Giveaway! Tickets to LA Wine Fest (June 8-9)

It's time for another giveaway! LA Wine Fest is returning to Raleigh Studios on June 8-9 and they have offered two pairs of tickets to give away to my readers. 

You can taste over 500 wines, spirits, and beers from all over the world here, and nibble on samples from vendors (if you need more food, there will be food trucks with food for purchase). Last year I tasted lots of wines, limoncello, chocolate bourbon, Korean rice wines, and much more. They also have seminars like wine and cheese pairing with Barrie Lynn,The Cheese Impresario (seminars cost extra).

One of my favorites from last year: Martian from Santa Ynez

Event details: 
Saturday, June 8th 2pm-6pm and Sunday, June 9th 12pm-5pm
Hollywood's Historic Raleigh Studios
5300 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90038
@LAWineFest

If you don't win, you can also purchase tickets to the wine fest here. The VIP ticket gets you in early and a VIP swag bag.
You can also check out the seminar schedule there (and the cost). Your ticket purchase benefits Food Foward.

The contest will end at midnight Friday, May 31 and I will be choosing two winners over that weekend. Good luck!


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GIVEAWAY: Dinner With GrubWithUs

If you ever have a hard time finding people to dine out with, or want to meet new people over a meal, Grub With Us is now there for you. Dinners are organized at partner restaurants, sometimes for a specific group ("travel enthusiasts", "entrepeneurs", "young Republicans" - no, really), sometimes just a "social meal". The menu is set beforehand for the whole group and when you sign up for dinner you pay the website in advance (all inclusive of tax and tip). If no dinner strikes your fancy, you can set up your own, but it has to be with a participating restaurant.

I haven't actually tried joining one of these dinners before but I will be this coming Saturday, October 28, and Grub With Us has offered to give away a free spot to one of you too! So join me for dinner with them (the dinner will be open to regular Grub With Us users to sign up per usual)! The place? Starry Kitchen pop up at Tiara Cafe in downtown LA!

If you're not already familiar with it, the menu at this husband and wife run restaurant changes pretty regularly, but the predominantly Southeast Asian dishes are crowd-pleasers. The awesome Singaporean Chili Crab may not be on the group dinner menu, but I'm looking forward to their other stuff.

UPDATE: Change of plans! Since the dinner on Saturday was apparently not set, the giveaway is now changed to credit to any future dinner on Grub With Us. Once you've won you can sign up for an account and browse for upcoming dinners.

To enter to win, leave a comment below with your email contact and answer the following: what type of people (or person) would you want to meet at a dinner like this? 
Oh, and of course, make sure you are free for dinner on Saturday!

The giveaway ends at midnight on Thursday, October 26. Good luck and looking forward to meeting one of you on Saturday!
Because of the changes in the giveaway, I'm extending the deadline to midnight on Saturday, October 27!

GIVEAWAY: A Box of King's Hawaiian Bakery Awesomeness!

In yesterday's post I talked about touring King's Hawaiian Bakery, tasting many many things made using their products, and about the box of goodies I got as a parting gift. The giant box had bread enough for months, coffee cake, coffee, cookies, apron, gift card, etc ... and we bloggers loved it so much King's Hawaiian decided they wanted to share the aloha with you guys!

So ... we will be giving away a similar box (the contents won't be exactly the same but I'm sure they will be just as generous!) to one of my readers!

Here's how to enter:

1. Leave your name and email contact in the comments below and answer the following: Have you had King's Hawaiian Bakery products before, and if so, which one is your favorite?

And then get extra entries by doing the following:

2. Share this giveaway on Facebook, and make sure you tag my page @Gourmet Pigs so I know you actually did it!

3. Tweet "Win a box of @KingsHawaiian goodies from @gourmetpigs! #KHspreadsAloha http://bit.ly/SXCMmY" 

You have until midnight of Tuesday, October 23rd. Good luck!

GIVEAWAY: Tickets and Parking to Oktoberfest at the Fairplex Pomona

October can only mean .. Oktoberfests! Beer! German sausages! There are quite a few Oktoberfests around Los Angeles, including one at the Fairplex in Pomona which takes place on Fridays to Sundays this month.

At the Fairplex Oktoberfest, there will be a German food buffet with Bratwursts (of course), Weisswurst (sweet sausage), Schweinehaxe (hock ham), Schweinebraten, and Apfelstrudel. There's an "Oom-Pah" band, games, and of course tons of German beers.

They'e offered to give away two admission tickets and a free parking pass to one of my readers (food and drink not included, sorry). 
To enter to win, just leave your name and email contact in the comments below!

You can also get extra entries by tweeting: "Enter to win tickets and parking to the Fairplex Oktoberfest via @gourmetpigs! http://bit.ly/RpDQBb"

The giveaway will end at midnight on Wednesday, October 17 so that you will have two weekends to use your tickets!

LA Beer Week and Ticket GIVEAWAY!

