This Week’s Events: Terry Thiese, Whoopie Pie Throwdown, Terra Madre

| Posted in Events

Monday — Chef Jennifer Flock is teaching an Italian cooking class tonight.

Tuesday — wine guru Terry Thiese will be in Portland for a book signing at Rabelais and a sold out dinner at Bar Lola.

Wednesday — RSVP and Old Port Wine Merchants are both hosting wine tastings, Wine Wise is exploring French wines and the Food Network is airing a whoopie pie throwdown between Cranberry Island Kitchen and Bobby Flay.

Thursday — a French wine dinner is taking place at the Sea Glass restaurant in Cape Elizabeth, there will be wine tastings at Aurora Provisions and Rosemont Market, and the Great Lost Bear will showcase beer from Rising Tide.

Friday — Slow Food is holding a potluck dinner and panel discussion entitled “Bringing Home Terra Madre: A Panel Discussion on Slow Food & Maine Food”.

Saturday — Rosemont Market and Black Cherry Provisions are holding a wine tastings, and the Deering Oaks Farmers Market is taking place.

Christmas Eve — I haven’t heard yet from any restaurants that are planning dinners on Christmas day but several have announced that they’ll be open Christmas Eve: El Rayo, Five Fifty-Five, The Corner Room, The Front Room, The Grill Room and Vignola. Cinque Terre is also open on Christmas Eve when they’ll be holding their annual Feast of the Seven Fishes dinner, 4-8, $65 per person.

New Year’s Eve — Bar Lola, Five Fifty-Five, Figa, Frog & Turtle and Sea Glass have all announced special events for New Year’s Eve. I’ll be adding more to the calendar as I hear of them.

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

If you are holding a food event this week that’s not listed above, publicize it by adding it as a comment to this post.

Maine Shrimp Season Off to a Good Start

| Posted in Fisheries

There’s a report in today’s Press Herald on the start of the Maine shrimp season.

Mike Alfiero, whose family owns Harbor Fish Market on Custom House Wharf, said he planned to charge around $5.99 to $6.99 a pound for hand-picked meat, $3.99 to $4.99 a pound for headless shrimp, and $1 to $1.25 a pound for whole shrimp when supplies show up in display cases today.

Viva Lebowski & 13th Cookie

| Posted in Events, Beer

Today’s Press Herald includes an interview with Dave Cousins, the organizer behind this weekend’s Viva Lebowski festival at Bayside Bowl.

In Cousins’ mind, the event needed to be bigger than just a fun night out. His “reason” for doing the event came through a friend, Colleen Kelley, owner of Silly’s restaurant in Portland. Nicholas Stevens, a former Silly’s employee and owner of 13th Cookie, a local bakery of organic, vegan, gluten- and soy-free cookies, has multiple sclerosis, and a flare-up prevented him from working.

Cousins, who only knew Stevens casually, jumped at the chance to put his passion for Lebowski to good use. Stevens, Cousins said, is a humble guy who can’t believe complete strangers want to help him out. But Cousins sees it differently.

Today’s paper also includes a What Ales You column on winter beers.

Viva Lebowski & 13th Cookie

| Posted in Events, Beer

Today’s Press Herald includes an interview with Dave Cousins, the organizer behind this weekend’s Viva Lebowski festival at Bayside Bowl.

In Cousins’ mind, the event needed to be bigger than just a fun night out. His “reason” for doing the event came through a friend, Colleen Kelley, owner of Silly’s restaurant in Portland. Nicholas Stevens, a former Silly’s employee and owner of 13th Cookie, a local bakery of organic, vegan, gluten- and soy-free cookies, has multiple sclerosis, and a flare-up prevented him from working.

Cousins, who only knew Stevens casually, jumped at the chance to put his passion for Lebowski to good use. Stevens, Cousins said, is a humble guy who can’t believe complete strangers want to help him out. But Cousins sees it differently.

Today’s paper also includes a What Ales You column on winter beers.

Wine & Apps at Trader Joe's

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix “convened a panel to sample a variety of the store’s cheap red wines, along with some of their representative frozen appetizers.”

None of this wine was much worse than what you might get from Hannaford for twice the price. The snacks were good for getting a bit of grease in the stomach between sips. Potato pancakes had street-vendor-latke simplicity with no discernable herbs. Lemongrass rolls had distinct and pleasant gingery flavor, and pastries topped with ham and a creamy bland cheese were not bad when piping hot. Mini chicken tacos were stiff and unacceptably tasteless.

Wine & Apps at Trader Joe’s

| Posted in Reviews

The Portland Phoenix “convened a panel to sample a variety of the store’s cheap red wines, along with some of their representative frozen appetizers.”

None of this wine was much worse than what you might get from Hannaford for twice the price. The snacks were good for getting a bit of grease in the stomach between sips. Potato pancakes had street-vendor-latke simplicity with no discernable herbs. Lemongrass rolls had distinct and pleasant gingery flavor, and pastries topped with ham and a creamy bland cheese were not bad when piping hot. Mini chicken tacos were stiff and unacceptably tasteless.