Date: Wednesday, February 8th, 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Gallery Black Lagoon, 4301 A. Guadalupe Street, Austin TX, 78751 (Parking is available in the shared parking lot with The Parlor Pizza Restaurant next door, as well as 70 parking spots below the office building directly behind the gallery.)
RSVP: Please email Chelsea Staires at chelsea@slowfoodaustin.org

Spark your romance with chocolate just in time for Valentine’s Day as Austin foodpreneur Tom Pedersen of Austin’s wonderful Cocoa Puro teaches us all about chocolate.  This Slow Session will include:

-A presentation from Tom about how cacao is grown
-Discussion on the look, feel, and taste of the bean itself
-A demonstration of how to make rough chocolate
-Information on where you can find ingredients for chocolate here in Austin

And tastings of white, milk, and dark chocolates as well as Cocoa Puro’s famous Kakawa Cocoa Beans!

About Tom Pedersen:
I have an art/music/writing background. I’m self trained in the culinary world. I always wanted my own business and had a passion for great food. I wondered what made chocolate tick, learned it was the bean, got some from the President of a Venezuelan chocolate company, and experimented until I created Kakawa Cocoa Beans. I tried them out on friends then brought them to the downtown Austin farmers’ market and sold out our first day. They were selected for the Saveur 100, editors’ favorites from around the world, and received other local and national praise. That encouraged us to build a small family artisan business, concentrating on creative products from fine flavor cocoa beans.

Cocoa Puro
Kakawa Cocoa Beans
Pure Whole Bean Chocolate
www.CocoaPuro.com

This MSNBC video describes how the local economy benefits from the interdependence of food businesses. Austin’s own Green Gate Farms, Greenling, and Slow Money Austin appear in the video.

Date: Thursday, January 19th 2012, 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Contigo Austin, 2027 Anchor Ln Austin, Texas 78723
RSVP here

Slow Food Austin’s monthly Happy Hour will be Thursday, January 19th at Contigo from 5:30 pm until 8:00 pm featuring a very special menu prepared by Chef Andrew Wiseheart and a $5 Slow Drink Menu featuring El Tesoro Tequila and (512) Brewing Company.

Slow Food Happy Hour Menu:
Crispy Pig skins – Richardson Farm
Chicken Wings w/ wing sauce, shaft blue cheese – Dewberry Hills
Chicken Terrine – Dewberry Hills
Meatballs w/ Fresh Pasta, Arugula – Richardson Farm, Windy Bar
Fried Rabbit liver w/ Tangeriene and Jalapeno marmalade – Countryside Farm

Please dress appropriately, there is limited indoor seating.

RSVP here.

*A portion of the proceeds will benefit Slow Food Austin

Date: Sunday, January 15th, 5:00 pm reception and appetizers, 6:00 pm seated five course dinner
Location: Texas French Bread, 2900 Rio Grande, Austin, TX
Tickets: $75 Slow Food Austin members, $125 non-members

Slow Food Austin is pleased to announce our first event of 2012:  Wild Game Dinner with Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due. This Dinner will feature wild game from all over Texas. There will be a reception with appetizers followed by a five course seated dinner with wine pairings at Texas French Bread, Sunday, January 15th at 5pm featuring Chef Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due Butcher Shop and Supper Club.

A special thank you to our sponsors: Dai Due, Texas French Bread, and Whole Foods Market.

*All Proceeds will benefit Slow Food Austin.

Date: Thursday, December 15th, 2011, 6:30 pm – 9:00 pm
Location: (512) Brewing Company, 407 Radam, F200, Austin, Texas 78745
RSVP: Purchase tickets here $35 for Slow Food USA paid members, $40 for non-members

This has become a mainstay in our annual scheduling.  A Beer and Cheese Pairing…an homage to the bi-annual event held in Bra, Italy by Slow Food International, CHEESE.

6 cheeses, 5 Beers and Light Snacks.
$35 for Slow Food USA paid Members
$40 for Non-Members

Proceeds benefit Slow Food Austin.

Purchase tickets here.

Date: Sunday December 4th 2011, 1:00 pm – 3:00 pm
Location: Green Gate Farms, 8310 Canoga Ave., Austin, TX, USA
RSVP: purchase tickets here, $15

This kid-friendly workshop explores the concept of gleaning, which is the ancient practice of collecting and donating leftover crops to charity. Help glean at this historic, intown farm while teaching your children the importance of community with Green Gate Farms founders Erin Flynn and Skip Connett. Workshop begins with farm tour (suitable for all ages) featuring hands-on time with rare breed piglets, goats, chickens; exploring 109-year-old barn and hayloft; and tasting wild field greens and cultivated varieties. Tour tickets are $15 (purchase at slowfoodandGreenGate.eventbee.com). Bring coolers to transport any certified organic vegetables, meats, and eggs you purchase.

