Sunday, November 20, 2011

Giveaway: Healthy Juices from Juiceology!

I love fruit juices, yet it's hard to find a good one at grocery stores. Most are artificially flavored and full of high fructose corn syrup. Naked Juices are supposedly all natural and most have no added sugar, but they tend to be thick and smoothie-like. I wanted something more juice-like. Enter Juiceology.

All natural juice with no sugar added that actually has a juice texture. Drinking juices are also not as good as eating the real fruits because you don't get any of the fibers that are in the fruits. To bypass that, Juiceology adds 5g of vegetable fiber (from chicory) to each bottle. They also add 18g whole grain extracts from oats, barley and brown rice.

They sent me two flavors to try. I liked the Peach Mango which had a strong mango flavor. The Blueberry Acai tasted mainly of apple juice but both were still very good!
What I liked best was that they didn't have this aftertaste that sticks to my throat like other "juices" with high fructose corn syrup. They tasted, well, pretty natural.

Juicelogy is currently only available in Southern California at Bristol Farms, Ralph's, Famima, and Northgate. They retail at $2.99 each.

If you want to try these juices for yourself, I'm giving away FIVE coupons for a free bottle to THREE winners, so you can go choose the flavors you want yourselves!

To enter, just leave a comment below with your email address by Sunday, Nov 27.
You can also get an extra entry by liking my page on Facebook.
I will draw the winners sometime on Monday. Remember, you have to be living in Southern California!

Thursday, November 17, 2011

Lexington Social House: Social Hour and Fried Chicken

Good cocktails in the heart of Hollywood, for cheap? We're not talking dive bars, here. It's possible during Lexington Social House's Social Hour, where all specialty cocktails are priced at $7 on weekdays 6-8PM and all night Sunday.

With the launch of Social Hour they also launched a bar menu (items from this menu are also $7 during social hour!)
Do try the Chipotle Pork Belly biscuits with aged gouda, fried egg ($14)

Pork Belly Biscuits
I have a soft spot for McD's sausage egg mcmuffin, but this is (of course!) so much better! Everything you'd ever want from a breakfast sandwich, even if it isn't breakfast time. Great buttery biscuits, thick and tender pork belly, fried egg with runny yolk. I will definitely get this again.

The cocktail menu was created by barman Kyle Ackley, who used to work at XIV, and the cocktails are quite good and interesting (well, the bottom half. The top half consisted of mainly vodka drinks catered to the usual Hollywood crowd).

For my first drink I ordered the Palmera made with Zirbenz stone pine liqueur, pineapple juice, lemon juice, velvet falernum, angostura bitters
Palmera
This refreshing drink is a great one to start the night off with. Frothy, velvety, nice light grassy note.

Next bar food: Short rib panini, port salut, pickles, IPA mustard ($12)
Short Rib Panini
One word to describe this would be "rich". Very rich. The bottom slice soaks up the juices from the braised short rib and melted cheese.

My friend got the SPANISH HARLEM with tanteo cocoa infused tequila, maraschino liqueur, agave nectar, chocolate-chili bitters
Spanish Harlem
As you lift the glass, you'll get a strong chili aroma, but the drink itself is actually not spicy. Strong and balanced.

Tuesday, November 15, 2011

A WP24 Lunch with Iron Chef Morimoto, LA Food and Wine Festival

The first LA Food and Wine Festival kind of snuck up on me. Suddenly there are a slew of celebrity chefs in town doing special lunches and dinners, and grand tastings, totaling to about 70 events!

Thanks to Lexus, I was lucky enough to attend a lunch at Wolfgang Puck's WP24 (normally not open for lunch) prepared by WP24's chef Sara Johannes and Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto.

Iron Chef Morimoto
Chef Morimoto
I've always admired the view from WP24, but this was the first time I've seen it during the day. Lucky for us, it was a beautiful day!
IMG_4682
The party started in the front bar area with some Scharffenberger Cellars "Brut Excellence", Mendocino (Anderson Valley). This sparkling wine was made with a base from 2007, using 2/3 Chardonnay and 1/3 Pinot Noir. I missed out on most of the passed hors d'oeuvres - they went fast. If I had known the bao was filled with foie gras instead of pork belly, I would've tried harder to procure some.

Oh well, I had a great meal ahead of me anyway.

We alternated courses made by the Iron Chef Masaharu Morimoto and WP24's chef Sara Johannes.
The first course was by Morimoto: Kin Medai Snapper with geoduck, papaya, peanuts and coconut foam.
This was paired with a glass of Grieve Sauvignon Blanc, Napa 2009
Kin Medai
I loved the Southeast Asian flavors that come out in this dish, especially from the peanuts and chili. I don't think I've had sashimi with southeast asian flavors before, but it certainly worked wonderfully.

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