Thursday, January 28, 2010

NORDIC WARE FACTORY STORE COOKING CLASS


GREETINGS FROM CARMELA'S CUCINA,

JOIN US FOR THE NEXT COOKING CLASS AT THE NORDIC WARE FACTORY STORE.

4925 Highway 7 St. Louis Park, MN. 55416

MAKE IT A CHOCOLATE VALENTINE'S DAY
WITH CARMELA'S CUCINA
TUESDAY, FEB.9
7:00 to 8:30

Do you or someone you know love chocolate? Crave chocolate? Need to have chocolate every day? Then this is the class for you. In this class you will enjoy all things chocolate and you will learn to make a number of items you will want to try for yourself to make your Valentine's Day special or any time of year.

We will make:

COCONUT JOYS
CHOCOLATE PEANUT CLUSTERS

PRETZEL PEANUT BARK
OLD-FASHIONED RED VELVET CUPCAKES

COST: $25.00 PER PERSON, PLUS TAX. SAMPLES AND TAKE-HOME RECIPES INCLUDED.

GUESTS WILL ALSO RECEIVE A 15% DISCOUNT ON REGULAR PRICED NORDIC WARE MADE PRODUCTS.

TO MAKE A RESERVATION CALL 952-924-9672.

Buon appeito,

Carmela Tursi Hobbins

Monday, January 25, 2010

LAST CALL FOR SAVANNAH, GA.

GREETINGS FROM CARMELA'S CUCINA,

It is 65 degrees and sunny in Savannah, Ga. Get away from this long, cold and snowing winter and join Carmela's Cucina as she travels to this warm city for a culinary and home and garden tour.

Join us for a sumptuous, savory and simply irresistible tour of historic Savannah, Ga. March 25-29, 2010.

The tour includes 4 nights accommodations at the Planter's Inn on Reynold's Square, baggage handling, breakfast each morning and wine and cheese each evening. Escorted transportation for all planned events not in walking distance of the hotel and driver gratuities. Licensed professional guides. All tour entrance fees and select tour of homes tickets, 2 cooking classes, all breakfasts, 2 lunches and 3 dinners. Tales of the South staff at all planned events and so much more. And even a Paula Deen Tour.

For more information go to my web site at www.carmiescucina.com and see the full schedule of events. Click on the tours link and then on Savannah. Contact me at bchobbins@comcast.net to make a reservation.

I hope to see you in warm, sunny Savannah in March.

Buon appetito,

Carmela Tursi Hobbins

Sunday, January 24, 2010

SPASSO FOR LUNCH

Greetings from Carmela's Cucina,

Let me first say how sorry I am for being away from my blogging for such a long time. Between, the holidays, company and travel and vacations there just has not been enough hours in the day to get it all done. But I do hope to be back at it more regularly.

Last Friday, Bob and I took a ride out to Minnetonka to check out Spasso for lunch. Friends had told me about it and the wine shop next door. Same owners, with a great concept. Spasso has a great wine shop, with wines from all over the world. And the best thing is that you can buy a bottle of wine in the wine store and take it next door to the restaurant and they will open it for no extra charge. A great savings and a wonderful idea.

I was happy to see that they do carry the wine that my cousins make in Ciro in the area of Calabria in Italy. It is there lowest end wine, but it was good to see it on the shelf and if you are looking for something not to expensive and want to try a red from the southern part of Italy, then the LiBrandi Ciro Rosso may be a bottle that you want to try. I am hoping that in the future they might carry some of their higher end wines, but availability is the problem.

After looking over the stock in the wine store and buying a few bottles Bob and I made our way over to the restaurant. Since it was Friday afternoon, they were fairly busy. Spasso is a large restaurant with hard floors and high ceilings so it was also pretty noisy. They have a great bar area and one of the things that caught my eye was a flight of 3 wines for $15.95, which is a good deal considering their extensive wine menu. But since we had a list to finish off the length of my arm we skipped the wine and ordered lunch and soft drinks.

In the back of the room is a beautiful wood-burning oven, which I am sure produces some beautiful pizzas, but since I am trying to loose a few, I skipped that too. Their lunch menu is mostly soups, salads, pasta and pizzas. The best value is their mix and match lunch for ten bucks and that is what I settled on. I enjoyed their Sausage and Bean Soup and the Chop Chop Salad which is one of their house specialties. The soup was robust and chunky with lots of sausage and beans and quite filling. I was expecting a half salad, but the portion was quite large and flavorful, lots of meat, cheese, olives and fresh, crisp salad greens. I wish that the dressing had a bit more zip to it, but all in all it was a great lunch and you can't beat the price.

If you are in the area, I would suggest that you first go and find yourself several bottles of wine, one to drink at the table the others to take back home and then go next door for a cozy little lunch and ask for a booth.

At the wine shop make sure and tell them that "Carmela sent you."

Buon appetito e Salute,

Carmela