Caroline on Crack | December 2009

Bonjour, mon ami! If you're new here and you like what you see, you might want to subscribe to the RSS feed for updates on this blog.

Monthly Archives: December 2009

December 8, 2009

Eat My Blog Blogger Bake Sale a $3,000 Success

Chocolate Ganache for Sale

I had arrived too late! The Eat My Blog bake sale at Zeke’s Smokehouse in West Hollywood was scheduled to last from 10am to 4pm and I figured that if I got there around noon I’d still be able to get some of that bacon brownie goodness with bourbon caramel sauce that I kept reading about. But I was so wrong. By noon, most of everything was already sold out!

Cathy Danh, mastermind of Eat My Blog

With over 40 blogger bakers — including founder of Eat My Blog and author of Gastronomy Blog Cathy Danh, Teenage Glutster‘s Javier Cabral, My Last Bite‘s Jo Stougaard and Mattatouille‘s Matthew Kang — and 600 baked goods that is quite a feat.

Thanks to great publicity and word of mouth via Twitter and blogs, there was never a quiet moment at the sale even though its location at the busy intersection of Santa Monica and La Brea wasn’t exactly the prime spot for foot traffic. It was, however, located right next door to a Beverages & More; bloggers do love their booze as was evident by all the after-bake-sale visits.

Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf was generous enough to provide a coffee/hot chocolate station and a barista for the occasion while Zeke’s Smokehouse not only donated its patio but some tasty brownies for the sale.

By the time I got to the event, pickings were slim but I was still able to find some instant favorites like Mattatouilles’s rich butterscotch budino, Pete Eatemall‘s cinnamon chocolate mini bundt cake and Eating LA‘s dark chocolate walnut cookies. But still so sad about the bacon brownies. Le sigh.

Barista, H.C., Esther, Sam Kim.

In any case, the bake sale was a huge success with most everything selling out by 3pm and netting over $3,000 for the Los Angeles Foodbank!

“Eat My Blog was very excited to reach our fundraising goal and we hope to top it the next time around,” said Cathy. “Since this event was such a success we plan to do another one in Summer 2010.”

Score! Cathy had asked if I’d be interested in participating in next year’s sale but I told her I’d have to think about it. In any case I’m more an eater than a baker. Although, maybe I can make a bourbon-based something or other.

BTW, after the jump check out the recipe for Organic Spark’s tasty Maple Walnut Cake with Maple Cream Cheese Frosting.

Categories: Los Angeles, Recipes, Sweets

3 Comments

December 7, 2009

Holiday Cheer: Winter Cocktail L.A. Roundup With Recipes

Ol' Fezziwig from Joe's Restaurant

Shopping, holiday cards, family dinners, parties — you could probably use a drink right about now. Below is a list of L.A. bars/restaurants that have just the thing, with several cocktail recipes thrown in for you to try at your own holiday soiree or a quiet night at home.

Bigfoot Lodge: This Atwater Village’s holiday cocktail scares me a little but here’s the recipe if you want to try it.

Log Nog

1 oz. Seven Tiki Rum
1 oz. 3 Olives Vanilla Vodka
1 oz. Bailey’s Irish Cream
A dash of Hot Damn

Line a cocktail glass with Hot Damn. Pour, shake and strain all the other ingredients and serve.

Categories: Cocktails, Los Angeles, Nightlife, Recipes

5 Comments

December 4, 2009

Pagoda Bar: Lost, Found, Mai Tais & Movie Night

The way to the Pagoda Bar.

3 of 25: Wayyyy back in July I met up with LAisters Farley and Emily at Pagoda Bar, the then-recently renovated outdoor bar at Yamashiro in the Hollywood Hills. We were inspired to do so after discussing the items on my 100 list when we each admitted that we wanted to check it out and follow that up with a visit to Jumbo’s Clown Room.

View of the pool.

The only problem was that I didn’t know about the outside bar and had instead waited inside at Yamashiro’s borrrring bar which didn’t seem all that special to me. “This is ‘new’?” I thought to myself as I sat all alone and forlorn at the dimly lit bar while the after-work crowd tippled and mingled. I waited and waited.

