Bushels & Feasts Night at Bodacious

407 South Palafox Street,Pensacola FL 32502

13 April, 2023

Description

BUSHELS AND FEASTS Night will be led by Le Cordon Bleu trained chef Rina Thoma as she prepares dishes from her cookbook, Bushels and Feast. STARTERS Warm Blue Cheese Dates with Brown Butter and Lime Zest Warm Almond Dates with Bodacious Blood-Orange Olive Oil and Lime Zest Sautéed Black Olives, Roasted Red Peppers, and Fresh Ricotta FIRST COURSE Rolled Eggplant with Red Peppers, Basil-Whipped Chèvre, and Tomato Sauce SECOND COURSE Sweet Potato Quenelles with Brown Butter and Sage THIRD COURSE Pears Poached in Port Wine and Vanilla About Chef Rina Thoma and Bushels and Feasts: BUSHELS AND FEASTS is a collaboration between Le Cordon Bleu trained chef Rina Thoma and international bestselling cookbook author Sarah Fragoso. The result is a celebration of real food inspired by California and French cuisine; beautiful, delicious, market-fresh, family meals free from gluten and grains and filled with healthy fats and decadent desserts. 10 years ago, Rina was just a food-obsessed, cookbook-hoarder working in corporate sales and living the Army wife dream; following her physician husband to the ends of the earth and beyond. In the midst of yet another move, she was presented with an amazing opportunity to fulfill one of her life’s dreams - to go to culinary school. She found herself in one of the most exciting places to eat in America practically overnight. At Tante Marie’s Cooking School in the heart of San Francisco, she learned the fundamentals of French cuisine and ate her way through the local food scene. Classic mother sauces and soufflés by day, San Francisco foodie hotspots by night. She was in heaven! Just a few months after graduation, her and her husband moved to Germany, and for the next 3 ½ years, they ate their way through almost every country in Europe. She met chefs, winemakers, cheesemakers, and all sorts of farmers, and it was at the Le Cordon Bleu in Paris that she fell in love with fresh, local, seasonal, market cuisine. Through these experiences, she was inspired to write her first cookbook. When she ditched the gluten and grains to lose the 25 pounds she gained in culinary school, she not only lost weight, but her and her husband achieved a level of health they never had before. Her painful, chronic, cystic acne disappeared and Dave's seemingly incurable acid reflux and eczema vanished. They looked and felt better than ever and it was then that she decided to revamp her culinary point of view and master the art of healthy home cooking. She has taken cooking classes all over the world including Italy, France, Spain, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam. While once a private chef, she is most passionate about teaching people how to transform fresh, quality ingredients into simple, healthy, delicious food. She lives in Gulf Breeze, Florida with her husband David and their two little girls, Sophia and Elena. She loves to eat, but not nearly as much as she loves them.