Culinary Experience for a Cause at St. Joseph's Center

Once in a while, an opportunity to do good, eat well and give back presents itself. This weekend, multitasking karma-seekers can participate in St. Joseph's Center's Culinary Experience for a Cause cooking classes, where they'll learn how to make French pastries from Gourmandise Desserts owner Clemence Gossett.

The funds raised by the classes go directly to the 100% donor-supported St. Joseph's Culinary Training Program,  a nonprofit family services organization in Venice. The training program is dedicated to giving low-income, unemployed individuals a chance to make a career in the culinary world.

Pastry chef Gossett will be guiding guests through hands-on training to prep their pancreas for the holiday seeaon. Students will create desserts such as petits fours, mascarpone tortes and both almond-vanilla bean and chocolate-pistachio financiers — little cakes named for the Parisian bankers who historically favored them.

Thankfully, you don't have to be as monetarily situated as a Parisian banker, as the class costs a modest $85 per person or $150 per couple. The sweetest part? You can hand off 50% of the bill to your accountant. The fundraising classes are tax-deductible.

Read the full article on the Brand X blog>>

-- Krista Simmons

Photo: Strawberry tart made by Clemence Gossett. Credit: Courtesy of Gourmandise Desserts.

Food bloggers making more than tempting photos at benefit bake sale

Cathy Danh got it just right when she described the problem with food blogs.

"I look at food blogs, pretty much every day, and lots of them, and I’m always thinking, ‘I want to eat that,’ " said Danh, who writes at Gastronomy Blog.

So, she and Laurie Moore of the blog G-ma’s Bakery decided to make at least some of those alluring photos real and available to all comers. They have organized Eat My Blog, a monster bake sale to benefit the L.A. Regional Food Bank.

"It seeemed silly to have people make all that food and eat it without a cause," Danh said this morning.

So, people with a sweet tooth can head to the patio of Zeke’s Smokehouse from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dec. 5, at the corner of La Brea and Santa Monica boulevards. Twenty-five kinds of treats are now on the menu – including some for vegans and those who can’t eat gluten. Also planned: classic whoopie pies, pumpkin swirl brownies, handmade macarons and black sesame cupcakes with matcha frosting. In addition to donating its patio, Zeke’s will also bake brownies.

Danh plans to bake rosemary apricot bars.

Among the blogs taking part are Eat. Sip. Chew., Eating L.A. and Delicious Coma.

Baked goods will sell for $1, $2 or $3. If other bakers want to take part, they can contact Danh at cathy37@gmail.com.

"It’s a way to connect with our readers in an intimate and real way," said Diana Hossfeld, author of the blog Diana Takes a Bite and a member of the Eat My Blog organizing committee.

The Los Angeles Regional Food Bank gets food to nearly 900 sites in L.A. County.

-- Mary MacVean

Eat My Blog logo designed by Laurie Moore. Dessert photo by Cathy Danh.

Recession Busters: Free dinner at new Stonefire Grill

Stonefire Grill -- the mini-chain with locations in Valencia, Irvine, Chatsworth, Fountain Valley and West Hills -- is opening a new restaurant in Pasadena. The pre-opening party takes place Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. On offer: free dinner. But be sure to leave a tip (and a big one if you can swing it) because all tips go to benefit the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. Owner Mary Harrigan's nephew, Brenden, suffers from the disease, and she has long been involved in the fight to find a cure.

Stonefire Grill specializes in American fare with a menu full of, you guessed it, grilled chicken, tri-tip and baby back ribs. Stonefire Grill, 473 N. Rosemead Blvd., Pasadena. RSVP to (818) 991-4054, Ext. 0.

--Jessica Gelt

Photo: Stonefire Grill

Cupcakes and more for Breast Cancer Awareness

October 2009 marks the 25th anniversary of National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. (Click here to learn more about what causes breast cancer and what you can do to prevent it.)

