Cooks & Books Dinner with Patricia and Walter Wells

Winner of a James Beard Award for best international cookbook, Patricia Wells is back with a new book, We’ve Always Had Paris…and Provence: A Scrapbook of Our Life in France. It is a dialogue with husband Walter, the former executive editor of the International Herald Tribune, about living, cooking, and eating in France. Dine and chat with the expat couple at Boat Street Cafe. The menu includes braised chicken with spring herbs and vegetables as well as meringues with strawberry-rhubarb compote, and wine pairings include a 2005 Cotes du Rhone from the couple’s own vineyard. Two seatings, reservations required.

Boat Street Cafe and Kitchen

$95 includes a signed copy of the book but not tax and tip. Wed., May 14, 6:00pmWed., May 14, 8:30pm

Seattle Free School Canning Class

Seattle Free School Offers a range of classes, with a bent towards self-reliance and old-fashioned home-keeping skills, offering instruction in cheese and soap making as well as a course in auto maintenance. This class may be one that brings you back to summer afternoons in your Nana’s kitchen, with lessons on how to sterilize jars, pressure canning (!), and, how exactly to master the water bath method. If you’ve got a garden that won’t quit, and want to find a home for every single one of the tomatoes you plan to coddle this summer, this class is meant for you. Free. Register early, as these classes fill up.

Third Place Commons

Wed., May 14, 6:30pm

Cheese 101: Introduction to Artisan Cheese

In this class, experts from Beecher's Handmade Cheese will school budding or full-fledged cheese-aholics in the history of the artisan cheese-making process. They'll also teach you how to recognize different types of cheese and offer a range of American artisan cheeses for tasting. There'll be wine pairings as well.

Beecher's Handmade Cheese Class Location

$50, 21 and over only. Wed., April 16, 6:30pm-9:00pmWed., May 14, 6:30pm-9:00pmWed., June 11, 6:30pm-9:00pm

Market Report

The farmers markets just keep a-coming this season, and no doubt one will soon open near you. On Wednesday, May 14, the Wallingford Wednesday Farmers Market celebrates its first day; it's located in the Wallingford Center parking lot (N.E. 45th St. and Wallingford Ave. N., 3-7 p.m.). The Madison/Capitol Hill market begins its season on Saturday, May 16, in the parking lot of the Grocery Outlet (MLK Way and Union St., 3-7 p.m.). Stop in the store to check for rare appearances of gourmet butter, while outside, the stalls will offer early starts for your garden: radicchio, beets, cipollini onions, and heirloom tomatoes.

Various locations

Wed., May 14Fri., May 16

Sour Beer Festival

This festival begins when the bar, Brouwer’s, opens, and ends when the special sours are tapped. So it might be a day before the favorite brews are out of stock, or a week until all the sour beers have run dry. On the menu: 25 to 30 different brews, including Russian River/Bottleworks 9 Deviation, New Belgium la Folie, Walkingman Bloot Voeste Bruin (“a brown soured with the kambucha mushroom”), and several Belgians, such as a vintage Cantillon and Rodenbach Grand Cru.

Brouwer's Cafe

Daily from Fri., May 9 until Fri., May 16, 11:00am-11:45pm

Vashon Wednesday Farmers Market

Vashon Wednesday Farmers Market

Every week Wednesday from Wed., April 16 until Thu., October 16, 2:00pm-5:00pm

To Do List

Wednesday, May 14

The American String Project
What’s more fun than playing chamber music with friends? Convening a w... More>>
Benaroya Recital Hall, Wed., May 14, 7:30pmFri., May 16, 7:30pmSun., May 18, 2:00pm, $10-$35

I Am My Own Wife
The Pulitzer- and Tony-winning I Am My Own Wife had a long and complicated ... More>>
ArtsWest, Every week Sunday from Sun., May 25 until Sun., June 1, 3:00pmEvery week Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday from Wed., May 14 until Sun., June 1, 7:30pm, $10-$29

Seattle Opera
The opera world’s current big buzz is over tenor Juan Diego Florez... More>>
McCaw Hall, Every week Sunday from Sun., May 4 until Sat., May 17, 2:00pmFri., May 16, 7:30pmEvery week Wednesday, Saturday from Sat., May 3 until Sat., May 17, 7:30pm, $25-$162

113 more things to do today>>