Classes We Love for Valentine’s Day

Valentine's Day is right around the corner; have you made plans? Dinner is nice, but perhaps we can suggest some new ways to spend time with your sweetheart on this day dedicated to those we love.

French I
Ah, la langue d’amour! If you would love to tell a special someone how much you care en Français, why not start French lessons on Valentine’s Day? Since life isn’t all romance, we promise you will also learn more practical phrases and vocabulary for travel and everyday conversation.
Sat | Feb 14-May 2* | 9:30-11:30am | $199 | PAR 301 | 151LA1107
*Class does not meet March 28 or April 4.

CPR/AED & First Aid
Valentine’s Day turns our thoughts to all things heart-related—like CPR! Training from the American Heart Association will get you ready to respond quickly and confidently in case someone you love (or even a total stranger) has a medical emergency.
Sat | Feb 14 | 9am-2:30pm | $89 | PAR 302 | 151HE1101A

Decadent Chocolate & Wine Pairing
This class practically screams, “Valentine’s date night.” Chef Les Kincaid will teach you to properly pair chocolates and wines by taste, texture, and intensity for heightened enjoyment. You will be able to practice what you learned a few days later on Valentine’s Day!
Wed | Feb 11 | 6-8:30pm | $69 | Total Wine & More Summerlin | 151HA1135

Best of Red Rock Canyon
The rocks are red,
The sky is blue,
Come hike and learn,
Bring your sweetheart too.
Spend the day learning about the geology, history, hydrology, and archaeology of stunning Red Rock National Conservation area with a geologist/naturalist guide. This will be an ideal Valentine’s day outing for nature lovers!
Sat | Feb 14 | 8am-2pm | $95 | Meet at PAR back parking lot | 151EX1247

As a reward for reading this blog post and checking out all these great program options, here's a secret little Valentine's Day tip from a gal who grew up in "Sweetheart City," Loveland, CO. If you plan in advance and send your valentines to the Loveland Valentine Remailing Program, they will imprint your envelope with a Valentine poem and a "From Loveland with Love" stamp cancellation, then send it along to its final destination. Every year more than 100,000 valentines are processed through the program. Other than the stamp to mail your cards to Loveland, there is no cost to do this! 

Wine & Cheese, What a Pairing!

I recently took a wine & cheese class through UNLV Continuing Education, Wine & Cheese of Italy & Spain. To start this off, I’m not a big red wine drinker, and I thought to myself “what have you gotten yourself into?” But I love cheese, all kinds of cheese, from soft to stinky. I’ve been to classes before where Chef Les Kincaid is the instructor. He is very generous with his portions, so I knew I would get my fill of cheese and wine.

This two-week course was held at Total Wine & More in Summerlin, with the first week focused on French wines & cheese and the second week on the Spanish ones. Chef Kincaid brought four wines and four cheeses each week. He kept the price point on the wines at $7-$12. Surprisingly they were all good, although I was fondest of the French Muscat we had. I could go on about the cheeses for hours (but I won’t). We tried everything from a French Brie by Mon Pere to a 12-month aged Manchego by El Trigal. My favorite of all was a French goat cheese that had three distinct flavors as you bit into the rind, outer edge and center cut of the cheese. The name of that one is Bucherondin by Serva Bella.

Chef Kincaid is very knowledgeable about winemaking and speaks extensively about how the landscape and weather affect the grapes along with why cheeses and wines from the same region complement each other so well. He talks about the proper temperature both red and white wines should be served at and that all cheeses should be served at room temperature. With the attention to detail that Chef Kincaid provides, I definitely got my money’s worth out of this class.

Here is the link to Chef Kincaid's upcoming classes with UNLV Continuing Education.


Post by April Reckling