Sex and the City 2 Movie Premiere Party

Rimrock Mall is again having a party for the premiere of Sex and the City 2 on May 27th, 2010 to benefit Relay for Life.

Here's a chance to get decked out, get out your Manolo's (or other sexy but more affordably priced heels) and get together with your girlfriends to be one of the first to see Sex and the City 2.  The party includes appetizers, desserts, drinks by The Carlin and music by Zen.  Then, at 8:30 the party moves indoors for the exclusive showing of the movie.  Tickets are $40 and are available at Rimrock Mall.  Tables of 8 are available for $500.  All proceeds go to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life.

Wine and Food Festival kick off events

MSU-Billings Foundation's popular event and fundraiser, the Wine and Food Festival is May 10th to the 15th but you can get in the spirit early with two special preview events--Wine 101 on February 23rd and 24th and Wine 201 on March 9th and 10th, 7pm-9pm.  The courses will cover wine basics and wine tasting and will be taught by Stella Fong.

Stella shares her personal love of food and wine through her classes on Asian style cooking, wine seminars and her writings. She holds a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry from the University of California, Davis and a General Cooking Certificate from the Culinary Institute of America, and in 2009 earned a Wine Professional Certification. She has taught cooking classes on the west coast for Williams-Sonoma, Sur La Table, Macy’s Cellars and Gelson’s, as well as after-school enrichment programs for elementary and middle school children. In Billings she has instructed at the Billings Depot, Wellness Center, Copper Colander and the YWCA.

Born in the San Francisco Bay area and raised in a traditional Chinese family, Fong devises culinary creations that include a mixture of old and new. Her understanding of food for the consumer came from working at her father’s grocery, Martin’s Market, in Berkeley, California. In California, she developed recipes for San Diego State University food services and the Kids Cooking Club. Now she features locally grown food when cooking for the Good Earth Market Sunday Suppers and last summer she contributed to the first Field-to-Table dinner at Danly Farms.

Fong’s articles have appeared in Cooking Light magazine, the San Diego Union Tribune, and Fine Cooking magazine. More recently she has written for Yellowstone Valley Woman, Big Sky Journal, Distinctly Montana, Magic City Magazine and Montana Quarterly. She has volunteered for the MSUB Wine and Food Festival for many years and was co-chair of the festival in 2008 and 2009.

You can find more info at www.winefoodfestival.com and on the festival's Facebook Page.

For the Love of Soup!

When it's a bit chilly outside, there's nothing better for lunch than a good bowl of soup. I needed to catch up with my pal, Haley last week and we decided to meet at The Soup Place.

We both got the special of the day--a potato, sausage, spinach soup. It was so good. A starchy soup like potato is usually very filling but I just can't go to The Soup Place and not have one of their delicious grilled cheeses. So I went for the small bowl (plenty filling) and half a grilled cheese. I opted to build my own instead of going with one of the suggestions on the menu. I went with sour dough bread, cheddar, green peppers, and tomato. Yum! My only suggestion to The Soup Place would be to add green chillis to their grilled cheese veggie choices. I had a grilled cheese in Albuquerque, NM once that had 3 cheeses, green chillis and tomatos. That was years ago but I still remember it.

We asked about your favorite local soup spots in Billings on our Facebook Page. Suggestions we received included--The Back Porch Deli, Soups and Such, The Soup Place, Staggering Ox (I always think sandwiches there and never even consider soup! Might have to try it), Caramel Waffle Cookie, Grains of Montana, Great Harvest, Pickle Barrel, Old Chicago's Cheddar Broccoli, Olive Garden, and French Onion from Bin 119. We've got a lot of great places to try. Are we missing any?

Have you been to Cafe DeCamp?

When one of my co-workers came back from lunch raving about Cafe DeCamp another co-worker and I decided we had better give it a try. Cafe DeCamp is in the old Mamacita's location. I had never been to Mamacita's but I've heard that it was a favorite local spot for many.

So, what's so great about the place? Well, Cafe DeCamp focuses on serving local Montana grown foods and you can definitely taste the freshness. I went for the quiche of the day served with potato hash and a small salad with a vinaigrette dressing. My co-worker went for the empanadas which were served with Mamacita's salsa. There was a meat loaf sandwich on the menu that was also calling my name but I didn't want to go back to work so full. You won't find the usual soft drink and beverage selections. They serve peppermint iced tea, Italian sodas and espresso drinks.

Cafe DeCamp is small and quaint. I only stepped inside briefly so I can't explain the decor. We decided to sit outside on the patio wich seems more like a "courtyard" as it is fully fenced with a brick wall on one side and all sides are nearly fully covered with leaves. It's a nice shady spot to have lunch on a warm day.

The only bad thing is that it, like Mamacita's is just in a weird location. Most of the businesses around it are industrial and it just seems a bit out of place. But, it was busy so the location doesn't seem to affect them much. And the new First Interstate Building is just a block or two away so I'm sure they'll catch some patrons from there.

I thought it was a great place to take a break from the daily grind and have lunch that was fresh, healthy and local.