Yes, I Really Did Attend a Johnny Cash Tribute Band and Live Cooking Show

Friday night, I took my friend Maya, the awesome blogger personality behind Shop Eat Sleep, and her boyfriend Rory, to "All Cake, No File," a show in Culver City with an unlikely match-up. It was part live cooking show and part Johnny Cash tribute band. Jewell Rae Jeffers, in a blond, 1950s wig, and thick Southern accent, led the cooking portion by demonstrating her Coke Cake on stage. It was a cake mix, some Coca-Cola, eggs, pecans, and a few more things, plus frosting with marshmallows. She offered up social commentary on the prison system while she baked and made funny mentions about all the products she was using in her cake that the show was not endorsing. The show was silly, but what do you expect from something that's part of the WTF?! Festival?

L-->R: Me, Jewell Rae, Maya

I have to tell you, walking into the theater before the show started and seeing a KitchenAid on the stage was a huge thrill. It almost didn't matter what the show was like because I just loved that it involved a KitchenAid. But the show did turn out to be fun and funny. Jewell Rae interacted with the audience throughout the show, and in between baking, an amazing Johnny Cash tribute band called With a Bible and a Gun performed some classic Johnny Cash songs. They were such a talented band! And they are actually doing a prison tour, performing for inmates all over the U.S.! They don't pretend to be Johnny Cash or his bandmates, other than wearing black and playing his music, so it's not a tribute band in the full sense of the word. Wayne Kramer of the MC5 also made an appearance and performed a few songs.

Standing with Corby Gallegos, the leader singer of With a Bible and a Gun,
who sounds just like Johnny Cash!

When the show ended, everyone was invited to the patio to have a slice of the cake and schmooze with the performers. Yes, the night ended with cake! Isn't that how all shows should end? Next Friday, November 27, is your last chance to see this show and Jewell Rae will be baking a different cake!

This was my first time at the Ivy Substation and at any Actors' Gang event. There really is not a bad seat in the house and the back courtyard area is a neat touch with heatlamps and a bar. I would absolutely go back to this venue, with or without a KitchenAid on stage.

Coca-Cola Debuts New Aluminum Bottles as I Get Tipsy Drinking from Them

A few nights ago I attended a Coca-Cola blogger tasting event at a bar called High on the rooftop of Hotel Erwin in Venice, CA. There were amazing views of the city from up there, and fortunately also heat lamps! I brought along two of my closest friends David and Tzviah and we met up with friend/blogger AJ of Confessions of a Fat Girl and friend Jess. In the elevator on our way up to the roof, I ran into Christina of Hot Pink Manolos and what's funny about that is, we were already friends on Twitter, but I had never met Christina in person until that elevator ride. Ah, the virtual-come-real world! It was also neat to see David and Tzviah wearing name tags with HappyGoMarni.com written beneath their names. As if they were working for me or representing me. Well I suppose that's possible...they are lawyer-folk, after all.

The entrance to the bar when you step off the elevator onto the rooftop

AJ of Confessions of a Fat Girl and me

Tzviah and David. Notice their nametags! They must work for me. :-)

But besides hanging out with friends at a cool venue in Venice, the primary reason I was there was to check out the new limited availability 8.5-ounce Coca-Cola Aluminum Contour Bottles. They are really neat! They keep the drink cold much longer than the normal cans, and they are sleek and classic like the old glass bottles of decades ago. Plus, unlike glass, they don't break if you drop them. Of course that doesn't make them spill-proof so don't drop them on your white carpet. I should really heed my own advice on that. They're also much heavier containers than the thin aluminum cans we are currently so used to and they're resealable.


At this event, the bartender was mixing cocktails that featured Coke, Diet Coke, and Coke Zero, and then funneling them into the new bottles to serve. I ordered the Coca-Libre, a drink that combined Coke, rum, grenadine, and red sugar. Another drink option was the Lemon Chilled made from Diet Coke, vodka, and lemonade. And a third drink option was the Zero Gravity with Coke Zero, Tequila Herradura, and fresh lime juice. Even some of the passed hors d'oeuvres contained Coke in the recipe. For sure the meatballs with their spicy, tangy Coke sauce. Yum!

