Robert Wemischner

Planning lots of exciting things for 2012; stay tuned and in touch with all of my classes, special appearances and other events. Details to be announced.

I will be offering a class at Siptea, a charming spot for tea at 1627 Montana Avenue in Santa Monica on Saturday, October 22, from 5:30 to 7 pm, where I will be teaching how to prepare four dishes using tea….tasting and a take home swag bag with a packet of recipes and packages of each of the teas used in the dishes are all included. Register at info@siptea.biz.

Limited space. Reserve soon!  HOPE TO SEE YOU THERE!

A group of chefs and fans of Alex Weiser’s wonderful farm-fresh produce grown in Tehachapi will be preparing a dinner to be served at the farm (two hours north of LA) on Saturday, September 24th; I will be making the dessert. It will be a locavore’s dream event with each course drawn from locally grown and produced ingredients such as ostrich, pork, beef, Weiser’s shelled beans, heirloom apples and locally harvested mulberries.  Chef Ray Garcia from Fig in Santa Monica and others will be cooking at the hootenanny/family style dinner. Reserve now at anthony@tasteoftehachapi.com. A portion of the proceeds will go to Alex’s Lemonade Stand, to benefit children with cancer. Look forward to seeing you there!

Here’s a link to my recent appearance on Good Food at KCRW-FM 89.9 where I am interviewed by Laura Avery, the manager the Santa Monica Farmers Market which has been purveying the finest produce for the past 30 years.

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I have been invited to participate in The Taste of the Hawaiian Range on the Big Island at the Hilton Waikoloa Village hotel where over 30 chefs are preparing culinary “tastes” using 100 percent grass-fed beef, pork, lamb, goat, mutton and wild boar, fresh island fruit and vegetables and Hawaiian grown and processed tea.  I am honored to be the only mainland chef participating. I will be preparing a tea braised brisket with root vegetables served on steamed Chinese bao with an Asian inflected sauce and fresh tea leaf garnish. Hope to see my island friends there! For tickets and further information, visit: www.tasteofthehawaiianrange.com.

Grab a “cuppa” and taste some great teas after attending my session on Cooking with Tea on Saturday August 13th…at the Japanese American National Museum, downtown LA….for tickets and more information, go to : TeaFestivalLA.com or brownpapertickets.com.   All kinds of focused tea tastings, demos, and presentations are scheduled. Hope to see you there.

Looking forward to cooking with Hawaiian grown tea from the Big Island of Hawaii, thanks to the invite by the Tea Society of Hawaii. A truly locavore food festival, chefs from all over the Hawaiian islands, and one mainlander (me) will be cooking using the bounty of produce, Hawaii-raised meat and other regional specialties. This special event will take place on Friday, September 30, 2011 from 6 to 8 p.m. For more information and ticket purchase, please visit: www.tasteofthehawaiianrange.com. Hope to see you there! Be sure to say Aloha when you are there!

For those who can plan ahead, I will be guest pastry cheffing onboard Holland America Line’s msZuiderdam cruising through the inland passage of Alaska leaving from Vancouver, BC on July 2nd and returning on July 9th. Reserve now for a visually and gustatorily stunning experience. Contact hollandamerica.com. Hope to meet you onboard!

Are you tired of the same old sponge cake or hung up on honey cake? Then join me on Sunday, April 3rd starting at 3 p.m. for a demo class on how to make desserts that won’t disappoint after a sumptuous meal. Sign up at http://bit.ly/eoEN5a. Cost $35.00 per person. You will have a chance to taste four contemporary legit-for-Passover desserts. Book signing of my newest book, The Dessert Architect after the class. Hope to see you there!

The group of eighteen (comprised of culinary and baking students, food and beverage professionals, and just plain food lovers) and I enjoyed a whirlwind tour of southern Italy, starting in Rome, and then by train to Caserta from where we traveled into the hills above Naples (the Sannio region) and then by air onto Sicily.  Adhering flawlessly (most of the time to the tight schedule), we experienced cooking and baking classes, visits to artisanal food and wine producers, and fabulous lunches and dinners, all hosted by the warmest, most accommodating professionals with fabulous weather to match. Rain in the evenings always led to sunny Titian blue skies as we wended our way through the countryside, racking up more than 1000 miles in the expert hands of our coach drivers. Check out photos at my Facebook site.

