Fresh Sheet: Ripe for the telling

Anthropologist Julia Harrison will discuss how Washington’s perishable products preserve historic events and reflect the changing relationship to the natural world. Her talk is free and will be at three library locations, starting tonight.

• 6:30 p.m. today, Cheney Library, 610 First St., (509) 893-8280

• 1 p.m. Thursday, Otis Orchards Library, 22324 E. Wellesley Ave., (509) 893-8390

• 6:30 p.m. Thursday, North Spokane Library, 44 E. Hawthorne Road, (509) 893-8350.

Kitchen Engine revs up

This downtown Spokane store’s ninth anniversary sale starts today.

The annual, three-day sale runs through Friday, and there’s more than $3,000 in door prizes. Look also for demonstrations, free samples and a visit from The Spokesman-Review Food section’s own Adriana Janovich.

Kitchen Engine is at 621 W. Mallon Ave., Suite 416. Call (509) 328-3335. On the Web: www.thekitchenengine.com/joom.

Dorothy Dean turns 80

October marks 80 years since the start of The Spokesman-Review’s beloved Dorothy Dean Homemakers Service.

To commemorate the occasion, the Food section is looking for old Dorothy Dean recipes that could use a revamp for the new millennium. Less butter? More kale? The addition of figs, pomegranate seeds, avocado or a little molecular gastronomy?

Each person who shares an old favorite Dorothy Dean recipe in need of a makeover will be entered into a drawing for a cookbook. Contributions might be used in an upcoming article celebrating the Dorothy Dean, a pseudonym for the editors and writers who worked for the service from 1935 to 1983.

Please send a recipe to Food Editor Adriana Janovich by Sept. 30. Contact info is at the end of the column.