Date: Monday December 12th 2011, 7 pm – 9 pm
Location: The Natural Epicurean Academy, 1700 S. Lamar Blvd. Suite #316, Austin, TX 78704
RSVP: anneh@slowfoodaustin.org

Join us as Hector Gonzalez, outstanding Interior Mexican cook and instructor, teaches us the fine art of masa preparation. The session will cover the culinary history of masa and tortillas; the different types of corn available in Austin and which are the best for tortilla making. Hector will also demonstrate:

• How to nixtamalize the corn and grind it using both old methods and new ones
• The basic method for making tortillas with different corns (yellow, white, blue)
• How to make other Mexican specialties using masa.

The Natural Epicurean Culinary Academy will be providing house salsa and guacamole to accompany the masa dishes made and the session will end with a raffle to give away of some of the materials used during the class. Make sure to RSVP to anneh@slowfoodaustin.org.

About Hector…

Hector González is a self-taught cook and foodie whose inspiration draws from his native country of Mexico and from the kitchens of his mother and grandmother. Hector offers insight into the preparation of long-established recipes in an ongoing quest to revise the American concept of Mexican cuisine. The classes he offers for other home chefs teach traditional recipes that have stood the test of time and continue to be enjoyed in Mexican households everyday.

Date: Thursday, November 17th 2011 6:00 pm – 8:00 pm
Location: Rain Lily Farm, 914 Shady Lane Austin, TX 78702-4152
RSVP

Royal Fig Catering will be crafting delicious farm fresh goodies for our November Happy Hour, and beverages will be provided by Balcones Distilling and will be served by Balcones Ambassador, Lara Nixon.  Wine will be provided by East End Wines.  There is a suggested $15 donation for entry. Don’t forget your blankets and chairs.

As a special treat The Seedling Truck by Royal Fig Catering, their brand new endeavor, will be making a special appearance!

Fiddle-driven folk rock will be provided by Kimberly Zielnicki and Chris E. Peterson from the Lost and Nameless Orchestra.

Please RSVP here if you’re planning to join us. We will look forward to seeing you there!

Date: Monday, November 14th 2011, 7pm – 9pm
Location: Habitat Suites, 500 East Highland Mall Boulevard Austin, Texas 78752
RSVP: anneh@slowfoodaustin.org

The holidays are here and what better way to celebrate and spread the cheer than with homemade Texas cider! In this Slow Session we will learn how to make apple cider from Wes Mickel, owner of Argus Cidery and creator of Texas’ first sparkling American hard cider. In addition, Wes will also talk about Texas’ great potential for apple farming, heirloom apples, and what lies ahead for cider making here in the Lone Star State. There will also be an opportunity for those who want to place orders to purchase some of Argus Cidery’s highly acclaimed sparkling cider.

This event is free and open to everyone in the community but will fill fast. Please send an RSVP to anneh@slowfoodaustin.org.

Date: Sunday, November 13th
Location: Wink 1014 N. Lamar, Austin, Texas
Time: 5:00 pm Reception, 6:00 pm Four Course Seated Dinner
Tickets: $60 per person

In February of this year, food professionals Bryan Caswell of Reef, Jesse Griffiths of Dai Due Supper Club and P.J. Stoops of Louisiana Food, participated at the Foodways Texas Annual Symposium to discuss the impact of current fishing practices in the Gulf of Mexico. Jenny Wang, a food writer in Houston, moderated the discussion. The name of the panel, “The Strangest Thing in the Nets: Bycatch, ‘Trashfish’ and Gulf Sustainability”, encapsulated the major issues threatening not only the Gulf of Mexico, but all major seas and oceans, and a solution to prevent the overfishing of the apex predator fish (grouper, snapper, tuna, salmon etc.) by diversifying fish demand to include what has traditionally been called Bycatch or Trashfish; Gulf sustainability being the ultimate goal.

“Trashfish or Rough Fish usually refers to larger fish species that are not commonly eaten, are too rare to be commonly encountered, or are not sought after by anglers for sporting purposes. There is no standard list of rough fishes. A fish that is considered a rough fish in one region may be considered a desirable game and food fish in another.”
Bycatch refers to fish that are of a different species than the targeted species, undersized individuals of the target species, or juveniles of the target species.

In response to this panel, Slow Food Austin and Foodways Texas have come together to present a dinner exclusively featuring those very same Bycatch and Trashfish to show the community that not only are these fish edible, they taste good and they should be treated with the same amount of culinary respect as other fish.

Please Join Slow Food Austin and Foodways Texas in discovering the bounty that the Gulf of Mexico has to offer. There will be a reception followed by a 4 course seated dinner with wine pairings at Wink Restaurant, Sunday, November 13th at 5pm featuring Chefs Jay Huang, Brandon Fuller of Wink, Matt Taylor of BC Tavern and Pastry Chef Jessica Armstrong of BC Tavern.

A special thank you to our sponsors, Louisiana Foods, Wink Restaurant and BC Tavern.

*A portion of the proceeds will benefit Slow Food Austin and Foodways Texas.