Here are a few ways to do good while stuffing your face:

-- The Sprinklesmobile will be at USC on Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. All of the proceeds from its Pink Ribbon strawberry cupcakes will go to the EIF Women’s Cancer Research Fund.
-- Crumbs is offering Pink Ribbon vanilla and chocolate cupcakes through Oct. 15. For each of these cupcakes it sells, the company will donate $1 to the National Breast Cancer Coalition.
-- Cleavage Creek winery, founded by Budge Brown after he lost his wife of 48 years to breast cancer, donates 10% of its gross wine sales to breast cancer research.

And if you prefer shopping to eating, here are some fashion items that help support the cause.

-- Elina Shatkin

Photo: Crumbs Bakeshop

Six Food Events You Should Know About: A wine-tastic weekend

SATURDAY

Cook, drink, repeat Participate in an Asian-fusion cooking class taught by chef Edgar Agbayani at Roy's Newport Beach. Learn what it takes to make ahi tuna tartare, macadamia-crusted mahi mahi and Roy's melting hot chocolate souffle. Eat what you cook and enjoy it with a mini Hawaiian martini and a glass of Roy's Rutherford Ranch Chardonnay. Roy's Newport Beach, Fashion Island, 453 Newport Center Drive. 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. $40. (949) 640-7697.

A taste of home Head to the 33rd annual Home Remodeling & Decorating Show in Pasadena and participate in the Taste of Home Cooking School hosted by Taste of Home magazine. Participants will learn to cook a variety of "fall comfort classics" including Flank Steak Santa Fe, Mom's Manicotti and Smoked Salmon and Chive Cheesecake. Every attendee gets a gift bag filled with all sorts of stuff that you may or may not use, such as coupons and product samples. Pasadena Convention Center, 300 Green St. 3 to 6 p.m. $15.95 admission includes entry into the Home Show. (818) 557-2950. www.thehomeshow.com.

You're so wine-y The Malibu Wine Classic is back for its seventh year featuring tastes from more than 60 wineries from the Central Coast. The afternoon “grand tasting” includes all of the wineries as well as food from more than two dozen popular restaurants including the Water Grill, Saddle Peak Lodge, STK and Joe’s Pizza of Bleecker Street. The tasting benefits Childhelp, a nonprofit dedicated to the prevention of child abuse. Malibu Civic Center, 23555 Civic Center Way, Malibu. 1 to 4:30 p.m. $79 in advance, $100 at the door. www.malibuwineclassic.com.

Top Chef Masters: "I will beat you with my quesadilla!"

Fans got a taste of what they’ve come to crave from Top Chef during Episode 3 on Wednesday:  a sprinkling of drama, a few sound bites from a trash-talking European chef and a dash of frenzy during the "elimination challenge."

Ludo Lefebvre was a breath of fresh air for the series, making it clear that he was there to win. Many of these top-notch chefs seem to be tip-toeing around one another and playing nice simply because there’s a charity involved. We want drama! We want blood!

Fortunately it didn't take long for the show to serve up both. The quick-fire challenge was to create a dish using a single color palate. The waiters accidentally forgot to bring out the beet gazpacho that accompanied Ludo's beef carpaccio, which led to a melodramatic outburst. When the gazpacho finally was delivered, the judges weren't pleased with the monochromatic mess that resulted. The drizzled beet soup turned the plate into a gory murder scene. Ludo's wasn't the only slip-up, though. Wilo Bennettleft the ring around his salmon tartare, but the judges didn’t give a hoot. He won the quick fire.

For the offal street food elimination challenge, all four of the chefs chose to prepare dishes from Latin America. Don’t get me wrong, I’m an Angeleno who’s all about a late-night taco run, but there are so many roads they could have taken with those ingredients (heart, tripe, tongue and pig’s ear). 

For example, Ludo drew the pig ear for the challenge and chose to make a quesadilla, which seemed a bit unimaginative considering pig ear has so many street food-friendly applications (Thai hu mu plao or French-fried pig ear salad, to name two). Plus, television's guru of Mexican cooking, Rick Bayless, was his competition. Cindy Pawlcyn's bland menudo had everyone underwhelmed, and judge James Oseland was perturbed by Bennett's cold pita pocket. Bayless' tacos de lengua (tongue tacos) ended up bowling over the judges and the tourists at Universal Studios who got to do the scoring. 

The quote of the hour was definitely Ludo’s threat to Bayless, “I will beat you with my quesadilla!”  Sounds like grounds for a restraining order to me.