Beef meatballs with a sauce made from Coke

At least for now, the new bottles are hard to find. Not sold in supermarkets and only in a few bars. I happen to live not-so-far from one of those bars: the SLS Hotel bar in Beverly Hills. Hopefully you'll have a chance to try a bottle soon. You could toss it in the recycle bin when you're done, or it makes a great bud vase!

Me with AJ of Confessions of a Fat Girl and Jess

Facing My Fear of Silicone Bakeware

Wilton's silicone bundt pan -
just like the one I so bravely used

Last night, for the first time ever, I baked a cake in a silicone bundt pan. GASP! Yup, I faced one of my biggest baking fears, bit the bullet, and used a flimsy, flexible, hard-to-keep-lint-out-because-it-sticks-to-the-pan red Wilton silicone pan.

Here's how it started.
I went to a friend's to bake a cake and even brought my conventional metal, fail-proof pan with me. It's heavy-duty, and I've used it enough times to know it does my cakes justice.

But when my friend presented me with her silicone alternative, all feelings of safeness and ease were chucked out the window and a sinking feeling overwhelmed me. Should I use the pan I brought that I know works? Or should I try this wobbly thingamabobber some people swear by but I have yet to trust?

While never having tried it myself, I'm not unfamiliar with silicone bakeware. Between testimonials from friends and plenty of reading on the Internet and in cookbooks, I have valid concerns about the adequacy of said bakeware and what it does to the integrity of my cakes.

Here are just a few things I've heard about silicone bakeware that have freaked me out (NOTE: These are rumors and should not be taken as fact):

• It's actually more difficult to remove the cake from the pan and you can't use a knife to cut the cake away because you'll tear the material
  
• Since it's a thinner material than metal, it burns the cake and you have to watch the cooking time carefully
• It doesn't produce crusts or edges on your baked goods
• It's difficult to wash and dry
• Lint sticks to it
• It's a challenge to take the cake out of the oven because it's not sturdy. As you're lifting the pan out, you might tear the cake as it wobbles around because it hasn't cooled and set yet.

So now that you see what's been going through my mind, you can appreciate my queasiness when my friend presented me with her silicone bundt pan. At the same time, I was extremely curious to try it and break the ice already. What if it turned out to be earth-shattering, life-changing, and produced amazing cakes? I decided it was worth the risk.

I do have one confession to make.
As with plenty of scary things in life, baby steps are useful and make it easier to handle the challenge you're facing. So instead of diving right in and embracing the silicone pan for all its alleged goodness, I took the supposedly unnecessary measure of greasing and flouring the pan. Please don't mock me!

Williams-Sonoma cast aluminum bundt pan -
still my preferred pan!

The Result
My cake baked evenly in the pan, so that's relief #1. It also didn't stick to the pan one bit: relief #2 (though if you recall my confession, I may have tampered with the test a little). But on the downside, when I inserted a toothpick in the center and it needed about 10 more minutes to bake, it already looked done on the outside. I think it ended up overcooking the outside a little, just as I feared. The solution to that is to cover the cake with foil partway through baking so the outside doesn't burn while you give the inside a chance to finish baking. So while that downside is annoying, it's not a deal-breaker.

I think the biggest problem I have with the pan is its flimsiness. As suspected, it wobbled when I took it out of the oven, even as I took extreme care to keep it still. The super hot cake is in a very fragile state immediately out of the oven, and its structure continues to set during the cooling. I almost broke the cake in half as I lifted it out of the oven because the silicone pan it was in was not supporting its still-setting delicate state.

If I use this pan again, I will absolutely place the pan on a cookie sheet and bake it like that. Not only does using a cookie sheet make it easy to lift the cake out of the oven, but the double thickness of having two pans will help prevent burning on the bottom of the cake. But the key here is if. If I will use this pan again. The fact that every time I use it it's going to give me butterflies is not good! But then again, last night's cake worked out, so maybe I'm panicking over nothing? At least now I can cross "using silicone bakeware" off the list of things to do before I die. Phew!

Have you ever used silicone bakeware? Are you a fan of it? Any disaster stories? Do tell!

The Recipe-Singing Band. Huh?

