim will always give you a hand (especially if you’re grating butter like I was).
I recently had the pleasure to sit down with Ramin Ganeshram to talk about her cookbook; her newly released Stir it Up! a novel written for young adults, as well as her involvement in the community.
But before you start reading...In Stir It Up! heroine Anjali Krishnan enters a video cooking contest for a shot at a reality cooking competition show on Food Network. She does such a good job she makes it to the finals. If you have a young aspiring chef in your family, check out Ramin's video contest below.
Ramin, who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, was greatly influenced by the cultures of her Iranian mother and Trinidadian father. The marriage of two different heritages and lifestyles would result creating in new traditions; food was one of them. Ramin explained, “We had access to Middle Eastern markets growing up, but all Middle Eastern ingredients are not the same.
Master ChocolatierFritz Knipschidlt, owner of Café Chocopologie in South Norwalk uttered these words that inspired his upcoming October 20 class at Clarke Culinary Showroom.
"This is the time of year that everyone starts thinking about pies and baking. The holidays are coming, and thoughts turn to Thanksgiving and what to make for dessert to serve after the turkey," continues Knipschildt, who will share his secrets of creating fabulous pies during his class at the The Clarke Culinary Center on Thursday, October 20th from 6-8PM.
Pre-registration for this and Clarke's impressive fall class line-up are required and can be done online at www.clarkeculinarycenter.com or by calling 800-842-5275, ext. 206.
As is always the case, one holiday ends and another is launched into our consciousness almost instantly. Those crumbs from the pumpkin pies are just being swept away, but The Holiday Season is officially here and Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa shopping has begun. What to get? Where to get it? It’s the annual quest. We’d like to make things a wee bit easier for you, as we’ve found some great items for the food lovers on your list. Buy one, buy several! Either way, you will seen as one of those “good gift givers”!