Classes at Stephan Pyles beautiful restaurant in Dallas along with a class for pastry and baking students at the Art Institute of Dallas went wonderfully well thanks to the help of Zach Townsend, pastry chef and chocolatier (www.purechocolatedessertsbyzach.com). Many thanks also to all of the staff, both front and back of the house at Stephan Pyles restaurant and a shoutout to Chef Nina Hunter for hosting me as guest pastry chef and for setting up an enjoyable class for her students. 

What’s next? Sign up NOW for my Passover dessert class at the Skirball Center, Los Angeles on April 3…..it will open your eyes to new ways to be indulgent at the end of the Seder meal. For more information, navigate to: http://bit.ly/eA8eQo.

After I return from a food trip to southern Italy (Rome, Naples, the Sannio and Sicily) in January, leading a group of culinary and baking students and food and beverage professionals (check out photos posted on this site, on my facebook page, and at twitpics), there are lots of other fun things planned for 2011. More details to follow.

From especially sweet Valentine’s events in Dallas, TX, and a Passover desserts class in April at the Skirball Center in Los Angeles, the calendar is quickly filling up. Stay tuned for more details on how you can be sure to secure your spot to attend. Happy holidays and delicious eating, both savory and sweet,  to all from The Dessert Architect!

I will be signing The Dessert Architect at Barnes and Noble (Westwood and Pico Blvds) in Los Angeles on Sunday, December 12 from 3 to 4 p.m.; part of the proceeds will go to benefit the Memorial Library, a place close to my heart. Bibliophile that I am, and in the face of deep  cuts in funding to public libraries everywhere, I urge you to come out that day to support the continuation of library services that are free and available to all.

Stay tuned for upcoming events. On the horizon,  I will be leading a foodie trip to Italy (Rome, Naples and Sicily) in January 16-26, 2011.  Dates and  more details to be announced. For more information, click on the Contact link on the Home page of the site.

Get ready to set a sumptuous holiday table with my upcoming class on Sunday, November 14th at Breadbar at 8718 W. Third Street in Los Angeles. (www.breadbar.net).  As part of the In the Making series of classes and dinners that I am curating, I will be offering a hands-on and demo class about simple desserts that would grace the end of any holiday meal. Pears in caramel with rich Tahitian vanilla ice cream , cranberry pistachio tart and a chocolate fantasy will be on the menu. Following the class will be a three course dinner. $70. per person. Space limited so call 310 205-0124 NOW to reserve your spot.

I will be doing two classes at Culinary District, a cookware and specialty food store in beautiful Hot Springs, Arkansas; this is the Arkansas outpost of one of my favorite stores, Surfas in Culver City, CA….the classes will focus on “Great Beginnings and Endings”—celebrating local produce in simple appetizers and desserts that wow! Friday, October 22nd and Saturday, October 23rd at 3 p.m. on each day. Cost: $45. per class per person…..to enroll, click on the link www.CulinaryDistrict.com and go to Hot Springs Store Location and then scroll down to the Cooking Classes. Hope to meet you there! Book signing to follow.

Click here and navigate to Streetwise to hear a recent interview with baking instructor Susan Holtz on her new website . Also you can view a Flicker set of photos of me preparing “A Couple of Doughnuts,” a recipe from The Dessert Architect.

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Planning ahead? Mark your calendars as The Dessert Architect appears at the Retail Bakers of America/International Baking Industry Exposition at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday, September 26th and Monday September 27th……click on www.bakingexpo.org to find out more information. If you love baking, are in the business, or would like to learn more, you must attend this premier assemblage of products, techniques, tools and ideas….hope to see you there.

