May 17th Skill Exchange Mixer: Skills, cocktails and more! - this Friday!
May 23rd Upholstery Basics: Focus on chairs –only a few tickets remain!
June 13th Cocktails and Bitters: How to build a better cocktail
Tag Archives: diy
Workshop spotlight: Cheese and wine
8 May
Ever wonder what the difference between burrata and mozzarella is? Or what exactly does pecorino mean? And what about wine?? If you’d like to learn more about how to expertly pair cheese and wine for your next dinner party, picnic or dinner for two Join Sophie Mosgrove, cheese connoisseur and all around lover-of-lactose, and Advanced Sommelier Deena Smith for an evening of cheese and wine tasting and education.
Join Sophie as she explores the regional varieties of Italy’s immensely diverse cheese selection. From the Alps to Sardinia and everything in between, this workshop will uncover some of Italy’s better known cheeses as well as a few secret gems. This workshop will include a lesson in cheese history, vocabulary, a discussion of the basic differences between cheese types. This workshop will include tastings of a variety of Italian cheeses, as well as other tasty accoutrements. This workshop will also include wine tastings, provided by Deena Smith, Advanced Sommelier, with the London based Wine & Spirits Education Trust; and San Francisco Manager for the Henry Wine Group, a Fine Wine Distributor dedicated to Family Estate & Sustainable wines.
This workshop is open to 21 and over only.
About the teachers:
Sophie Mosgrove | Cheese Monger
Growing up in the Bay Area, Sophie has always had a taste for cheese. Her appreciation began at the ripe age of 5, asking for brie and baguette sandwiches for lunch but it wasn’t until she returned to San Francisco after college that the passion truly flourished. Gaining experience at some of California’s most notable cheese counters, Sophie has evolved her love of lactose into the ultimate dream job.
Deena Smith | Advanced Sommelier
Deena Smith’s love of wine began at an early age on a trip to Europe where her chef and artist family helped inspire the world of fine dining. It progressed from there to all regions and she is an industry professional who continues to travel to learn of new and exciting wines and the cuisines that are both historic and important for wine lovers. She consultants regularly with restaurants and bars, and her passion and teaching have inspired many from Industry Professionals to the home wine lover.
May gardening
7 May
For the last few years I’ve shared garden duties (and joys) with one of our downstairs neighbors. Every year we make a list, head to the garden shop, then spend a weekend day weeding, planting, and then sometimes celebrating with a cocktail in the backyard. In Mid-April we planted our garden for the spring. We made the list, went to Flowercraft, and we only forgot one thing (cilantro). This year we didn’t have to spend half the day weeding our small, but mighty little backyard beds. Last fall we decided to cover the beds with newspaper and cedar to slow the weed explosion that happens annually, and it worked pretty well. We raked back the cedar pretty quickly to uncover happy, relatively weed-free soil. I was a little worried that the heavy cedar might kill the good stuff in our soil, but I was happy to see some fat worms as we amended the soil.
This year we’ve planted snow peas, parsley, zucchini, cucumber (it died already, but we’re going to try again), strawberries, fox glove, celery, mixed lettuce and thyme. From previous years we still have artichokes, figs, blueberries, rosemary, garlic, nasturtiums, honeysuckle, lemons, lemon verbena and oregano. Last year we harvested one artichoke, but I let it flower, then dried it because it was too pretty to eat. This year we’ve got a handful of blueberries on the bush, and I’m hoping we’ll get to eat them before the birds do.
Every year we want to plant cilantro, but we’ve yet to be successful. Why? Lots of plants starts look like cilantro! We’re trying, but failing here guys. Last year, instead of cilantro we bought an insane amount of parsley starts. It grew and grew, and we forgot all about cilantro. This year instead of cilantro… we bought celery starts. Who knew we’d do it again? I’m hoping this will lead to more bloody marys… because what else is celery good for?
Tickets on sale!
1 May
All Skill Exchange workshop tickets are available now! Get your tickets at SkillExchangeSF.com/tickets.Tickets are limited and workshops are expected to fill up quickly, so be sure to grab your tickets early!
All workshops will be held at 235 Gough Street. Please plan to arrive 10-15 minutes early to check in for workshops. If arriving by car, please allow ample time to park, as parking can be very tricky in this neighborhood. Seating is available for our attendees. No need to any bring tools or materials, unless you’d like to take notes.
Skill Exchange Mixer at MSS
Friday, May 17, 2013 from 7:00 PM to 9:00 PM
Upholstery Basics: Focus on chairs
Thursday, May 23, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Cheese Love: A lesson in Italian cheese
Thursday, May 30, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Cocktails and Bitters: How to build a better cocktail
Thursday, June 13, 2013 from 6:30 PM to 8:30 PM
Skill Exchange video premiere
13 Feb
I’m very excited to finally share Skill Exchange’s very first foray into film! Our new video features a small selection of the 13 workshops that took place over the course of our 3-day pop-up at StoreFrontLab September 6-9th. This is just the first in a series of videos featuring Skill Exchange teachers, makers and artisans. Over the coming weeks we’ll be sharing more short videos, featuring a few of our Skill Exchange partners. One million thanks are in order for Cerebral Pro, who helped bring this little video into fruition. Also, many many thanks to all of our Skill Exchange teachers past and present, who have contributed their time and enthusiasm to help Skill Exchange grow.
Although I’ve been tweeting for a while now@mipiacekate, Skill Exchange is now on twitter! Follow @Skill_Exchange for the latest non-cat related news and updates… strictly Skill Exchange, DIY, and other kinds of exchange, I promise.
Oh Hello
Mi Piace Kate is pronounced:
Me pee-ah-chay Kate.
Hi. I'm Kate. I'm a graphic designer
& in San Francisco. I'm also the founder of Skill Exchange. This blog is a catalog of my efforts to strengthen my self-reliance skills as well as a record of my current projects, meals and of course, my cats.
Say hello mipiacekate [at] gmail.com
@mipiacekate // @Skill_Exchange
Pinterest // Instagram
