FARM FRESH
This Sunday (and every Sunday), Ballard Avenue closes its streets to welcome fruit and vegetable purveyors of all types. In addition to spring crops like asparagus and sorrel, you’ll find fresh-grilled quesadillas and award-winning local cheeses from Estrella Creamery. Visit the Ballard Market on Sundays, 10 a.m.–4 p.m., at Ballard Avenue and 20th Avenue Northwest. To find a farmers market close to you, visit www.dnr.metrokc.gov/wlr/farms/farmers_markets.htm.
Advance registration or reservations are recommended for most of the following events. Prices exclusive of tax and gratuity unless otherwise noted.
ON THE PLATE
Tuesday, April 17
The name says it all: Eat Local Now. This fourth annual dinner, hosted by Sustainable Ballard, offers foodies (and nonfoodies) a chance to enjoy chef-cooked local foods, meet local farmers, and learn more about how eating locally can help sustain our community. $25 general, $15 student/limited income/senior (includes family-style dinner), free for children under 5. 6–9 p.m.Ballard High School, 1418 N.W. 65th St., 384-0053, www.eatlocalnow.sustainableballard.org. BALLARD
BACK TO SCHOOL
Saturday, April 14
Yarrow Bay Grill pastry chef Jessica Campbell presents Chocolate 101—perhaps an endorphin antidote to your tax-filing blues? This hands-on class features a rich menu (chocolate ganache, lava cake, and sea-salt caramel ganache tarts) and a lesson in basic truffle-making techniques. You’ll sample the sweet results of your labor, along with wines from the Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. $60. 12:30–2:30 p.m. 1270 Carillon Point, 425-889-9052, www.ybgrill.com. KIRKLAND
Wednesday, April 18
Does the prospect of eating local food, sourced almost exclusively from farmers markets, seem like an ideal but prohibitively expensive proposition? Take a trek to Carnation and learn from the experts about Eating Seasonally on a Budget. Culinary Communion Cooking School head chef Gabriel Claycamp and dietician and food policy and nutrition consultant Kelly Horton will teach you how to feed a family of four three meals a day on a mere $25. Impossible, you say? This free class promises practical tips for shopping at the farmers market, eating seasonally, and how to cook delicious, locally sourced meals without breaking the bank. Free. 6:30–8:30 p.m.Miller’s Community and Arts Center, 4597 Tolt Ave., 205-3130, www.king.wsu.edu/enviro/eeereg.htm. CARNATION
DRINK UP
Sunday, April 15 (not Saturday the 14th, as listed in the print version)
Collins Pub hosts a brewmaster dinner with New Belgium Brewing Co. brewer Peter Bouckaert. The sit-down, five-course meal will feature New Belgium‘s well-known Fat Tire Ale, as well as the brewery’s new wit beer (Belgian-style white beer), Mothership, and the unusual La Folie, a “spontaneously fermented, wood-aged sour beer,” each paired with local foods, including Alaskan halibut. $50. 5:30 p.m. 526 Second Ave., 623-1016, www.thecollinspub.com. PIONEER SQUARE
Saturday, April 14 & Sunday, April 15
This year’s 10th anniversary Taste Washington is a two-day wine fest, with representation from a slew of Washington wineries, ginormous to indie-small. And there’s a great lineup of speakers and special guests on Education Day (Saturday), including Adam Strum, editor of Wine Enthusiast magazine; Piero Antinori, “the most famous name in Italian wine,” whose family has been making wines since 1385; and Ted Baseler, president and CEO of Ste. Michelle Wine Estates. Talks include “$20 and Under Washington Wonders,” with New York Times columnist Howard Goldberg ,and an all-female panel discussing “What a Woman Wants,” with Lettie Teague, executive wine editor of Food & Wine magazine. Education Day (Saturday): Talks priced individually. 9 a.m.–4 p.m. Bell Harbor International Conference Center, 2211 Alaskan Way, 667-9463, www.tastewashington.org. WATERFRONT Taste Washington (Saturday & Sunday): VIP Wine Tasting ($125) 2–4 p.m. Grand Tasting ($85) 4–8 p.m. Qwest Field Event Center, 800 Occidental Ave. S., 667-9463, www.tastewashington.org. SODO
Saturday, April 14
If you’d rather attend what promises to be an anti-stuffy wine tasting, alongside others (probably many) still figuring out not only what but how to drink, you might be curious about 20something: The new vintage, part of Taste Washington. If the name doesn’t put you off, go check out the offerings of 50 Washington wineries, with music by KEXP DJ Darek Mazzone. Appetizers will be provided, to help pad inexperienced bellies against too much of the grape. “Wine rave,” anyone? $40. 7–11:30 p.m. West Club Lounge, Qwest Field, 800 Occidental Ave. S., www.tastewashington.org/seattle/party.html. SODO
Food and/or beverage news or events? E-mail food@seattleweekly.com.
