ArtBites explores the history of desserts on Dec. 11

Explore the history of desserts Sunday in a hand's-on class through ArtBites.

The day starts at LACMA, where participants will explore the museum's collection of Latin American, French, English and Italian paintings and decorative arts. After the museum visit and discussion, the group will meet at Surfas' test kitchen for a hands-on cooking class.

Holiday desserts to be made include büche de Noël, gingerbread baby cakes, a fresh berry galette, a maple-pear upside down cake and chocolate-peppermint bark.

ArtBites was founded by Maite Gomez-Rejón in 2007 to combine the history of art and food. She has worked in the education departments of various museums and also as a private chef, so her resume is perfect for the endeavor. ArtBites hosts classes that tour museum galleries, tracing the historical role of food through art collections, followed by hands-on-cooking classes.

Sunday's four-hour class starts at noon and is $100 per person. The price  includes museum admission, tour, recipes, ingredients and wine.

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Photo: Büche de Noël. Credit: Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times

Coffee roasting class at the Domestic Institute of Technology

If you want to start roasting your own coffee beans at home -- or are at all interested in how beans are roasted -- check the website of the Institute of Domestic Technology for upcoming classes. The first coffee roasting class took place in October, taught by LA Mill coffee roaster Ian Riley. Another is scheduled for Jan. 22, says Joseph Shuldiner, founder of the Institute of Domestic Technology, which offers a variety of workshops about food crafting at the Zane Grey estate in Altadena. 

Students use stove-top, hand-cranked Whirley-Pop popcorn poppers to roast green coffee beans. "I think it’s a surprisingly sort of accurate representation of commercial roasters," Riley says, "in that there's an adjustable heating element and a mechanism for agitating the beans so they roast evenly, and a de facto air flow.... It's accessible, cheap and uses very simple technology. It provides a really great path to understanding this thing that’s normally shrouded in mystery."

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Photo: Top, cooling freshly roasted coffee beans using colanders at the Institute of Domestic Technology; Whirley-Pop popcorn poppers. Credit: Betty Hallock

Master food preservers host holiday craft workshop

The L.A. County Master Food Preservers program, an initiative of the University of California/Cooperative Extension, is holding a fundraiser,  Gifts for the Holidays, on Dec. 4 at the Homegirl Cafe in Chinatown.

The food-crafting afternoon will feature five demonstrations for 50 attendees, with refreshments in addition to samples of gifts from each demo: food ornaments, liqueurs, gourmet mustards, spiced jams and candied fruits. 

Click here for reservations. The cost is $45 per person. Proceeds benefit the Master Food Preservers program in support of volunteer community education.

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3 Events: wagashi lessons; Los Muertos at El Carmen; Cupcakes + Art

Wagashi workshop: Tokyo confectionery master Chikara Mizukami will lead two workshops next month on wagashi, traditional Japanese sweets. Mizukami will prepare handmade "namagashi" pastries inspired by nature, ancient literature and Japanese poems, and discuss how wagashi has evolved into an art form. Participants will taste the distinctive flavors and textures, served with tea, and learn about ingredients and techniques. Mizukami's first visit to the U.S. was made possible with a grant from the Japanese American National Museum. Classes will be held in Venice and downtown Los Angeles. Call for reservations. Nov. 17 and 18 at Tortoise General Store, 1208 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 314-8448, www.tortoisegeneralstore.com. Nov. 19 at the Japanese American National Museum, 369 E. 1st St., Los Angeles, (213) 625-0414, www.janm.org. 

Margaritas and los Muertos: Tequila bar El Carmen is celebrating Dia de los Muertos on Wednesday with drink specials, a deejay and traditional painted faces. Classic margaritas will be $5 and Tecate will cost $4, served by employees who will be sporting Dia de los Muertos painted faces. Guests are encouraged to arrive in painted faces or Dia de los Muertos costumes too. DJ Garron Gash will be spinning. Wednesday marks the second day of the two-day celebration of Dia de los Muertos, the day on which deceased adults are honored. 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. 8138 W. 3rd St., Los Angeles, (323) 852-1552, www.elcarmenrestaurant.com. 

Cupcakes + Art: Urban Food Crawl, which hosts weekly vegan food tours in downtown L.A., is holding a vegan cupcake competition, dubbed Cupcakes + Art. Ten L.A. bakers will bake vegan mini cupcakes, to be judged at the gallery Hold Up Art in Little Tokyo, with a cupcake-themed art show. Proceeds from art sales go to the winning baker's charity of choice. Competitors are: Bake You Happy, Crushcakes & Cafe, Jamaica's Cakes, Sweet Alexis, Courtesan Cupcakes, Amanda's Bakery & Cafe, Babycakes, No Udder Desserts, Claracakes and Rawbites. Attendees will eat and vote on the cupcakes. Tickets are $35; buy them online. Sunday, Nov. 6 at 3 p.m. 358 E. 2nd St., Los Angeles. 