A band called One Ring Zero has begun a foodie project where they ask chefs for recipes and then they set the recipes to music and perform them word-for-word. Yeah, that's right: verbatim! There's no rhyme. But is there reason? Recipes as lyrics? Sounds strange. But you've got to listen to a couple of these!

Chef Michael Symon of restaurant Lola in Cleveland, who I just watched compete against three culinary students on Iron Chef America, submitted Octopus Salad with Black-Eyed Peas. The band sang the ingredients and instructions to the salad and it came off as a rock song! And no, in case you're wondering, that song title/recipe is not referring to a collaboration with will.i.am.

You can also listen to the polka-inspired "Spaghetti with Sweet 100 Tomatoes," a recipe submitted by Chef Mario Batali. Very clever.

I think my personal favorite is the creepy sounding "Lamb Shanks Roasted in Paper," recipe by Chef Jenny Morris. I can't decide if it sounds more like it belongs at a funeral or at a Jewish wedding. Kind of Klezmer-ish, but haunted, too. Have a listen and let me know how you'd describe this craziness!

Maybe the dish they're eating is going to be in a song?

I couldn't find a video of the guys singing any recipes (maybe that's a work in progress...), but here's a great clip of them in Aviles, Spain, performing "The Natty Blues," complete with accordion, guitar, and really, really neat trumpet. Am I being converted to so-called "ethno-pop"?


Maybe one day I'll be driving to work, listening to the radio, business as usual, and suddenly I'll hear the lyric: "Bring the water to a boil and then turn it down to a simmer, so the water is lightly bubbling." That's when you know the food revolution has taken over the world. :-)

The Recipe for Blogger Prom 2009: Lots of Cheese and Hard Work

Ericka of City Elf and me

It was about 2 months ago that I received an email from Caroline of Caroline on Crack and Esther of e*star LA, two fun, well known Los Angeles bloggers, asking me to join them on a quest to create an unforgettable Blogger Prom on Wednesday, July 22, 2009. I agreed, still not exactly sure what Blogger Prom even was! They recruited a couple of other wonderful bloggers, and the 8 of us became the Blogger Prom Committee...

• Caroline of Caroline on Crack
• Esther of e*star LA
• H.C. of LA and OC Foodventures
• Lindsay of LAist
• Marni of Happy Go Marni
• Maya of Shop Eat Sleep
  
• Natalie of The Liquid Muse
• Tara of When Tara Met Blog

The entire Blogger Prom Committee
L to R: Caroline, Natalie, Tara, Marni, Esther, H.C., Lindsay, Maya

Our mission was to organize an event that would bring together Los Angeles bloggers from every genre: food, tech, lifestyle, fashion, and everything in between. These are people we follow online but often have never had the chance to meet in person. The Andaz West Hollywood, a newly renovated hotel on the Sunset Strip with amazing views of Los Angeles, agreed to open their rooftop to us for the occasion. The venue was set, but we still had a lot more work to do!

View from the rooftop of the Andaz West Hollywood Hotel

We immediately built a Blogger Prom blog and set out to create an exclusive invite list and seek sponsors. We were overwhelmed by the responses. Trying to get 200 bloggers to attend this event turned out to be so easy that we had a waitlist! And because of the golden opportunity this became for brands of all sorts, being able to show off their products to a Who's Who of influential, talkative bloggers, sponsorship was also not a challenge.

In fact, we ended up turning down companies right and left because we could have had hundreds and that would have just been messy! Still, we kept enough that there were dozens of raffle prizes - everything from a $100 gourmet chocolate assortment from Charles Chocolates (YUM!) to a 6 game assortment of Wii games by EA (fun!!) to restaurant gift certificates to tickets to the Hollywood Bowl to a $300 gift basket of booze from The Edison in Downtown and so much more. And let's not forget the beloved, coveted goody bag that every attendee would receive at the end of the evening. Raffle prize winner or not, no one went home empty-handed. The bag contained chips, booze, free food coupons, a t-shirt, lube, ear plugs, hair products, granola bars, a Goldstar poster and a lot more. A big THANK YOU to the generous sponsors.

Over-stuffed goody bags for all!

