Lauren Hoover-West teaches a cooking class at New Leaf on March 27.
A DELICIOUS WAY TO CLEAN UP YOUR ACT: Join Chef Talya Lutzker, Ayurvedic practitioner and nutritionist, on Tuesday, March 26, for a stimulating course in Cooking with Cleansing Foods. This hands-on cooking class will teach participants about foods that help remove toxins from the body. Chef Lutzker will demonstrate a few important cleansing dishes that are also delicious, and explain why keeping the body cleansed enhances youthful appearance and longevity. The class costs $35 and will take place from 6:30-8:30pm at New Leaf Community Markets, 1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. Preregistration is required.
And since Easter is coming up fast, you will want to find out more about creating a sensational Easter brunch that doesn’t devolve into the usual high-sugar, high-calorie festival of chocolate eggs and whipped cream crepes. Join chef Lauren Hoover-West and Dr. Brad West, ND, for a team-taught chance to create a Gluten & Allergy-Free Easter Brunch. You’ll learn to make quiche, Dutch Baby pancakes, scones with lemon curd and much more. The class costs $35 and will take place on Wednesday, March 27 from 6–8pm at New Leaf Community Markets, 1101 Fair Ave., Santa Cruz. Preregistration is required for all New Leaf classes. To register, visit www.newleaf.com or call 426-1306 ext. 0.
Former Chefs of Gabriella: They’re everywhere it seems. Rebecca King is now raising sheep and making artisanal cheeses under the Garden Variety Cheese label out at her pastoral Monkey Flower Farms property in northern Monterey County. Sean Baker is winning acclaim at Berkeley’s temple of enlightened cuisine, Gather. Brad Briske, who also won fans during his stint at Main Street Garden Cafe, has turned up as chef at Carmel’s La Balena, where locally-sourced organic ingredients receive Briske’s signature Mediterranean spin. And of course founding Gabriella chef, Jim Denevan, continues his outdoor dining odyssey—Outstanding in the Field— now in its 10th year. Outstanding’s 2012 season of farm and field dinners has just wrapped up. But the 2013 season is already shaping up, and will include more than 80 events. Tickets go on sale at the end of this month.
WHAT'S IN STORRS: Well, the opening of the new Storrs Winery estate tasting room in Corralitos, that’s what. You’ll only have a short wait until summer 2013 to visit the zero impact tasting room and hyper-green, sustainable vineyards planted by award-winning vintners Pamela and Steve Storrs.
NEW LEAF COOKING CLASSES: The Westside New Leaf Market will be humming with activity, and full of the mouth-watering aromas of freshly-prepared menus. Starting March 14, those of us interested in living without gluten—but without sacrificing flavor!—will be able to learn exciting new ways to make foods that are gluten-free, dairy-free, with low glycemic index. The six-part course Cooking Gluten & Dairy-Free Around the World is led by California Culinary Academy-trained Lauren Hoover-West, author of the No Wheat No Dairy No Problem cookbook. The sessions take place at the Westside New Leaf on six Thursdays, March 14-April 19, from 6-8:30pm, and cost $225.
PALEO POWER: On Tuesday, March 19, join licensed nutritionist Rebecca Rovay-Hazelton and Naturapathic doctor Holly German for an enlightening class in Easy Paleo Power Breakfasts. In case you’re out of the loop, Paleo diets stress the basic foods humans very likely consumed during the pre-Pillsbury Paleolithic era. This food philosophy argues that if it worked for our hunter-gatherer predecessors, it might just be what our bodies have adapted to, namely fresh meat, fish, seafood, fruits, veggies, nuts, seeds and oils. What our ancestors did not eat, according to paleo diet nutritionists, was grain, legumes, dairy, refined sugars and processed foods, e.g., no gelato. Learn all about it, and how to use Paleo dietary guidelines to heighten your own health. $10 fee and the course happens from 6-7:30pm at the Westside New Leaf Market.
