January 7, 2014 – Smoked Bacon Peanut Butter. Pickled Apples with Chicharrones. Braised Baker’s Bacon. If these enticing treats are things you’d like to learn how to whip up yourself—or maybe just enjoy along with Holman Ranch’s estate wines—then you’ll want to be at the winery’s Carmel Valley tasting room on Thursday Jan. 23.
That night, Tony Baker, the acclaimed chef behind Montrio Bistro and Baker’s Bacon and 2012 Edible Monterey Bay Best Chef of the year, will share his techniques for bringing bacon to a whole new level. And Holman will provide the chance to hone your talent for pairing wine with porcine delights.
The event kicks off Holman’s 2014 In Your Backyard series, an exciting lineup of monthly wine tasting and cooking seminars sponsored by Edible Monterey Bay. Beginning at 6pm, each event will be led by an engaging expert in a different food specialty—all from our own back yard. The cost, including wine, is just $25 per evening, and a portion of the proceeds will go to the Alzheimer’s Association.
We recommend not just marking your calendars—but phoning now to make reservations for the whole six-event series. Following the Baker’s Bacon’s event, Holman will offer the following program:
• February 27: Chef Elena Salsedo of Sand City’s Sweet Elena’s will share her tips for turning fresh farmers’ market finds into sophisticated sweet and savory pastries.
• March 27: Chef Brandon Miller of Carmel’s Mundaka will offer his expertise in creating irresistible, authentic paella. He’ll also send you home with a recipe card so you’re sure to be able to recreate this Spanish favorite at home.
• April 29th: Beau Schoch of Schoch Family Farmstead in Prunedale will lead a tasting of the aged cheeses his family creates with their own herd of Monterey County dairy cows, as well as tips for selecting, pairing and serving artisanal cheese.
• May 20th: Stephen Brabeck, a cardiologist and proprietor of The Quail and Olive, the Carmel Valley olive oil tasting room, will teach you all you need to know to be come an olive oil connoisseur—and a healthy one, at that.
• June 18th: John Cox, executive chef at Post Ranch Inn’s Sierra Mar restaurant in Big Sur and a contributing writer with Edible Monterey Bay, will team up with Alan Lovewell, founder of Local Catch Monterey Bay, to illuminate the world of our local fisheries and share their secrets for preparing our local fish.
To make reservations for any or all of these events, call the Holman Ranch tasting room at 831.659.2640 or email info@holmanranch.com. The tasting room is located at 19 E. Carmel Valley Rd. in Carmel Valley Village and is open from 11am to 6pm.
About the author
SARAH WOOD—founding editor and publisher of Edible Monterey Bay—has had a life-long passion for food, cooking, people and our planet.
She planted her first organic garden and cared for her first chicken when she was in elementary school in a farming region of Upstate New York.
Wood spent the early part of her career based in Ottawa, Canada, working in international development and international education. After considering culinary school, she opted to pursue her loves for writing, learning about the world and helping make it a better place by obtaining a fellowship and an MA in Journalism from New York University.
While working for a daily newspaper in New Jersey, she wrote stories that helped farmers fend off development and won a state-wide public service award from the New Jersey Press Association for an investigative series of articles about a slumlord who had hoodwinked ratings agencies and investment banks into propping him up with some early commercial mortgage securitizations. The series led Wood to spend several years in financial journalism, most recently, as editor-in-chief of the leading magazine covering the U.S. hedge-fund industry.
Wood now lives with her family in Washington, DC, where she is a freelance writer and manages communications for Samaritan Ministry, an antipoverty and antiracist nonprofit that provides struggling Greater Washington residents with highly personalized and compassionate life counseling and coaching.