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On Sunday August 22nd, the second in a series of In the Making cooking classes followed by a three course pita-friendly dinner from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m Cost: $65. per person; I will be demoing the making of several dips to go with Jerry Maybrook’s artisanal sourdough pita. Jerry, a master baker, will be presenting a class on taming wild yeast, creating sourdough marvels that you can do out of your home kitchen.
Contact Breadbar at 8718 W. Third Street in LA (east of Robertson Blvd. on the south side of the street) by calling (310) 205-0124 to reserve your spot. This class promises to be an eye-opener and a palate pleaser! Hope you will join us.

Sunday, August 15th from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., I will be teaching a class about plated desserts at Guittard Chocolate Studio in Culver City, CA. $175. per person including a signed copy of The Dessert Architect, full hands-on session and lunch. Register by writing to dwressell@guittard.com or call 310 558 8896 for exact location and directions. A FEW SPOTS REMAIN….limited to 12 participants. Please wear your chef whites.

I have recently returned from two days in the desert, that is, tin the Convention Center located in Las Vegas at the World Tea Expo, where I presented a seminar/demo  on cooking with tea, to a packed and enthusiastic audience. During the class, I opened people’s eyes to the culinary potential of premium whole leaf tea in dishes as diverse as tea-smoked chicken wraps with arugula, and jasmine tea cured salmon on dark bread with jicama, dill, pickled ginger and thick Greek yogurt at the base, to white chocolate matcha tea truffles.

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I will be presenting an educational workshop at the upcoming World Tea Expo at the Las Vegas Convention Center on Sunday June 13th…reserve for the session by visiting www.worldteaexpo.com. I will also be appearing as part of the Authors’ Circle events on Saturday , June 12th at 4 p.m., talking about the writing of Cooking with Tea and about all things tea in general.  The trade show itself runs from June 11-13 and is open to tea retailers, wholesalers, and others in the tea business, wishing to taste a wide variety of teas and learn more about the world’s second most popular beverage (Water is first!).
Note, also, I will be appearing at TeaClassics/Hancha Tea booth (#608) Sunday, June 13,  from 2;30 to 4 p.m., sampling out my tea-based sweets and signing my books, Cooking with Tea and The Dessert Architect.

Hope to meet you there!

In an informal presentation at the Memorial Library, 4625 W. Olympic Boulevard in Los Angeles, I will be speaking about the creative process of pastry making,  my philosophy about what makes a successful dessert, the  the writing process and many other things besides, in a talk at 6;30 p.m. Book signing and tasting to follow. Hope to meet you there!

Have a listen to my conversation with Bonteavant’s Jennifer Sauer, a tea expert in San Francisco (www.bonteavant.com); I am talking about cooking with tea and using her wonderful Chinese pu-erh teas as a poaching liquid for seasonal mushrooms, in general, and morels,  in particular. Celebrate spring with a risotto topped with morels, asparagus, sugar snap peas and a tea broth. Delizioso!

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I will be preparing a “suite of sweets” from The Dessert Architect at Porta Via, a well-established, sophisticated and casual bistro in Beverly Hills, Friday May 7th…424 North Canon Drive. Desserts on the menu will be: Pandan panna cotta, dark milk chocolate mousse with peanut croquantine and a tamarind sauce, and a seasonal crumble featuring strawberries, rhubarb, strawberry ice cream and custard sauce. Desserts will be paired with appropriate beverages and copies of my book will be signed for purchase. This guest pastry chef stint comes 25 years after ending a long and successful run as chef-owner of  Le Grand Buffet, a gourmet-to-go and catering shop, practically a stone’s throw from the restaurant. 

Call for reservations  at 310.274.6534.  Hope to meet you there!

Join me for a Cooking with Tea workshop on Sunday, May 2nd, from 4;30 to 6 p.m at Royal T (a neat artspace, gallery and cafe-tearoom), 8910 Washington Blvd. in Culver City, as part of Kulov’s Tea Fest, the 10th annual celebration of all things tea. The Fest starts on Saturday, May 1st. Entrance to the festival itself is free; the workshop costs $20.00 per person, limited seating. So reserve quickly at (310)  699-7271. www.kulovteafest.com 

 Hope to share a cuppa and a taste of matcha green tea truffles, both dark chocolate and white, just one of a few dishes that I will be preparing and demoing.

