New England tradition coming to our own coast

9/7/2013

For a true New England Clam Bake experience, get yourself to a dock at the end of some little island off the coast of Massachusetts, sit down at a picnic table, and dig into buckets of freshly steamed, right-off-the-boat lobsters, clams, mussels, and shrimp.

Red-skin potatoes and corn on the cob are also always included in the buckets, only they aren’t, technically speaking, straight off the boat.

Anyway, if you can’t get to an island off the coast of Massachusetts anytime soon, you can do the next best thing by attending the Old Fashioned New England Clam Bake presented by the Maritime Academy of Toledo Foundation.

The clam bake will be Sept. 20 from 5-9 p.m. at the academy, 803 Water St.

Along with the traditional fixings, the dinner will also include hors d’oeuvres, salad, bread, and dessert, plus bowls of melted butter and steaming broth for dipping. And it is all being prepared by executive chefs Ed Gozdowski and David Napierala, so you know it will be good.

The academy campus will be open for tours for this event, so you can see all the cool goodies it features (movie theater, indoor pool, hot tub, sauna, fitness room, boat-building lab). But the coolest goodies of all, at least to this column’s mind, are the new ship simulators. Participants will be able to try their hand at guiding a (simulated) ship through the Soo locks.

Watch out for that…! Oh, too late. Never mind.

The whole deal is a fund-raiser for the foundation, so the price is $75 per person. Which is considerably cheaper than plane fare to Massachusetts.

Reservations are requested before Friday at 419-244-9999 or rmarazon@maritimeacademy.us.

Veritas

Wine novices and wine experts alike love wine tastings.

For the novices, they get the chance to learn about the fruit of the vine and to experience an assortment of wines. For experts, it is the opportunity to challenge and expand their palate. And for pretty much everyone, it is the chance to drink a lot of wine.

Fortunately, the folks at the Walt Churchill Market at 3320 Briarfield Blvd. in Monclova Township are happy to oblige. Every Saturday and Wednesday they offer wine tastings. Wednesday tastings are what they call “value-priced wines,” meaning they cost less than $25 per bottle. Saturdays’ tend to be more premium wines, at $15 and up. But both wine tastings are poured by the glass, so you can pay and drink as much or as little as you choose.

Wednesday tastings are from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday tastings are from noon to 5 p.m.

This month’s schedule is:

Wednesday: Back to school — Wines for your lunchbox (OK, I think that is hilarious)

Saturday: The last of the summer wine, Part I

Sept. 18: The last of the summer wine, Part II

Sept. 21: Recap of the 2013 Italy Wine Trip — Prosecco, Amarone, Chianti, and Bolgheri

Sept. 25: New discoveries

Sept. 28: Customer appreciation day

For more information, call 419-794-4000.

Dimes on the march

It’s the 75th anniversary of the March of Dimes.

The organization began as a way to raise money to fight polio, and with the horrible disease virtually eradicated in nearly every country around the world, it has turned its attention to fighting other childhood diseases through vaccines, education, research, and medical breakthroughs.

Doing so takes money, of course, and the once-worthy idea of Americans sending in dimes has been pretty much negated by inflation. So the organization now looks, in part, to fund-raisers — and sometimes they can be yummy.

Take, for instance, the northwest Ohio chapter’s 20th annual Signature Chefs Auction. Lots of food cooked up by what the chapter calls “local chefs and culinary talent,” plus wine and spirits from around the country, will be featured. And if you want to bid on lots of stuff, well, there will be plenty of chances to do so at auctions both live and silent.

The whole deal will be Oct. 21 at the Pinnacle, 1772 Indian Wood Circle in Maumee. The food tastings and the silent auction will begin at 6 (the silent auction will end at 7:30 p.m., with the live auction beginning after that). Tickets are $75.

For reservations or more information, visit www.marchofdimes.com/ohio/events/events_11000.html or call Dawn Lyman at 567-298-4825.

Items for Morsels should be submitted up to two weeks before an event at food@theblade.com