The 4th Annual LA Beer Week is coming very soon on September 20-30 and there are many great events for you to look forward to, culminating in the LA Beer Week Festival at the Union Station! You can check the complete event listing here, but here are some of the great events they're having (and don't miss the ticket giveaway at the end of the post!):

  Thursday, Sept 20

• Stone Total Town Takeover: Pasadena | Stone Brewing Co. previews its soon-to-open Stone Company Store – Pasadena location. Co-Founders Steve Wagner & Greg Koch will be on hand, sharing special beers and nibbles from Stone Catering, with live music. Tickets are $25; all proceeds will benefit a local charity. (7-9:30p) Other events with the Stone Brewing Co. team will also be taking place in Pasadena throughout the day. (Details)
• Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Invades Little Tokyo | Far Bar will be pouring 12 of this famed Delaware brewery’s beers, including some very rare and hard-to-get selections. In addition, an extra special treat will be running through the “organoleptic hop transducer module”... better known to Dogfish Head fans as Randall the Enamel Animal. (6p)

Friday, Sept 21

• Poutine Paradise | Five courses of gourmet poutines will be paired with five Schneider-Weisse beers, along with a special dessert pairing at P’tit Soleil Westwood. (Two seatings: 6:30p &8:30p)

Read more »

Giveaway: Robert Mondavi Wants to Give You FREE GAS!

Robert Mondavi Private Selection Wines wants you to explore the beauties of the California Central Coast, where their Private Selection wines are made. You can take a virtual tour of the Central Coast by following their Facebook page, where they will showcase the best of Central Coast - food, views, and everything else. But why not take a trip and discover the region (or a place like the Central Coast closer to you) on your own? 

Robert Mondavi  wants you to! So, they want to give you a $25 gas card, which you can use to take a road trip to you nearest wine country. If you live in Southern California, that would be the Central Coast, but if you live in another state, just use to visit the equivalent of the Central Coast!


Oh, and I'm trying out this new widget for you to enter giveaways, so try it out below and let me know how that works out! Good luck!


*UPDATE: I realize that with the Punchtab giveaway widget, a lot of people were getting comment entries without actually commenting on the post. If your comment entry is picked but you didn't actually comment, I will redraw the winner. And I probably won't be using the punchtab widget again ..

Giveaway! Toasting Package from I Can't Believe It's Not Butter!

I Can't Believe It's Not Butter! has asked me to host a giveaway for this lovely gift package - good for all your classy party needs! This was the gift I was supposed to receive at their recent Red Carpet Viewing party but I wasn't able to make it.

In the package are a set of four Crate and Barrel champagne glasses, a metal Ralph Lauren serving tray,

cute ICBINB-related glass charms

a beautiful decorated spreader

and a set of four toast-shaped coasters!

There is also a coupon for I Can't Believe It's Not butter and a set of recipes included in your package.

Pretty good package, if I may say so myself! Want them to send you one? Just enter my giveaway:

1. Leave a comment below with your email address by midnight of Tuesday, March 20.
2. Get an extra entry by tweeting: "Win a gift package w champagne glasses, serving tray and more from @ICBINOTButter on @gourmetpigs! http://bit.ly/zsenoQ"
3. For new "fans", get an extra entry by liking my facebook page.

Giveaway: MAVEA Premium Water Filtration Pitcher

Everyone should have a water filter instead of buying bottled waters. And while you're at it, why not get one that looks good, too? MAVEA, the US branch of BRITA, launched a premium water filtration pitcher series called Elemaris.

MAVEA's Elemaris water pitchers are made with BPA-free plastic, dishwasher safe, and definitely looks more stylish than many others. The filters are silver treated and supposed to discourage bacteria growth (and it's recyclable). The lid has a pour-through hole that swings open with water pressure, making refilling easy and cleaner. Last but not least, if you ever wonder when you need to change your filter, with this you need to wonder no more. The Elemaris pitchers are built in with Smart Meter indicator which measures water hardness, volume, and time in use and lets you know when you need to change it. For more info on MAVEA products and water-related tips, you can visit their blog.

They're supposed to reduce the buildup of limescale in water heating equipments too. I have to start using filtered instead of tap water in my Zojirushi water kettle, which definitely already started scaling. I've been using this for a week and while this may be a placebo effect, I think the water tastes better than the one filtered using my roommate's old Brita!

If you need a water filter, or want to upgrade yours, this is your chance! MAVEA is giving away one Elemaris XL water pitcher (listed at $39.99 on Amazon.com, with a 4.5 star rating). The Elemaris XL pitcher holds 9 glasses worth of water.
To win one, just do comment below with your email address.

You can also get extra entries by doing one or more of the following:
1. Tweet: "I want to win a @MaveaWater filter pitcher from @gourmetpigs! http://bit.ly/mgH1CY"
2. "Like" the link to this post on Gourmet Pigs' Facebook page.

You have until midnight of Friday, May 27th to enter. I will then choose a random winner. Good luck!