--Krista Simmons

Photos: Bravo TV

When 'Dining in the Dark,' silverware is optional

 

At the $300-ticket, cocktail-dress-only benefit "Dinner in the Dark" on Tuesday night in the Beverly Hills Hotel Crystal Ballroom, I shamelessly ate my dinner with my fingers. But I wasn’t worried because no one could see me.

When the lights went out at the “Dining in the Dark” event, the room was drenched in complete darkness, as the doors were taped up and every light source sealed off. The “Dining in the Dark” concept was created in Germany and is now hosted around the world by the Foundation Fighting Blindness to give well-seeing people firsthand experience of some of the challenges facing the visually impaired. Proceeds fund research for retinal degenerative diseases.

The other 200 guests -- fully grown men and women, most of them -- began to giggle and shout at one another to make sure their dining partner was still beside them. The most desperate reached for the reassuring light of their cellphones, only to be booed by the rest of the room until they turned it off. However, the booing and the cheering were all lighthearted, despite the weighty issues behind the evening. Emcee Jon Wellner, an actor from CBS’ "CSI: Crime Scene Investigation," who is has retinitis pigmentosa, a degenerative retinal disease, drew many laughs. “I look up a lot of pornography to save up for the dark years,” he quipped.

Our main course -- breast of chicken stuffed with artichoke hearts and sun-dried tomatoes, ratatouille-stuffed squash and sweet roasted fingerling potatoes -- was served by the visually impaired during the 35 minutes the lights were off.

And, as I was told by the FFB staff, most of the guests end up eating with their fingers.

-- Kelsey Ramos

Photo: Kelsey Ramos

Sampler Platter: New Farrell's, wine and Klingons, cereal marshmallows

Finally, it's Friday's food news ...

• Farrell's Ice Cream Parlourannounces its first Orange County comeback location: the Shops at Mission Viejo. Fast Food Maven
• Celestino Drago and nine other top chefs will volunteer on May 17 for the third Flavors of Los Angeles event, benefiting the American Liver Foundation. Please tell me they serve paté. Downtown News
• Wine tasting and Klingons in the Red Rock desert at this weekend's Klingon Bloodwine Festival. In case you were wondering about food preferences and etiquette at such an event, Serious Eats offers a primer on "Star Trek" food and drink. (Vulcans don't like barbecue; Romulans are big drunks.)
• Forget those pesky grains. Cereal Marshmallows, the least healthy website in the history of the world, sells bulk cereal marshmallows for about $6 a bag. Momlogic
• Red Lobsterfinally offers an online and downloadable nutrition guide. Consumerist

— Elina Shatkin

Photo: Sharon Shultz of Gilbert, Ariz., attends the 2007 Comic-Con dressed as a Klingon. Credit: Spencer Weiner / Los Angeles Times

Feeding L.A. from neighborhood trees

The fruit-picking project Rick Nahmias began recently -- Food Forward -- to supply food banks with the food left on trees is growing. And there are several harvesting days ahead. Check out the new website.

-- Mary MacVean

Image courtesy Food Forward

Sorry makeover artists, Mario Batali's not parting with those orange Crocs

Chefs spend hours in the kitchen, sweating over a hot stove for your feast. Do they really care what they look like back there? Mario Batali sure doesn't. He'll even tout his famous jailhouse orange Crocs around town.

On Tuesday night at the Can-Do Awards, which benefit the Food Bank for New York City, the Iron Chef told Fashion Week Daily to step off. Fashionable or not, he's gonna rock those trademark Crocs:

"Crocs are my signature, and I take a beating on your blogs about it! All fashion blogs think these shoes are the ultimate problem. I wear them because they’re the most comfortable thing and I don’t give a .... about fashion. I like fashion on other people.”

Turns out whether he cares about it or not, Mario's a fashion trendsetter. Orange was all the rage at the fall 2009 New York Fashion Week men's shows.

-- Whitney Friedlander

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Photo: Chef Mario Batali attends the sixth-annual Can-Do Awards dinner and auction hosted by the Food Bank for New York City. Credit: Andrew H. Walker / Getty Images