I have to decide carefully what type of events to post here. As you might imagine, I get requests from everyone under the sun to help publicize their events, even if they are wine dinners in small towns in Alabama. I’ve eventually come to the conclusion that most of the events that I post will only be really large public affairs that have a national, if not international draw to them. The Aspen Food and Wine Classic is definitely one such event. It’s been going on for a long time, and consistently brings some of the best and brightest stars of the food and wine universe to one place for a week of seminars and eating extravaganza. It also brings stars of the other sort, as you might imagine for Aspen, and the combination possibility of snacking next to Goldie Hawn while watching Mario Battali do a cooking demonstration causes some people to quiver uncontrollably. It’s always a bit of a madhouse (it was one even in 1988 when I was working at a catering company in Aspen that helped put on the event) but one of my fondest memories of that adolescent time was an entire restaurant filled with only chocolate chocolate desserts.

In any case, tickets are on sale now, and while they’re expensive, I must say that there are few places that are nicer in the first few weeks of June than the Rocky Mountains, and that’s even without meals from three-star chefs.