Seattle Food Events Calendar Highlights Feb 7 – Feb 13

Looking for Food Events? As of January, 2009, please see my new site: www.FreshPickedSeattle.com!

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If you like chocolate, this is your week!  Nearly every single day this week, there is some chocolate-related activity available for you in the build-up to Valentine’s Day.

Please see Seattle Food Events Calendar page for FULL calendar (as there's more than just these highlights) and if any of the below highlights interest you, you can find more details and contact info in the actual Calendar itself.

THIS WEEK

Thursday, Feb 7:

• Happy Lunar New Year!  It is Year of the Rat…wait.  O…M…G…WHAT KIND OF MESSED-UP OMEN IS IT THAT MY CAT BROUGHT HOME A DEAD RAT JUST A FEW DAYS BEFORE THE YEAR OF THE RAT STARTS?  I am going to put on ALL KINDS of red underwear.  And here I was feeling all optimistic about the year ahead.  Maybe it’s somehow a good omen.  Yeah, let’s go with that.  I’m going to HUNT DOWN and SUBDUE this year WITH GOOD TIMES!  I’m going to rip out its entrails, but in a really fun and positive way!  (Insert Howard Dean scream here.)
• Moving on.
• Chocolate Fest at Whole Foods.  $10 donation to The Hope Heart Institute gets you samples of chocolate-inspired foods and products.  Starts at 5pm.
• Zinfandel tasting at Fremont and Issaquah PCC.
• Space still available at tonight’s Farestart with Peter Levine of Troiani Ristorante Italiano.

Friday, Feb 8:

• FREE! Carpenter Creek Winery in Mt. Vernon starts a three-day Red Wine and Chocolate Festival. 
• Malt and Vine has a Valentine’s Day beer tasting; they say: "Bring your sweetie in for cherries and chocolate. Yes! We're talking about beer."

Saturday, Feb 9:

• Rainier Beach Community Center has a pancake breakfast to support community center scholarships and programs.
• West Seattle PCC is accepting used bike and bike part donations to help kids in Togo get to school.  11am to 3pm only.
• Chinatown-International District is having its Lunar New Year celebration starting at 12pm.  No food listed, but I can’t imagine anyone would let guests go hungry at such an event.  A Kung Fu club will perform!
• Kids always get the best of everything.  Union Square Grill is having a Kids’ Chocolate Painting event.  Painting with chocolate on chocolate.  Benefits the Moyer Foundation.
• Chateau Ste Michelle has a special Valentine’s Day dinner. Not yet listed as booked online, but it’s likely…call ASAP if interested.
• FREE!Carpenter Creek Winery in Mt. Vernon continues the Red Wine and Chocolate Festival. 

Sunday, Feb 10:

• Steve Gdula speaks at the Elliott Bay Book Company on his book The Warmest Room in the House: How the Kitchen Became the Heart of the Twentieth-Century American Home.
• FREE! Last day of Carpenter Creek Winery in Mt. Vernon Red Wine and Chocolate Festival. 

Monday, Feb 11: Tilth’s recurring “Homage to Local Producers” features Theo Chocolates.

Tuesday, Feb 12:

• Wine and Cheese Tasting at Chateau Ste Michelle.
• “Local Flavor: A Taste of Things to Come” Hugo House's theater-in-residence, Next Stage, presents this fund-raiser in support of its first free week of programming. Sample local foods, wines and beers from neighboring restaurants and watch a preview of Next Stage's 2008 season.”

Wednesday, Feb 13:

• Splash Winemaker Dinner at TASTE at SAM. Featuring Brian Carter Cellars.
• Bastyr University once again provides a counterpoint to the gluttony otherwise generally available in this highlights: “Michael Murray, ND, will give a talk on his latest book, Hunger Free Forever- The New Science of Appetite Control, in which he shows how to control appetite and tune the metabolism for lifelong weight control.”
• FREE! Union Square Grill is holding complementary chocolate and wine tastings on Wednesdays through the 27th.  This week, the theme is “European Chocolate Desserts & Dessert Wines.”

ON-GOING

• Uwajimaya’s Chinese New Year Sales continues until the 12th.
• Cupcake Royale's special Valentine's Day cupcake, Deathcake Royale is available now through Valentine’s Day.
• FREE! Union Square Grill is holding complementary chocolate and wine tastings on Wednesdays through the 27th. 
• PCC Bulk Work Packaging Parties and Wine Tastings – various, still haven’t add sites after Issaquah in the alphabet. See PCC site for full details of all sites.
• Mac and Cheese Mondays at The Tasting Room.
• Some winter Farmers Markets still going.

COMING UP

• “Oyster Lovers, Unite” Event at The Tasting Room on Feb 21.  Oyster and Wine feast to benefit Pacific Shellfish Growers Association.  Tickets on sale now.
• On Feb 29, Union Square Grill will have Cacao Crazy Dinner, with a “five-course dinner of chocolate-inspired dishes including foie gras with chocolate mousse, cocoa-rubbed filet mignon and assorted truffles.”
• FareStart: Reservations Open for 3/20/8 Chef Nick Musser of Icon Grill.  Space still available for 3/6/8 Chef Joseph Conrad of Qube & 3/13/8 Chef Andrew Wilson from Suncadia Resort. 
• Serafina in Eastlake will continue to hold wine tastings roughly every couple of weeks on Saturdays at 3pm. Their website lists the themes for the events and indicates they might fill up.
• TASTE at SAM:  Valentine’s Day Dinner still posted, possibly an option for the procrastinating?  Their Sunday Supper with local meat and dairy ranchers Skagit River Ranch dinner was postponed, new date not yet determined.   The next dinner that had been listed is now not on website. Will continue to check back..
• Chateau St. Michelle will have a "Tour de France" on March 15, a "Spring Fling" on April 19, and "An Evening with John Sarich" on May 16.
• Cache private supper club events seem to fill up very quickly.  Their Feb 22 “Diner Special” is full, but they do offer a waitlist.  Their March 9 event does not have a menu listed, but their March 15 St. Patty’s event does (some of the menu in the event in Calendar) and has space.