As a self styled foodie and marketing professional I was immediately hooked on the idea of combining the two activities.  TasteCasting is the brainchild of CONET member Dan Harris. His idea was to bring socially connected people using social media platforms such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Youtube together to help local food service businesses build awareness, announce grand openings, introduce new menu items and generally great buzz about food establishments. What a wonderful marketing idea to leverage the social networks to help out restaurants, coffee shops, bakeries and other food service businesses grow and get the word out about their services.

You can view the photostream of the Tasting on Flickr at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/36498169@N04/sets/72157615602754718/

Or watch this video that was posted on Youtube:

 
I can vouch for the quality of pastries and tasty culinary creations of the Suisse Shop European Bakery. My perosnal favorite is their Italian Cassatta Cake. They are located at 2119 Polaris Parkway, Columbus OH 43240 (Phone: 614-846-5102). Website:  http://www.thesuisseshop.com/

If you are of a similar age as me you may remember the old Sears and Roebuck Holiday Catalog. These massive phonebook sized wish books would provide hours of entertainment flipping through them to see what secrets they revealed. As a child I remember searching through it trying to glean what neat new toy or gift to ask Santa.

I had a flashback of the recently when the New York City Institute of Culinary Education’s Summer 2009 catalog arrived in my mailbox. While it is not as massive as the old Sears Catalog it is still jam packed with hours of delightful diversions.  ICE’s recreational cooking program boasts the largest hands-on cooking program in the world and looking at the dozens and dozens of courses I would have no reason to doubt the claim.

Their courses cover the basics of knife work and kitchen craft to regional tastes and cooking classes. They bring together celebrity chefs, cookbook authors and local culinary stars to teach their courses. The classes range from a couple of hours to a couple of days.

One of the more impressive offerings is a five day “Global Culinary Adventure of New York City.” The class explores China flavors, French, Italian, Latin influences and final American. The program includes hands-on cooking lessons, tours of ethnic neighborhoods visiting some well-known and off the beaten path markets, plus you will visit six restaurants that exemplify New York’s global influences. The course is offered twice during the next six months: June 22-26 and Oct 19-23rd. It is listed at a very reasonable $1250 for the classes and tastings. Hotel and transfers are extra. If you are interested in the program you can contact us at jstacy@itsyourtrip.com or ICE directly at 212-847-0700. 

Ice Summer Catalog