I think I would have felt a little bit better if I knew what Farley and Emily looked like since I’ve never met them IRL before. But as it was I kept scanning the room, looking for anyone to return my gaze. And since I didn’t have their cell numbers I couldn’t text them. And that was when I still had my sucky little walkman phone so it wasn’t like I could easily look up emails.

Categories: Cocktails, Los Angeles, Movies, Nightlife

2 Comments

December 4, 2009

Mazda Gave Me a Flip Video Cam

McDreamy and Mazda 2

OK, there it is. Full disclosure. Marketing agency Rebel Industries reached out to me on Mazda’s behalf to help cover the reveal of the 2011 Mazda 2 at the 2009 L.A. Auto Show this week. It was pretty cool in that not only was our group of 22 bloggers, car enthusiasts and Mazda car owners there during press days when we’d have free and easy access to the cars, but they also equipped us with our very own Flip Video Cams (HD 4GB 60-minute one) to document the grand reveal. Oh and, yes, we got to meet Patrick Dempsey, too. He’s OK.

In any case, I blogged about the whole she-bang for my day job here. Normally, I would have saved this gig for my job, but honestly, I wanted that video camera dammit! Plus, I like Mazdas anyway so it wasn’t much of a leap.

Categories: Los Angeles, Recreation

5 Comments

December 3, 2009

5 More Fave iPhone Apps

See more of my My Fave iPhone Apps list at ThisNext.

2 of 25: After my interview with Dan Dunne, The Imbiber, at Pourtal on October 14, I swung by the launch party for new iPhone app WineDJ. The app is essentially a marketing tool for Hope Family Wines which pairs their wine with music. The party itself featured not only neverending pours of their wines but Jason Bentley as dj. Suffice it to say, the party was all right, but the app sounded like a fun idea and I had meant to include it in a post about five more favorite iPhone apps. Anyway, here tis.

foursquare (Free): Seems like no one gets just why I love this app so much. What can I say? Letting my friends and Tweeps know where I am, getting points for checking in and winning badges just appeals to me. It’s like a game with the goal being to become mayor of EVERYwhere.

Happy Houred (Free): If I could make a Caroline on Crack app it would be something like this one! Full disclosure, though: My friends @livethelushlife and @mysteryaction have something to do with this app. But even if they didn’t, I’d still love it. It’s easy to use and finds some of the best drinking specials in cities across the U.S., L.A. included. What’s not to love? You can search by location, type of bar, type of drink, day and even time of day in addition to name.

LA Weekly (Free): This nifty app from our city’s fave alternative weekly gives you easy access to tips, restaurant reviews, event listings and nightlife coverage. Now if only it linked to the other blogs on the Weekly. Ahem, Squid Ink. But you can also email items to your friends and say, “Hey! Go here!”

RedLaser ($1.99): My brother introduced me to this app and I can’t stop playing with it. I’m sure there are tons of other apps like this out there but this is the one I use and like. In any case, it’s great for comparison-shopping. You go to a store, scan an item’s bar code (the iPhone emits a little sound once the scan has gone through) and the app will generate a list of online retailers via thefind and Google Search that sell that same item and for what price.

Liberty School WineDJ (Free): This is simply a fun app to play with. It’s made especially to showcase the Hope Family Wines. You select which wine you want and then it gives you the option to create a playlist or locate the wine in your area. Each varietal represents a different music genre, i.e. Zinfandel is The Roots, Marsanne/Viognier is Paul Simon and Cabernet Sauvignon/Syrah is James Brown.

Categories: Gift Ideas, Los Angeles, Other

This Weekend: Repeal Day on Ice, Bloggers Who Bake, Unique LA

Lots of cool things going on this weekend, filled with cheer and the giving spirit. Makes me like the holidays again.

Thursday, December 3

New Happy Hour at Froma
Froma on Melrose, the boutique European cafe, wine bar and gourmet marketplace in West Hollywood, kicks off its new weekday (4-7pm) Happy Hour today. Enjoy specials like $4 beers (Yanjing, China’s No. 1 selling beer), $5 glasses of wine (prosecco and Torrontes) and small bites like parmesan fries ($3) and kobe sliders ($4) in the venue’s intimate 15-seat bar-style space.

