HOPE STREET HOLIDAY STROLL/CRAWL: 12/6/12

Work your way from Ivy Tavern (yes, it reopened) to India, eating half-price appetizers, drinking $2 beer and $3 wine. All the big names are participating. Rochambeau to Fifth will be foot traffic only but walk a few short blocks more for Cook & Brown, Chez Pascal and India.

Thursday, December 6   4:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

LOCAL ART & WURST AT CHEZ PASCAL 12/2/12

Chez Pascal (960 Hope Street  401-421-4422) hosts local artists and their wares for a Holiday Show on Sunday, December 2. Shop for artisan-made gifts, eat from the Wurst Kitchen menu, buy a drink. It's comfort shopping and part of the proceeds aid Hurricane Sandy relief efforts.

Sunday, December 2   11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m.

www.chez-pascal.com

CLAM TRUCK: BROWN U & DOWNTOWN

Look around Waterman and Thayer at prime eating times and note the food truck caravan, selling a cuisine spectrum from Korean to American grilled cheese. New entry: Clam Jammers of Galilee. You expect chowder and clam cakes but this truck offers fish tacos too.

Check the site (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Clam-Jammers/169211436466863) for sitings. or Twitter @CJammersTruck

And downtown at Kennedy Plaza

SUNDAY WINE & CHEESE AT FARMSTEAD DECEMBER 2

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Maybe better than Christmas shopping: sample cheese and sip wines from MS Walker (a distributor not a vineyard) at Farmstead (186 Wayland Avenue  401-274-7177) from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m., Sunday, December 2. Per the Farmstead website it's $45 per person. Call to reserve.

www.farmsteadinc.com

NOT SO SUNNY NEWS IN WARREN

Sunnyside, the popular breakfast and lunch spot on the water in Warren has closed. Owner Joe Simone says he's looking for a place nearby where he can also serve dinner.

JACQUES PÉPIN IN BARRINGTON NOVEMBER 23

Jacques Pépin will be at Barrington Books (184 Old County Road, Barrington  401-245-7925) on Friday, November 23 from 2:00 to 3:00 p.m. Always gracious and charming, Mr. Pépin will be signing copies of his latest cookbook - Jacques Pépin: New Complete Techniques.

www.barringtonbooks.com

HARVEST DINNER AT GARDEN GRILLE: 11/14/12

Garden Grille's (727 East Avenue, Pawtucket*) annual Vegan Harvest Dinner is Wednesday, November 14. Five courses for $40 cooking as much as possible with locally sourced ingredients. Seatings are between 5:00 and 10:00 p.m.

Call 401-726-2826 to reserve


*727 East Avenue is in the little strip mall on the left just across the Providence border at the top of Hope Street

J & W CULINARY ARTS MUSEUM: 11/15/12

Visit Johnson & Wales' harborside campus (315 Harborside Blvd, Providence) for three new exhibits:

1. Hometown Diners  - Robert O. Williams' photographs selected from his book of the same name

2. The Biltmore: Story of a Hotel - stories of two long-time employees, the former executive chef, Adolf Schrott, and Jim McDonnell, catering director

3. Edible Nanoscape: Food in the Scanning Electron Microscope - artwork by Geoffrey Williams of the Brown University Leduc Bioimaging Facility

Reception for the show is Thursday, November 15  6:00 - 8:00 p.m.
$5.00 admission. Refreshments based on the exhibits.

Make a reservation: 401-598-2805

http://www.jwu.edu/content.aspx?id=40194

NEWS TO USE IN RI: NOVEMBER, 2012

• Every year Providence has two Armenian fests where Armenian cooking is front and center. This week it's the annual fair held by Sts Vartanantz Armenian Apostolic Church, Rhodes-on-the-Pawtuxet, Broad Street, Cranston. Enjoy savories and sweets while browsing the markets and listening to music or purchase food to take home (they're prepared for this). The fare: kabobs, kufta, falafel and Armenian pastries. Fair is open Saturday, noon to 9:00 p.m. and Sunday, noon to 8:00 p.m. Check the website for the enterainment schedule.

www.armenianfestri.com

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NEWS TO USE: THIS WEEK IN RI

• The Mount Hope Farmers' Market moves indoors this weekend, Saturday, November 3d. The market offers local veggies, seafood, meats, eggs, cheeses, flowers, coffee, prepared foods and on and on. The winter plan is for cooking demos by local chefs and workshops on hot topics like composting. The market is in a heated barn on a farm with its own historic point of interest, the Governor Bradford House, a circa-1745 inn.

Saturdays   9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.     250 Metacom Avenue, Bristol 

• And church fairs are getting into gear with one of the majors this weekend. Saints Sahag and Mesrob Armenian Church runs its 82nd annual Armenian Food Fair and Bazaar this weekend at the Egavian Cultural Center (70 Jefferson Street, Providence). Go for the food.  www.armenianfoodfairri.com

Friday, November 2   5:00 p.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Saturday, November 3   11:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.
Sunday, November 4   12:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

• And it's Restaurant Week in Newport and environs, Friday, November 2 through Sunday November 11. Okay, it seems like it's always restaurant week in Newport. www.gonewportrestaurantweek.com

p.s. my compost heap now features sea salt