FOOD EVENT PICKS FOR SUMMER 2013

Check Facebook for last minute picks and check back here for ongoing finds!

Wed. July 31, Sacramento – Eat Local, Bee Local: A Panel about Protecting Local Honey Bees

Passionate about bees and the colony collapse crisis? Join this panel discussion with local experts at the Urban Hive to discuss increased bee deaths, city ordinances and beekeeping in Sacramento, then take what you learn home to your communities!

Wed. July 31, San Francisco – Franny’s Crostini Extravaganza and Book Signing at Tartine Afterhours – FREE EVENT 

Join Franny Stephens and Andrew Feinberg of FRANNY’S BROOKLYN to celebrate the release of their cookbook, Franny’s: Simple Seasonal Italian. Inspired by this breathtaking book, esteemed chef Samin Nosrat be passing around a panoply of Franny’s crostini on Tartine breads, sweets baked by lovely Tartine bakers in the style of our favorite Brooklyn pizzeria, and a seasonal drink or two. Each ticket entitles you to crostini galore, a cocktail, and sweet bites. Wine and more drinks will be offered at the cash bar. Swing by between 8pm and 11pm to have a bite, a drink, and get your book signed!

Jul 28 – Aug 4, San Francisco’s Union Square. SF Chefs Food Festival

One of the best food weeks of the year, SF Chefs celebrates it’s fifth anniversary, featuring the best and brightest from the San Francisco’s food scene including Grand Tasting Tent events featuring top chefs, cocktailians, wineries and artisans. There’s cooking, cocktail and wine classes and demonstrations too.  Laiko highly recommends SF Chefs, and fyi, she was a part of the original team who created this now iconic SF fest.

Laiko’s picks on Saturday at SF Chefs: Tasting Tent “Fête to the five tastes” benefitting La Cocina,  Regional Devotion Panel with Sean Brock from Charleston, and Quince’s Michael Tusk, The Eater Chef Challenge: Winner Takes the City with chefs David Bazirgan, Fifth Floor & Mark Dommen, One Market VS Omri Aflalo, Bourbon Steak & Mark Sullivan, Spruce.

Sat. Aug 3 afternoon – Enter or Judge the Pie Contest at Omnivore Books, San Francisco.

Make the best pie and take home dough! Use summer fruit to make pie, crumble, buckle, cobbler, crisp, tart…you get the picture. Cut it into as many pieces as you can so the most people can sample it and come a little before 3:00. Anyone just eating can pay $5 at the door, and the idea is to judge as many pies as you can. Everyone picks a favorite, and the one with the most votes splits the door money with us! The more the merrier.

Sat. Aug 3, Mendocino.  Tara Duggan Root to Stalk Dinner at Windblown Farm

Our friend Tara Duggan is the cookbook author of the new “Root to Stalk Cooking” book. To celebrate, Tara’s family is hosting a dinner featuring dishes from the book at their Windblown Farm Greenhouse in Mendo.  Tara is a James Beard award-winning staff writer at the San Francisco Chronicle and she trained as a chef at San Francisco’s California Culinary Academy, she has written several other cookbooks, including The Blue Bottle Craft of Coffee and The Working Cook.  If you can’t make this she’ll be doing another event at Omnivore Books in August and at the CUESA Kitchen later in the year.

Sun. Aug 3-4, Clarksburg – Wine Cheese & Bread Faire 2013

The Old Sugar Mill hosts the Wine Cheese & Bread Faire, Saturday and Sunday, August 3rd and 4th from 11-5pm. This is the “Ultimate Gourmet Wine & Food Shopping Experience” in the Sacramento Region, a great excuse to check out this historic area. Cheesemakers from local producers and local Bakers will showcase the region’s best cheese and bread pairings for our local Wines. Purveyors of specialty chocolates, olive oils, nuts, coffee & teas, spices, and other delicious locally made products will also be featured for tasting and available for purchase.

