There's a whole batch of good stuff to do that will keep you out of the barbecue pit known as the outdoors these days. What better excuse to stay inside and eat and drink yourself into cool oblivion? Pick one or all of the following and have at 'em:

Saturday, July 12, 12:30 to 3:30 p.m.
Entree to India 101 - Class 1 Hands on! Limited to 18 students only. Join Shankari Easwaran on a culinary tour to her country, India. Learn about the rich culture and understand the different spices of India. Shankari will teach you the elements of curry along with interesting stories of her culinary adventure in her mother's kitchen. On the menu: Naan - Learn how to make this ever-popular Indian bread; Channa Masala - A wonderful "comfort food" also called Chole. Channa masala is garbanzo beans cooked in a tangy tomato sauce; Chicken Curry - Chicken cooked in an aromatic sauce infused with poppy seeds, fennel and coconut; Raitha - Cool off with a tomato yogurt salad with a hint of mint.

There were a few openings left as of yesterday, so call Carolyn Kumpe today to reserve your spot! $55 per person and there are two more of these classes coming up Aug. 9 and Sept. 20. You can buy the whole series for $135.

Reservations: (916) 440-0623
East Bay Restaurant Supply
522 North 12th St.
Sacramento, Ca 95811

Sunday, July 27 from 8:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Garrett McCord from Vanilla Garlic is organizing a volunteering day at the Sacramento Food Bank. It will be for the Sunday lunch service, preparing bagged lunches and organizing donated food stuffs for distribution. He has 12-14 spots open, though they certainly won't look down at more as during the summer. They are hurting for help since the students that usually go in for volunteer hours needed to graduate are out of school. Contact Garrett at protogarrett@yahoo.com for more info. There will probably a coffee or lunch run afterwards if you want to stick around.

Sacramento Food Bank
3333 3rd Ave.
Sacramento, CA

Thursday nights, 5 to 7 p.m.
Morton's is hosting wine tastings in the bar on Thursday nights through September. They are also serving complimentary steak sandwiches to go with the wine, making it great for an after work bite and beverage.

Morton's the Steakhouse
521 L Street
Sacramento
916-442-5091