Modern Day Wife hosted its annual luxe holiday and gift giving soiree So Let’s Shop 5 – 9pm Friday, December 1. Just named the #1 Los Angeles Hotel by Conde Nast Traveler’s Readers’ Choice Awards, the hotel made it a double feature by hosting a VIP pre-event party 3 – 5 pm featuring small bites, drinks and dessert and an IT Box of swag. Partner Glamsquad jumped in on the action as well with a promo code offer for hair and makeup for the evening. For those who wanted to match the color scheme for the event, the organizers provided a mood board and color theme, declaring it ‘the year of silver’ to up the glam, glitter and style.
Indoors there were signature panels across beauty, wellness, fashion, lifestyle, business and entrepreneurship, a fireside celebrity chat with actress Jennie Garth along with photo ops with the actress, a holiday beauty lounge, and Instagrammable holiday moments for personalized holiday cards.
Outside there were brands on display: lots of beauty experiences including hair frosting with Innersense Organic Beauty, brow fills and eye makeup touch-ups with Chella, Botox lip flips, Skinvive, Kybella and mini consults with Enhanced by Nadia, and Cassandra McClure. There was also a fashion show, a live performance by Classic Noir and Cirque de Soleil circus acts.
Anna Kara Loans welcomed you to her luxury lounge for more networking opportunities to inspire conversations about holiday, cruise wear, brands and know-how on beauty, career and fashion, and power couple tips, discuss the latest shopping trends and what’s in store for 2024, to help you up your game professionally and personally, learn how to balance it all, along with opportunities to shop the looks of the fashion show.
Meagan & Meghan, Founders, Modern Day Wife wanted to make sure to had plenty of holiday fun, festivities and cheer to make it the most memorable night of your holiday season.
For more information and tickets, please visit https://themoderndaywife.com/pages/so-lets-shop-dec-2023
Heritage Fire Los Angeles, the festival celebrating pasture diversity and family farming, is back this year after the pandemic hiatus at the Westin Bonaventure Hotel 4pm – 7pm Sunday December 3.
The live-fire nationwide food and wine festival focuses on heirloom produce and heritage breeds of the past before industrial agriculture, when breeds were selected and bred to develop traits that made them adapt to the local environment and thrive under the simpler, more natural farming practices and cultural conditions of those times.
The festival’s national tour stops in 14 cities showcasing an array of sustainably sourced food from the region’s top family farms and local purveyors, and prepared by some of the region’s best chefs. Each destination attracts over 20 local chefs at a three-hour live-fire event, with each chef preparing a signature dish for an all-inclusive walk-around reception feast with products from locally sourced farms and sponsors. Guests vote for the ‘Best Bite of the Day’, and the chef who accumulates the highest number of votes earns the title of Heritage Hero.
The festival also makes a point of going strawless, offering napkins upon request, water use protocols in prep kitchens, digitizing handbooks and documents, using eco-friendly cleaning materials without pesticides, and other efforts for reducing its carbon footprint, all facilitated with a dedicated festival app. With this educational messaging directed at the 10,000 guests, 250-plus chefs, and 150-plus family farms and numerous culinary schools each year, the festival hopes to make a long-term impact.
The Los Angeles stop features an all-star cast of top chefs that includes Ian Mafnas, owner, Qiana Mafnas, chef Axiom Kitchen; Eduardo Osorio, chef Yardbird; Françoise Claquin, owner Brulee LA; Justin Escobedo, owner El Gueero y La Flaca; Carlo Guardado, chef Herb & Sea; Kim Prince, owner Hotville Chicken; Alan Cruz, chef owner A’S BBQ; Elisha Ben-Haim, chef and culinary director American Beauty; Daniel Castillo, pitmaster, Nicholas Echaore, executive chef Heritage BBQ; Francisco Aguilar, chef owner Simon.
Beverages will include premium wines, spirits, beer, and cider, along with craft cocktails like infused smoked old fashion spirits, signature punches, Manhattan Project style cocktails, tiki bar concoctions, heritage rum carts, mezcal bars, and other premium spirits. Live entertainment will round out the festivities.
