Apartment Therapy The Kitchn | NYC Kitchen Events Calendar: 1.25.07

Still Life with Teapot and Frui
by Paul Gauguin, The Metropolitan Museum

• Ice Cream Tasting: Learn what makes certain ice creams taste better than others and discover the sensory, aesthetic and technical characteristics that ice cream connoisseurs employ. Try a blind tasting to determine which flavors you like most. Tasting lead by Bobbie Meyzen and her husband, Robert, owners Crème Cremaillere Ice Cream in Bedford, New York. 7-9 p.m. on 2/8, $35, at Makor, 35 West 67th Street.

• Early Mardi Gras: Maria Gras isn't until the end of Feb., but the host of this SocialEats "open dinner parties" is starting early this year. A guy in his 30s on the Upper West Side will prepare and share a meal with guests who register show up with an appetite. 7:30 on 2/7, tickets are $24. Only two seats left.

• Chocolate Past and Present: A Cultural History: Alexandra Leaf, President of Chocolate Tours of New York, takes New York's culinary historians through a timeline of chocolate. She will share slides and guide a tasting. 6:30 p.m. on 2/7 at The Institute of Culinary Education, 50 West 23rd Street. Tickets are $40.

• Cookbook and Culinary Sale: This one looks so promising. Here's a reminder of this opportunity to pick up some great deals. 10 a.m. - 2 p.m. on 2/3, James Beard House, 116 West 12th Street.