NorthWest Stir For Culinary Professionals

Dine Out Vancouver

Vancouver’s 17 tastiest days of the year are here Jan. 20 – Feb. 5 during Dine Out Vancouver Festival.

Ten years makes for one great restaurant festival in Vancouver, B.C. Diners can eat their way through 17 days of culinary events, meals at hundreds of sensational restaurants and hotel packages. Browse the full offering of events using the interactive Dine Out calendar

The city-wide celebration of eating out allows diners to sample menus around the city, all for a prix fixe cost (price points are $18, $28 and $38 per person). Many menus feature optional BC VQA wine or Kronenbourg 1664 beer pairings. Most reservations are directly bookable through the website.

Dine Out Vancouver also offers a full menu of unique food-themed events and activities, including culinary tours, cooking lessons, dinner-theatre evenings and special dining experiences. This year’s festival was started with a street food festival.

Throughout the festival, diners can take part in the Best Bite Awards by voting for their favorite festival experiences. Full festival information is available at www.tourismvancouver.com/dov.

Zaw + Hot Cakes = A Delicious February

Zaw, Seattle’s bake-at-home pizza shop, will feature Hot Cakes’ Dark Decadence as a seasonal menu item at all six locations in February.

Dark Decadence is a molten chocolate cake that comes in a Mason jar to bake at home. Created by Hot Cakes founder and chocolatier Autumn Martin, the dark chocolate cakes are made with organic chocolate from Theo Chocolate and are dairy and gluten free.

Hot Cakes Confections was founded in 2008 by chocolatier and pastry chef Autumn Martin. Autumn’s original Hot Cakes creation, a take and bake molten chocolate cake in a Mason jar, quickly secured her a devoted following at local area farmer’s markets, and other confections soon followed.

Zaw locations include Capitol Hill, South Lake Union, Wallingford, Queen Anne, Wedgwood, and Mercer Island. Zaw can also be found at farmers’ markets around Seattle.

Ray's Retrospective winners

Every January, Ray’s Boathouse Restaurant, Seattle, conducts its Retrospective of Northwest Wines Competition. Now in its 25th year, this wine-lover’s event has once again uncovered hidden gems from up-and-coming wineries and confirmed the well-deserved praise of established wineries. And for the first time, two wineries captured the gold in two categories!

A panel of judges blind-tasted the entries, released in 2011. All Washington, Oregon and Idaho wineries were eligible to participate and 351 entries were received.

The Gold Winners will be featured on our wine list through May 2012. A celebration dinner is upcoming.

RAY'S 25^th ANNUAL RETROSPECTIVE WINNERS

Taste Washington expands

This year the celebration of Washington wines, Taste Washington, expands to two full days of sampling, sipping and seminars.

March 31 and April 1, at CenturyLink Field Event Center, more than 200 of the state’s 700 wineries will be paired with more than 60 local restaurants.

Visit tastewashington.org for the latest list of participating wineries and restaurants.

General admission $99/VIP $150.

Seminar tickets will be going on sale in early February.

Hunting for culinary tricks and treats

Feb. 1, Savor Seattle launches a city-wide hunt lasting the entire month. Puzzles/clues will be sent out daily via the @SavorSeattle Twitter account and the Savor Seattle Facebook page.

The first person or team to correctly solve that day’s puzzle wins gift cards for some of the best foodie havens in town. However, with this hunt everyone winners. Savor Seattle partners have created special freebies and discounts to be distributed to all food hunt participants that day only.

Prizes for each day will have a minimum value of $25 and a maximum of $200, depending upon the difficulty of the task.

Hunt winners will additionally receive an entry into a drawing for the top prize – a unique culinary tour for two through Tom Douglasville. The drawing will be conducted live by Tom Douglas himself on the evening of March 5 during a special celebration for hunt winners.

For more information and an overview of contest rules, visit the Savor Seattle website at www.savorseattle.com, follow @SavorSeattle on Twitter and Like Savor Seattle on Facebook.

Auction of Wash. Wine 2012

Now in its 25th anniversary year, Auction of Washington Wines expands and will be chaired in 2012 by Bob Betz of Betz Family Winery, and Stein Kruse, president & CEO of Holland America Line and chairman of Seabourn. Rick Holley, president and CEO of Plum Creek Timber Company, will lead the efforts of rallying past chairs. Auction of Washington Wines joins forces with Washington Wines Festival and Washington State University’s Celebrate Washington Wine Event to create a cumulative fundraiser.

“The Auction of Washington Wines is my favorite charitable event and I am thrilled to participate,” said Betz. “This is particularly meaningful to me, having participated in every one of the past 24 auctions, being able to celebrate the tremendous development of our state’s industry over 25 years while we collectively give back to those beneficiaries in need.”

Auction of Washington Wines will collaboration this year with two of the industry's long standing fundraisers - the Washington Wines Festival in January 2012 and Washington State University’s Celebrate Washington Wine event that ended in January 2011.

The Auction of Washington Wines includes five events including Revelry at Col Solare in the Tri Cities area (Spring 2012), Picnic & Barrel Auction at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery (August 16, 2012), Winemaker Dinner Series at various locations throughout the Puget Sound region (August 17, 2012), Covey Run and The Wine Gala at Chateau Ste. Michelle Winery (August 18, 2012).

Since its inception in 1988, the Auction of Washington Wines has raised more than $26 million for uncompensated care at Seattle Children’s Hospital. A portion of the money raised also benefits the Washington Wine Education Foundation which aims to strengthen the quality and reputation of the state’s wine industry by supporting viticulture and enology research, extension, education and training program specific to Washington State University.

Governor designates May 2012 Oregon’s first wine month

Oregon Gov. John Kitzhaber has proclaimed May 2012 as Oregon Wine Month in recognition of the Oregon wine industry’s rapid growth, international reputation for quality and important contribution to the state’s economy.

Kitzhaber stated that in Oregon agriculture is the second largest industry, with the wine-grape crop leading the state’s value-added agricultural segment contributing $2.7 billion annually to the state’s economy.

While this is not the first time a governor of the state has proclaimed an official Oregon Wine Month, it has been several decades since Oregon has officially recognized its growing wine industry. The Oregon wine industry comprises more than 420 wineries and 850 vineyards throughout the state and represents more than 13,500 jobs.

Oregon Wine Month will include a wide array of retail, restaurant and consumer events and promotions that highlight Oregon Wine. The “Unwine’d: Celebrating Oregon Wine,” a grand tasting of Oregon wines will be held April 29 in Portland.

In addition, retailers will have promotions showcasing Oregon wine and offering special pricing.