All tickets are all-inclusive food and beverage, with a VIP Access ticket offering early entry. Attendees must be 21+ to attend.For more information and tickets, please visit https://heritagefiretour.com/los-angeles.
Have Some Madeira M’dear! This was the message of a wine tasting event on Tuesday, October 24 at The Maybourne Beverly Hills.
The event was hosted by five Madeira wine producers that included Justino’s Madeira Wines / Broadbent Selections, Blandy’s / Cossart Gordon / Miles, Henriques & Henriques, Vinhos Barbeito / The Rare Wine Company, and D’Oliveiras / The Rare Wine Company.
A fortified wine made on the Portuguese Madeira Islands off the coast of Africa, Madeira has a long history dating back to the end of the 15th century when the islands were a standard port of call for ships headed for the New World or East Indies. To prevent the wine from spoiling, neutral grape spirits were added, and on the long sea voyages, the wines would be exposed to excessive heat and movement which transformed the flavor of the wine. This was discovered when an unsold shipment of wine returned to the islands after a round trip.
The wine is produced in a variety of styles ranging from dry wines which can be enjoyed on their own as an apéritif, to sweet wines that usually go with dessert. Cheaper versions often flavored with salt and pepper are used for cooking.
Madeira is touted as a wine for everyone and every occasion, and to educate you on the subject, the hosts organized a series of seminars.
Pairing Madeira Wine with Food: The seminar was lead by Sommelier and Wines of Portugal brand ambassador Eugénio Jardim. From dry to sweet, Madeira is a wine with intense freshness as a result of its typical acidity and a bouquet of aromas that develop during the aging process, producing complex, rich, and intense wines. As a result, Madeira can be paired with many types of foods, and five styles of Madeira were paired with five different food flavors.
Madeira and Cocktails: While typically served as an aperitif or a dessert, Madeira wines are a great mix for cocktails. Camron Robertson, General Manager of Thunderbolt LA, showed how Madeira’s well-rounded flavor profile and balanced level of sweetness and acidity can enhance a range of cocktails.
Aged Madeira: Madeira’s unique aging process uses temperature to slow oxidation and promote longevity. Examples of wines in bottles over 300 years old maintain their quality practically unchanged. While the seminar did not serve any 100-year-old bottles, it did serve selections 25-35 years old.
A walk around tasting from 12-5pm with more wine selections from the producers and more food for experimentations in pairing rounded out a day full of take-aways on getting more enjoyment from your Madeira.
Pasadena magazine will present its 1st Annual Taste of Pasadena, a strolling culinary festival featuring unlimited tastings by some of the best restaurants from Pasadena, and around the San Gabriel Valley. The inaugural celebration will take place on Friday, October 6th at the Pasadena Convention Center 7:00 pm to 9:30 pm.
A wide array of culinary offerings include Arth Bar + Kitchen, Cabrera’s Mexican Cuisine, Celestino Ristorante, Champion’s Curry, Engine Co. No. 28, Farina Pizza, Five 55, Fogo De Chao, Granville, Great Maple, Mama M Sushi, Lunasia Modern Dim Sum & Cuisine, Kaviar, Pez Cantina, The Luggage Room Pizzeria & La Grande Orange, Osawa Shabu Shabu & Sushi, The Raymond 1886, Santa Anita Park, Twohey’s, with more expected to be announced later.
Desserts will be provided by Beard Papa’s Pasadena, Bertha Mae’s Brownie Co., Esther & Olivia BouqCakes, I Like Pike Bakeshop, Marsatta Chocolate, Ms. Rhonda’s Crack-N-Pop, and Nothing Bundt Cakes.
Wines will be poured by Adobe Road Winery (Sonoma County), Bernardus Winery (Carmel Valley), Bouchaine Vineyards (Carneros Napa Valley), Defiance Vineyard (Paso Robles), The Mill Keeper by Gamble Family Vineyards (Napa Valley), Tercero Wines (Santa Barbara), Vino Los Angeles (Mexico), Wilson Creek Winery & Vineyards (Temecula Valley), and more.
