Category Archives: LA fun

The Fires Are Gone

Or at least the fires are gone in our neck of the woods. Meaning no more nuclear, mushroom cloud and ash all about. It was a pretty big fire. I think the biggest one I’ve experienced since living here (though not the closest).

The view from my front yard a week into it.

According to the news, the Station Fire has burned over 160,000 acres and is still, two weeks later only 71% contained. And of course, as sadly seems to be the case, it was arson. The estimated cost to fight this fire is over $77 million.

You can still see the smokey cloud as you head out towards Pasadena, but it’s nice to know that everyone I knew in the affected areas are safe and back in their homes. Driving up in La Canada still smells quite bad and many of the small businesses are really suffering.

Sadly, this is just the beginning of our fire season. We need some el Nino rains ASAP.

Pasadena Humane Society Needs Your Help

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pasadena humane

You may not have heard, but once again, there are massive fires going on in our neck of the woods. And let me tell you, its pretty nasty out there. Many of the local pets are temporarily being housed at the Pasadena Humane Society over on Raymond.

I read in the LA Times that they needed some food and litter, so I headed out to Smart & Final and made a run. While there, they thanked me profusely for the litter (and the food) and then started talking amongst themselves about what they still needed.

They’re in desperate need for the following:

cat litter
timothy hay
bird food
rabbit food
pee pads
towels

So please, do what you can. They’ll take whatever you can offer. They’re crazy busy and those little critters can’t take care of themselves.

For those of you that would like to help out, but aren’t local, you can make a donation to the Pasadena Humane Society here.

What an Amazing Experience

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I’ll admit it, I’ve been talking about the Remote Area Medical organization for a couple weeks now. They were coming to LA for their longest gig thus far (eight days) to service the under and uninsured. Their goal was to serve 20,000 or so.

We showed up for our shift on Saturday and there were lines everywhere. In fact, our job wound up being line control in one of the vision services. There wasn’t all too much organization and we were told to just ask around and see where we might be needed.

I’m not a fan of dentists, so rows and rows of dental procedures (and the sound of drills) was NOT my thing so we walked right on by. Someone suggested we head over to vision, so we ended up in Vision II (first, basic exam was over, now onto the prescription exam).

We spent the majority of our time there working the end of the line – the hubs took the middle and I took the end. It was a pretty slow moving process since around lunch (when we arrived) there were only 2-3 eye doctors working. Eventually, things picked back up again and there were about 6-8 or so available. Even so, not everyone got seen and a good chunk of my “end” people were sent home without care, told to come back on Sunday.

Had I known they needed more medical, dental and vision doctors, I would have picked up the phone book and started calling. I remember what it’s like to be broke or barely making ends meet (in my case, in college) and being in serious need for medical care. And since I’m not a fan of the dentist, you better believe I put that one off as long as possible. So I get it.

Free services, even if it takes all day – hell, for some it took 2-3 days – is worth it…if you can get it. I’m looking forward to my next shift on Tuesday (RAM’s last day). I’m sure it will be gut wrenching knowing we’re turning people away and that there isn’t a come back tomorrow for them. But I also know it’s doing a lot of good.

Check out the MSNBC video below for some scenes from the event those first couple of days…

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

I Met Iron Chef Michael Symon!

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I’ve been lucky enough to have either met or bumped into a celebrity or two since moving to LA. Actually, I’ve met some pretty cool people. But one of my coolest experiences was this past Thursday when I met Iron Chef Michael Symon.

I was lucky enough to be invited to the launch party for the upcoming Cook or Be Cooked Wii game (created in partnership between Namco Bandai and the Food Network). I’m a casual Food Network watcher – we regularly watch a couple shows and then we casually watch a couple others.

One show we do watch regularly is Dinner: Impossible. I loved the short session with Chef Michael Symon and his pork-focused craziness (my husband on the other hand is a Robert Irvine fan). So to me, getting to see Chef Michael in person, and watch him give a cooking demo was pretty cool. He was so cool and joking the whole time while cooking and making sure to answer any questions we might have (and you better believe I asked questions).

As for the Wii part of things. Well, I’ve never been much of a gamer. To be honest, I don’t seem to have the necessary eye/hand coordination needed for these things when it counts. So I’ve never felt the need to buy any sort of gaming console myself.

That said, I’ve played a few Wii games with friends and family and have always had a good time. Cook or Be Cooked was no different. Once you got the hang of it (and that damned coordination thing), I was really cooking – pun intended. I had a blast.

Since they had four TVs set up for the event, the sound was actually turned off until the cook-off challenge between Chef Michael in the kitchen, and Chef Mike on the Wii. Turns out, this game can actually teach you how to cook.

You learn about real world cooking times, basic knife skills, and other cooking tips and techniques. It really was quite cool. If you don’t believe me, check out the pictures below.

Oh and that Michael Symon…he can cook! We loved his mother’s meatballs and the BBQ duck confit, corn crepe tacos (OMG! these were awesome!)

The Cook or Be Cooked game before we starting cooking

Go Nancy!

