Morning Coffee with Maryellen Burns

What is better than hosting a get-together with friends to share the latest chatter over a cup of coffee, tea, cookies, and pastry? Join us for this monthly Kaffeeklatsch, with friends, colleagues, and neighbors as we engage in multi-faceted conversations about what is happening in the world of food, arts, and culture throughout the Sacramento Valley. We provide coffee and tasty bits for our inhouse participants. ONLINE & IN-PERSON

February 1 - Addicted: Sacramento’s Coffee Scene

Coffee wasn’t always the magic substance that fueled people through their workdays. It took on that status between World War I and World War II when the combination of affordable coffee and cheap labor powered the industrial revolution in Sacramento and made the magic elixir indispensable to workers. We’ll talk a little history, learn how to brew the perfect cup and learn to sketch using coffee as the medium.

March 1 - Eat. Drink. Be Literary

Enjoy tasty tidbits and stories with guest Jennifer Basye Sander, co-author of Churchill: A Drinking Life: Champagne, Cognac, and Cocktails, as we discuss the role that booze, and food have played in the literary life and works of Ernest Hemingway, Carson McCullers, Coco Chanel, and others. It’s Women’s History month, so we will have quite a bit about women mixed in. A morning cocktail and coffee drink will be demonstrated, too.

April 5 –We Are Where We Eat

Our region has undergone a food renaissance of late – with dozens of new microbreweries, gastropubs, wineries, specialty food shops, and restaurants opening every month. There are over five thousand eateries, hundreds of farms, wineries, breweries, and other food and agriculture establishments – often offering tastes created by mostly new immigrants from Vietnam, Thailand, Taiwan, Mexico, India, and the Middle East. Our guests will share their stories and a sampling of the food or drink they represent.