In this monthly series, students will not only learn the secrets to brok da mout (delicious!) Hawaiian grinds, they’ll enjoy a full Hawaiian experience, with talk story and live island tunes.

January’s class features the healthier side of Hawaiian food – consistent with our New Year, New You program (all healthy classes in January), including seared chicken breast with Hawaiian sea salt, smashed Hawaiian sweet potato, and you choy with garlic.

February’s class is for lovers, with students learning how to prepare Hawaiian boneless short ribs, spicy shrimp and more, and learn about local Kaena Wine Company - the perfect accompaniment to these onolicious grinds!

In anticipation of the upcoming April Poke Fest, March is all about poke.  Don’t now what poke is? Or how to make it right? Learn how to prepare ahi (yellow-fin tuna) poke, tako (octopus) poke, and any kine poke… maybe so ono you enter you own poke in the fest…!

And for our gluten-free followers, April is for you!  This class will include macadamia nut-crusted Mahi Mahi, tofu stir fry, shrimp & veggie spring rolls, and brown rice with edamame (soy beans) and furikake (Japanese rice seasoning).

Chef Jesus is known for his seasonal spa cuisine, featuring the freshest, local ingredients – full of flavor and texture, without all the fat and simple carbohydrates.  But given his use of alternative, healthier grains, much of his repertoire is also gluten free.  So he decided to focus this series on putting together amazing menus of his healthiest, most flavorful dishes – all gluten free.

“I cook a lot with quinoa and other grains – which are flavorful and nutritious, and wonderfully versatile” said Gonzalez.  ”Because of this, many of my meals are naturally gluten free already.”

Gonzalez’s classes are also dairy free or can be easily altered to be dairy free.

“Many of my class members have expressed an interest in dairy-free eating, so I tend to offer alternatives for them.  Most often, when I use dairy, it is goat milk, yoghurt or cheese, but even these can be eliminated from the menu without sacrificing flavor.”

The upcoming class menus include:

FEBRUARY

Squash apple soup with thai red curry

Roasted pear and arugula salad with pomegranate chipotle vinaigrette

Pan roasted fish with pearl onions porcini and fingerling potatoes

Root vegetables roasted with honey balsamic and spices

Chocolate cake with Fresh persimon, sweet cheese and toasted walnuts, red wine

MARCH

Tortilla soup with avocado

Beet salad with pine nuts and guava dressing

Shrimp enchiladas on mexican rice with guacamole

Chocolate chip cranberry cookies

APRIL 

Guacamole with bake tortilla chips

Spinach salad with poach eggs and cilantro dressing

Mango gazpacho with balsamic reduction

Masala crusted wild salmon with pineapple cilantro chutney

Orange-saffron-pine nut bread

Strawberry and vanilla cream parfait with almond cookies

-Aynsley Lockridge, Happy Customer

-Olin Hyde, Happy Customer & Facebook Friend

Located in La Jolla Village, Cups is the brainchild of Michelle Ciccarelli Lerach, who set out to put her own twist on the cupcake craze: organic. The shop does more than just sell heavenly bites of sugary goodness, though. They also offer cooking classes that range from desserts to duck, and more. Lerach’s vision paid off, which shows in the Guilt-Free Desserts class taught by Gonzales.

Upon arriving at La Jolla’s only 3-Star Green Certified® Bakery, you walk past the front counter (stopping for the to-die-for strawberry infused organic milk), through the actual kitchen, and into the teaching kitchen in the back of the shop. Eight excited students sit around a large square table, with their aprons, recipe book, and notebook laid out in front of them. Gonzales begins by telling students why he teaches.  As a young man, Gonzales learned how to cook from his mother, who told him, “You need to learn how to cook because you never know what’s going to happen.”

Meaning, he couldn’t count on finding a wife to cook for him. His culinary career took him to such famed locales as the famed Rancho La Puerta and Golden Door Spa.

After the pleasantries, he instructs his class to get up and so begins the three-hour class. There’s definitely a focus on the healthy: goat cheese instead of cream cheese (healthy because the former’s easier to digest and also okay for many lactose-intolerant folks); agave nectar instead of sugar (healthy: 1 cup of sugar = 1/3 cup agave); and 2-egg flan.

The desserts reflect Gonzales’ edict: “When I create a recipe, I want to make sure it’s simple and easy.” By the end of the class, students agreed wholeheartedly with both.

A few days later, I attended the Pasta Rustica Toscana, featuring Guest Chef Ryan Johnston (Executive Chef of Whisknladle and formerly of The French Laundry). He took students from flour and eggs to completed pasta dishes in just under three hours, inciting laughter with such quips as, “The difference between a good chef and a great chef? A pound of butter.”

