NEGRONI WEEK RETURNS
Monday through June 30 is Negroni Week, a charity event celebrating the classic Italian cocktail made with gin, Campari and vermouth.
Order a Negroni next week at Sky Waikiki or the Top of Waikiki and $1 will go to the Surfrider Foundation. At Sky and Top of Waikiki, orgeat syrup, lime and pineapple also go into the drink.
For reservations go to skywaikiki.com (979-7590) or topofwaikiki.com (923-3877). Both are in the Waikiki Business Plaza, 2270 Kalakaua Ave.
CELEBRATE THE MANGO
Whether you like mango as a food or as a wood in craft pieces, this weekend’s Mango Jam should satisfy.
Have your mango in cookies, haupia, marshmallows, shave ice, gelato, ice pops, iced tea and even mochiko chicken.
Or have a Dango Yo Mango pale ale or a Pau Maui Vodka shot with a pickled mango back.
Or watch two chefs — Keith Endo of Vino Italian Tapas & Wine Bar and caterer Zach Inouye — duke it out in the Mango BBQ Cook-Off.
Or watch members of Honolulu Woodturners use mango wood in craft projects.
The free city-sponsored event runs from 4:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Saturday on the Frank F. Fasi Civic Center Grounds surrounding Honolulu Hale.
On the menu: all manner of mango dishes from food booths, as well as mango-flavored beer and cocktails from a Honolulu Beerworks pop-up bar, a Mango Market of local produce, kids activities and a constant stream of live entertainment.
Parking is free in the municipal parking lot (enter off of South Beretania Street).
Go to mangojamhonolulu.com for a schedule of events and parking maps.
BENEFITS OF BEING VEGAN
This month’s Eat Well for Life cooking demonstration at Adventist Health Castle is themed “Plant-based Nutrition for Vibrancy and Vitality,” to be held June 27.
Holly Harding, founder of the H Lyfe Method health and lifestyle program, will explain ways to replace less-healthy foods with vegan alternatives higher in vitamins and nutrients.
The class runs from 6 to 7:15 p.m. in the Wellness & Lifestyle Medicine Center Auditorium. Cost is $12, which includes food samples and recipes. Payment and reservations are required at least one week in advance. Call 263-5050.
PARTNERSHIP BENEFITS THE BEES
There’s nothing sweeter than when everybody wins — especially when the win centers on bees, vital contributors to agriculture and ecosystems because they are pollinators.
In this case, the ecosystem is on the Big Island, as are the University of Hawaii-Hilo’s beekeeping course, chef Alan Wong’s Adopt-A-Beehive Program and the Fairmont Orchid resort.
The Kohala resort has partnered with The Family Coppola Bee’s Box Wines, which is donating 10% of its sales at the Fairmont to Wong’s program. For nine years, the program has provided more than $20,000 in scholarships to UH-Hilo’s beekeeping students and supported research and development of healthy beehive practices.
The school’s beekeeping course, led by entomology professor Lorna Tsutsumi, is part of the College of Agriculture, Forestry and Natural Resource Development.
Wong created his Adopt-A-Beehive program to put a spotlight on the plight of honey bees, which have been suffering from colony collapse disorder for more than a decade.
The ongoing global phenomenon, wherein worker bees are killed while searching for food, has wreaked havoc on the bee population, obliterating colonies.
Quickbites is a weekly listing of dining events. Email items to crave@staradvertiser.com.