"education" news and stories

Some topics don't quite strike me as candidates for online education. Clay modeling. Flying lessons. Childbirth. I might have put wine there, too (since there's no substitute for learning by tasting, after all!) but now a new UC Irvine Extension course may have changed my mind.

The course's main advantages:

1. You don't have to actually go anywhere or talk to anyone
2. If you accidentally taste too much, there's no driving involved
3. If wine makes you anxious, you can learn about it in private

OK, I'm being a little flip. The course is actually interesting. It's called "A Sommelier's Secret Guide to the Wine List: Wine and Food Galore," and it teaches students how to ID value wine on a wine list and pair it with food. If you know nothing about wine and are suddenly entertaining clients on a huge expense budget (though who but AIG has those anymore?) this might be the class for you.

More info: www.extension.uci.edu

Fast Food Nation author Eric Schlosser has co-authored a version of his fast food industry tell-all aimed at the preteen age group. Chew On This: Everything You Don't Want To Know About Fast Food is due for release on May 10. Some ideas intended to grab young readers' attentions include the fact that McDonald's is the largest toy company in the world and that one of every five schools in the U.S. serves brand name food. Then, of course, there's the matter of where McNuggets come from. The press release from publisher Houghton Mifflin has more and Amazon has pre-order.

[Via Fast Food News]

If I lived in New York I'd be all over this. Pastry Scoop is hosting their second annual Sweet Success conference. It's a chance to attend workshops given by some of New York's most gifted bakers and pastry chefs. The workshops are $50 each for a two hour session to sit at the feet of the masters including Ron Ben-Israel of Ron Ben-Israel Cakes (shown here), Jean François Bonnet of Daniel and Alison Nelson of Chocolate Bar. The courses haven't been announced yet but if you are a sweets slashfoodie it's defintely the place to be. Two hours won't be enough time to learn to make what Mr. Ben-Israel is holding in his hand but these conferences are always good for picking up tips. It was at a conference similar to this that I first learned to make chocolate leaves and embossed chocolates from business cards.

[via Lovescool]

Source