Spirits, Cocktails, Beer, Music, and Special Experiences courtesy of Acqua Panna, Cerveceria Del Pueblo, Balcones, Corbin Cash Distillery, Casa Azul Tequila, Dough Ball Whiskey, Frey Ranch Farmers + Distillers, Knox & Dobson, Mezcal 33, Old Hillside Bourbon, Rancho La Gloria Tequila, Shelter Distilling, and many more.
Partners and sponsors include AbilityFirst, Pasadena Convention Center, Visit Pasadena, Sodexo Live!, Pasadena Chamber of Commerce, Yelp, and Viva LA.
For more information and tickets, please visit Pasadenamag.com/taste.
California Spirit will return this year to Fox Studios Commissary Lawn, to bring L.A. foodies up close and personal with some the city’s top chefs for an evening of culinary arts, cocktails, and creativity celebrating the American Cancer Society’s progress in the fight against cancer.
Represented chefs include Nancy Silverton of Mozza, Suzanne Goin of A.O.C., Katianna Hong & John Hong of Yangban, Burt Bakman of Slab, Govind Armstrong of The Lobster, Jazz Singalong of Jitlada, Lien Ta & Jonathan Whitener of Here’s Looking At You, Jorge Alvarez of Tacos 1986, Mark Rosati of Shake Shack, Pawan, Nakul & Arjun Mahendro of Badmaash, Tyler Malek of Salt & Straw.
Pouring will be Peroni, Justin Wine, Eleven Eleven, Monkey Shoulder, Charles Krug, Ehlers Estate, Pasqua, J. Lohr, Ettole, Valdo, Milagro Tequila, Hendrick’s Gin, and Reyka vodka.
The event includes inspirational speakers, live and silent auctions, and will be hosted by Billy Harris. Flowers will be available for the event’s Garden of Hope ‘In Honor Of’ or ‘In Memory Of a loved one who has survived, is fighting or has lost the battle against cancer. The flowers with names of loved ones will be displayed in the Garden of Hope.
General Admission is at 4:00 p.m., with an early VIP Hour 3:00 p.m, and guests are encouraged to ‘Pink Out’ by wearing pink in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month.
All proceeds from California Spirit benefit the American Cancer Society’s mission to save and celebrate lives, and fight for a world without cancer. Co-Founded by Wolfgang Puck and Sherry Lansing in 1984, California Spirit has raised more than $18 million for the American Cancer Society. The American Cancer Society is the largest private funder of cancer research in the United States, with more than $5 billion invested in life-saving research for cancer prevention, detection and treatment.
Los Angeles Times’ Food Bowl, the annual celebration of Southern California’s food scene returns in September, along with its centerpiece Night Market at Paramount Pictures Studios Backlot. The three-day outdoor food and drink festival Sept. 22, 23 & 24 features unlimited tastings from more than 120 restaurants per session, live cooking demonstrations from world-renowned chefs and culinary personalities and DJs.
Three themed events include:
Fiesta Friday,” Sept. 22 at 8 p.m. The all-inclusive celebration of L.A.’s Latin American flavors will feature restaurants, cocktails and more from Mexico, the Caribbean and beyond, with cooking demonstrations from Bricia Lopez (Guelaguetza) and Danny Trejo (Trejo’s Tacos). VIP tickets are available for purchase and include early event entry, plus drive-on parking and access to an exclusive lounge. Participating restaurants include: A’s BBQ, Alfalfa, Anajak Thai, Awan, Bake Some Noise, Belles Beach House, Blue Plate Oysterette, Bridgetown Roti, Broad Street Oyster Co., By-You Dogg, Caviar Kaspia, Chichén Itzá, Coucou, Dino’s Famous Chicken, Dulanville Food Truck, East Side Cheesecakes, El Barrio Cantina, El Ruso, Evil Cooks, Farmhouse Kitchen, Fishing with Dynamite, Ggiata, Guelaguetza, Heavy Handed, Holbox, I Love Micheladas, Ilé Bistro, Kogi BBQ, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, LA Cha Cha Chá, La Sorted’s Pizza, Love Hour, Love.Life, Luv2eat Thai Bistro, Maple Block Chicken, Mini Kabob, Mírate, Moto Ramen, Nossa Caipirinha Bar, Paradise Dynasty, Park’s BBQ, Puesto, Ronan, Soulmate, Tacos 1986, Tallula’s, Villa’s Tacos and Wanderlust Creamery.