Thurs. Aug. 8. Taste Talks: Stepping Out: The 21st Century Pastry Chef. $20. San Francisco Cooking School

A few of the city’s top pastry chefs (Lincoln Carson, Bill Corbett, Belinda Leong, Nicole Plue, Michelle Polzine, Matt Tinder and William Werner) will be talking about what it means to be a pastry chef today — and how SF is a hot bed for pastry right now.  It’ll be an industry heavy crowd — and should be a lively conversation.
Tickets

Sun, Aug 11, St. Helena, Wine Country, Cochon Heritage Fire at Charles Krug Winery

Meat lover’s, bring your appetite to THE celebration of live-fire cooking and heritage bred whole animals.  A wide variety of heritage breed animals including goat, lamb, pig, beef, rabbit, birds, and cow are cooked over an open flame by 25 top chefs and butchers all from traveling Cochon family. 2000 pounds of different heritage breed animals, as well as cured meats, wood-fired and craft cheeses, hand-made sausages, heirloom vegetables, and boutique brews all in an effort to raise awareness of sustainable farming and heritage breed animals.  This is not for the faint of heart — but is an event like no other around the US.  We’ll be there — and hope to see you too!

Tues. Aug. 13. San Francisco – Knife Skills at San Francisco Cooking School

We’ve taken this class to brush up our knife work and found it really useful! The class provides you with lots of repetition to get you cutting, slicing, and chopping comfortably. Using vegetables as your guide, you will learn the proper, and safest, ways to use, store, and hone your knives.

Thurs. Aug. 15. Soba Making with Sonoko Sakai, San Francisco Cooking School

Our friend and colleague Japanese cooking teacher Sonoko Sakai, the founder of Common Grains, is back in SF!  For this class (which is expected to sell out BTW), she’ll review the Japanese pantry, and instruct how to make and serve Soba, the traditional hand-rolled and cut buckwheat noodles. One of her secrets is she hand-carries the milled buckwheat flour from Japan and combines it with Anson Mill’s buckwheat flour.

Sat. Aug 17. San Francisco’s Mission. La Cocina Street Food Fest – FREE

We HEART La Cocina’s San Francisco Street Food Festival!  It brings together all of the best ethnic and interesting food makers we love, who make a living doing what they love to do.  Get there early – it is a hugely popular fest. Learn more about La Cocina’s incubator program.

Sat. Aug 24. Alameda County Master Gardeners. Planning & Planting a Winter Vegetable Garden – FREE

It’s your chance to eat really locally with this free workshop. Learn what you can grow year round and how to produce great fall and winter vegetables.

Starts Aug. 26. Cooking Fundamentals, San Francisco Cooking School, Six Week Series

Maybe you’ve thought about going to culinary school full time — but just want to see if it’s really a good fit? Then we recommend you think about this popular 6-week series.  Each week you’ll build on new skills with this hands-one class at San Francisco Cooking School. By the end of this Series, you’ll be able to shop the farmers’ market for ingredients and transform those ingredients into tasty dishes without being entirely dependent on recipes. You’ll save money on your grocery bills when you start breaking down meats and poultry at home, and you’ll make sauces, pastas & desserts from scratch, effortlessly.

August 28. CUESA Yacht Rocks! Cocktail Benefit.

Like last year, Team Epicuring will be hosting and judging the Photo Contest. Don your favorite inspired yacht-ware.  It’s a fun summer time party with great bites and cocktails –all supporting the fantastic CUESA organization.  Join us and come aboard mateys!

Ticket link

Free every Sunday  in August, San Jose. Chef Demo’s hosted by Food Gal Carolyn Jung at Santana Row. 10:30-11:30 am.

Each Sunday will feature a different chef from one of the restaurants at Santana Row.

First up on Aug. 4, renowned Chef Chris Yeo of Sino and Straits will showcase Asian cooking.

Aug. 11, the talented Chef Thomas Ricci of LB Steak will teach you how to prepare the perfect steak.

Aug. 18, Chef Bradley Cenyowa of Pizza Antica, who grew up a stone’s throw from Santana Row and cooked in Europe for many years, will spotlight a growing trend — gluten-free cooking.

Aug. 25, Chef Chad Greer of Lark Creek Blue will demystify seafood and show you the best way to cook it.

Also on hand at each session will be nutritionist Mary Toscano, who will answer questions on how to choose the most nutritious foods for your daily diet.

Details