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Photo: Wagashi Japanese sweets. Credit: tortoisegeneralstore.com

Japanese hot pot workshop at Tortoise General Store

Author Sonoko Sakai will lead a Japanese hot pot workshop at Tortoise General Store in Venice on Nov. 6. Students will learn how to make nabe -- a Japanese soup made in a donabe clay pot, right at the table.

Sakai will show participants how to prepare and serve three hot pots: yudofu, made with tofu, daikon radish and kombu seaweed, served with ginger, shichimi pepper and Japanese green onions; a winter nabe made with black cod, nappa cabbage and aged tofu, seasoned with white miso; and chanko nabe, a savory soup made with chicken meatballs and vegetables, served with yuzu kosho and ground sesame seeds. Zosui, a Japanese-style risotto-like dish made with rice and the rich broth, will be prepared at the end of the meal, served with Japanese herbs. 

10 a.m. to 1 p.m. Nov. 6. $95 per person. 10 people maximum. Call or email Tortoise General Store for reservations. For more information, go to the Tortoise General Store website. 

Tortoise General Store, 1208 Abbot Kinney Blvd., Venice, (310) 314-8448, hello@tortoisegeneralstore.com. 

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Photo: Hot pot ingredients. Credit: Kirk McKoy/Los Angeles Times 

3 Events: ice cream class; Deconstructed L.A.; Octobeer at Mezze

Ice Cream 101: Carmela Ice Cream announces its classes for fall, focusing on "savory" flavors. Make brown butter sage ice cream and cranberry orange thyme sorbet. Each student will take home one pint of each flavor. The class will cover the basics of creating ice cream and sorbet bases at home, with demonstrations and tastings of each. Other topics include flavor inspiration, utilizing local farmers market produce and pairing ideas. Classes are Oct. 22, Nov. 5 and Nov. 19, from 9 a.m. to noon. $100 per person (includes 2 pints). To reserve your space, email store@carmelaicecream.com. 2495 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, (626) 797-1405. 

Firestone beer dinner: Firestone Walker Brewing is hosting a beer pairing dinner, "Deconstructed L.A.," during L.A. Beer Week that features several tapas dishes from chef Sean Paxton, "The Homebrew Chef" along with its specialty on Oct. 12 at the Avalon in Hollywood. The dinner celebrates XV, Firestone's 15th-anniversary beer, which is a blend of eight barrel-aged beers constructed by local Paso Robles winemakers under the direction of brewmaster Matt Brynildson. The eight-course tasting "deconstructs" the eight beers that make up XV. A few pairing examples: duck tagine with Sticky Monkey; lamb tenderloin with Helldorado; and merguez with Double Jack. 7 to 10 p.m. $75 per person. For tickets and more information, go to www.fwdeconstructed.com or call (805) 225-5911 x604.

More beer at Mezze: Mezze chef Micah Wexler is pairing craft beers with his Eastern Mediterranean food through the month of October. It's the Octobeer four-course tasting menu, matching beers such as the Bruery's Oude Tart Flemish ale with wild salmon on B. Bendik & Son rye and La Chouffe Belgian ale with lardo flatbread or lamb and pork pate. Also on the menu: Arrogant Bastard with lamb belly or veal sausage, and North Coast Brewing Old No. 38 with chocolate mousse and honey milk sorbet. $50 (two person minimum). 401 N. La Cienega Blvd., Los Angeles, (310) 657-4103, www.mezzela.com. 

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Photo credit: Carmela Ice Cream

Green tea workshops from 300-year-old Kyoto tea purveyor

Where better to learn about Japanese green tea than from tea masters at Ippodo, a company in Kyoto that has been producing tea for more than three centuries? It was founded in 1717, five years before this country. On Sept. 23 and 24, Tortoise General Store on Abbot Kinney in Venice is hosting Ippodo staff for a series of Japanese green tea workshops. If you've ever been confused about brewing temperatures or tea etiquette, here's your chance to listen in on three centuries of experience with the delicate tea. In “Introductory Green Tea” students will learn to prepare all four types of Japanese green tea — matcha, gyokuro, sencha and hojicha. Master both the basics and the difference between grades of matcha and gyokuro in the “Matcha & Gyokuro” workshop. The 4 1/2-hour classes are limited to eight students and cost $45, including tastings.   Call Tortoise at (310) 314-8448 for the schedule or email workshop@tortoisegeneralstore.com to reserve a place. ALSO: New York Times restaurant critic moves on Santa Monica farmers market celebrates 30 years Food events: Moon Festival, Nancy Silverton and more -- S. Irene Virbila Twitter.com/sirenevirbila Photos: Matcha. Credit: Ippodo

 

Survival cooking demo at High Desert Test Sites workshop

Artists Danielle McCullough and Gabie Strong will lead a sun-print cyanotype-process workshop, "Blast Site: A Workshop for Conjecture," on Nov. 12 at the High Desert Test Sites headquarters in Joshua Tree.

