A Southern Season runs a series of cooking classes featuring local chefs. So if you want to learn how to cook the food served at your favorite local restaurants, here are a few upcoming classes:

• Chef Masa Tsujimura of Raleigh's Waraji will be teaching a sushi class at 2 p.m. Jan. 16. The class costs $50.
• Chefs Alex Gallis of Cypress on the Hill in Chapel Hill and Chef Jeremy Blankenship of Tyler's Taproom in Carrboro are teaching together at 6 p.m. Jan. 31. The class costs $40.
• Chef Mel Melton of Papa Mojo's Roadhouse in Durham will cook as well as perform with his band, The Wicked Mojos. That class will be 2 p.m. Feb. 27. It costs $45.
• Jamil Kadoura, the gracious owner of Chapel Hill's Mediterranean Deli, will be there at  6 p.m. Mar. 8. The class costs $30.
• Justin Cole, the young new executive chef at La Residence in Chapel Hill, will be teaching at 6 p.m. March 14. The class costs $40.

To reserve your spot in any of these classes, call 929-7133 or go to www.southernseason.com

UPDATE: The Shirley Corriher and Mama Dips classes have sold out!

Each February, Southern Season celebrates women in food. The star of this February's 10th annutal Festival of the Women is Shirley Corriher, author of the award-winning companion books, CookWise and BakeWise.

Most people recognize Corriher as the "mad scientist" on Alton Brown's "Good Eats" program on The Food Network. Corriher will be teaching a cooking class at Chapel Hill's A Southern Season at 6 p.m. Feb. 17. The class theme is Shirley's easy delicious dinners. It costs $50.

Other special events that month include:

• Food Writers Forum including Southern Living writer Donna Florio; Raleigh Metro magazine columnist Moreton Neal; The News & Observer's food writer Andrea Weigl; and Chapel Hill author Kelly Alexander, author of "Hometown Appetites: The Story of Clementine Paddleford, the Forgotton Food Writer Who Chronicled How America Ate." The event will be 4 p.m. Feb. 19. It costs $30.
• Mildred Council, aka Mama Dip of the Chapel Hill restaurant fame, and her family will be teaching a cooking class. The event is 6 p.m. Feb. 28. It costs $35.

To reserve a space in these classes, call 929-7133 or go to www.southernseason.com

Valrhona USA corporrate pastry chef Alex Espiritu is teaching a class Saturday, Dec. 4 at Southern Season in Chapel Hill.

The 1 p.m. class costs $40. Espiritu will teach how to make chocolate cake, chocolate raspberry lollipops and hot chocolate with caramel foam.

Speaking of Southern Season, a few other classes looked interesting:

• Raleigh cookbook author Fred Thompson is teaching a class on New Year’s Eve and Day menus at 6 p.m. Dec. 7. It costs $50. One menu highlight includes roasted salmon with hoppin john’ salad and drunken collards.
• Chef David Alworth of Durham’s Guglhupf Cafe will teach a class at 6 p.m. Dec. 9. His menu includes zwiebelkuchen, an onion and bacon tart with bitter greens. That class costs $40.
• David Hirsch of Moosewood Restaurant fame is teaching two classes: Holiday at Moosewood at 1 p.m. Dec. 11 and Winter Warmers from Moosewood at 2 p.m. Dec. 12. Both classes cost $45.

To reserve a spot in any of these classes, call 929-7133 or go to www.southernseason.com
 

If given only one chance to highlight a favorite cookbook from the last several years, it would be the work of Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.

The pair own a hip bakery and coffeehouse in Brooklyn called Baked, which also has a location in Charleston, S.C. Their first cookbook, “Baked: New Frontiers in Baking,” seduced me with its fanciful photos and recipes that take brownies, rice krispy treats and chocolate pie to new levels. Several of the recipes are now a permanent part of my baking repertoire.

Lewis and Poliafito, who both left corporate jobs to pursue their coffee and baked goods dreams, are coming to the Triangle Oct. 20 and 21 to promote their latest book, “Baked Explorations: Classic American Desserts Reinvented.” I can’t wait to try making the Nutella scones, peanut butter banana cream pie and orange creamsicle tart in their latest book. I’m sure to have many happy Sunday afternoons of baking ahead.

