Lorie Hutson

People prefer to learn about food safety in their pajamas – or at least from their home computers. Earlier this year, the Spokane County Regional Health District’s food safety program began offering the education and testing for food-handler permits online and there has been a 12 percent bump in the number of people getting their food worker cards. The cards are required for anyone who handles unwrapped food or beverages when they are serving the public.

SANDPOINT – Maybe Sandpoint is on the way to your next lakeside destination for summer fun. Perhaps music during the Festival at Sandpoint, Aug. 2-12, will be the draw. Either way, don’t miss some of the town’s gastronomic highlights while you’re in the area. During a recent visit, I tagged along with Mark Rivers, a consultant for the city’s downtown and economic development initiatives, to talk about new efforts to highlight the town’s foodie offerings. He’s working with city businesses on plans for a Taste Trail that would point visitors to some of those homegrown flavors.

DAYTON, WASH. – Please, do NOT tell this to the fine people of Dayton: Staying in their small town was not our plan. We were looking for a last-minute, shoulder season getaway and, of course, we were thinking of a Walla Walla weekend. 

Meltz Extreme Grilled Cheese is serious about comfort. Owners Joe McCarthy and Matt Yetter have teamed up to take simple, lovable grilled cheese to new limits. McCarthy’s favorite, the Wingz Twist, is stacked with mozzarella, pepper jack, blue cheese, fried chicken, ranch dressing, celery slaw and buffalo sauce. Yetter’s top choice, and namesake, is the Matty Melt and features fontina, blue cheese, smoked beef tri-tip, grilled red onions, horseradish and huckleberry barbecue sauce.

Ever wanted to take a culinary school class without actually going to culinary school? Here’s your chance: The Inland Northwest Culinary Academy at Spokane Community College is launching a new series of classes this summer that will give community members access to the school kitchens and the chef instructors who teach there.

DAYTON, Wash. – Mace Mead Works will help you forget everything you know – about honey wines. Reggie Mace ferments his mead from honey he buys from local beekeepers, but the result is not the cloyingly sweet, syrupy libation that may be familiar to some. Instead, the honey wines are dry or semi-sweet with subtle floral flavors and aroma from the honey and yeast used in fermentation.

A first look at the new Casper Fry last week revealed a promising new eatery for the South Perry neighborhood. We pushed through the unmarked door in the South Perry neighborhood between The Shop and the Title 9 store into a vast – but inviting – room. A large mural with the restaurant name and logo is emblazoned on the brick wall inside.

Karl Elliott has two words to describe his experience cooking at the James Beard House in New York City last month: surreal and tiny. Elliott, the executive chef at Whitworth University, won a trip to the iconic venue as a finalist in a competition sponsored by his employer, Sodexo, which operates the dining services on the campus. The worldwide company operates in 80 countries and serves some 50 million customers every day.

Cupcake lovers who want to learn how to make those delectable, frosting-stacked treats for themselves are in luck. North Idaho College has an upcoming event that will have you wielding a pastry bag full of frosting like a pro. The college is hosting America’s Biggest Cupcake Decorating Event on Saturday at the Coeur d’Alene Inn. It is a fundraiser for the school’s athletics department.

Adam Hegsted, executive chef at the Coeur d’Alene Casino Resort in Worley, is not in the kitchen. He’s out on the golf course. Drivers of the passing golf carts eye the chef, dressed in his black jacket, with a mix of confusion and amusement. He’s not carrying clubs. Instead, he’s got a plastic bag in one gloved hand. A reporter and photographer trail behind.

Listen carefully: Scott McCandless is about to tell you the secret to everything on the menu at Clover. McCandless and his crew have carefully researched, sourced, tasted and tested almost every recipe for the new restaurant in his Spokane Valley test kitchen. Ask a question about anything on the menu and McCandless smiles broadly before launching into a description of where the ingredients were purchased and how they came to Clover’s kitchen. Those with a napkin or notepad and pen might even catch the recipe for the shrimp brine or the citrus-based house salad dressing. He ends with mouthwatering details of every step in the recipe, along with a description of how the dish will look when it emerges from the kitchen.