ShopEatSleep

Like ice cream? Keep strictly kosher? Then Chozen All Natural Ice Cream may just be the dessert for you.

Now, I’m not Jewish, but I do love ice cream and I enjoy the food of the chosen (get it?) people, so when I was offered samples of ice cream with flavors such as Rugelach, Chocolate Babka, and Apples and Honey, I said, “Sign me up!”

I was sent two pints: one of Coconut Macaroon made with almond ice cream and toasted coconut flakes mixed in, and one of Matzoh Crunch made with vanilla ice cream and chocolate- and caramel-coated matzoh crackers. The Coconut Macaroon got me right away since I’m a sucker for anything with almond and coconut. The Matzoh Crunch didn’t wow me at first, but it grew on me as I found the texture of the chocolate- and caramel-covered matzoh nice to munch on. My only real complaint is the texture of the ice cream itself — it’s a bit icy for my taste. You can see in this photo how it doesn’t really stick together when you’re scooping it and gets melt-y quickly:

Coconut Macaroon (left), Matzoh Crunch (right)

The ice cream is all-natural, though not certified organic, per its website, which means it’s made without chemical gums or stabilizers. That probably explains its texture. Its kosherness comes from being “100% kosher certified by experience rabbis,” though it’s not kosher for Passover.

Chozen is sold in stores in New York and New Jersey, so if you want some here on the West Coast, you’ll have to order it online. Don’t worry — the dry ice and insulated package keeps the ice cream nice and frosty. However, it looks like the only flavors available for shipping are Coconut Macaroon and Matzoh Crunch, which explains why I got those two. Overall, I enjoyed the flavors of the ice cream but didn’t love the texture. Rugelach and Chocolate Babka sound good, though…

From S/V Rapture

The Marina del Rey Convention & Visitors Bureau is holding a digital photo scavenger hunt called Hit Me With Your Best Shot. Cute, huh?

Now, I don’t know about you, but I don’t know much about MDR other than it’s a beach town, so I think doing a scavenger hunt would be a good way to explore and learn more about the area. And the visitors bureau is giving away some great prizes to the winners, too.

To participate, you’ll have to take photos of yourself in front of or next to the “iconic, unique and quirky” items listed in certain categories representative of the MDR community — family, foodie and wedding. You’ll need to collect at least five photos to qualify for prizes; if you collect all 10 photos in a category, you’ll be entered to win grand-level prizes.

Each category has prizes with values up to $2,200, including:

To enter, upload photos either to Facebook, Twitter or by email to marinadelreycvb@gmail.com. The deadline to submit all photos is Oct. 27, 2010. The grand prize and runner up winners will be announced via Facebook, Twitter and the Visit Marina del Rey Blog on Nov. 10, 2010.

From Bacon Today.

L.A.’s favorite hot dog: Farmer John has a fundraising campaign aimed at making the bacon-wrapped hot dog Los Angeles’ official wiener, and more importantly to donate food to local food banks. Between now and election day on Nov. 2, you can vote at www.votelahotdog.org, and for every signature collected in support of the bacon-wrapped hot dog, Farmer John will make a donation of 1 pound — up to 50,000 pounds — to local food banks. You know you’ve had your fair share of danger dogs after a late-night of debauchery, so a simple click to submit your vote and help food banks shouldn’t be too hard, right? Oh, and here’s Farmer John’s recipe for making your own bacon dog.

Macy’s Culinary Council: Macy’s in Pasadena is hosting James Beard Award-winning chef, restaurateur and author Takashi Yagihashi of Takashi restaurant in Chicago. He’ll be at Macy’s on Lake Avenue Oct. 7 to talk about his favorite recipes and gourmet techniques, as well as sign copies of his cookbook, which will be available for purchase the day of the event. You don’t need a reservation, but seating will be limited to the first 200 people. And a suggested $5 donation to benefit the Los Angeles Regional Food Bank will be collected at the door.

Macy’s
Furniture Department, Level 3
401 S. Lake Ave.
Pasadena, CA 91101
Oct. 7, 6:30 p.m.

Pinkberry’s 100-store celebration: To celebrate the milestone of opening its 100th store, Pinkberry is holding a contest called “100 Stores, 100 Ways,” inviting Pinkberry fans to share favorite ways and places to enjoy the tangy froyo. To enter, you’ll have to explain in 100 words or less your favorite Pinkberry combinations, creative ways to eat Pinkberry and how Pinkberry has played a part in your life. Those 100 words could be in the form of a story, poem or song, and optional Flickr photos and YouTube videos can accompany the submission, too. The grand prize winner will receive a $1,000 Pinkberry VIPink Card, and 10 first-place winners will each get $50 Pinkberry gift cards.

The Blogger Prom Committee all dressed up! Photo by Heather Kincaid.

The Hollywood Confidential Blogger Prom, the second incarnation of last year’s Blogger Prom, took place at the elegantly historic Yamashiro Restaurant last week, and boy, was it a party! With guests decked out in their best Hollywood glamour — every decade from the 1920s to the 1950s were represented — along with classic tunes and abundant food and drink, Blogger Prom was a hit. Just check out these stories in the Los Angeles Times and Brand X!

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Blogger Prom: This year’s Blogger Prom, dubbed Hollywood Confidential, is taking place this Wednesday, Sept. 22, at Yamashiro restaurant. Since I’m on the planning committee, I haven’t been posting on ShopEatSleep as often as I usually do — an event as big as Blogger Prom takes a lot of work! There’s going to be all kinds of fun stuff, including good eats from Chef Brock at Yamashiro, tastings from Barrie Lynn The Cheese Impresario, Coolhaus, Crumbs Bake Shop and other yummy and generous sponsors. There will be giveaways and gift bags galore, so if you’ve received an invitation and haven’t responded yet (this is an invite-only event!), do it now! You won’t want to miss this.