Saturday Night Flavor, Sept. 23 at 7 p.m. Spotlighting global cuisine that reflects quintessential L.A., Saturday will feature cooking demonstrations from Thitid “Ton” Tassanakajohn (Le Du, Bangkok), Justin Pichetrungsi (Anajak Thai), Ahmad Alzahabi (The Golden Balance), Nick DiGiovanni (YouTube, “MasterChef”) and Food Network’s Aarti Sequeira (“Unwind: A Devotional Cookbook for the Harried and Hungry). Participating restaurants include: 626 Hospitality Group, Amiga Amore, Awan, Bake Some Noise, Blue Plate Oysterette, Botanica, Broad Street Oyster Co., By-You Dogg, Cabra, Camphor, Caviar Kaspia, Chao Krung Thai & Tuk Tuk Thai, Chimmelier, Dino’s Famous Chicken, Dulanville Food Truck, East Side Cheesecakes, El Ruso, Evil Cooks, Farmhouse Kitchen, Genghis Cohen, Girl & the Goat, Hamasaku, Holbox, Holy Basil, Ilé Bistro, Intercrew LA, Kato, Kinn, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, Le Coupé, Loreto, Love.Life, Lunetta, Luv2eat Thai Bistro, n/soto, Open Market, Osteria Mamma, Paradise Dynasty, Poncho’s Tlayudas, Salt & Straw, Sichuan Impression, Stella, Stellar Pizza, STK Steakhouse, Sunday Gravy, Tacos 1986, The Brothers Sushi, Villa’s Tacos and Xuntos.
Backlot Brunch Sept. 24 at 12 pm Sunday’s brunch event will turn the backlot into an afternoon block party for all ages, featuring barbecue, burgers and cooking demonstrations from Tiffani Thiessen (“Here We Go Again: Recipes and Inspiration to Level Up Your Leftovers”), Timothy Hollingsworth (Otium) and Marcus Samuelsson (Red Rooster, Hav & Mar). Participating restaurants include: Alfalfa, Awan, Bake Some Noise, Bridgetown Roti, Brique French Toastery, Broad Street Oyster Co., By-You Dogg, Caviar Kaspia, De La Nonna, Di Di, Ditroit Taqueria, Dulanville Food Truck, El Ruso, Farmhouse Kitchen, Goodboybob Coffee Roasters, Guzzu Bento-ya, Happy Ice, Heritage Barbecue, Holey Grail Donuts, Ilé Bistro, Jitlada, L’Antica Pizzeria da Michele, La Sorted’s Pizza, Le Shrimp Noodle Bar, Love.Life, Mírate, Mo’s House of Axe, Moo’s Craft Barbecue, Mozza Restaurant Group, Ospi, Jame, Jemma, Jemma di Mare, Paderia Bakehouse, Paloma Venice, Pasjoli, Pop’s Bagels, Prime Pizza, Ray’s BBQ, Rocco’s Deli Italiano, Saltie Girl, Slab, Stellar Pizza, Tacos 1986, The Brothers Sushi, Tulsi Indian Eatery, Turok’s Cheesecake and West & Co.
The 7th Annual Festival Chapin will return to Lafayette Park in Los Angeles on Saturday August 26 & Sunday August 27. The free festival celebrates Guatemalan culture and its vibrant community via the country’s historic folklore, music, arts & crafts and gastronomy.
