Savor the Season and the End of Summer

Savor the Season this past Sunday marks the end of summer for me and it was a great ending although I stuffed myself silly!
A charity event benefiting Break The Cycle - to end domestic violence - Savor the Season features a great lineup of restaurants+more, silent and live auctions throughout the night!

It was held at the Vibiana cathedral in downtown LA, a charming little place and a nice garden.The arches were also beautiful as the night progresses, especially with the lighting that they've set up.
Our only problem with it is that it wasn't air conditioned. Although it didn't get stifling hot, we definitely did not wear the sweaters/jackets we had brought along.

I got there pretty early so I was able to start grabbing food without a long line. First thing I grabbed was the raw lobster salad in Filo cups from Geoffrey's.
I had 2 pounds of lobster the day before but lobster is still good for me anyday!


Cocktails for the night were provided by The Edison. They were offering two ginger beer-based drinks: English Afterthought (below) and Dark and Stormy.
Muddled fresh blueberries+ginger - not too sweet but deliciously refreshing!

They also had this gorgeous green fairy pushing the absinthe cart around (partly to promote their Lucent Dossier on Wednesdays).
They were giving miniature bottles of absinthe and also some absinthe chocolate made by Madame Chocolat (more on her later).

Both Jer-ne from the Ritz in Marina and Brix@1601 were offering trufflepops and both were offering a spicy flavor as part of it.
Below are the ones from Brix@1601. They had a mango-chili flavor that was nicely spiced.
On the other hand Jer-ne had flavors like spicy peanut, caramel fleur de sel, and mayan chocolate that was very cinnamony :)

Bacon-wrapped stuffed shrimp and Brant Beef from Salt Creek Grille.
Pretty nice and flavorful although the beef is cold by this point.



The avocado bisque and chicken tandoori croquette from Catering by Field.

I thought this catering company did a great job - the presentation of these two items were probably the best of the night (besides the green fairy cart!) What cute little plastic dishes.

Other dishes that I really liked were the Fried Mac n' Cheese Fritters from Boneyard Bistro.
Fried cheesy goodness! Mmm . I thought it would be too fatty and overbearing but it was not so. Liked it a lot. It would be a very addicting snack.

They also had lemongrass and lavender soda from Dry Soda, a fairly new soda company. Their sodas are not that sweet so it's really nice and refreshing!

The VIP Section has, of course, even more goodness to offer (I was there with a press pass and so was able to get into the VIP area. Yes!)

Right when you walk in you will see Saltistry's booth, featuring a nice variety of flavored salts and fruits/veggies to dip into it. My favorite is this one, and I'm sure you can imagine why!
The truffle salt was amazing! The truffle aroma was definitely there and makes me drool so .... They also had other nice and interesting ones like Six Peppers, etc. I'm gonna have to work my way through their offerings ...
Beverly Hills Caviar were serving these 4 types of caviar:
They were very busy replenishing the tray and couldn't tell us what each individual piece was, but in the end I still like the salmon roe the best.

Also in the VIP section was a great cheese booth from Andrew's Cheese Company who were giving out cards about the different cheeses.

Besides champagne, they of course had to have chocolates! Madame Chocolat was giving out dark/milk chocolate malt balls, chocolate covered cornflakes. She had other things that apparently had run out by the time we got there.
Tutti Gelati had a gelato booth and had a nice combination of dark chocolate, strawberries, and balsamic vinegar.

They also had a very nice limoncello made with venutra lemons from Ventura Limoncello Company. Stronger than other limoncellos I had, but very delicious!

These are all little tastes but *sigh* it really added up and after a while I couldn't remain standing. I had to sit down and rest my stomach for a bit. Other bloggers including LA&OC Foodie, CarolineOnCrack, and EatingLA were there and I think I can safely say we all stuffed ourselves!