The workshop explores survival in the high desert, primarily grounded in post-apocalyptic science fiction, plant guides, archaeological archives and 20th century art history. The day's itinerary includes a guided hike through Blast Site, a cyanotype-process printing demonstration using sunlight and materials gathered from the desert floor, a survival cooking demonstration and a barbecued vegetarian lunch.

The lunch is part of an overall arts experience, incorporating native vegetation. Mushrooms marinated in a homemade vinegar and desert aromatics will be seared on hot rocks in a fire pit and served on mesquite flour flatbread, with pickled nopalitos, homemade yogurt and pinion seeds. Alcohol-based tinctures and teas derived from an assortment of local desert plants will be served to workshop attendees too. 

Registration for the workshop is $120 per person. Highdeserttestsites.com.

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Photo credit: Gabie Strong and Danielle McCullough, Blast Site: A Monument for Future Failures, 2011. Cyanotype fabric, painted leather, slipcrete, silver, ash, paint, pallets, wood, 16mm film with pen and ink,  and 16mm projector. Installed in at Shangrila, New Moon exhibition, Joshua Tree. Photo courtesy of Gabie Strong.

Le Sanctuaire hosts summer classes from Ideas in Food

Remember Le Sanctuaire, the luxe retail kitchen boutique on Main Street in Santa Monica? Opened in 2003, that's where chefs (and avid cooks) stocked up on spices, knives, imported cookbooks and elegant porcelain. The business moved north to San Francisco a while ago and is now mostly wholesale to chefs and restaurateurs, though individuals can visit the showroom by appointment and order herbs and spices and other high-end ingredients online.

    

You can check out Le Sanctuaire's classes if you happen to be in San Francisco the weekend of June 25 and 26 and have a burning desire to learn the ins and outs of sous-vide (Saturday 1:30 to 4 p.m.), extruded pasta (Saturday 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.) or, ta dum, the Thermomix (Sunday 1:30 to 4 p.m.). The duo behind the blog (and book) Ideas in Food will be offering classes. A two-and-a-half hour class is $125. Fortunately, ogling Le Sanctuaire's exquisite dinnerware and serving pieces is free.

To see if you're interested in the classes, check out the Ideas in Food blog or dip into "Ideas in Food, Great Recipes and Why They Work" by Aki Kamozawa and H. Alexander Talbot. 

Reserve classes by contacting Le Sanctuaire at (415) 986-4216. Individuals can purchase herbs and spices online. For a list of retailers, visit Seesmelltaste.com.

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Credit: Le Sanctuaire

 

3 Food Events You Should Know About: 'Good Food Happy Hour' at Stark Bar; cooking with 'Top Chef Masters' Mary Sue Miliken and Susan Feniger; tequila tasting at the Langham

Drinks all around: On Thursday from 7 to 9 p.m., Stark Bar is pairing up with KCRW to kick off their "Summer of Pie" celebration with a happy hour. Enjoy their signature Key Lime Pie cocktail, a red and white wine by the glass, and flatbread and beer, all while looking out over LACMA's Urban Light exhibit (above). 5905 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, (323) 857-6180, www.raysandstarkbar.com.

Tequila tasting: Tequila Partida and the Langham Huntington in Pasadena throw a tequila tasting next week in the hotel's Tap Room, featuring margaritas (from a margarita bar), tasting flights and bar bites. May 19, 6 to 8 p.m. $20 per person. For more information or to RSVP, contact Sara Gorelick at sgorelick@colangelopr.com. 1401 S. Oak Knoll Ave., Pasadena, www.pasadena.langhamhotels.com.

Cooking class: Chefs Mary Sue Miliken and Susan Feniger, a.k.a. the "Too Hot Tamales," are raising money for the organization Share Our Strength on "Top Chef Masters" this season. Now they're bringing their skills to you. On June 11, at 11 a.m. or 2 p.m., they'll be teaching a cooking class at the Border Grill downtown, including a multi-course lunch, cocktails and a recipe booklet. $75 per person. Call to make reservations. 445 South Figueroa St., Los Angeles, (213) 486-5171, www.bordergrill.com. 

-- Emma Wartzman

Photo: Urban Light at LACMA. Credit: LACMA