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Wine Event at Lavanda, in Downtown Palo Alto

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Lavanda, October 22, Wine Event

On Saturday 22nd, 2011, in downtown Palo Alto, Lavanda Restaurant opened its doors to a special wine tasting event hosted by “Tasting week”. There, a group of wine aficionados tasted and compared French and Californian wines paired with unique bites. The tasting was blind (wine is revealed at the end) and the organizers, Aurelia Setton, volunteer expert in wine, Rapahel Knapp, Wine importer from returntoterroir and Bruce Schmidt, Lavanda restaurant owner had set up this tasting to be tricky! First, they surprised us with a Picpoul (yes, this is a grape type), which was from France Languedoc region but tasted like a California Sauvignon Blanc! Then, we went on to tasting a Gewurztraminer from Anderson Valley, California. It was sweet and elegant, the majority of the group thought it was a French wine….The 2 reds where just as much of a surprise: the first one was a very nice 2005 Cabernet Sauvignon matched with a delicate chicken liver crostini. I don’t like chicken liver, but this tasted sweet and mild. Loved the pairing! The last wine was a Tannat (a French grape) from the South West of France. The truffled mushroom talagio cheese crostini was marvelous with it!

What a discovery for all of us! Even the Mayor of Palo Alto was there, ready to be surprised.

October 17 – 21: A Whole Tasting Week at Petits Confettis

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Tasting week at Petits Confettis

Even the youngest child can learn a lot about taste & food! At Petits Confettis, our preschoolers (3 to 6 years old) were challenged during the whole of Tasting Week.

They started with salt, tasted it and used it during an experimental `painting with salt` workshop. The second day, a sweet workshop brought them into a blind tasting. Such an amazing taste! Almost all the kids recognized the organic jams made by `Nuchi` (located in Los Altos), producing a lot of other organic jams for a non-profit association. The kids were comparing strawberry, apricot, prune and honey to discuss color and share their favorite one!

For the bitter workshop, they got the ability to differentiate chocolate texture and prepared `chocolate roses`. And last but not least, for the acid workshop, they identified lemon during a taste test and used it to make their own `secret` letter.

At the end of our tasting week, every child went home with a sample of their `taste workshop` and their own `chef`s hat`… homemade. Such a great week… such a great time… we all had fun and all the chidren came home very proud of their achievement.

Merci! and we definitively sign up for next year!:-)

The Petits Confettis

My meeting with Palo Alto Food Services

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enfant1

Last week I met with Alva Spence, who runs the Food Services department for the Palo Alto school district. I asked her if she would participate in the celebration of Tasting Week and she gave me an enthusiastic yes! For every school participating in Tasting Week, Food Services will provide an A to Z salad bar as part of the hot lunch program. The salad bar includes a different food for every letter of the alphabet. What a great way to encourage children to try something new. The Executive Chef of Food Services will also come to the schools to give a live cooking demonstration in front of the kids during the lunch hour.

My discussion with Alva was very enlightening. Did you know that in many neighboring districts outside of Palo Alto, including Mountain View, every school has an actual kitchen where Food Services can prepare and heat food? Palo Alto does not have a single kitchen where food can be prepared on site. Did you know that Food Services launched an initiative with Revolution Food last year to provide one special menu every month but enrollment for hot lunch did not go up? Budget considerations aside, I think our parents need more education about what can be done with regards to lunch menus in the schools. Food Services is happy to partner with parents to find better solutions.

At one point during our conversation, Alva pointed to the brand new tennis courts across the street and said. “The Palo Alto parents paid for all these sport facilities. Where is my parent?” Giving good food to our kids is as important as building facilities to exercise in, don’t you think?

Remember, Palo Alto Tasting Week runs from October 17 to October 27 in several schools in our district. Check out the Chefs and the Schedule to find out more about this great event.