The Floating Island Writers' Workshop

In about seven short weeks, fifteen talented writers will have the opportunity to hone their nonfiction skills with bestselling author Kim Sunee and meet/work with a host of celebrity authors and chefs at the Floating Island Workshops in Chapel Hill, NC. From Monday, October 11 to the 14th, attendees will receive professional critiques from Kim, dine and share stories with nationally renowned chefs, and more.

The $1,200 workshop fee includes the above features and events. To secure your spot, please fill out the online application and submit a 50 percent deposit.

Also, we have secured a group of rooms at The Franklin Hotel, in the heart of Chapel Hill, at a special room rate.  The Franklin Hotel’s special room rate expires September 17, so register and book your rooms today.

In addition to the week’s workshop activities, Floating Island is also hosting a number of additional events, available on an a la carte basis around the city. Some of those events include:

If you have any questions about the workshop or any of the events, please contact us and we will be glad to speak with you.

Chef Bill Smith

During a three-course lunch at Crook’s Corner (the Chapel Hill restaurant long known as “sacred ground for Southern foodies”), chef and author Bill Smith with share the ins and outs of how he came to write Seasoned in the South, a book of recipes and stories, named not only a New York Times Notable, but also a Food & Wine best book. Part cookbook and part memoir, Bill Smith’s Seasoned in the South was published by Algonquin Books, a literary publishing house which is a division of Workman Publishing, known for more standard cookbooks.

As intuitive a chef as he is a writer, Bill Smith is constantly writing from the kitchen—daily on Twitter and at more length on his blog, A Year in the Kitchen). His next book-length project involves Mexico and working with immigrants in the kitchen. A taste of this new project can be found in the Southern Foodway’s Alliance’s journal, Gravy.

We are looking forward to lunch with Bill Smith and hope you’ll join us. In the meantime, you can visit with Bill Smith on this YouTube post that follows him on the Libba Cotten Bike Path in Carrboro, NC—part of the process for making his famous Honeysuckle Sorbet.

The three-course lunch, with wine pairings, is included in the 2010 Chapel Hill Writers’ Workshop. And it is open to the public at the cost of $29 (tax and tip not included).Please reserve online, as seating is limited.

Lunch with Bill Smith at Crook’s Corner
Monday, October 11, 2010
Noon to 2 p.m.
Crook’s Corner
610 West Franklin Street
Chapel Hill, NC
Reservations: online registration

Chef Andrea Reusing

We are excited to announce an exclusive family-style meal at Chef Andrea Reusing’s nationally renowned Lantern Restaurant on Wednesday, October 13. Chef Reusing has an uncanny ability to take essential Asian flavors and bring them to life with the best local products North Carolina has to offer. Gourmet Magazine recognized Lantern as one of “America’s Top 50 Restaurants,” and Chef Reusing has been nominated for Best Chef in the Southeast by the James Beard Foundation.

Andrea’s first cookbook, Cooking in the Moment, is slated for release next year and promises to be brimming with beautifully seasonal recipes, and tales of simple local meals with family and friends. Click here for an interview with Chef Reusing.

The multi-course family-style meal with wine pairings will be offered at a set price of $95 including tax and tip, as well as a cocktail hour with snacks beginning at 6 p.m. Call Lantern today to reserve your seat, as space is limited.

Last year, Bill Smith, a nationally recognized Chapel Hill chef, cookbook author and frequent forager, took Floating Island Workshops Director Kim Sunee on a trip to procure ingredients for one of his signature desserts at Crook’s Corner: honeysuckle sorbet. Chef Smith will host an exclusive lunch during our 2010 Chapel Hill workshop. (Full details in a future post.)

Making the sorbet:

(Sadly, Chef Smith’s honeysuckle sorbet is a spring dessert and will not be available for our lunch.)

Register for the Floating Island Workshops Chapel Hill 2010 workshop before August 15, and take 20% off the workshop fee. It gets you all the same great writers and fabulous food, just for less money.

