Braising is hot right now. And for good reason... The food tastes great and it looks so stylish served right out of the oven in your new Staub pots. We have slowly but surely been working our way through Molly Stevens' fabulous book, All About Braising. We trust you have also been enjoying some succulent and tender braised dishes.

March promises to be a busy month for us. In the middle of the month we are scheduled to do some minor renovations to accomodate a large display unit for a new cookware line. We hope this doesn't cause any inconvenience to you. We have scheduled it to occur when we have no classes on the calendar.

At the end of the month, you are all invited to join in on the MacCallum release party for the first release of their Malbec wine. See the details in the left hand column. We look forward to seeing you then!

Marie Simmons will teach another class at In Good Taste this month. We are so happy to have her back. She is an extraordinarily talented lady and we always learn new things from her. For more information on her class, check out the quick links to the left.

Matt has been doing his Breville juicer demos on Saturdays and will continue to do them as long as people are interested in them. We'd both love to see on your next visit to our store.

Judith Bishop turns her very talented hand to preparing recipes from Jerry Traunfeld's latest book, The Herbal Kitchen. After reading her review, I can't wait to go and snip some herbs and start cooking!

Here’s a recipe inspired by the bold flavors and chiles of Mexico and the American Southwest. If you would like to learn more about the art of working with dried chiles, sign up for Lucy’s Southwestern Spice class on March 10 (see Quick Links, below left), which features Posole with Avocado Salsa. Posole, common throughout the pueblos of New Mexico, is a brothy chile stew with meltingly tender morsels of pork and earthy hominy. Lucy’s posole features three different chiles, anchos, pasillas, and guajillos, and a variety of herbs and spices.

Recently, we were lucky enough to have Joyce Goldstein come and teach another class for us here at In Good Taste. Joyce is extremely knowledgeable about food in general and Italian food in particular. The menu she chose was from her latest cookbook, Italian Slow and Savory by Chronicle Books.

For those of you unable to take the class, here are some of the tips I jotted down:

1. When making creamy, soft polenta, the trick is to cook it a long time. The longer it cooks, the creamier it gets. Add hot water if it gets too dry.
2. Don't cook polenta in stock or milk as it will hide the taste of the polenta.
3. When selecting butternut squash, always choose those with a longer neck. That is where the "meat" is. The size of the bulb at the bottom doesn't matter as it is filled with the seeds.
4. The best chocolate dessert ever is the Chocolate Budino, devised by her beloved pastry chef, Jennifer Millar, from Square One Restaurant that Joyce used to own.
5. Sign up immediately when Joyce's next class is scheduled!

You will fall in love with the new exotic spice rubs from Dulcet Cuisine, a local company. We've always loved their products but this time we are really excited. The rubs are delicious and will liven up any dish you make. We also love the packaging which reminds you of your last foreign trip.

So many people wanted to take the hands on Italian cheese making class that we've added another class on March 26. This news is so new, it isn't even on our web site yet. Call us at (503) 248-2015 to register.

We've expanded our lines of relaxation products to enhance your kitchen and create the right mood.

Check out the following new products:

1. Thymes Persian Pear
2. Votivo Candles, soaps and lotions for the kitchen
3. Bluewick soy-based candles with tropical scents to enhance the kitchen
4. Millefiori kitchen fragrances - a brand new line from Italy