Tasting Notes Returns to Seattle April 2nd! | The Alt-Weekly, Issue No. 20 (Patreon)

Notes, News, and Nerdiness from JKLA World HQ

Hey folks! We’re entering our third season of Tasting Notes, my interactive, multi-sensory music-and-food stage show, and the first performance is coming up on April 2nd at Town Hall in Seattle. This one is going to be a little different from past seasons — more interactive, more personal, and built around a single question we’ve been exploring lately:How do our senses shape the way we experience food, music, and creativity?

Joining me on stage will be my partner, Grammy-nominated violinist and composer Tessa Lark, whose music blends bluegrass, classical, and improvisation in ways that fit perfectly with what we’re trying to do with this show. Hosting the evening will be my old friend Ed Levine, founder of Serious Eats, who will help guide the conversation as we trace the connections between cooking, music, memory, and culture.

This performance is also a fundraiser for FareStart, a Seattle nonprofit I’ve supported for years that provides job training and placement for people overcoming barriers to employment. They do incredible work creating stability, opportunity, and community through food.

We’re donating 100% of our production fees, along with a portion of ticket and book sales, to support their programs.

So what’s actually happening on stage this time?

Without giving everything away, the night will include:

Live cooking and live music woven together to explore how ideas evolve, and how new things get created by mixing traditions, techniques, and cultures.

Audience experiments that play with taste, smell, sound, and sight to show how surprisingly easy it is to change what you think you’re experiencing.

Blindfolds, nose plugs, and about 20 pounds of gummy bears (trust me on this one).

Stories about creativity, cultural cross-pollination, and why the things we taste and hear never exist in isolation.

A post-show meet-and-greet with book and album signing (hosted by Book Larder), plus bites from Chengdu Taste.

VIP tickets are also available and will include a pre-show reception with an intimate performance from Tessa, bites, drinks, and a chance for us all to meet.

Tasting Notes has always been a little hard to describe to people who haven’t seen it.It’s part cooking demo, part concert, part conversation, part science experiment, and every time we do it, it turns into something beautiful and organic that we didn’t quite expect.

This one is shaping up to be our favorite yet.

Hope to see you there.

Get your tickets here from Town Hall.

Checkin’ in with the Super Frienjis!

On Monday, we sent out a survey to check in with how things have been running for you, our patrons. If you haven’t taken the anonymous survey yet, please take a few minutes to do so.

This feedback will help us inform how we can continue to shape this space to serve your wants and needs as home chefs. We’re already seeing a lot of helpful feedback and we appreciate it greatly!

And now—maybe most importantly—we have some valuable data on how you Frienjis prefer your eggs: Over easy is winning by a mile, followed by scrambled and poached! This is a crowd that appreciates a yolk somewhere between runny and jammy, and we love you all the more for it. 

And chattin’ with the Super Frienjis!

If you didn’t already know, the Patreon has multiple chats where Frienjis can talk about all things home cooking or where they can drop a question for Kenji. We're not able to respond to every question in the AKA (Ask Kenji Anything) chat, but the team will use it pull questions for livestreams and to inform future videos. Plus, with this being the nerdiest food community on the internet, your fellow Frienjis usually have an answer they're ready to provide, no matter the situation!

Continue to stay in conversation with us about how we can best serve your needs in the kitchen. Thank you for being a Frienji!