Pinkberry: The ever-present purveyor of tart frozen yogurt is now offering a take-home container that holds the equivalent of five small servings (prices range from $9.95 to $10.95, depending on the store). You can also purchase toppings to go for $1.95 per container, too. I’m not too sure how the froyo would hold up if placed in a home freezer, but I guess it could work if you were having a party and were planning on eating it soon. The fruit bowl is also a new offering; from the description, it sounds like a reverse cup of froyo, with mostly fruit topped with what Pinkberry is calling Swirly Whip, which is made from the Original tart flavor.

Eat, Breathe, Shop at FIG, Fred Segal Couture and Exhale: Spend more than $500 at Fred Segal Couture and get a complimentary week at Exhale Spa in the Fairmont Miramar Hotel & Bungalows as well as a complimentary FIG Fit breakfast at the hotel’s FIG Restaurant. The FIG Fit menu features health-conscious items such as scarlet quinoa with diced apples, and house-made power bars blended from dates, acai, gogi, pomegranate and hemp seeds. Exhale combines fitness and movement with spa and healing therapies, and if you sign up for one of Exhale’s memberships, you’ll get a $100 credit to Fred Segal Couture. It’s a pretty nice cycle.

I’ve found my new favorite food truck — Manila Machine!

It’s a surprise to me that I enjoy Filipino food so much considering my only real experiences with it have been lumpia, or the Filipino version of egg rolls, and few tastes of other dishes here and there. But Manila Machine has continued to pleasantly surprise me each time I’ve eaten at the truck; I have yet to taste a dish that I don’t like.

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Official L.A. Fashion's Night Out shirt designed by FIDM student Marc Blaskovits. From Transmopolis.

There are like a gazillion events happening tomorrow, Sept. 10, for Fashion’s Night Out, and you can find a great list at Mondette. Here are some others that are taking place in Santa Monica, for those of you on the Westside:

Fluxus: The Santa Monica Place store will have a guest DJ, complimentary cupcakes and champagne, an exclusive preview of the Fluxus fall/winter 2010 collection, and a Buy 2, Get 1 Free discount.

395 Santa Monica Place
Santa Monica, CA 90401
6:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

Fred Segal Santa Monica: While the Melrose location does its thing (see the Mondette post), this store will be hosting giveaways and gifts-with-purchase from JET, Sharon Segal, ICON and Line & Dot. There will also be personal styling by Kahi Lee, a debut wall installation by KSwiss, art by ICON, music by DJ OMG and cocktails.

Fred Segal Santa Monica
420 Broadway St.
Santa Monica, CA 90401
7:00 p.m. to 10:00 p.m.

There’s also a bunch of stuff happening at The Grove, which Kelsi of Dedicated Follower of Fashion and Two Point Oh! L.A. has explained. There’s so much going on, I don’t know where to go!

Pies at KCRW's Good Food pie contest

There were a lot of food-related events that happened over the long Labor Day weekend, but only one featured a homemade pie made by my friend, blogger Marni Landes of Happy Go Marni, and her mother, Joyce: KCRW’s Good Food pie contest. The event shared space with Taste of Beverly Hills, a three-day food extravaganza at the Beverly Hilton, but the best part was the pie contest was free! You could just walk up and sample from more than 100 pies that people had lovingly made in hopes of getting to the final, which was judged by L.A. foodie luminaries Jonathan Gold, Sang Yoon, Zoe Nathan, Eric Greenspan, Karen Hatfield and more. Marni won last year’s cream pie category, so she had a good chance of winning again this year.

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Legacy Golf Resort in Phoenix, Arizona. From Shell Vacations Hospitality.

Fewer things make me happier than a long weekend. The time off is reward in itself, but going on a trip is even nicer. For those of you who have the time (and money), here are a few travel deals to keep you sane…at least until Tuesday rolls around.

Terranea: Looking for a staycation in the L.A. area? Terranea in Rancho Palos Verdes is offering its Sunset Package, which includes the daily resort fee (I *hate* these things!) and a $75 dining credit, for $375 per night. Use your dining credit toward one of their special meals this weekend, which include a barbecue and a luau.

Las Vegas: Willing to drive a bit farther? Head on over to Las Vegas, where you can find some great deals. Expedia has the Sahara going for as low as $74 per night, which could be great if you don’t plan on spending a lot of time in your room.

Arizona: Want to go even farther? Shell Vacations Hospitality‘s Legacy Golf Resort in Phoenix has rooms starting at $59 per night, with one-bedroom suites at $79 per night and two-bedrooms suites at $129 per night. Each suite has a full kitchen or kitchenette, living area, and either a balcony or patio overlooking the courtyards and golf course. And there are no resort fees!

The opening of the new Santa Monica Place mall has been exciting for those of us who knew the old, tired mall that stood in its place years ago. Perhaps some of the most exciting parts have been the new food options, some of which are entirely new to Los Angeles. La Sandia and Zengo from chef Richard Sandoval are two of those new restaurants.

I was invited to try out the food and drink at both places last week, and I came away from the experience pleasantly surprised. These restaurants — the Mexican La Sandia and the Latin-Asian fusion Zengo — are nicer than your usual mall joints, with some pretty respectable cocktails, too.

We started out with cocktails and appetizers at La Sandia. My favorite drink was the cucumber-serrano martini made with mezcal, cucumber, serrano chili, citrus and chili piquin salt on the rim. I love spicy hotness as well as cucumber in my drinks, so this was the prefect combination. I also really enjoyed the shrimp quesadillas made with shrimp, Mexican cheeses, black bean puree, chipotle aioli and topped with crema and avocado. So tasty!

La Sandia cocktails

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