We had liquor sponsors and one of our very own Blogger Prom Committee members, Natalie of The Liquid Muse, even concocted a signature cocktail for the evening. We had an official prom photographer Claire Barrett, whose work is amazing! We required cheesy prom attire, encouraging 80s era since that's as cheesy as you can get, and we were strictly enforcing that dress code at the door. The 8 of us committee members divided up the shifts for the evening so someone was always checking people in at the door, handling the raffle, giving out goody bags, etc... And after putting so much thought into every detail of the night, it was a big success! We are so pleased with the turnout, the outfits, the venue, the food, prizes, goody bags, and most importantly, the smiles on everyone's faces. They all seemed to be having a great time. Many asked us if we'd be doing this again next year because they for sure want to be on the list. I don't know what next year has in store, but as for 2009, yeah, I think we can safely say, "Mission accomplished."

Maya of Shop Eat Sleep receives her corsage from friend Chris

I went for the poofiest sleeves I could find

My friend David with the Cheese Impresario Barrie Lynn
who matches cheese to cocktails

Cheesecake pops from Pure Cheesecakes

Silamith, the liquor rep for Martin Millers Gin and Caroline of Caroline on Crack

To read some of the Blogger Prom coverage, take a look at these links:

BlogHer, "Blogger Prom 2009 in Los Angeles"
Caroline on Crack, "Blogger Prom 2009: Backstory and Wrap-Up"
LA Weekly, "We Hit It…Blogger Prom, That Is"
Lalawag, "Bloggers Just Wanna Have Fu-un"
Food Woolf, "Getting To Know You at LA’s Blogger Prom"
Franklin Avenue, "Scenes from a Blogger Prom"
Kevin Eats, "Blogger Prom (West Hollywood, CA)"
Nadine Jolie, "Jolie, the Prom Queen"
Shop Eat Sleep, "Blogger Prom was Awesome"
When Tara Met Blog, "Blogger Prom 2009"
and for hundreds of photos, the Blogger Prom Flickr Group Pool

The Kitchen Table: A Winning Kosher Experience in Mountain View

Living in Los Angeles, I have quite a selection of Kosher restaurants at my fingertips, ranging from fast food to Jewish deli and all the way up the scale to steakhouses. But it's a funny thing how I eat at just one Kosher restaurant in Mountain View, California, and I suddenly realize Los Angeles doesn't have it all.


I'm talking about The Kitchen Table, a new Kosher establishment on the popular Castro Street in downtown Mountain View (just south of Stanford University and a little north of San Jose). I ate here with my parents and sister for Father's Day. My mom secured a reservation, which the restaurant staff tell me is a smart thing to do as tables, which in my opinion aren't so limited, apparently still fill up. The decor inside is sophisticated but with personality as crystal chandeliers and abstract metal artwork are juxtaposed with old black and white photographs of families sitting at their kitchen tables. But Father's Day brought lots of sunshine and good weather and so we opted to eat outdoors on the front patio where lots of cheerful green shrubs separate you from the busy street.

Photographs of families at their kitchen tables cover a wall of the restaurant

The staff are incredibly gregarious. Our waitress Suzanne was fun, honest, and attentive. A co-owner also greeted us at our table. We felt loved. And the feelings are mutual!

My dad with our waitress Suzanne

But ambiance and waitstaff aside, the menu is the real kicker! Prices are very reasonable and the dishes are so creative! Scanning the menu I was drooling. The lunch menu includes a Chipotle BBQ Pulled Chicken Sandwich, Knish of the Day, Hand-Cut Yam Fries, Tuna Ceviche with Fried Plantain Chips and Spicy Avocado Relish, Chicken & Matzo Ball Soup, Lamb BLT, Dry Aged Tuscan Salami with Dijon on a Crispy Baguette, House Cured Pastrami Sandwich, and lots more. Dinner includes many of the same items as lunch, but also entrees such as Honey, Thyme & White Wine Glazed Salmon, Tamarind Mango Braised Duck Leg, Masala Spiced Lamb Kabob, and Boneless Rib-Eye Steak.

