Award-winning chocolatier Mary Leonard of Chocolat Céleste is keynote speaker at the Bloomington Fine Arts Council's annual Taste of Chocolate on March 13 at the Bloomington Center for the Arts, 1800 W. Old Shakopee Road. Leonard will talk about single-source chocolates and how flavors vary by country. Other events include a silent auction, chocolates to purchase and a raffle, along with performances by Bloomington arts organizations Angelica Cantanti Youth Choirs, Bloomington Chorale, Continental Ballet Company and NOTE-able Singers. Order advance $25 tickets online until noon March 10 at www.tasteofchocolate.org/id13.html, where there also is more ticket information.
Fixing a school lunch School lunches now are the stuff of movies. "Lunch Line" is about six kids from a tough Chicago neighborhood working to fix school lunch. Through their experience, we see how bottom-up efforts work with top-down bureaucracy. The screening is co-sponsored by Mississippi Market and the Hamline-Midway Environmental Group and will be at the Hamline-Midway Public Library, 1558 W. Minnehaha Av., St. Paul. The movie will be shown at 6 p.m. March 9. The movie is free, but because seating is limited, please RSVP with the number in your group to 651-690-0507 or info@msmarket.coop. Organic popcorn will be served.
Tomatoes under fire (and ice) Freezing weather in the tomato belt is leading to T-less BLTs and tomatoes being served only by request at some restaurants, according to news reports. Experts say supplies will be limited, with lower quality and higher prices until later this month or mid-April, when Florida harvests its next crop. Cucumber and bell pepper crops also have been harmed. One grower told the Chicago Tribune that he's never seen freeze damage in Florida and Mexico at the same time. Wendy's restaurants stopped including sliced tomatoes on hamburgers and chicken sandwiches except by request, while Subway has seen a shortage of green bell peppers, as well as tomatoes. Other foods that may be in short supply for the next month: squash, green beans, eggplant and zucchini. Those earnest souls who eat seasonally and locally should notice no difference.
Kings of Pastry on DVD If you're more inspiration than aspiration, consider "Kings of Pastry," now on DVD. This acclaimed documentary follows 16 chefs during the Meilleurs Ouvriers de France, considered France's Nobel Prize for pastry. Crafting gorgeous, even gravity-defying concoctions in grueling conditions provides drama and leads to a few disasters.
Taste at Home & Garden
Taste editor Lee Svitak Dean will demo maple mousse at 11 a.m. Friday at the Home & Garden Show in the Minneapolis Convention Center. There will be samples and a book signing for the Taste cookbook "Come One, Come All."
KIM ODE
