Launch party features tea and dessert
Startup tea curators and distributors Tealet are hold a "Tea & Sweet Taster" Thursday at a launch party featuring teas from Japan, India, China and Hawaii. Each tea will be paired with a dessert made by Peace Cafe.
Tealet co-founders Elyse Petersen and Jane Gonsowski will pour and discuss the teas as well as share stories about the tea growers, whom they’ve met.
Tealet connects tea drinkers with tea growers around the world and curates teas for drinkers who subscribe to a bimonthly service called Global Tea Taster, which will be available next month.
The startup has been invited to a fall class at 500 Startups, a top Silicon Valley accelerator that offers mentoring, designing services and investment funding for online startups. Tealet’s founders and technical team will work in California for six months to build the subscription service, a direct-to-grower marketplace and interactive space for a growing tea community.
The event will run 6 to 8 p.m. at Fishcake, 307 Kamani St. The event is free, but space is limited.
Register at tealetlaunch.eventbrite.com. Visit www.tealet.com.
Annual Rice Festival heads to Ward
Rice cooking demos, "riceipe" contests, a Spam musubi eating contest, the world’s largest Spam musubi — all this can only mean the Third Annual Rice Fest, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday at Ward Centers.
Chefs George Mavrothalassitis and Grant Kawasaki will demonstrate rice recipes, while several isle chefs will compete before food bloggers and tweeters Melissa Chang and Mari Taketa, and Star-Advertiser food critic Nadine Kam, plus Katie Kaanapu of Ward Centers.
Participants will try to break their own Guinness Book of World Records title for world’s largest Spam musubi by topping last year’s 286-pound creation, made with 320 cups of rice, 26 cans of Spam and more than 120 sheets of nori.
Visit www.ricefest.com.
Learn to make healthier comfort food
Turn comfort food into healthy dishes during an "Eat Well for Life" cooking class at Castle Medical Center on Oct. 4.
Traditional comfort foods, including dessert, can still be satisfying even when they’re altered with an eye toward healthfulness. Get tips on how to make mindful food selections, try the dishes and go home with recipes.
The class runs 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at Castle’s wellness center. Cost is $15, $20 couples and $10 seniors and students. Register at least two days in advance at 263-5400 or visit castlemed.org.
Star Noodle’s Simeon on ‘Top Chef’
Another Hawaii culinary star will be mixing it up on television.
Sheldon Simeon, 30, executive chef of the popular Star Noodle restaurant in Lahaina, takes part in Bravo’s "Top Chef: Seattle," which premieres Nov. 7.
A 2011 James Beard semifinalist in two categories, Simeon is one of 21 chefs vying for the "Top Chef" title.He faces stiff competition from executive chefs from New York, Las Vegas and Los Angeles.
"Top Chef" judges Tom Colicchio, Padma Lakshmi, Hugh Acheson, Gail Simmons and Emeril Lagasse will be joined by new judge Wolfgang Puck when the show returns for its 10th season.
Keep up with Simeon’s progress on the show’s website (www.bravotv.com/top-chef), or follow Simeon on Facebook or Twitter (www.twitter.com/chefwonder).