Look, she got a perfect score for seasoning her tuna steaks

Chef Mike from the Food Network

Iron Chef Michael working hard keeping up

The Awesome Caramel Tequila Milkshake Recipe!

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milkshake_caramel

Earlier this week, I mentioned the awesome Got Milk? event at BLD and their delicious (and sometimes odd) milkshakes. At that time, I wasn’t able to share the killer Caramel Tequila Milkshake. Lucky for you, the Got Milk? gals took pity on me and tracked it down!!

This tasty concoction was created by BLD Restaurant Chef Mariah Swan. Did you know they regularly hold Milkshake Madness events at BLD? I didn’t, but you better believe I dug up the deets to share it with you. The next two Milkshake Madness events are Sunday August 23rd and September 27th starting at 5:00PM. Until then, let this creamy adult milkshake help you stay cool this hot LA summer.

Just remember, if you decide to do shots before or after imbibing in this drink…you’re on your own! Enjoy!! 😉

CARAMEL TEQUILA MILKSHAKE

1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup milk
2 shots of tequila

Combine all ingredients and blend. Divide between two glasses and top with whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce and enjoy!

Thanks to @Freddysmama and the entire LA-based Got Milk? team for hooking a gal up

Volunteers Are Still Needed for FREE MEDICAL, DENTAL & VISION Event 8/11 – 8/18 @ the Forum

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August 11 through 18, 2009 at the Forum, the Remote Area Medical (“RAM”) team and over 500 volunteer doctors from our community will provide over 20,000 patients with FREE medical, dental and vision care. With an estimated 47 million people in the United States uninsured, this opportunity is right on time. FCBC and SMG are donating the Forum as the host site and agreed to partner with RAM and many other community partners to help make a difference. Please join us!

We need your help! They are still in need of volunteers in some service areas, particularly in optometry, ophthalmology, dentistry, general medical and nursing. If you have colleagues and friends in these specialties, please encourage them to attend. They can always use non-medical support volunteers, also.

Since the start of the event is upon us, new volunteers need not send in the application forms, but should come to The Forum on the day they wish to volunteer and complete the registration process when they arrive. Medical volunteers remember to bring your certification. For more information click here.

The event cannot be a success without hundreds of volunteers each day. Please inform and encourage your co-workers and friends to volunteer. The more medical and non-medical volunteers on hand, the more patients the RAM team may plan to serve.

Please pass this info along to your friends and your family.
SPREAD THE WORD that both medical and non-medical volunteers are STILL needed.
SPREAD THE WORD that these FREE services are available.

AUGUST 11 – AUGUST 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
at
THE FORUM in INGLEWOOD
3900 W Manchester Blvd

Beginning at 5:30AM daily

REMOTE AREA MEDICAL EVENT

To provide free MEDICAL, VISION, and DENTAL care for uninsured, underinsured, unemployed, under-employed persons

First come/First Served Basis each day – Please show up early!

PS – if you’re not in the LA area, check out RAMusa.org to see where you can help out in your area.

Um…Got Milk? Better Yet, Got Milkshakes?

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Then how about a salted caramel milkshake?

shooter_shake

“Milk is not only a healthy beverage, it’s also the basis for many fun drinks like milkshakes. Drinking a milkshake brings out the kid in everyone, but each flavor highlights a person’s personality.” ~ Chef Mariah Swan

You know, there’s just something bliss-like about attending a party with milkshake shooters being passed around the room. Not just any milkshake shooters either. Now, these shakes were the creation of LA hot spot eatery, BLD’s Pastry Chef Mariah Swan (as where the passed pastries – lemon bars, magic bars and strawberry shortcake cookie concoctions) and the Got Milk? team.

My favorite by far was the Salted Caramel shake (recipe below) followed closely by the Caramel Tequila shake (sadly, no recipe was provided). To be honest, half of them didn’t sound all that enticing to us so we didn’t get around to trying all of them. But the ones we did try were quite good.

This really was heaven in a frosty glass. But believe it or not, there truly is such a thing as too many milkshakes – even if they’re only in shooter-sized glasses.

There were quite a few different flavors getting passed around – Blueberry Malt; Frozen Mexican Chocolate; Orange Dreamsicle; High School Musical’s Monique Coleman creation, Cookie Jar Milkshake; an oddly delicious, peanut butter cheesecake and so much more. We noticed at least eight or more frozen temptations going on around the room.

If you’d like to try out some of the recipes from the event (sadly, the caramel tequila recipe isn’t available but you better believe I’m doing what I can to track down this recipe), you can find them here (along with many other yummy milky concoctions).

shake_tarot

And did I mention that there were also tarot readers there? Seriously, milk shakes, pastries and tarot readers. What a fun event!

shake_bloggers
It was also great to socialize with other bloggers, such as Liz at Los Angelista, Sally at Any Given Sundry (who has to have one of the coolest and most fascinating jobs out there and is great photographer) and the big winner of the evening, Liz from Thoughts of a Mommy (a relatively new blogger to the scene).

