Thursday Sips & Nibbles

I am back again with a new edition of Thursday Sips & Nibbles, my regular column where I highlight some interesting, upcoming food & drink events.
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1) The Seaport Hotel & World Trade Center’s Action Kitchen is stirring things up with a brand new dinner and wine menu. Action Kitchen lets guests prepare and savor gourmet cuisine with guidance from Seaport Boston's award-winning culinary team, making this unique opportunity perfect for social and corporate events.

Some of the new collaborative cuisine options include Moroccan Fish Tagine made with potatoes, bell peppers, onions, chermoula and Basmati rice, as well as Marinated Seaport Honey Soy Skirt Steak, baby bok choy with coconut scallion rice cakes. Action Kitchen is also offering a new Wine Education package with a personalized 20-minute education experience led by the Seaport Hotel’s sommelier, Eric Loring, during each event when guests upgrade their wine. Learn the basics with Wine 101, taste across the globe with Old World vs. New World, or mix up your own classic summertime sip with the Sangria Station. Imagine your guests, 12-40 guests for a seated dinner and 60 guests for a reception style event, gathered in a gleaming gourmet kitchen with state-of-the-art equipment. Add music and lively conversation, and this is no ordinary family, friend or corporate gathering - it's the ultimate reception, cooking party or wine tasting in the ultimate kitchen.

Seaport is also announcing its new 'Cooking for the Community' initiative. For every group, company or organization that hosts a collaborative cooking event in Seaport's Action Kitchen, Seaport will donate $1 per person to their long-time partner, the Boston Rescue Mission. “We have worked with Seaport for many years, as they provide food to our organization when they have leftovers from a large event,” said Dennis Gaskell, Food Service Manager at the Boston Rescue Mission, “it’s a perfect partnership: a portion of the proceeds from events held in Seaport’s Action Kitchen benefit the Mission, which provides hearty meals to our hungry neighbors, emergency shelter to those living on the street and residential recovery programs for those who need a fresh start.”

2) The Wine Bottega in the North End is hosting some wine makers from the country of Georgia during the next two days. Tonight, from 6pm-8pm, they will host Gvantsa Abuladze of Baia's/Gvantsa's Wine and Mikheil Chonishvili of Chona's Marani. Tomorrow night, from 5:30pm-8:30pm, they will host Zurab Mgvdliashvili of Nikalas Marani and Beka Gotsadza of Gotsa.

Yesterday, I attending a Georgian wine tasting event and got to meet these wine makers and sample their wines and I was impressed. I've long been a fan of Georgian wines and I strongly encourage you to go to Wine Bottega, meet these winemakers and taste their compelling wines.