Signature events of the 15th annual Napa Valley Mustard Festival are scheduled this weekend at Black Stallion Vineyards and Copia: the American Center for Wine, Food and the Arts in Napa.The Awards — billed as "A Spicy Soirée" featuring a local chef’s competition — is scheduled Friday at Black Stallion Vineyards, 4089 Silverado Trail. .

Upscale Pittsfield restaurant closes doors; reopening uncertain

PITTSFIELD -- Spice, the upscale North Street restaurant that many considered the centerpiece of the city's downtown renaissance, will be closed indefinitely due to financial hardship, according to owner Joyce S. Bernstein.

Spice's Web site states the restaurant will be closed from March 16 to March 31, but Bernstein said the business will remain dark due to the economic climate of the city.

"Unfortunately the present economic model is not particularly viable in Pittsfield," Bernstein said in a telephone interview. "And at this point, we have no other choice but to close and see if we can reconfigure (the restaurant) in a different way."

Bernstein declined to discuss further specifics of the closing or details of the restaurant's financial situation.

Bernstein and business partner Lawrence M.

Medical Careers Institute Raises Money For Muscular Dystrophy Association

Medical Careers Institute, the School of Health Science at ECPI College of Technology, once again is participating in a Muscular Dystrophy Association Shamrock Sales Event. The event, which kicked off February 14th will run through March 17, 2008, includes a contest where Shamrocks are sold and then counted as "votes" towards a pie in the face for unlucky faculty. Medical Careers Institute's Academic Coordinator of Clinical Education at the Newport News campus, Dawn Gaimaro, is once again leading the program this year. All of the funds raised will be used to serve over 900 families in the Hampton Roads area that the Muscular Dystrophy Association serves.

Medical Careers Institute has campus locations throughout Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina, and offers many fields of study including Dental Assisting, Massage Therapy, Medical Assisting, Medical Radiography, Physical Therapist Assistant, Practical Nursing, Medical Administration, Surgical Technology, and Registered Nursing (fields of study vary by campus).

Culinary creativity scores $2,500 scholarship for Shrewsbury boy

Southern Middle School seventh-grader Ian "Mack" Gray's sandwich creation gives new meaning to the phrase "mystery meat."

With a mixture of peanut butter and shredded chicken as the center of his sandwich, which he dubbed Monstwich, Mack won a $2,500 college scholarship as a runner-up at last week's Jif Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest in New York City.

The 12-year-old Shrewsbury resident said his sandwich, despite the unusual blend of ingredients, is palatable. Mack finished in the top five among all entries based on preliminary judging and Internet voting.

"It was pretty easy to make, and it tasted pretty good," Mack said.

The sixth-annual Jif event brought in hundreds of entries around the country from children ages 6-12. Entries were judged on factors such as creativity, nutritional balance, taste, appearance and ease of preparation, with the top five entries, based on Internet voting, earning last week's trip to New York City to make their sandwiches in person.