Also this issue: Upland Breakdown -Patrick Rapa Black Tie Tailgate -Juliet Fletcher UNESCO and the Upcoming U.N. Literacy Decade -Juliet Fletcher

January 9-15, 2003

mixpicks

Cuba Libre Events

So it's been two years since Cuba Libre took us further south than South Second Street, giving audiences a rumpled but sexy peek (and taste) into Cuban culture without the hassles of trade embargos, Castro or arrests for smoking contraband cigars. Cheers. For the everyday diner, CL gives up three gifts: Cuba Libre Spice, a packet of signature spice mix, Passport to Cuban Cuisine recipe book and "amuse bouche," compliments of Chef Guillermo Veloso. To mark year two, Cuba Libre and Veloso hold a month of Tuesday events guaranteed to educate you, entertain you and get you drunker than Fredo in The Godfather: Part II. You can catch Veloso's Cuban Cooking class on how to mix, dice and slice while making a mojito (Does that qualify as cooking? Who cares? There are mojitos); a Rum and Rumba dinner/dance party with instructor Sonya Saamova; and a Cuban Travel Dinner, where those who've been will reminisce about the mountains green, where management will plan "a humanitarian trip encompassing culinary research and a study of culture," and where the rest of you will drink mojitos. I'll be there every Tuesday.

Cuban Cooking class, Tue., Jan. 14, 7:30 p.m., $45; Rum and Rumba dinner/dance party, Tue., Jan. 21, 7:30 p.m., $65; Travel Dinner, Tue., Jan. 28, 7:30 p.m., $55. Tickets can be purchased individually or as a package. Cuba Libre, 10 S. Second St., 215-627-0666.

—A.D. Amorosi