Monday, October 25, 2010

Blogger Prom 2010: If High School Was ...

Blogger Prom is what your prom might've been like in high school ...
If you were of legal age of drinking during high school and the organizers of your prom secured alcohol sponsors and a signature cocktail.

If said organizers had access to Yamashiro, the restaurant with the best view in the city.


(and when there's a giant screen showing our tweets all night long because we're okay being geeky like that)

If everyone dressed their best and ended up on the LA Times blog!
Nastassia from Let Me Eat Cake and one half of the Manila Machine


If prom came with duck or black cod tacos for dinner!


If no one judged you for stuffing yourselves with truffles from Chocobox and two Coolhaus ice cream sandwiches.

... plus a selection of cheese and dried fruits from Barrie Lynn, The Cheese Impresario, including her infamous "cheese sex" (a 10 year old cheddar from Hook's Creamery).


If prom kept feeding you for the next two weeks with coupons from Manila Machine, Border Grill, Sprinkles, and 7-11 (and kept you smelling good too with all the shampoos and deodorants).

The best part? We all raised $2,400 for Operation Frontline!

Many thanks to the Blogger Prom committee members LA & OC Foodie, Caroline on Crack, e*starLA, Happy Go Marni, Liquid Muse, LAist, ShopEatSleep, and When Tara Met Blog for putting on a great party.

Friday, October 22, 2010

Celebrate Fall: Pumpkin Pinkberry (FREE mini today 4-7 PM)

Today Pinkberry launches their new Fall flavor: Pumpkin Pinkberry!

Pumpkin Pinkberry

They delivered small sized cups of the new flavor to my office this morning so I can sample it with my coworker. The new yogurt, made with real pumpkin puree, was topped with their featured toppings: crunchy honey graham crackers, Pinkberry Swirly Whip and a dusting of cinnamon.

It reminded me of pumpkin pie for obvious reasons, but was much lighter and more refreshing since it still had the sour flavor characteristic of Pinkberry. Bottom line: we all really enjoyed it.



The Pumpkin Pinkberry, as well as graham crackers, cinnamon and pomegranate seeds will be available through the end of the year.
But just for today (Friday, Oct 22), if you go to a Pinkberry between 4-7 PM, you can get a FREE mini pumpkin pinkberry so you can sample the new flavor firsthand!

Thursday, October 21, 2010

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.
Dee Ann Quniones


IMG_4013My 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!

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