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An Adventure For Tastebuds

Rick Bonino Food Editor

If the last thing you want to do when you go on vacation is cook, you might as well stop reading this item right now.

But if learning new culinary skills while sightseeing is your idea of fun, you might be interested in the deluxe 10-day Pacific Coast trips being offered by Epicure Fine Food & Wine Tours of Seattle.

The itinerary includes a walking tour of Pike Place Market and fusion cooking class by J. Tim Kelley, executive chef at Seattle’s Painted Door restaurant; in-depth instruction on growing and cooking with herbs at the Herbfarm near Seattle; a seafood session in Portland; wine tasting in the Napa Valley, and a walking tour of San Francisco’s Chinatown and cooking class by noted chef Shirley Fong-Torres.

Tours are offered July 1-10 and Aug. 19-28. Cost is $2,890, including 21 meals, nine nights’ lodging in luxury hotels, ground transportation between Seattle and Portland and airfare from Portland to San Francisco. Space is limited; call (888) 623-7464 for more information.

Rolling in it

Congratulations to the winners of the first Rosauers/Rhodes Frozen Dough Recipe Contest:

Rebecca Abplanalp, Spokane, first place and a $250 prize for Chicken Salad Braid.

Maureen Ritter, Coeur d’Alene, second place and $150 for Creamy Butterscotch Caramel Fudge Cheesecake.

Chase Middle School, Mrs. Davis & Mrs. Thalers’ Resource Class, third place and $100 for The Cooking Kids’ Easy Kuchen.

Teresa Basler, Hayden Lake, fourth place and $50 for Pecan Maple Ring.

Poultry sums

Picking up some meatier money was Teresa Hanna Smith of Santa Rosa, Calif., whose Yucatan Chicken With Peach-Avocado Salsa took first place - and $5,000 - in the National Chicken Cooking Contest earlier this month.

Washington’s representative, Cheryl Lynn McAtee of Vancouver, finished third (worth $3,000) with her Sweet Curry Chicken Melon Salad.

For a cookbook featuring recipes from all 51 finalists, along with lots of other chicken dishes, send your name, address and a check or money order for $2 to: Chicken Cookbook, Department NBC, Box 307, Coventry, CT 06238.

Cheese, please

Remember that Quillisascut cheese we told you about two weeks ago? While it wasn’t available in Spokane at the time, Huckleberry’s Fresh Markets have since started carrying the botique goat cheese that’s made on a farm near Lake Roosevelt. Look for it at both the South Hill and Valley stores.

, DataTimes MEMO: We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Feature Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.

We’re always looking for fresh food news. Write to: The Fresh Sheet, Feature Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. Call 459-5446; fax 459-5098.