To get you through the rest of summer season, here’s the recipe for their amazing Salted Caramel Milkshake:

1 pint vanilla ice cream
1/4 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup milk
1 tbs salt

Combine all ingredients and blend. Divide between two glasses and top with whipped cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce and enjoy!

You know what they say…milk, it does a body good 😉

Need Volunteers for FREE MEDICAL, DENTAL & VISION Los Angeles Event

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I am pleased to invite you to share in an experience that will surely change lives. We have an opportunity to impact the Los Angeles community at the Remote Area Medical (“RAM”) event at the Forum from August 11 through 18, 2009.

The RAM team and over 500 volunteer doctors from our community will provide over 20,000 patients with FREE medical, dental and vision care. With an estimated 47 million people in the United States uninsured, this opportunity is right on time. FCBC and SMG are donating the Forum as the host site and agreed to partner with RAM and many other community partners to help make a difference. Please join us!

The event cannot be a success without hundreds of volunteers each day. Please inform and encourage your co-workers and friends to volunteer. The more volunteers who register by August 1st , the more patients the RAM team may plan to serve. We need your help! Volunteers may register by logging onto the RAM website before August 1st at www.ramclinic.info.

Please pass this info along to your friends and your family.
SPREAD THE WORD that volunteers are needed.
SPREAD THE WORD that these FREE services are available.

AUGUST 11 – AUGUST 18, 2009
LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA
at
THE FORUM in INGLEWOOD
3900 W Manchester Blvd

Beginning at 5:30AM daily

REMOTE AREA MEDICAL EVENT

To provide free MEDICAL, VISION, and DENTAL care for uninsured, underinsured, unemployed, under-employed persons

First come/First Served Basis each day – Please show up early!

PS – if you’re not in the LA area, check out RAMusa.org to see where you can help out in your area.

Have I Mentioned That I’m Not a Fan of Blues?

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But I do love me some Candye Kane!

Saturday night, after hanging with the family in the Inland Empire, we headed out to Cozy’s in Sherman Oaks to listen to blues great, Candye Kane. I’m really not a fan of blues, but I find it to be an entirely different sound when it’s 1) sung by a woman and 2) has more optimistic lyrics just set to a blues sound. And well, since kicking cancer’s ass, you better believe that Candye’s music is more upbeat and optimistic than your average blues song.

She looks great and is on the market looking for a man or woman to settle down with (for the insurance, she says). I love how she calls herself a “black drag queen in a white woman’s body.” Her eldest son was on stage as her drummer (and has been for a few years now). I loved hearing Laura Chavez on guitar (now that’s what the blues is all about) – she has quite a following, especially for her age. Paul Loranger was on bass. It really was a great show.

If you hear that she’s in your town doing a show, go see her. And trust me, even if you’re not a fan of the typical blues, you’ll like the show. You’ll laugh. You’ll dance. You’ll clap along. You’ll have a good time, I promise.

I’m posting two videos below. The first one is “I Put a Hex On You” off her latest album, Superwoman. I wish you could hear it better, but you’ll get the idea. She’s got a great voice and I think this song shows some of her range. Laura’s guitar playing also sounds amazing. Overall, just a fun, great song – and who wouldn’t love to put a hex on someone that’s done you (or in this case, your friend), wrong.

This second song is “Toughest Girl Alive” off the album of the same name. This was one of the first Candye’s songs I think I heard. In fact, the first time I heard of Candye was on Donny and Marie’s talk show about 8 or so years ago. At that time she wasn’t quite so bluesy and was having more fun playing the piano with her abundant boobs (which are now much smaller since her battle with cancer).

Let’s Talk About That Blogger Prom

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Finally! I mean it’s only taking me three days to do it. Then again, two of those days I was dealing with some seemingly major car challenges.

In a nutshell, Blogger Prom was AWESOME! The prom committee did an amazing job of planning the entire event. The food was amazing, the view from the hotel was beautiful, the drinks were potent, the music was rockin’ and everyone you met was cool as hell. What more could you ask of for a party, right?

It was a bit of a challenge to take photos. Between trying to take pictures at night outside and trying to take pictures in the dimly lit inside, there wasn’t much quality photos being taken – at least not by me anyway. If you want to see some great photos, check out the Blogger Prom pool on Flickr (where all the photos below came from).

So this is my second official blogging event (outside of a couple smaller PR events). My first big event was BlogHer last year (which is actually happening this weekend in Chicago). In many ways, I think the events were quite similar. Both were large, full on events (yes, I know BlogHer is bigger and involves training as well). Both were events planned around socializing and networking. Both were cool.

Blogger Prom was a much younger crowd though. Then again, many of the bloggers at BlogHer have been blogging for years either as a “mommy blogger” (I do hate that term) or as a feminist, food or political blogger. Most of the bloggers that I met at Blogger Prom were food bloggers. And you could definitely tell that many of them knew each other outside of this party.

But overall, I had a great time and would quickly sign up to participate again. If you ever get invited to meet up with a fellow blogger, even if it’s only for a cup of coffee, be sure to take them up on it. Trust me, there’s bound to be some laughter and good times at that meeting.