Caramelpalooza 2011: Who Wants to Make Some Candy?

Has it really been almost a year since we stood in the parking lot of Smeeks -- sticky and sweaty from a night of caramel tasting/swooning -- and swore we'd never eat sugar again? Indeed it has. And we have one thing to say, Phoenix: Bring it. Get the date and...

By Amy Silverman

February 1, 2011

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Has it really been almost a year since we stood in the parking lot of Smeeks -- sticky and sweaty from a night of caramel tasting/swooning -- and swore we'd never eat sugar again?

Indeed it has. And we have one thing to say, Phoenix: Bring it.

Get the date and the rest of the details for Caramelpalooza 2011 after the jump.

Chow Bella and our friends at Smeeks candy store are at it again, co-sponsoring a fun, free, filling-defying evening of caramel tasting: Friday, March 11, 7 p.m., in the Smeeks parking lot near Central Avenue and Camelback Road.

And we are looking for a few good chefs who are up to the task.

If you are a chef -- pastry, candy or otherwise -- and prepare your food in a commercial kitchen -- you are invited to toss your name (along with 250 wrapped, labeled caramels) into the Caramelpalooza hat and challenge last year's winners for this year's honors.

Interested? E-mail us at [email protected]. Deadline to participate is Tuesday, February 8.

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Amy Silverman is the former managing editor of Phoenix New Times. She is a two-time winner of the Arizona Press Club’s Journalist of the Year award. Her work has appeared on the radio show This American Life and in the New York Times, the Washington Post, Lenny Letter, and Brain, Child.