Giveaway: Pinkberry Swirlygram Gift Card, for Your Valentine

Now you can send the Pinkberry-lover in your life a special Valentine's delivery. From Feb 11-14, Pinkberry will hand deliver their famous frozen yogurt with toppings, gift card, or a take-home container of fro-yo complete with special V-day wrapping, balloons, and a note.
Candygram? It's Swirlygram.
All you have to do is go to a Pinkberry store and place your order (delivery is available within a certain radius of each store). You can also order online here, but that one doesn't come with balloons.

To get you going, Pinkberry is giving away a $10 Swirlygram gift card!

$10 is good for one Cupid's Swirl (prices include delivery), or pay the difference for anything else. I recommend the Blood Orange Pinkberry topped with blood orange slices.

I thought about making you tell me who you're sending it to, but I don't want to embarass people, so all you have to do is leave a comment with your contact info below.

Contest will end at NOON on Tuesday Feb 8th, leaving plenty of time for the gift card to be mailed to you.

Table20 Celebrates LA's Best Bartenders

My personal opinions aside, Table20's contest on LA's Best Bartenders certainly brought some of the city's best together at downtown's Elevate Lounge with some mighty rum punches.

The night had started slow and since I overestimated traffic, I arrived 30 minutes early (in LA? Impossible!). I ended up waiting at Takami and had one of their $4 bar snacks, calamari with rice krispies crust. Not a bad portion for $4.

Since the bartenders were still preparing their punch, we first had to wait outside the lounge, but the management graciously provided a drink ticket for the bar at Takami.

Sure, some of my other favorites were missing from the contest, like Julian Cox and Pablo Moix, but 5-6 glasses of punch are enough for a night. I say 5-6 because there were supposed to be 6, but The Edison's Joe Brooke went MIA that night.

A special shoutout to the only female finalist, Dee Ann Quinones from STREET, The Parlour Room, and Philippe Chow.

My favorite drink of the night ended up being Cole's bartender Max Diaz's Red Sparrow Punch.

I might have been biased towards this cider-like hot drink as it was raining outside, but it was definitely a great drink regardless!
For this punch Max Diaz combined the Don Q Anejo rum (one of the sponsors) with apple cider, cabernet sauvignon, green chartreuse, and a "secret syrup" that, alas, shall remain a mystery.

At the end of the night, Matt Biancanello was crowned Best Bartender in LA. The skills of Matt Biancanello are already well known in the city from his creative concoctions at the Library Bar such as the Shiitake Manhattan and Arugula Gimlet. Congratulations to Matt, all the other finalists, and the other great bartenders of Los Angeles!

Giveaway: Your Own Home Pasta Machine!

I was recently approached to hold a giveaway by someone from CSN Stores, which operates over 200 online stores including those selling tableware and kitchenware from microwaves and eco-friendly fridges and cookware sets to Rachael Ray Cookware -- I don't watch her but someone gave my her fondue set for Christmas. Some people have told me her products are actually pretty good, and they do look cute.

They asked me to choose something for the giveaway, and here was my pick (and I hope you guys like it):

CucinaPro Imperia Home Pasta Machine S150, which has a 6" wide roller and spaghetti and fettucine cutter ~TA DA!
You know you want to eat fresh, handmade pasta for dinner at home. Forget those dried, pre-packaged stuff.

So, how to win your very own pasta machine? You just have to promise to make me some pasta once a month for the rest of your life.
Nah, I kid, I kid~ (but I won't refuse if you offer).

It's the usual deal + a teeny bit more:
Leave a comment below with your contact info and tell me what would be the first dish you'll try to cook with your new pasta machine!

Easy enough, no? You have until midnight of next Tuesday, January 26th (PST).

Good luck to all!

Anniversaries, Giveaways, Fat, and Pungentness

My one year blogiversary is coming up! Is that a real word or did I just make it up?
Anyways, I decided to do not one, but TWO special things to celebrate!! (celebrating is just an excuse, I just want to do it)
I need your input and I'm turning this into my one-year-anniversary-blog-giveaway-contest.

So the background: I am planning: 1) a foie gras crawl, and 2) a durian crawl.
Am I kidding? Am I /ever/ kidding? I am totally serious. Not on the same day of course.
Well, maybe.

So here's what I've come up with for #1) foie gras w/ eggplant at Orris, and foie gras with mac&cheese and black truffles at Chaya Brasserie. What other particular foie gras dish should I include? The rule is that it has to be on their regular menu - otherwise the whole plan will go down the drain!

For #2) durian smoothie from Simpang Asia, sticky rice with durian --> where?
Fresh durian from the Ranch 99 in SGV area. Any other durian foodstuff and where can I get them?

So
THE RULES:
You guys post what dish I should get for either #1 or #2 and where.
Post your suggestions in the comments section and include your email address so I can contact the winner.
You have until the date of my first post - Oct 23rd.

THE PRIZE: Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations DVD