Buy space in imu to benefit students
The Kailua High School Project Grad Program will spend March 29 tending an imu and is offering space inside for trays of food.
Cost is $20 per foil tray, up to 25 pounds. Food — such as turkeys, roasts or pork butt, sweet potatoes, taro or luau leaves — must be thawed and wrapped in foil. Place in pan and wrap again in foil. Pick up the tray after it is removed from the imu March 30.
Reservations due March 22. Make checks to Kailua High School, 451 Ulumanu Drive, Kailua 96734. Write “Attention IMU” in the lower left corner of the envelope. Include name, telephone number and a self-addressed, stamped envelope for a confirmation ticket. Call 383-9195 or 728-7389.
3 in semifinals for Beard honors
Chefs Ed Kenney of town restaurant and Quinten Frye of SALT Kitchen & Tasting Bar, as well as master sommelier Chuck Furuya, were named semifinalists in the 2013 James Beard Foundation Awards.
Kenney is competing in the "Best Chef: West" category, while Frye is a contender for "Rising Star Chef of the Year." Furuya is up for "Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional."
The James Beard awards are among the most prestigious culinary honors in the nation. Finalists will be announced March. 18.
Festival extols isle chocolate
Who doesn’t love chocolate? Hawaii is unique in that it is the only state in the U.S. to produce cacao, the beans from which chocolate is made. To celebrate, some 30 chocolate vendors will convene at Dole Cannery Shops for the Hawaii Chocolate Festival, noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.
Among participants: Padovani’s Chocolates, Waialua Estate, Malie Kai, Madre Chocolates, Manoa Chocolate Hawaii, Sweet Paradise Chocolates and Original Hawaiian Chocolate Factory.
Sweets include chocolate bacon, chocolate pineapple, apple banana, coffee and macadamia nuts. Various drinks include chocolate tea, cocoa tequila and chocolate vodka.
There will also be truffle-making demonstrations, cacao plants and educational displays as well as guest speakers.
Tickets are $20 in advance through hawaiichocolatefestival.com or $25 at the door. Call 234-0404.
Talk will focus on food culture
Get schooled in Korean and Japanese food culture at a lecture Sunday at the Center for Korean Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa.
The free talk, by Tae Ho Kim of Konan University in Kobe, Japan, will discuss the cultural differences between the two countries in table manners and cuisine.
The lecture runs 3 to 5 p.m. in the center’s auditorium at 1881 East-West Road. Call 956-7041.
Mercury in fish to be discussed
Seafood expert John Kaneko will discuss the issue of mercury in fish at a free talk Tuesday at Kahala Nui.
"Mercury in Fish: Making Sense of Fish Consumption" will cover how selenium counters the effects of mercury.
The lecture begins at 10:30 a.m. in the Diamond Head Room. Kahala Nui is at 4389 Malia St. RSVP at 218-7091.