I got a chance to speak to Lewis about the new book, what he learned from the first book and what to expect from them next.

Click READ MORE for the interview, details on their Triangle visit and a recipe for Nutella scones.

I'm back after the three-day holiday weekend and I've got a bunch of events to mention:

• Elaine's on Franklin in Chapel Hill is offering a special Peregrine Farm dinner menu Wednesday, Sept. 8 from 5:30-9:30 p.m. The cost is $45 for five pepper-inspired courses including chili relleno with local goat cheese, black beans, cotija, cilantro and salsa verde and for dessert, lemon-verbena and jalapeno sorbet. For reservations, call 960-2770.
• Sherri Brooks Vinton, author of "Put 'Em Up!," will be at Flyleaf Books in Chapel HIll tonight at 7 p.m. and teaching a class at A Southern Season at 6 p.m. Wednesday. If you wanted to learn more about canning and preserving, this is your opportunity. If you want to sign up for the class, call 929-7133. The class costs $35.
• Herons at the Umstead Hotel in Cary reopens today after an extensive kitchen renovation. They will start serving lunch and breakfast today, and dinner Thursday.
• Dos Perros hosts the occasional movie night in its private room. At 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 8, they are showing "Like Water for Chocolate," and chef Charlie Deal will be serving up five courses.The meal costs $30. Call 956-2750 for a reservation.
• If you don't want to watch the movie, Dos Perros is hosting a five-course beer dinner at 7 p.m. Wednesday featuring brews from Stone Brewery. It costs $45. Call 956-2750 for a reservation.
• The Old Granary at Fearrington is hosting a three course beer dinner at 7 p.m. Thursday featuring beers from Carolina Brewing. The cost is $45. Call 542-2121 for a reservation.

Rick Rodgers, author of “Thanksgiving 101” and “The Carefree Cook,” will be teaching two classes at the Chapel Hill cooking school and kitchen store:

• 1 p.m. Saturday, June 5, Rodgers shows how to create the perfect backyard cookout with a mixed grill of ribs, chicken and sausage with a cherry cola barbecue sauce, s’mores cheesecakes with strawberries and more.
•  2 p.m. Sunday, June 6, he shows how to make a Texas-style smoked brisket dinner.

Each class costs $55. Again, call 929-7133 or got to
www.southernseason.com to register

Chapel Hill Fire Department Captain Byron Greeson will be cooking up the hearty expected inside firehouse kitchens at A Southern Season at 6 p.m. June 8. The menu includes baby back ribs, loaded bake potatoes, grilled vegetables and apple crisp.

The class costs $30. Call 929-7133 or got to www.southernseason.com to register.  

Renowned pastry chef and cookbook author Nick Malgieri returns to a Southern Season’s cooking school next month. The schedule is:

•  1 p.m. April 10, Chocolate Cakes: Plain to Fancy. The menu includes an Chocolate Raspberry Devil’s Food Cake, Maida’s Chocolate Bourbon Cake and Chocolate Pecan Cake With Dark And White Chocolate Glaze. The class costs $50.

•  2 p.m. April 11, a class that will preview Malgieri’s new cookbook on sweet and savory baking. The menu includes Turkish Sesame Flatbreads with Easy Chickpea Hummus, Spinach and Bacon Tart and Double Ginger Bars with Lemon Icing. The cost is $50.

To reserve your spot in class, call 929-7133 or visit https://www.southernseason.com/

Momofuku chef David Chang is coming to Southern Season to sign copies of his new cookbook from noon to 1 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 9. 

If you would like to win a copy of his cookbook, leave a comment below this blog post. I will choose a winner by noon Friday and try to arrange delivery before the book signing.

If you want to see a video of Chang on Martha Stewart making a poached egg, shrimp and  bacon dashi over Anson Mills grits, go to this LINK. 

Cheesemaker Allison Hooper will be signing copies of her book, "In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen," from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 20 at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill. 

Hooper is co-founder of the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company.