The Dessert Architect meets The Approachable Architect, David Doucette, (www.residearchitecture.com) in a podcast and talks about the parallels between building desserts and habitable structures, from the foundation on up. Click here to listen:

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Just an FYI: I will be doing a demonstration on creating multicomponent desserts from my book for a group of Southern California-based alumni and alumnae from the University of Pennsylvania (my alma mater, class of 1972) in a Beverly Hills, CA home. Tasting to follow. Private event.

Click here for photos: http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=389000&id=189364815060

Pleased to be back in class at LA Trade Tech College (www.lattc.edu) teaching professional baking to an enthusiastic, talented, passionate group of students eager to learn. Also, this semester, I am offering a course in culinary entrepreneurship to a packed classroom of future food business owners, with a varied line up of industry professionals invited as guest speakers throughout the semester. There’s lots of contagious energy in both of my classrooms; I always feel privileged to be part of it, teaching my students and learning from them as well.

Listen to a fun and indepth radio conversation I had with Katie Britton at WAMC Northeast Public Radio about the whys and hows behind the creative process as presented in my new book, The Dessert Architect. Click on the link here.

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Listen to my interview podcast with Jennifer Sauer, on Bon Teavant, a internet radio site on all things tea. Brew up a cuppa and click on the link here.

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Go to www.tching.com for my newest post which includes ruminations on the Zen-like arts of baking and brewing tea. While you check out my recipe for a matcha flavored sponge cake, brew a cuppa and then get busy in the kitchen. All you will need are eggs, granulated sugar, flour and matcha, a good mixer to aerate the mixture to fluffy perfection and a bit of focused attention.

Classes, tastings, book signings, radio appearances from The Dessert Architect to be announced. Watch this space!

Give a listen to my interview on KLAA AM with my good friends Mario Martinoli and his wife Amy Strong, where I talk about The Dessert Architect , culinary education and many other things besides. Chef Mario has been a longtime booster (on both TV and radio) of the LA dining scene and has been a welcome guest in visits to Los Angeles Trade Tech’s Culinary and Baking programs where I teach.

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Though we might think of citrus fruits as non-seasonal, available all year round, the pleasures of California tangerines, Meyer lemons, pommelos, kumquats and many other varieties abound from early winter to early spring. It is these fruits that I will be celebrating in a class featuring desserts from my book, The Dessert Architect; Saturday, December 12th, from 2 to 4 p.m. at Surfas,  8777 W.  Washington Blvd.  in Culver City. Free. A book signing and sampling of these sunny winter citrus sweets will follow the class. Mark your calendars.  Hope to see you there! If you missed it, check at www.surfaslosangeles.com for the posting of recipes that I demonstrated.

Saturday, December 5th, from 11 a.m. to noon, I will be a guest on “Good Food”, the popular and long-running radio show, hosted by Evan Kleiman, on KCRW at 89.9 FM in the Los Angeles area, or on the Web at kcrw.com, streaming live and archived. I will be talking about my latest book, The Dessert Architect, well-crafted desserts, teaching  baking and pastry, the how-tos of flavor pairings, and many other things besides. Give a listen.

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I will be presenting at the Northwest Tea Festival in Seattle; preparing dishes, both savory and sweet, that make full use of whole leaf premium tea. There, I will have the pleasure of reconnecting with my old (read as “young”) friend, Ken Rudee, owner of Seattle’s own Barnes and Watson Fine Tea.  (www.barnesandwatson.com)

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Dessert tasting from The Dessert Architect paired with signature coffee and tea beverages at LAMill Coffee Boutique,

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I will be offering a class on crafting multicomponent plated desserts from The Dessert Architect at Surfas in Culver City, CA. From mousses and curds to praline and ganache,

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My good friend pastry chef and candymaker extraordinaire, Christine Moore, is hosting a party on Sunday, July 19 from 2 to 6 p.m. to launch my book at her store,

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