Lots More Thanksgiving Help

Of course, you could just hire a waitress and a scullery maid, but in this economy, who has the extra dough? If you're starting to melt down at the thought of serving 20 people on Thanksgiving from nothing but the hot plate and a microwave in your crappy apartment kitchen, help may be at hand.

Lauderdale's much beloved chef Dean James Max, of 3030 Ocean, is doing a cooking class this weekend on Sunday November 23rd from 11 to 2. Max is going to offer foolproof tips for cooking a turkey and also share the secrets of his favorite sides. He claims the class will "boost your confidence." To that end, I personally turn to a couple of strong martinis, but whatever works. Call Nicole at 954.765.3129 to book your spot.

And further north....

Chef John Carlino opens his "Culinary Solutions Center" at Abacoa (Jupiter) this week, "Cook's, Inc." Carlino is chairman of Culinary Education and associate dean at the Florida Culinary Institute; construction on the Center has been going on for some time, and the place sounds way cool: the training center has state of the art cooking equipment, overhead cameras and large screens for the demos and cooking classes. And speaking of demos -- Carlino will be offering chef's tips for Thanksgiving tomorrow, Thursday, at 5 p.m. as part of the Center's grand opening. The place also houses a gourmet store, so you can learn and shop from the same spot. Assistance of another sort is available this week via lovely Julie O'Hara at her Fort Lauderdale-based blogA Mingling of Tastes: she'll be sharing new Thanksgiving recipes up until the big day. Already she's posted a to-die-for cranberry sauce recipe with pears and ginger that I'm certainly going to try. There's a chorizo cornbread stuffing that looks serious, too.

-- Gail Shepherd