House Cured Pastrami Sandwich

Salami Potato Knish with Rocket Salad

3 eggs, Hash Latkes, and Lamb Bacon with Whole Wheat Toast

Chocolate Babka with Fresh Fruit

Tunisian Shakshouka

Homemade Grilled Pita Wedges

Since we ate at 10am on a Sunday, we ordered from a small brunch menu of just 5 choices, though we had no trouble finding many things we wanted. In the future, hopefully they'll add one or two more breakfasty items like Challah French Toast and Blueberry Pancakes. I selected the Tunisian Shakshouka, consisting of three eggs in a tomato sausage sauce and a side of homemade pita wedges. My sister's and dad's meals included lamb bacon, and so I was fortunate enough to try a bite. Wow, that alone was worth the trip! My mom ordered chocolate babka, fresh fruit, and a salami potato knish. Presentation and taste were all on point. Even my coffee came with a mandelbrot cookie on a sleek white saucer.

Father's Day Brunch Menu

Coffee and Mandelbrot

Very soon, The Kitchen Table will be offering Shabbat take-out. Now that's something I wish more Los Angeles Kosher restaurants did! I came to this place with no expectations and practically no information about it - just an open mind. It turned out to be a perfect 10 of an experience. I am deeply and madly in love.

Details:
The Kitchen Table
142 Castro Street
Mountain View, CA 94041
(650) 390-9388
Lunch/Dinner/Sunday Brunch/Take-Out/Catering

Kiss My Bundt Bakery Has Classes!

You know all about the national, if not international, cupcake craze, I'm sure. But individual-sized gourmet, creative treats are also found in the form of donuts and even mini bundt cakes! Sadly, I live 400 miles from my new obsession, Psycho Donuts in Campbell, CA. But fortunately I live just around the corner from Kiss My Bundt Bakery in Los Angeles! And these treats look, smell, and taste amazing.


Kiss My Bundt Bakery sells bundts in mini, a-little-larger-than-mini, and full size. The price is right, too, at $2.50, $4.50, and $32 respectively. Among the many flavors are:

• 7-Up Pound Cake
• Bailey's Irish Cream Cake
• Chocolate Cabernet Aphrodisiac Cake
• Chocolate Mint Cake
• Sticky Toffee Pudding Cake
• Strawberry Lemonade Cake
• Red Velvet Cake
• Peanut Butter Bundt Cake
• Pineapple Upside Down Cake
• Pina Colada Cake
  
• and a LOT more!!!

But besides going to the bakery and purchasing a treat for now or later, Kiss My Bundt Bakery also hosts baking classes and tasting sessions! I am dying at the thought of this! Isn't it every sweet tooth's dream to go behind the glass display cases at a bakery and be able to work in the kitchen there? I want to see where the magic happens!


Currently, I am aware of four events you should check out:

• Bundt Cake Baking and Wine Tasting on Friday, June 12th at 7pm
• Hands-on Intro to Baking Class on Sunday, June 14th at 5:30pm
• Introduction to Cake Frostings Class on Friday, June 19th at 7pm
• Cake Tasting on Saturday, June 20th at 8pm

Remember the scene from My Big Fat Greek Wedding that, in my opinion, reintroduced bundts to today's generation? Here ya go...



And for true bundt-a-holics, follow Kiss My Bundt Bakery on Twitter at @KissMyBundt.

The Details:
Kiss My Bundt Bakery
8104 West 3rd Street
Los Angeles, CA 90048
Cross Street: Crescent Heights Blvd.
Phone: (323) 655-0559

2009 L.A. Cupcake Challenge Leaves a Pleasing Aftertaste

Delilah Bakery

The much hyped 2009 L.A. Cupcake Challenge sponsored by Nesquik happened yesterday and in two words: 5 stars. I had so much fun. And not just because I brought a whole posse with me. My mom flew in for the weekend, my sister and her fiance attended, my first cousin and her boyfriend, and a bunch of friends and coworkers.

Part of the ballot

My coworker's shoe

It took place at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel in Hollywood, a perfect venue for the occasion. There was plenty of space to roam and sit and the cupcake booths lined the perimeter of the ballroom. The Nesquik bunny was there, posing for photos and handing out regular and mini sized versions of Chocolate and Strawberry Milk. A photobooth was stationed at one corner of the room allowing for unlimited corny photos with friends to be taken.

