Fresh-Picked Seattle

Photo by James Cridland via FlickrThis batch of highlights starts with some TV dinners, moves to chocolate then cheese, takes a detour to France for apertifs and more chocolate, somehow fits in a little foie gras and wine and then tops all that off with a handful of gummi worms.

But don’t worry: we’ll close it all out with a healthy batch of plants and veggies, and you can offset any gluttony guilt with the glow of helping your community as the City Stimulus promotion starts (see Sunday for more details)

The information for these highlights (when there is no link in the text itself) can be found in the embedded calendar below. That calendar also has many more events and so check it out for the full listings and for dates past the next seven days.

Thursday, July 9: FREE! Farmers Market Chef Demo: Chef Amy Pinkis of Metropolitan Market at Queen Anne. (4-5pm)

Friday, July 10

• FREE! Farmers Market Chef Demo: Chef Sabrina Tinsley, owner of La Spiga, recent Iron Chef contestant, at Madrona. (4-5pm)
• Hollywood Hill Vineyards is having an “Olive Bar” with wine. (Woodinville, 5-7pm) 

Saturday, July 11

• FREE! Cooking Demo: Matthew Amster-Burton, author of Hungry Monkey, and recent guest on CBS’s The Early Show, will show how to “easy, seasonal dishes that everyone in the family can enjoy...even toddlers. Matthew will be preparing an easy stovetop cherry clafoutiserved with Port Madison fresh goat’s milk yogurt and showing kids how to make their own raspberry freezer jam.”(U-District, 11am-12pm)
• FREE! Farmers Market Ask-the-Chef Booth: Robin Leventhal, formerly of Crave and soon-to-be star on Top Chef! (10am-12pm)
• City Chickens Coop Tour. “See how local chickens live and lay in the backyards of Seattle in this a one-day, self-guided tour of chickens and coops in Seattle.” $25-30 (11am-4pm)

Sunday, July 12

• Today is the first day of this summer’s City Stimulus campaign, which runs though July 18th. This past week has brought news of several local businesses closing or set to close. Local shops and restaurants need your patronage more than ever! City Stimulus is an effort to “urge Seattleites to spend locally and to shop small. To forego the super-mega-big-box for the local and the curated, small and the sustainable, the innovative and the hand-made.” There are tons and loads of deals to be had at popular spots like Oddfellows, Lola, The Saint and more. See the site for the details.
• FREE! Farmers Market Chef Demo: Berry Cooking with Jerry Traunfeld of Poppy at Broadway. (12-1pm)
• Second Annual Seattle Luxury Chocolate Salon! See calendar listing for ticket prices. (Seattle Center, 11am-5pm)

Monday, July 13: Not much going on this day, so if you haven’t yet why not check out Beechers Mac & Cheese at the Wines of Washington Tasting Room? (5-7pm or until they run out)

Tuesday, July 14

• Bastille Day!
• FREE! Celebration of French Artisan Chocolates. “Chocolopolis will celebrate Bastille Day with free guided chocolate tastings of France’s most celebrated artisan chocolate makers at 5:00pm, 6:00 pm and 7:00 pm followed by a video documenting Michel Cluizel’s chocolate-making tradition and techniques.” (Queen Anne)
• Bastille Day Apertifs at Entre Nous (Belltown, 5:30-7:30pm)
• Word & Wine: Mark Caro "The Foie Gras Wars" (Downtown, 6:30-9pm)
• French Cooking Class w/Chef Philippe Thomelin of Olivar at Cook’s World. $65 (U-District, 6:30-9:30pm)
• **Also see update posted below calendar

Wednesday, July 15

• Gummi Worm Day!  Here's a recipe for making them at home.
• Native Plant Walk and Identification Class. “Join us for a walk in the woods and native plant gardens around the Northwest Stream Center...Learn why native plant buffers are critical to salmon and wildlife habitat, and how Native Americans made use of plants for building materials, food, and medicine.” $5-7 (Everett, 10am-12pm)
• FREE! Fall and Winter Veggie Gardening in Containers Class. (Downtown, 5-7pm)

Update on Jul 9, 2009 by Leslie Seaton

Also please see Seattle Tall Poppy for info on a screening of the seafood and fishing documentary End of the Line on Tuesday, July 14.  Seating is limited so RSVP early.