This Week’s Events

| Posted in Events

Monday—The weekly Piatto per Tutti cooking class and Foodie Trivia Contest are taking place tonight.

Tuesday—is the start of Maine Shrimp Season.

Wednesday—Black Tie Bistro is holding a cooking class.

Friday—First Friday Art Walk is taking place, and there will be an art exhibit and information session at the Meg Perry Center  by the co-owners of Local Sprouts.  West End Grocery is holding their monthly wine tasting.

Saturday—A wine tasting is taking place at Leroux Kitchen.

Sunday—culinary superstar David Chang from Momofuku will be at Rabelais for a book signing. Sweet Marguerites will be at an opening at the Toby Rosenberg Gallery for a chocolate tasting.

For more information on these and other upcoming food happenings in the area, visit the event calendar.

Coastal Maine Popcorn

| Posted in Under Construction

Friday’s Press Herald included an article about the Coastal Maine Popcorn shop that’s under construction at 43 Exchange Street.

They have a 6-foot-tall, stainless steel industrial hot air popper, capable of popping 50 pounds of kernels at a time. After the popcorn is popped, it’s flavored. The company offers 30 to 50 flavors at any one time, broken down into sweets (toasted coconut, maple, berry) and savories (salt and vinegar, buffalo wing, garlic).

The plan is to keep popping the popcorn in Boothbay Harbor, supplying the seasonal retail operation there and the year-round operation in Portland.

Phoenix Reviews Shima

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix has published a review of Shima.

Shima’s eclecticism is not the product of an effort to please all tastes, but rather the peripatetic development of a single palate. Chef David Shima is from a Japanese-Hawaiian family, but spent many years in Paris. His menu shows it, including traditional sushi and traditional French, with Hawaiian hints of Polynesian and Chinese along the way. The combination sounds unusual, but it can work well.

This week’s newspaper also includes a “precautionary list of what Thanksgiving food you should avoid seeking out or making” for your holiday guests.

Cookie Swaps

| Posted in Events, Uncategorized, Cooking

Meredith Goad’s article in today’s Press Herald catalogs the 3 types of cookie bakers and interviews Julia Usher, author of Cookie Swap: Creative Treats to Share Throughout the Year.

When it comes to holiday cookies, there are three types of bakers.

The first type sticks to an old family recipe like Taylor Swift trying to hold onto the microphone at the VMA Awards.

The second type is more like Adam Lambert at the American Music Awards — always pushing the envelope with something new and more, um, challenging.

The third type is like a karaoke performer. These folks buy pre-mixed, pre-sliced cookies in the grocer’s freezer, pop them in the oven, and they’re done. They like to call themselves singers, but they’re not fooling anyone but themselves.

Do you want to participate in a cookie swap? Rabelais is holding a cookie swap and book signing with Julia Usher this Sunday.

Leftover Wine

| Posted in Cooking

The blogosphere will soon be awash in articles providing advice on what to do with leftover turkey. The Portland Daily Sun has taken a different tack. An article in Tuesday’s paper polled a number of local experts on what to do with leftover wine.

Erin Lynch, the kitchen manager at Rosemont Market and Bakery, recommends using leftover wine to poach pears or dried fruit.

“Add a vanilla bean and some sugar to make a delicious wine sauce,” she suggested. “We use red wine in our pasta sauce and red wine is also what turns an ordinary beef stew into Boeuf Bourguignon.”

Four Season Farming Editorial

| Posted in General News

The Press Herald has published an editorial extolling virtues of local farms operating year round.

The demand for locally grown produce distributed at year-round farm-stands, farmers markets and community-supported agriculture share systems provide enough income to support the greenhouse building and heating bills that extend the growing season.

The interest in local food is good for both the farmers and their customers.