My sister Beth and me with the Nesquik Bunny

Flavor Feelings
I attended last year's Cupcake Challenge and learned a few things to make this year's experience more enjoyable (which seems hard to do when last year's was awesome). Namely, I learned not to eat whole cupcakes if I wanted to make it through all 37 flavors. And as a judge this year, I felt it my responsibility to try every single cupcake if my vote was going to be fair. Slow and steady wins the race. I was there the entire 3 hours in order to eat so many sweets. But I did it.

And on top of that, I broke my own rule: I fell in love with two cupcakes and ate the entire darned things, not sparing the tiniest crumb. The first time that happened, it was for Susie Cakes' Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and the second time, it was for Buttercake Bakery's Chocolate.

Susie Cakes Pineapple Upside Down - out of this world!

Buttercake Bakery Chocolate - again, out of this world!

While those were the only two cupcakes I gobbled up completely, there were plenty of others that caught my attention...The Lavender cupcake from Melli Belli was wonderfully moist and full of lavender flavor. The Coconut cupcake from Blue Cupcake made me want to order a full-sized 9 or 10-inch round layer cake for my next party. And the Chocolate Dipped Strawberry from Charmed Cupcakes had a perfect crumb, a strong chocolate flavor, and yummy pieces of strawberry in the cake, not to mention an attractive presentation with star-shaped chocolate candies stuck into the frosting. Miss Priss Cupcakes had an excellent banana chocolate chip cupcake named Monkey Bites and was, in my opinion, one of the prettiest ones to look at. Oinkster/Boho's Chocolate Bread Pudding was certainly memorable, though denser than I'm used to for a cupcake. As for booth decor, I was really impressed with Delilah Bakery's outdoor garden motif. All in all, it was an amazing afternoon of cupcake overload.

Melli Belli Lavender and Gingerbread cupcakes

Blue Cupcake Coconut and Chocolate cupcakes

Blue Cupcake Coconut cupcake display

Sugar Jones Blackberries & Cream

Miss Priss Cupcakes Monkey Bites

Two Parts Sugar Raspberry Red Velvet

Hotcakes Bakes Strawberry Cupcakes

Oinkster/Boho Chocolate Bread Pudding

Charmed Cupcakes Chocolate Dipped Strawberry and Red Velvet

Another important lesson I learned from last year is that bringing Tupperware is a VERY good idea. Many of the booths had leftover cupcakes at the end of the event and were happy to fill your boxes and bags if you had them. Plus, it's such a shame to throw out half of a wonderful cupcake simply because you can't eat 37 full cupcakes in one sitting. So Wise Marni brought a container this year and saved halfsies and a few more wholes for the road. I'll need a week to recover from the sugar coma, but then I'm sure I'll be able to dig right in.

Someone's makeshift "Tupperware" filled with whole cupcakes

Hats off to another successful Cupcake Challenge. It was well organized and the quality and range of bakeries was impressive. It's no wonder the place was packed, tickets were sold out, and blogs and news organizations spotlighted the event.

One of many trips to the booths

Judge's Wardrobe
In my last blog post, I asked you if it would be ok for me to wear the same shirt as I wore last year. The shirt read, "Make Cupcakes Not War." Many of you said it would be just fine and I was all set to wear it again, but with some time to spare hours before the Cupcake Challenge, I decided to return to Johnny Cupcakes on Melrose in West Hollywood and find myself a new wardrobe.

First of all, I decided on a really fun one - no words this time, just an image of stemmed flowers but with cupcakes as blossoms. I'm glad I decided to change shirts; I spotted a handful of people at the event with my last year's shirt.

Also, I can't get over how FUN this t-shirt store is! The place is decorated like a bakery, even though there's nothing edible inside. Glass display cases show off t-shirts, and retro ovens line the walls and randomly open so fake steam can blow out. You have got to visit their store sometime, and at the very least, visit their cool website designed to be an oven. I'm hooked on Johnny Cupcakes and will probably end up there again for a 2010 L.A. Cupcake Challenge costume change. :-)

Johnny Cupcakes store on Melrose in West Hollywood

Retro ovens on the wall at Johnny Cupcakes open randomly and let fake steam out!

**Note: Because votes could be submitted up until the very end of the event, winners were not announced at the event. They will be tallied and announced soon, but you're going to have to wait!

**Update: Winners have been announced! See my next blog post.