Register here today!

Floating Island Workshops proudly announces that registration for the October 2010 Chapel Hill, North Carolina workshop is now open. Fifteen talented writers will have the opportunity to hone their nonfiction skills with bestselling author Kim Sunee and meet/work with a host of celebrity authors and chefs.

The workshop includes:

• 4 days of workshopping
• Breakfast and lunch daily
• A special lunch at Chef Bill Smith’s nationally renowned Crook’s Corner Restaurant
• An exclusive chef demonstration (TBA)

In the coming weeks a few exciting excursions will be added to the workshop roster, including a wine tasting, a cookbook author panel, dinners featuring local chefs, and cookbook signings. Tickets for these excursions will be available on an a la carte basis to workshop attendees and the general public. (Workshop attendees will have preference.)

We have secured a special group rate at the beautiful and well-situated Franklin Hotel in downtown Chapel Hill. Information on how to take advantage of that rate will be furnished to attendees who have completed their online application and submitted their deposit.

The $1,200 workshop fee, includes 4 days of workshopping, daily breakfast and lunch, the special lunch with Chef Bill Smith, and a chef demonstration (TBA). To secure your spot, please fill out the online application and submit a 50 percent deposit.

Attendee Rose cooking with chef Suvir Saran

We were lucky to have chef Suvir Saran on hand over Memorial Day weekend to provide cooking demonstrations and world-class cuisine for our attendees. Suvir hails from New Delhi and won U.S. acclaim as the co-executive chef at New York City’s Devi restaurant and as the author of two incredible cookbooks: Indian Home Cooking and American Masala. He cooks with the ease and grace of a Michelin-starred chef (2007 and 2008 Michelin Guide to New York City) and instructs students with a a master’s precision and patience.

The beautiful (and Sharp!) Korin knife with jalapeno

Suvir arrived prepared with some of his favorite equipment and products in tow. Japanese knife and tableware purveyor Korin provided beautiful knives and a traditional wok that Suvir used to cook a batch of Chivda (Indian trail mix). Kim Sunee described Chivda on her website, but it is a snack mix based on stir-fried thin poha (flattened rice), fresh curry leaves, spices, raisins and peanuts. The result is a crunchy, sweet and spicy treat that stays fresh for weeks (if you can keep yourself from eating it all in one go). Read the rest of this entry »

Seaside 2010: Writers Workshopping with Kim Sunee

The 2010 Seaside Floating Island Writers’ Workshop started off in delicious fashion when attendees began arriving Saturday, May 29. Among them, chef Suvir Saran of New York City’s restaurant Devi and his partner Charlie Burd came to run cooking demonstrations and sign his fabulous cookbooks (Indian Home Cooking and American Masala) at Sundog Books.

Kim Sunee and Chef Suvir Saran at Sundog Books

A few hours after arriving, Charlie and I headed off to find some fresh Gulf shrimp from Goatfeather’s Seafood. Soon Kim, Suvir, and a few other attendees (particularly Rose) began toasting, grinding, zesting, chopping, juicing and sauteing a beautiful supper of Goan shrimp, basmati rice, and a mixed yogurt raita. Read the rest of this entry »

photo by sashafatcat/flickr.com

Hot on the (tar)heels of our Seaside 2010 workshop, Kim Sunee announces a Columbus Day Weekend food writing and memoir workshop in Chapel Hill/Durham, North Carolina, October 10 to 14. In addition to four full days of writing, eating, and workshopping, the workshop will feature a slate of celebrity chefs, food authorities and cookbook authors. More details will follow, so save those dates.

Please comment below or use the Contact Us form to show your excitement.

A number of potential attendees asked us to extend the application date for the May 30 and June 6 Floating Island Workshop Seaside sessions and we have!

The new application deadline is April 16, 2010.

Spaces are filling up quickly, so there is no time to waste. Please feel free to contact us if you have questions about any aspect of the program.