From the category archives:

Activities, Events & Presentations

Camp GetAway is for Mothers – AND Others, Like Me

Circa 2001. Somewhere in this happy crowd was me. Mountains. Cabins. Hikes. Arts & crafts. Sing-a-longs. Dance class. Water aerobics. Skits. Archery. Canoeing. Sounds like good times for the kiddies, except that THIS was camp for grownup women.

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Just Returned from Foodie Bootcamp

This past weekend, I produced an event called Camp Blogaway Bootcamp for Food & Recipe Bloggers in our local mountains. Yes, a real camp. With dirt and trees and a squirrel who made his way into our lodge. We had 48 hours of seminars, sharing, eating, contests, goodies and more. Today, I am tired but [...]

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Fee, Fie, Fiddlehead Ferns

Los Angeles has a long list of farmers markets, but the better ones aren’t the closest to us in Westwood. Our two (one in the village, the other on the VA property) are small, with common offerings. Probably why fiddlehead ferns have eluded me. *sigh* I had never tasted them.

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My Time at IACP Was “Grape”

DON’T FREAK – it’s not what it looks like. Relax, and read my whole post about what this shot is about… The International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) delivers some incredible opps for food insiders to hob-nob. It’s also a place where food providers (growers, manufacturers) pull out stops and wow us. Grapes from California always shine at [...]

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IACP Roundup

Here’s what happens when you attend a professional organization’s annual conference (if you do it right) – networking, meetups, contacts, business card exchanging, conversations, chemistry, late evenings over glasses of wine and more. We ate, talked about eating, talked about photographing food, talked about writing about food and recipes and even talked about starting our [...]

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Food Tasting Walking Tour of LA’s Original Farmers Market

On the hoof again. Larry and I love the kind of activity that combines walking + touring + eating. This Farmers Market Walking Food Tour by Melting Pot Tours was right up our alley. In fact, this was our second MPT, our first was a few months back when we took their great Walking Food [...]

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Road Trip: On The Hunt for Ojai’s Pixie Tangerines

My niece, Danielle, and I were on the hunt for the most awesome of snacks, the Pixie Tangerine. They only grow in Ojai. The region produces just enough to keep the best local stores and farmer’s markets supplied and then, BUMMER, gone ‘til next season (March through summer). If Larry and I hadn’t attended a [...]

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The Backstory on Camp Blogaway Bootcamp for Food Bloggers

This past summer it struck me, there are plenty of blogging conferences out there, but none offered the specific focus of deconstructing food blogs and teaching how to better each important element, Food Blogging University of sorts.

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Road Trip! Segway Riding Around Long Beach

You know, Larry has some awesome ideas sometimes. So when he suggested to me, plus friends Cathi and Barry to buzz around Long Beach (CA) on Segway two-wheeled electric vehicles, YEAH. Was it really, REALLY fun? “Better than I actually expected,” was Larry’s review and he was right.

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My Fancy Food Show Adventure

If you are in the food business, look into the NASFT Fancy Food Show – winter is San Francisco and summer is New York – you can make good industry contacts while soaking up culinary inspiration, passion, energy, visual stimulation and darn good eats.

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Westwood Village Farmers Market and How to Sauté Mushrooms

One recent Wednesday, I wanted to walk to our Westwood Village Farmers Market but had forgotten the hours. Google, google, google… where the heck is their website? All I found were press releases from last summer’s reopening after a lengthy absence due to construction, and plenty about our OTHER Farmers Market at the Westwood VA [...]

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Food Tasting Walking Tour of Old Pasadena

Larry and I LOVE touristy things, even in our own backyard. We’re both native Angelinos; been to Pasadena plenty of times. But never on foot for a tasting, history and architecture tour. When friend Chef Diane Scalia and her sister, Lisa, launched Melting Pot Food Tours, Larry and I were totally on board.

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How to Become a Serious Food Blogger

Blogging is just one of my loves (Larry is my first love). Another is traveling to teach and make presentations. While speaking at the ‘09 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) Conference, I sat in on a blogging session. That’s where my lightbulb went off about starting my own recipe blog… and here I (it?) [...]

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Garbanzo, Onion and Tomato Salad from LA Greekfest

OPA! For years, I’ve wanted to attend Greekfest at LA’s stunning St. Sophia’s Greek Orthodox Cathedral. I’m a native Angelino, yet had only been inside once before for the wedding of our favorite Greek, Helen. Larry’s been there often; his high school, Loyola, is next door. No waiting for the right year, I attended yesterday, [...]

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An Insider’s Peek at County Fair Recipe Contests

Meet Chef George Geary, the Eveready bunny o’ food. He and I have known each other for ages, and I’ve seen him in action as (1) a corporate spokesperson, (2) prolific cookbook writer, (3) pastry chef, (4) culinary tour director (he takes travelers to Paris to walk Julia Child’s French life), (5) culinary competition judge, [...]

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‘09 LA County Fair Blue Ribbon Cheesecake Winner

Last evening, I “covered” the Cheesecake Competition at the LA County Fair (another post upcoming on that fun blogging adventure) and witnessed first-hand as the very capable home cook and happy contestant, Ann Turley scored the First Place Blue Ribbon for her Apricot Cheesecake recipe. Haven’t had a chance to make this myself, but [...]

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10 Reasons to Take a Farmer’s Market Chef Tour

Westwood Village, California is home to movie premieres and UCLA Bruins. Plus one tiny Farmer’s Market. Just 23 stalls, it is reworking itself back up after losing its venue during a drawn out construction job here. Larry and I walk to the market on Wednesdays, and walk the second half-mile back home with such things [...]

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Fancy Food Show

I’ve attended or worked a hundred “food shows.” That’s the short name for a food industry conference with booths for product displays, tastings, sales, marketing. I’m a food PR practitioner; companies hire my little PR firm to do fancy things for them. There can be a strange celeb rub-off in the job, too. I’ve taken [...]

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Hot Beef Sundae at the Iowa State Fair

Larry and I were in our “collecting states” travel mode and he needed Iowa. So, we attended the Iowa State Fair and acquired something more than another pin in our map. We got a dose of delightful. And it was quite the food adventure. Movies like the Bridges of Madison County are my favorite – [...]

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How to Snag a Seat at Martha’s

Freezing weather is the ticket. Stand outside the Today Show during a New York City mid-week morning and watch for personnel giving away tickets to the Martha Stewart Show. Why do they do that? In such arctic conditions, no one wants to stand on line outdoors for any show. One recent winter, my friend, Vicki, [...]

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