Chapín is a word that many Guatemalans use to describe their ethnicity with pride, and the history of the word dates back to the 15th century, when Chapines were a type of popular platform in Spain. The footwear f eventually disappeared but the name persists as an adjective for a person from Guatemala.
Metro Los Angeles is also home to several notable Guatemalans, including the prominent street artist Mauricio “Cache” Reyes, as well as a plethora of Guatemalan restaurants serving up delicious traditional dishes. Many of them will be represented at the Festival. Food available for purchase will including the rich, traditional foods of Guatemala like garnachas (similar to a Mexican ‘sope’), shucos (Guatemalan-style hot dogs), chicken pepian, enchiladas, and hilachas (stewed meat).
Footwear, pottery, jewelry, clothes, tablecloths, and traditional purses. A health fair will provide health information from L.A. Care, Dignity Health, Molina Healthcare, Party Time Pediatric Dentist, Smile California Medi-cal Dental insurance, Los Angeles County Department of Public Health, and Los Angeles County Office of Immigrant Affairs among others.
The Central American country of the Republic of Guatemala historically formed the core of the Maya civilization, one of the most highly developed societies in the history of the Americas and the world. After being subjugated by Spanish rule, Guatemala became an independent republic in 1821. A decades-long civil war that began in the 1950s provided the impetus for generations of Guatemalans to seek a better life abroad, often in states like Florida, Texas, and California.
Metro Los Angeles is home to one of the largest Guatemalan populations outside of Guatemala.
Communities with substantial numbers of Guatemalans include the cities of Los Angeles, Long Beach, Hawthorne, Palmdale, Inglewood, Paramount and the unincorporated communities of Lennox and Val Verde.
Chapin Summer Festival Inc. is a non-profit organization based in California that’s committed to promoting the art and culture of Guatemala abroad. Its mission is to offer resources to educational institutions in Guatemala that help to promote the education, health and well-being for children from less-advantaged homes in the country.
Walk With Sally hosted its annual fundraiser White Light White Night on August 19, 5:30 pm at Campus 2100 on 2100 E Grand Avenue, El Segundo.
Travis Van Winkle hosted the evening, introducing new CEO Tash Brooks. The Youth of the Year award was presented to Heather Jenkins, and the Mentor of the Year award to Jenn Nguyen.
Supported by over thirty five corporate sponsors, the event featured 17 restaurants serving their signature dishes and cocktails. They included Bettolino Kitchen, BOA, BuzzRock Brewing, Clarity Lounge, Eddie V’s, Hook & Plow, Japonica, Jimmy John’s, lil’Vegerie, Lobster & Beer: Coastal, Madison Brown, Nomad, Porterhouse Bourbon & Bones, Quality Seafood, ReadyFitGo, and Sushi Roku.
A live auction lead by seasoned auctioneer Letitia Frye and a silent auction featured high-end fine art, wine, sports memorabilia and travel items.
Live music was provided by local band Identity Theft, as well as the Chargers Marching Band. Muralist Miriam Hellmann provided vibrant backdrops.
The event was attended by over 700 attendees and over 100 volunteers were on hand for a night of unity and support. All dressed in white, the color universally associated with healing and referencing a person’s own divine nature to heal one’s self with this white light of healing and protection, as the community came together on a beautiful, uniquely memorable summer evening celebrating love, hope, and healing.
Many of the volunteers were cancer survivors out there in support. They included Kara, a survivor of two brain surgeries which took her sense of smell and removed memory on the right side of her body, making her unable to write. About a year after surgery she realized that she could use my left hand instead, though her mom was insists that Kara not give up her right hand, and continue to use it. Kara now wears a brain pendant, volunteers for cancer organizations, and helps them raise money.
Founded in 2004 by Nicolas Arquette, Walk With Sally’s mission supports children and families impacted by cancer providing them with care-centered one-to-one fellowships along with critical programs and services that include mentoring, mental health support, art healing, and financial empowerment.
