Hands On Tamale Making Class at Ortega 120 (Redondo Beach)

I LOVE tamales but I have a hard time to find ones that are just right for me. I want them filled with things I like, for example I'm always looking for a blue corn tamale but the ones here are usually only filled with cheese. So, when Ortega 120 offered me to attend one of their tamale making class, I thought it sounded fun. The tamale class is only held in December since tamales are apparently a holiday tradition. The chef said that his family would always say that way you will always have something to unwrap for Christmas!

The hands-on tamale class was completely full (and they were all women, which was kind of expected)

The $40 class also includes a glass of their house margarita and food 

Ortega has their own masa, made with Canola oil so it's healthier but still moist. You can buy their masa to go at the restaurant, or you can also buy traditional masa at Mexican bakeries. They had prepared the masa for us and the filling which included chicken and beef tinga, chili and cheese. They provided the recipes for these fillings, but during the class all we had to do was assemble them.

Spreading the masa on the corn husk was harder than I expected at first, since you don't want it to be too thick, though eventually I got used to it.

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Gourmet Three Course Meals, In Your Freezer

What's for dinner at home? Caramelized pork belly with steamed kale. Think I made it from scratch? Nope. This was frozen and delivered, by Pop Up Pantry.

There are many meal delivery services in Los Angeles, but for the most part they are too health focused (and healthy tasting ..) and expensive! Pop Up Pantry is neither. These are gourmet three-course meals, pre-prepared and shipped to you frozen for as little as $17.50 per person.

You order your meals and the date you want them delivered, and it will be shipped in a box via FedEx (they note that you have to freeze them by 8pm that day). Oh, and the good thing about using FedEx? You don't have to live in LA to order these, unlike the other meal delivery services! You can live in the middle of nowhere and still get them.

Inside the insulated box will be these frozen pouches of the prepared food.

Preparing them for the most part is easy. Most of them you just boil in water, or stick them in the oven for 30 minutes (your meals will come with detailed instructions, don't worry).

I tried out the Master Chef dinner, which was the two dinners created during the last Master Chef's finals between Christine Ha and Josh Marks.

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Local LA Gifts For Your Foodie Friends!

Los Angeles has so many great finds that you really shouldn't look elsewhere for that special gift for your food loving friends. Yep, there are many lists like these, but here are my picks (you know, if you were buying something for me ... )

1. Truffles from Compartes Chocolatier
Compartes is one of the best local chocolatiers and they put cute artwork on top of their truffles too. Wouldn't a box of gingerbread truffles with penguins on them just be an adorable gift? Although everyone would love to receive the Macallan whisky truffles too.

2. Purple Forest Pie from I Heart Pies
Pumpkin pies? Boring ... Try I Heart Pies' black currant and speculoos pie. It doesn't just look striking with the purple color, with its creaminess and slight tart flavor, this is going to be someone's new favorite pie.

3. Caramels from Le Bon Garcon
Still my favorite caramels ever (it's just so smooth and never sticks to my teeth), Le Bon Garcon keeps coming up with new seasonal flavors that I always love. The newest one is persimmon with some guava and lime (though I'd love to see them make one with stronger persimmon flavor). Get them while you can!

4. Boozy chocolate bars from Ococoa

Your foodie friends probably like to drink, too. Appeal to both sides with these beautiful chocolate bars from Ococoa, filled with caramel flavored with things like Irish whiskey, Tawny Port, and honey liqueur. I've seen them sold at Farmshop.