Luckily for us we managed to go into the VIP section where they had tables and chairs - the main dining room did not which was rather a bummer for people in high heels like I was! But it was such a great event, and benefiting a great cause too! I would definitely keep this event in mind for next year also!
I tried bidding on the silent auction, although I didn't win anything. We all had fun and great food and drinks.

From Pils to Grut Beer, and Beyond

LearnAboutWine, an LA-based wine education company, has also been routinely hosting unique, non-wine classes/events that seemed very interesting, so I contacted Ian Blackburn (the owner) and he invited me down to their German Beer Tasting event with beer scribe Tomm Carroll on Sunday (disclaimer: I joined this event for free per Ian's invitation).

Although LearnAboutWine started out holding events at different restaurants, they have now acquired Loft218 and hosted most of their classes there, which logistically probably works a lot better for them.

Loft218 is actually a loft in industrial downtown LA. You have to buzz in to get into the building, but the setup that Ian has created was a wonderful white tablecloth setting that took me somewhat by surprise.

They had also set up a cheese and dried fruits platter that can be paired with the beers we were drinking, including some wonderful dried cherries from France, smoked gouda, and gruyere.

So. Beer. Before this, I didn't know much at all about beer. Sure I drink hefeweizen, and sure I have a few beers that I like. But my knowledge about different beers extend only to the difference between lager and ale. So after tasting these twelve german beers at this event, I came to learn more about beer than I thought there was to know.

And luckily they gave a handout of the beers with description, history, etc, and I took notes! Because after about 3 oz X 12 beers, I was definitely feeling a buzz ... Let's get on with the beers, shall we?

1. Reissdorf Kölsch
From the town of Cologne (Köln), hence the name. A very light and dry ale - a nice one to start off with.

2. Bitburger Pils
A very dry and bitter beer, IMO ... I didn't like it that much although I got used to it after a few gulps.

3. Hofbrau Original Munich Helles
First lager of the day. Bitter, but maltier than #2.

4. Bayrischer Banhof Berliner Weisse
Arguable the most interesting beer we had! Originating from Berlin, this wheat beer is surprisingly sour, due to the additional lactic fermentation (on top of yeast fermentation). A lot of people would be turned off by it and that's why it is typically served with some woodruff or red raspberry syrup. In our case, we were given some woodruff syrup ("waldmeister").

I actually liked this beer the way it is. Although sour, it had a nice crisp taste with a clean finish that is refreshing. The waldmeister does cut the sourness and adds a nice fragrance, but I think I prefer the taste of the beer itself.

5. Bayrischer Banhof Leipziger Gose
This might be my favorite beer of the day. A wheat ale made with coriander and salt, this beer reminds me of champagne. It's on the sweeter side, but a little malty and you can taste the salt in the finish.

6. Schneider Edel-weiss Hefeweizen
Let's learn some German: "Hefe"=yeast, "Weizen"=wheat.
A nice ale that is a little acidic.

7. Spaten Oktoberfestbier (Märzen)
The original Oktoberfest beer, this was named Märzenbier because it was brewed in March. Since this beer predates refrigeration and the cold temperature is necessary to brew lagers, they had to brew in the winter.
Amber-colored, medium-bodied, but crisp and a little bitter. I thought this went well with some of the smoked gouda.

8. Einbecker Mai-Ur-Bock
Named so because the last cases leave the brewery towards the end of May. A sweet, heavy, and a little malty, this pretty brown-colored beer is at the same time dry & crisp as it has a sharp, bitter finish.

9. Uerige Sticke Dusseldorfer Altbier
A very dry beer. Acidic and bitter. A pretty strong beer with ABV of 6.5%

10. Köstritzer Schwarzbier
This is a dark lager beer that has a roasty, coffee-like aroma, but is surprisingly light and acidic with a dry finish. Because of this, it is aptly known as "the black beer with the blonde soul."
Because of the slight chocolaty flavor, this beer paired very well with the dried cherries!

