HOT SALSA NIGHT
The annual “A Hot Salsa Night” fundraiser is scheduled from 6 to 9:30 p.m. Aug. 20 at the Reed Convention Center inside the Midwest City Sheraton Hotel, 5750 Will Rogers Blvd.
The event is a dinner, dance and auction to raise money to support Central Oklahoma Care Link (formerly known as COINS), a nonprofit organization and a United Way of Central Oklahoma partner agency. The nonprofit helps the uninsured and underinsured gain access to critically needed health care services.
Tickets are $60. For more details or to buy tickets, visit okcarelink.org or call 524-8100.
GET YOUR TICKETS EARLY
The fourth annual Tour de Palate is being planned from 7-11 p.m. Aug. 27 at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, 1700 N.E. 63rd. The yearly event is a benefit for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society.
The wines will complement food provided a number of local restaurants, and desserts will be available from three metro bakeries and chocolate shops. For suds fans, a beer garden will feature imported beers and local brews.
Along with all of this fun, the Tour de Palate will present a live cakedecorating challenge. The challenge will feature local decorators, some of whom have been seen on the Food Network and TLC’s “Next Great Baker” and “Ultimate Cake Off.” Guests may vote for their favorite edible art piece, and the creations will be sold during the silent auction.
The evening also includes dancing and entertainment provided by The Kristen Stehr Band. They also have planned an always-popular wine pull. For $20, bottles may be selected from the table of wine, with each bottle hidden away under a brown paper bag. People often discover wonderful wines for that $20.
Restaurants contributing to this event include FireLake Grand Casino, Kyles 1025, Deep Fork Grill, Bin 73, The Canebrake Resort, Flip’s Wine Bar & Trattoria, Cafe do Brasil, Iguana Mexican Grill, Old Germany and McNellie’s. Wines will be presented by Paragon Brands, Putnam Wines, Republic National Distributing and Thirst Wine Merchants. Among those featuring beer will be Choc, Paragon and Quality.
Tickets are $65 each, or two tickets for $120 in advance. Tickets are $80 each at the door the night of the party.
For more information or to purchase tickets, visit tourdepalate.com.
SAY BYE-BYE
Vivo Italian, 12305 N. Rockwell, has closed. It opened March 12, 2007. LA Pho Asian-American Cuisine, 809 N.W. 12th in Moore, closed, but a new one opened up in Edmond at 13520 N. Eastern.
Also, The Original Olé, 3121 W. Memorial, has closed. Its website claimed it was one of the original Mexican restaurants in Oklahoma. Olé went down in the middle of July. In addition, Elmer’s, 3921 N. Lincoln, bit the dust in May. Also gone is Lucky’s Bar & Grill, 816 W. Britton, and Picoso’s Mexican Grill, 7000 Crossroads Mall Drive.
CHOW CHAT
Virginia Campbell is an internationally known pianist who will next play Aug. 28 at All Souls’ Episcopal Church. In 2009, she was Ms. Senior Oklahoma.
Background: “I am a teacher, a performer, composer and a world traveler.”
Best feature: “My memory.” A famous person you resemble:
“Years ago, when I was at the tomb of John F. Kennedy, people started photographing me because I was mistaken for Jackie Kennedy Onassis.”
You’d show a visitor in OKC:
“The (National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, formerly the) Cowboy Hall of Fame, as it’s the only one like it in the world.”
Food you would never eat:
“Calamari, octopus or rattlesnake.”
Listen to music on: “KCSC.” Greatest extravagance: “My family, Walter, Drew, Mary Catherine and Annie, 10 grandchildren and one great-grandchild.”
People still don’t know: “That I sketch, draw and write poetry, and my refrigerator is always filled with white boxes from restaurants.”
If you won the lottery, you’d call:
“My children.”
Most creative: “In the middle of the night
— I’m a night owl.”
Favorite junk food: “Fritos, the original.”
Your most romantic meal: “In London at the Savoy where my Bill (Dr. William Guilford) said, ‘Happy birthday, would you be my wife?’” Worst meal: “I tried to make an oyster pie way back in 1950 for the first time, and it was just terrible.” —Carol Smaglinski