Monday-Friday, 4-7pm. Froma, 7960 Melrose Avenue, Los Angeles (map). (323) 653-3700.

Friday, December 4

Hatchi Roku Four Elements Fondue Friday
Santa Monica restaurant Four Elements debuts Fondue Night featuring a potato martini bar ($5 a glass) and fondue from the Cheese Store of Beverly Hills. And each night there’s a $25 prix fixe menu offering an appetizer, entree and dessert based on the four elements theme of earth, water, fire and air.

7-10pm. BreadBar, 602 Santa Monica Boulevard, Santa Monica (map). (310) 395-9490.

Saturday, December 5

Free Breakfast at Beachcomber Cafe at Malibu Pier
Malibu’s Beachcomber Cafe is giving out a free breakfast in exchange for one new, unwrapped toy valued at $10 or more to donate to Toys for Tots. Freebie brekkie choices include cinnamon roll French toast or scrambled eggs with bacon or sausage and coffee or tea. One toy per person for one breakfast entree.

7-10am. The Beachcomber Cafe at Malibu Pier, 23000 Pacific Coast Highway, Malibu (map). (310) 456-9800.

Eat My Blog Charity Bake Sale
Meet some of your favorite food bloggers like H.C. of LA/OC Foodventures, Diana of Diana Takes a Bite and Cathy Danh of gas*tron*o*my and enjoy their tasty wares at the first ever “Eat My Blog” bake sale. This yummy occasion will feature the likes of which you’ve never seen or tasted — bacon brownies with bourbon caramel sauce and black sesame cupcakes with matcha frosting — as well as classics like whoopie pies, rum balls and red velvet cupcakes. Click here for the full menu. 100% of the proceeds will go to the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank. Awww!

10am-4pm. Zeke’s Smokehouse, 7100 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood (map).

Unique LA 2nd Annual Holiday Show
Forget mall madness and instead support 300 local designers and artists. This two-day shopping event will also have free workshops like how to hand-stitch robot ornaments and make your own Daily Monster as well as a lounge area and a couple of cafes, including a pop-up Tiara Cafe. For $10 you get unlimited entry for both days as well as a limited-edition tote bag with a design from Studio Number One by Shepard Fairey. Partial proceeds of the cost go to the local non-profit 826LA.

Saturday-Sunday, 11am-6pm. California Market Center, 110 E 9th Street, Downtown (map).

The Edison’s Repeal Day Skating Party
In celebration of Repeal Day, the Edison is throwing a skating party at Pershing Square’s ice rink, where for $25 you get rented skates, skating time, cocoa and cookies as well as a visit from Santa and his missus. And after the skating rink (8-9pm), everyone will adjourn to the Edison for a sample of Edison’s Christmas blend of Woodford Reserve bourbon and food, drinks and eggnog. Get your tickets asap as there are only 100 spots. Hope to see you there. Just give me lots of room on the rink. I might fall on you. Proceeds from the event go to the Midnight Mission Downtown.

6pm. Pershing Square, 532 S Olive Street, Downtown (map). Click here for tickets.

Categories: Cocktails, Cupcakes, Dining, Lists, Los Angeles, Nightlife, Recreation, Shopping & Sales, Sweets

2 Comments

December 2, 2009

Persimmons Crumble Recipe: So Easy, a Crackhead Can Do It

Fuyu Persimmons

I love love love to eat but am not all that crazy about cooking up my own stuff. Lazy, ya see. But since my parents have a couple of persimmons trees, my last visit with them left me with two huge bags of Fuyu persimmons. What to do?

I wanted to make something desserty with it but it seemed that called for the other persimmon variety, Hachiya, which is softer and pulpier. Plus, as I said, I’m a stranger in my own kitchen. Fortunately my sister sent me the link for an easy peasy fruit crumble recipe. So easy that even I could do it. Apparently you can use this with any sort of fruit just as long as it’s not frozen fruit.

After the jump is my recipe that I’ve adapted since the original recipe called for the use of a 9-inch glass pan or 8x8x2 pan and I only had a 14(?)-inch-long pan.

Categories: Other, Recipes, Sweets

9 Comments