At a mere $70 each, these classes were great value for the time and the amount of food you get to eat (the desserts class had a ton of leftovers, so there were many goodies to bring home). They were fun, moved along quickly, and the people who came were a lot of fun! To book your cooking class, visit the Cups website, or call 858.459.CUPS (2877).

And if there wasn’t a message sent about how important this could be, one need only look at San Diego’s daily newspaper which last week listed key places to shop on Black Friday. Guess what community wasn’t on the list: You’ve got it La Jolla. But the Cedros Design Center in Solana Beach and Little Italy — both of which have cohesive groups behind them — made the list.

Now, we can blame the big daily for forgetting about our little burgh or we can blame ourselves for letting the Jewel fall off the map amidst the struggles of Promote La Jolla.

Either way, the consequences are the same — lower visibility for our merchants as they work each day to keep their shelves stocked with great offerings to attract shoppers.

We’re hopeful that the enthusiasm generated at the recent coffees and the consultant hired with BID funds who has been talking up “La Jolla Businesses Unite” has stirred enough emotion and drawn some new faces into the fold that today’s meeting will be successful.

The holiday lights that have popped up along Girard, Herschel and Prospect in the past couple of weeks may be signs that the energy is kicking in.

Thanks go to a group led by Egon Kafka and Maureen Murphy of the La Jolla Village Lodge, Anna Palmer of Anna Palmer Design and Phil and Nicki Coller of Everett Stunz — along with Michelle and Shannon Lerach of CUPS and others who have stepped up as “block captains” to get their neighbors involved or pitched in to cover some of the costs. Others deserve credit too: Michelle Addington, who has no business interest but volunteered anyway, and Lincoln Foster, who has dressed up his properties.

The shooting stars are shining in the Village, thanks to LJBID funds, and along Torrey Pines. Joe LaCava led the effort to raise the money to supplement BID funds to hang those outside the Village and the Season’s Greetings sign near the Children’s School.

But it will take more than lights to get the full glow back in the Village. Today, we hope those who want to help will show up. The objective today is to get all of the ideas focused on next steps: Picking a name, setting up committees to handle mundane but necessary tasks like getting bylaws written, dealing with other legal issues in setting up a nonprofit, establishing a budget framework and finding candidates to lead the new group.

The timeframe is short since the city is looking for a proposal by late January. So get your wheels rolling straight to the Rec Center this afternoon if you are about the business climate in town. We’ll see you there.

VIDEO: Cups at after party for Del Mar Opening Day →

You lick the bowl, we do the dishes!

The greenroom at Cups is a perfect place for parties of any flavor. At kids parties, the youngsters can help bake and decorate, or just play and eat! Rent out our lounge and celebrate a birthday, engagement or just get a group of friends together. With a full sound/video system featuring karaoke for the ultimate sing along or dance party, Cups greenroom is the ideal venue for all sorts of fun, festive and indulgent celebrations.
Just a few of our great events:

Contact Shea to schedule your next party in the Cups greenroom | parties@cupslj.com

The organic cupcakery’s new division will feature award-winning cookbook authors and specialty chefs. Amet, consectetur adipisicing elit, sed do eiusmod tempor incididunt ut labore et dolore magna aliqua. Ut enim ad minim veniam.

Quis nostrud exercitation ullamco laboris nisi ut aliquip ex ea commodo consequat. Duis aute irure dolor in reprehenderit in voluptate velit esse cillum dolore eu fugiat nulla pariatur.

There’s more than organic cupcakes and coffee at Cups in La Jolla. The back of their space is a demo kitchen set up for cooking classes taught by culinary director Jesus Gonzalez, the former creative chef for Rancho La Puerta. Groups often stroll to the La Jolla Open Aire Market to select fresh and organic produce, then head back to the classroom for a hands-on cooking experience followed by a family-style meal of the class creations. 858-459-2877, cupslj.com.

[/kml_flashembed]

Dining Details held a “meet and greet” for our favorite vendors and coordinators on May 20th, to say “thanks” for past and future referrals. We are so blessed to have such wonderful people to work with in the industry! We continue to focus on our private clients, but move also into the weddings and corporate events as demand requires of us. We are happy to be of service! Many thanks to Michelle, with La Jolla “CUPS” (soon to open on Girard- make sure to check out their cool lounge!) for teaming up with us to provide our guests with a gorgeous venue and awesome sunset for the party!