Prepare to Tantalize Your Taste Buds

Whether you’re a certified foodie seeking inside information or simply want to meet a celebrity chef, Simmer and Sift has your recipe for success.

Sponsored by AARP in Tampa Bay, the series of culinary demonstrations by top area chefs continues July 27. Travel + Leisure has called the local food scene “one of the country’s most creative.”

Each event runs from 6 to 8:30 p.m. at the Museum of Fine Arts, 255 Beach Drive NE, St. Petersburg. Guests can enjoy a tasting and a signature drink, along with live music, at the waterfront location.

Mary Szaroleta, the museum’s associate curator of public programs, said the Simmer and Sift demos fit right in with fine arts. “Cooking is another art form,” she said. “It’s culinary art.”

Kelly Debor, a pastry chef and an owner of Slate Door Brew, is planning a three-course demonstration on July 27: a puff pastry appetizer, sorbet and “some sort of chocolate dessert to finish it off.”

Jeffrey Hileman, executive chef at Locale Market, will demonstrate on Aug. 24, followed on Sept. 21 by Matthew Rainey, Rococo Steak’s executive chef.

Tickets are $45 each, and registration is required. To register, go to mfastpete.org/rsvp or call 727-896-2667, ext. 210. For a full slate of summer fun, go to aarp.org/tampabay.

—George Edmonson