Slow Food Boston is kicking off a series exploring the food traditions of local immigrant groups. First stop: Brazil!

Nazare and Washington—two of the volunteer cooks for our upcoming festa—and I are here at Casa de Carnes Solução, a Brazilian butcher shop on Bow St. in Somerville. We're shopping for the ingredients for pão de queijo, rolls made from manioc and cheese from Minas Gerais, region of origin for most of Massachusetts' estimated 75,000 to 230,000 Brazilians. Let's take a look inside!

Brazilian Event Promo Shopping from Slow Food - Boston on Vimeo.

We hope you'll come by on December 3rd for a frosty caipirinha, piping hot cheese rolls and 7 other delicious appetizers prepared by the Brazilian staff of the Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers (MAPS), our host and partner for the event. Proceeds will be donated to their AIDS/HIV Prevention & Education Program. Brazilian Cocktail Party Thursday, December 3rd, 6:30-9:30 pm Massachusetts Alliance of Portuguese Speakers 1046 Cambridge Street in Cambridge.

Tickets $20; reserve them here.

Next up: a Vietnamese picnic in spring 2010.

Enter the promo code HOLIDAY when you check out.

Registration opens tomorrow (Monday, November 2) for a Drop In & Decorate Special Event -- a collaboration between Rhode Island School of Design, the Rhode Island Community Food Bank, and Drop In & Decorate.

On Saturday, January 30, 2010, 1-4 pm, please join us on campus at RISD (downtown Providence, Rhode Island) to help decorate hundreds of cookies for the Food Bank's Kids Cafe program, which provides hot meals for kids at risk of hunger.

Here's the RISD course description of this event:

Channel your inner Jasper Johns or Martha Stewart at a Drop In & Decorate® cookies-for-donation event offered in conjunction with RISD Dining and Catering to benefit the Rhode Island Community Food Bank's Kids Cafe program. Popular RISD|CE cooking instructor and food writer Lydia Walshin founded the local nonprofit organization Drop In & Decorate, which has donated more than 10,000 hand-decorated sugar cookies to food pantries, domestic violence shelters, and programs serving families in need nationwide. She teaches several simple techniques for "painting" cookies with flair, using squeeze bottles of colored icing to create edible art. The ultimate goal is to donate the cookies created in class to more than 500 low-income Rhode Island school children for Valentine's Day. No experience necessary; practice cookies will be available and you may decorate as many cookies as you wish. There will also be recipes and cookies for participants to take home. Inside- or outside-the-lines decorating welcome! All materials generously donated by RISD Dining and Catering. Note: Participants are encouraged to "drop in" at their convenience anytime between 1 and 4pm. Children must be accompanied by an adult aged 18 or over, and adults and children must register separately.

Now, all of this fun can be yours for only $5.00 per person! The fee will help pay for decorating supplies, and if this will be your first Drop In & Decorate® event, we'll teach you how to do what we do.

Everyone gets some cookies to take home, too.

Please sign up for this wonderful event, generously hosted by RISD, and bring your friends and family, too. Let's make some kids happy for Valentines Day!

HOW TO REGISTER for this event (course # 2010/CW-CULIN-0143-01)

1. online: http://www.risd.edu/apply_ce.cfm

2. in person: Register at the RISD|CE office in the Washington Place Building, 20 Washington Place, Providence, during office hours: Monday-Thursday, 8:30am-7:30pm (when classes are in session), 8:30am-4:30pm (between semesters); Friday, 8:30am-4:30pm; Saturday, 8:30am-12:30pm (when classes are in session).

3. by mail: Mail your completed registration form with check (payable to RISD|CE) or MasterCard/VISA number to:
RISD|CE
Two College Street
Providence, RI 02903-2787

4. by fax: Fax your completed registration form with MasterCard/VISA number to 401 454-6218 (payment by MasterCard or VISA only).

5. by phone: Registration phone lines are limited. You may have to wait or redial before getting through, so we encourage you to register by the methods listed above. If you do choose to register by phone, please fill out the registration form in advance and have your MasterCard/VISA number ready. Note: A registration fee is assessed for registrations made by phone. Call 401 454-6209 during these hours: Monday-Thursday, 10am-5pm; Friday, 10am-3pm.

[Note: We are setting up a registration process for corporations and organizations who would like to send a team or group to this event. I'll post the details here, or you can get in touch with me by email (lydia AT dropinanddecorate DOT org).]

Just in time for holiday eating and baking.