Denis Culinary Tours

Vote today to help decide the People’s Choice award winner. “Weeeeeee’re off to feed the hungry…” by Black & Veatch won the Jurors Favorite award at Harvesters’ 10th annual Canstruction competition. Thirteen incredible, edible sculptures are on exhibit through February 7 at the Ward Parkway Center, 8600 Ward Parkway, Kansas City, MO. At the end of the exhibit, all of the nonperishable food items used in the sculptures will be donated to Harvesters to feed hungry people in our community. This year’s creative Canstruction sculptures used nearly 38,000 cans of food and will provide more than 23,000 meals to the hungry. During its 10-year history, Canstruction has provided more than 282,000 pounds of food—more than 217,000 meals—to feed the hungry. Other 2011 award winners include: Best Meal – “Angry About Hunger” by BRR Architecture Structural Ingenuity – “SpiderCAN!” by Urban Prairie Architectural Collaborative Best Use of Labels – “Colorful Harvest” by Ellerbe Becket an AECOM Compan...

The Chinese New Year provides all the traditions and rituals you need to clean away the bad luck of last year, be optimistic for the year ahead, cultivate friends and placate your enemies. Here’s all you have to do: During the last few days of the last moon, clean the house, pay debts, cut your hair, and buy some new clothes. Decorate your doors with vertical scrolls of Chinese characters on red paper; the text seeks good luck and praises nature, and even keeps away evil spirits. For good measure, burn a little incense in your home; it’s a mark of respect to ancestors. Light your house brightly on Chinese New Year’s Eve, February 2, and serve a large family dinner. On Chinese New Year’s morning, give the kids lucky money in red envelopes. Splash the color red everywhere; it’s the color of luck. Greet everyone you meet with your best wishes for a happy Chinese New Year. Get rid of your old grudges, and make up with anybody you need too; now is the time for goodwill and reconciliation. A...

RA Sushi will help draw attention to heart disease next month with a Go Red party and month-long fundraiser to benefit the local chapter of the American Heart Association. The Go Red party is from 6 to 8 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 2 and is open to the public. Guests are encouraged to wear red and will enjoy complimentary appetizers. The event will help raise money and awareness for the America Heart Association in honor of its Go Red for Women movement. February is American Heart Month, drawing attention to heart disease, America's No. 1 killer, and the strides being taken through research and education to raise awareness of risk factors and to decrease death rates. RA will also launch a specially-created Go Red sushi roll and cocktail at the event. The two Go Red menu items will be available through Feb. 28 and $3 from the sale of each will benefit the local chapter of the American Heart Association. “It’s only natural that RA Sushi, with our signature red interior design and logo, woul...

Enjoy rewarding stay now, more rewards in February The Raphael's listing as one of Travel+Leisure's 2011 T+L 500 World's Best Hotels and the February induction into the new Marriott Autograph Collection are reasons for you to celebrate now...and again in February. For each night booked using the January Celebration Rate Code for a stay in January 2011, receive $50 worth of Chaz dining certificates at check-in plus a 50% off certificate that you may use for a February stay. Start earning Rewards Points in February for stays at The Raphael and other distinctive independent hotels that are members of the Autograph Collection. To reserve your January Celebration, call 800-821-5343 and request rate code January Celebration.

If your New Year’s resolution includes checking out a great new restaurant, you are in luck! The Kansas City area is full of exciting, innovative, delicious and award winning restaurants just waiting for you to enjoy. Make 2011 the year of tasty dining! Grunauer is the place to enjoy classic Austrian and continental European cuisine right here in Kansas City. Sprechen sie delicious? Located in the historic Freight House in the Crossroads Arts District, this relaxing new eatery is the perfect place to dine with friends and family. Each menu selection is prepared simply and served in generous portions at a reasonable price. If you are looking for a lighter menu, check out Wunderbar offering affordable small bites and sausage plates until 1:30am every night and providing a lively complement to the nearby dining room. Come for a finely crafted cocktail and stay for a hearty sampling of Grunauer’s specialty foods. For reservations or more information, please call 816.283.3234. Don’t just s...

You probably already know the math: You have to cut 3,500 calories to drop one pound. To lose a healthy pound a week, that’s 500 calories a day! But you don’t have to deprive yourself or add an hour to your exercise routine to reach your weight loss goals. Few years ago, in France, Montignac wrote a book about how to lose weight. The method is simple and it is not a diet. The Montignac Method is the fruit of years of research and testing. It is the synthesis of numerous scientific publications dating from the 1980s and the successful results of the tests carried out by Michel Montignac in junction with a varied group of medical doctors and researchers. From a scientific viewpoint, the method is unquestionable. Several papers have been published on the Montignac Method, as for example, Professor Jean Dumesnil’s paper published in November 2001 in the British Journal of Nutrition. The hardest part in America is when we go to the restaurant! No bread! No butter! No wine! No French fries.....