Here are some quick tips for fun food events around Orlando this week, including martinis, music, magic and more.
We polled the staff here at Edible Orlando and we all had family who let us into the kitchen to try out recipes when we were kids. Encouraging an early love of stand mixers and frying pans can help with creativity, math, reading, maybe even healthy eating. Check out Edible for Kids in the latest Edible Orlando including recipes for Indian samosas and the Russian dumplings called pelmeni. Both are featured in the children’s cookbook, Dumpling Day. That’s a bit of the cover at the top of the page.
We’re heading into a busy week for food fun in and around Orlando. A best-selling Top Chef competitor, chili, martinis, magic and pancake ice cream to name a few, Writer John Graham has your best bets, Saturday to Friday.
Ice Cream for Breakfast, Chili Cookoff, Celebrity Chef Talk
If you missed Ice Cream for Breakfast Day on Feb 4, don’t worry. On Saturday, it’s Eat Ice Cream for Breakfast Day, which was created by a whole different group of people. The day was inspired by Malia Grace Peterson of Minnesota, who died of childhood cancer in 2010. On her birthday, ice cream shops around the country open early and donate to local charities. Kelly’s Homemade Ice Cream will be scooping from 9 – 11 a.m. and donating half of proceeds to Give Kids the World Village. Special breakfast flavors include blueberry pancake, maple bourbon bacon, and Breakfast Buddies (cereal milk ice cream with Cap’n Crunch, Corn Pops, and Fruity Pebble Treats). Check with your Kelly’s for flavors and participation.
The Central Florida Chili Cookoff is back for a second year at Ocoee’s Lakeshore Center on Saturday, noon – 4 p.m. This is a Chili Appreciation Society International-sanctioned competition which means a no-beans-or-pasta category as well as restaurant, vegetarian, showmanship, people’s choice, and “anything goes.” Tickets are $15, or $20 if you also want into the cornhole tournament. Children 6-10 are $5 with an adult. Expect around 50 chilis to sample as well as live music, cash bars, kids zone and food trucks.
photo by Clay Williams
Celebrity chef Kwame Onwuachi (Chopped, Top Chef, America’s Test Kitchen: The Next Generation – at right) will speak Sunday at the downtown Orlando Public Library, 2 – 3 p.m. The James Beard Award-winning chef will talk about his first cookbook, My America: Recipes from a Young Black Chef. A book sale and signing will follow the talk, provided by Kizzy’s Books of Winter Garden. Chef Onwuachi’s memoir, Notes from a Young Black Chef, is being adapted into a feature film starring Oscar-nominated Lakeith Stanfield. Register for free to make sure you have a spot at the talk.
Martinis, Music, Magic
On Thursdays, 7 – 10 p.m., Pilars Martini in Winter Garden hosts Singers’ Open Mic Night, a chance for performers from the local theme parks and theater scene to sing what they want on their night off. Up in Pilars Loft, the evening is hosted by long-time Walt Disney World performer Billy Flanigan (at left), who was recently the topic of the documentary Billy Flanigan: The Happiest Man on Earth. Kelly Richards, who you’ve also seen playing in Disney parks and resorts, is on piano. Pilars specializes in cocktails so maybe grab a Cucumber Cosmo or Smoke Monster.
Local magician Kostya Kimlat fooled Penn & Teller on their own Fool Us TV show. Thursday and Friday night, 7 -10 p.m., he’ll fool you too … if you’re having dinner at Christner’s Prime Steak & Lobster on Lee Rd. For $259 per person, you get appetizers, dinner and dessert plus 30 minutes of magic from an opening act and hour of magic from Kostya. You can upgrade to VIP admission for $279 with preferred seating and a bottle of wine per four guests.
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