Dining
Mussels don’t taste like duck, but the difference between the flavor of farmed mussels and wild ones is like the difference between a domesticated duck and one born to the pond. The meat of a farm-raised duck is tenderer, milder and tamer — while a wild fowl is more toothsome, nuttier and gamier, admittedly not for everyone.
The Island Grown Initiative will hold the second annual local foods dinner on Monday, Oct. 27 at 6 p.m. in the Martha’s Vineyard Regional High School Culinary Arts dining room.
Danielle Dominick of the Scottish Bakehouse will be guest chef, working alongside Jack O’Malley, the high school’s culinary arts program director and his students in preparing a four-course meal made with Island-grown ingredients.
Meet and Eat
Slow Food Martha’s Vineyard holds its monthly local food potluck and informational meeting on Thursday, Oct. 23 at the Agricultural Hall from 6:30 to 9 p.m. In the Slow Food tradition, please bring a dish to share using at least one local ingredient if possible and a place setting for everyone in your group. BYOB. For details, call 508-696-8597.
Bartending. The job used to be simple — pour a glass of wine, shake up the occasional martini, pop off a beer cap and call it a night. Not so any more. Today there are career bartenders. Mixologists. Professionals who stir the cocktail to levels of esteem usually reserved for celebrity chefs’ creations.
This Columbus Day weekend is bound to be a sweet one as the Art of Chocolate Festival celebrates its fifth year at Featherstone Center for the Arts.
“Putting together a dinner party is easier than people think,” explains Jessica Harris, foodie, author and professor, whose multiple cookbooks, including The Martha’s Vineyard Table (Chronicle Books 2007), put an invitation to dine with her on a par with dinner chez Julia (as in Childs).