11. 13th Century Grut Beer
A wheat ale made with ginger, caraway, rosemary, anise, and other spices. It has a nice, strong, "spice" aroma and doesn't taste at all bitter. One of my faves of the day.

12. Aecht Schlekerla Rauchbier
My very first smoked beer. Unpasteurized and made entirely from smoked malt, this beer has a very strong smoked nose. Take a whiff and you'd think you were smelling smoked jerky. It has a lo~ng malty finish, and (as you can imagine) paired well with the smoked cheeses.
I definitely would not drink this on a casual basis. Might be nice for a bbq party though.

Although the class is not cheap ($50 if you register in advance), I thought that it would be worth it, since it isn't just about drinking the 12 beers and eating cheeses, but also the information you get out of it. Not sure if it is worth $75 though, so please do register in advance.

It was a very informative class where I got to try not only beers I've never had before, but beers I never even knew existed.
We also learned a lot about the histories of German beers and of the different types of beer. We all had a great time (the alcohol helps, I'm sure). We also got a souvenir glass :)

Ian has set up an enjoyable class setting and also a series of great classes!
I'm really looking forward to the Port, Chocolate, and Cheese class in December (I hope it won't sell out after telling you guys this ...)!

He has also started a more comprehensive, perhaps more geared towards trade professionals, credentialing program, that he calls the LAW school (and you take the BAR exam at the end -- cute).

LearnAboutWine is definitely a source of great events in Los Angeles, on top of a resource of wine knowledge. I hope to see it maintain and expand its unique series of classes! I've also heard great things about Ian's knowledge on wine and so will probably drop by for a wine (perhaps wine & chocolate? :) ) class.

Lobster Binge!

It's lobster fest! I had to take just a couple hours away from work just to splurge on fresh boiled Maine lobsters!

There are lobster festivals in long beach and redondo beach also on other weekends, but last year I've found that the San Pedro one gives the best deal lobsterwise.
$6 admission (using the $2 coupon from their website), $17 for a 1.25 lobster meal or $31 for 2 lobsters on a plate! It isn't that cheap but is still cheaper than going to a restaurant!

I got ... a 2-fer of course. I was late and got there around 2 pm, but the line was not too bad. There was about a 5 minute ticket line and a 5 minute lobster line. We also managed to find seats in the back tent, and then got to chowing down our lobsters.
The lobsters were nice, big, and fresh! I thought it was well worth $31.

We were in lobster heaven :) It comes with lemon, butter, dinner roll (don't bother eating it), and cole slaw.

Since we were starting to get thirsty, I got a strawberry lemonade from a lemonade booth.
Yummy. A little on the sweet side for me, but still so delicious and refreshing. They had a few already made beforehand waiting for you - but then the girl taking the orders was so slow they might as well making everything fresh each time.

Then I had to get my favorite festival food: roasted corn on the cob.
It was pretty good here, although I have had better, sweeter corn on the cob.

I also then decided to get a Smoothie by the Yard - since refills are $5 regardless of the size, I went for the big yard cup!

We were stuffed at this point, so we just walked around. I considered playing one of the carnival games so I can get a large lobster stuffed animal, but then I decided against it...

Besides the food and some knick knack/jewelry booths, there wasn't much else so we started heading to our car.

We parked on the event parking lot on 1st street, which was about 3-4 blocks away. We decided to walk it and that way get a feel of the shops/restaurants around there. Walking along the pier was pretty nice (although the water there is pretty stinky). They had cute shops and tons of seafood restaurants.


They also had little carts along the walk, so the fruitaholic among us got distracted and got a box of pre-cut mangos.
They weren't quite ripe yet, but at least not too sour.


He also got further distracted by a fried plaintain+churro cart, and got a small thing of fried plaintains.
Pretty yummy. Sweet and nicely caramelized.

As you can imagine, we all had food coma on the drive back home ...
I really enjoy going to lobster fest ... will be back next year!