Dining
A new culinary series begins this weekend with Elizabeth Germain’s workshop Work. Play. Eat. at Hob Knob in Edgartown. This is the first of several winter weekends teaching sustainable cuisine.
This first event pays homage to the Vineyard’s sustainable roots, inspiring busy working people to find fun and function in the kitchen. Ms. Germain will lead participants to sustainable farm-to-table solutions for preparing, cooking and eating foods which not only taste good and make you feel good, but are also good for the earth.
Guest chef Robert Lionette is helping the Martha’s Vineyard Public Charter School to continue its tradition of organizing five-course international dinners in January. Partnering with Zephrus, chef Lionette will prepare foods from two countries for elegant evenings of exquisite, locally grown international menus. Food from Italy features on Saturday, Jan. 17, and food from Mexico will be on Saturday, Jan. 31.
In many ways, autumn is the same as it ever was: the result of our Island, our region — this hemisphere — turning slowly away from the sun. Days still shrink as the nights grow longer. Temperatures gradually drop towards winter’s frigid lows, although perhaps not as low as they used to go. The trees still turn dramatic shades of yellow and red. And the indefinable qualities of the deepening blue sky, the brightening of the stars at night and the scent of leaves returning to the damp soil still stir feelings which defy description.
If you are prone to anxiety, ‘tis the season for a full-blown attack, with Thanksgiving only weeks away and Christmas around the corner. Menus, grocery lists, hours in the kitchen, house guests — it all makes you want to leave the country or convert.
It’s a bad time for business. Shoppers are spending less and economists are predicting the worst. But veteran Island businessman Elio Silva said the timing could not be better for opening Tisbury Farm Market, his new fresh produce stand on State Road. “More people are looking to cook from scratch and are looking to get a good price,” Mr. Silva said last Friday.
Apple Pie for Charity
Zephrus Zeafood and Grill has created a sweet new way for Vineyarders to think of each other and to donate to the Island Food Pantry. Along with its other standard desserts, Zephrus tempts its patrons by offering a new dessert called As American As Apple Pie.
Chef Robert Lionette said proceeds from the dessert will be sent to the pantry every two weeks. The dessert comes with ice cream and costs $12. Zephrus has already donated over $100 and anticipates enough pie eaters to support checks through out the winter season.