Thursday, December 13, 2007

Livin' in the Blurbs: Local Motion

House concerts, informal music events that are held in private homes, are all the rage among music cognoscenti these days. One venue called Hollywood House Concerts is featuring Portland's Tim Ellis on Mar. 2, singer-songwriter and NYC transplant Michael Sheridan joined by Dirty Martini guitarist and vocalist Lara Michell on Apr. 6, and the piano-vocal duo of Benny Green and Belinda Underwood on May 25. For reservations or to get on the e-mail list, contact Matt Miner. If you'd like to find out how to put on a house concert of your own, check out ConcertsInYourHome.com.

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It's time for holiday dinner events at GoodStuffNW's favorite restaurant, Castagna. On Dec. 23 is the Réveillon de Noel, a French-inspired three-course meal featuring gougeres, a Dungeness crab and mache salad and Christmas goose prepared two ways, as well as Buche de Noel and two glasses of wine, for only $55 per person. Then on New Year's Eve will be a five-course meal that sounds out of this world with a choice of three entrees and three desserts for $80 per person or $125 with wine pairings. For information and reservations, call 503-231-7373.

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In a previous post about storing your cheese to keep it at its peak, I mentioned local cheese guy Mark Goldman's packet of cheese papers. At that point it was only available from limited retailers, but now Formaticum has its new website up and running so you can order it anywhere from Poughkeepsie to Death Valley (and beyond).

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The restaurant space on NE 24th and Fremont that's been a revolving door for the past several years is now slated to be the new home of Lucca, "a neighborhood-friendly, Italian-influenced restaurant and bar. Lucca will have a wood-fired pizza bar and rotisserie-cooked items highlighting the rustic trattortia menu," according to a post on PortlandFoodandDrink.com. It "will focus on a value-driven wine list as well as a retro-cocktail menu. The owners, Nancy Salta and Sue Davidson, are passionate about quality food and wine, and desire to recreate the sense of community they experienced while visiting the city of Lucca." We wish them good luck!

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