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What kind of food and wine event makes you say, “Camels, zebras and buffalo, oh my!” upon pulling up to its venue? Los Angeles magazine’s The Food Event, that’s what kind. No, these animals weren’t on the menu but were residents on Saddlerock Ranch, home to Malibu Family Wines, where the eating and drinking festival was held.

This was my first time at The Food Event, which I thought was ambitiously named but pretty much lived up to it. The venue — nestled in the Malibu hills among vineyards — was beautiful, even on that gray and rainy day, and the food and drink were excellent. It wasn’t too crowded, either, which made the experience much more enjoyable (the weather may have had something to do with it).

Here were my favorite tastes and moments from that day.

Sweetsalt Food Shop‘s duck confit slider with lavender butter. Yes, yes and yes.

Sweetsalt Food Shop's duck confit with lavender butter

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Bakelab goodies. From Bakelab.

Artisanal L.A.: This weekend-long shopping, tasting and educational event comes from those who brought you the L.A. Street Food Fest and Unique L.A., so you know it’ll be fun. Artisanal L.A. will showcase the city’s finest local, sustainable and handmade edibles, including treats from Bakelab, Cake Monkey Bakery, Bonadea Drinks, Scoops and The Oaks Gourmet, among many others. For $10 (advance purchase; $15 at the door), you’ll get unlimited entry for two days to enjoy all this plus local craft beer and spirits tastings, a one-of-a-kind tote bag for the first 1,000 attendees, arts and crafts workshops, speakers and chef demonstrations, giveaways, Pitchfork’s Mud Baron giving out seedlings, and gift wrap hosted by Uncouth Gourmands benefiting the LA Regional Food Bank. Partial proceeds will benefit Los Angeles Unified School District’s Edible School Gardens.

The Cooper Building
860 S. Los Angeles St., 11th Floor Penthouse
Los Angeles, CA 90014

Oct. 23 and Oct. 24
11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m.

The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa: Billed as the Ritz-Carlton of pet hotels, The Barkley is opening up this weekend in Westlake. While there are other shi-shi pet hotels, including D Pet Hotels, what makes this place unique is its inclusion of birds and exotics in its description of “pets.” Now you can house your dog, cat, bird and snake all at the same place! There are overnight accommodations, grooming and spa services, day camp, obedience training, and pick-up and delivery service. The full-service day spa services include baths, body massages, mud-masks and “pawdicures.” Prices start at $45 per night. Not too shabby, huh? If you’d like to check it out, there will be sneak preview tours this weekend with entertainment, auctions, raffles and food with all proceeds benefiting local pet charities. Advance tickets are free with registration.

The Barkley Pet Hotel & Day Spa
31166 Via Colinas
Westlake Village, CA 91362

Preview tours Oct. 23 and Oct. 24
8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.
Grand opening Oct. 25

The Food Event: Los Angeles magazine’s annual event will also be celebrating the magazine’s 50th anniversary and its November “Mexican Food Lovers Guide” issue. The day will feature chefs, culinary experts and sommeliers with lots of unlimited food, wine and other treats, including the Top Chef Masters panel in the Conversation Lounge. Some of the luminaries scheduled to appear are Susan Feniger of Street and Border Grill, Mark Gold of Eva Restaurant, Laurent Quenioux of Bistro LQ, Ian Blackburn of LearnAboutWine and more. On top of all that is the location of the event, Saddlerock Ranch in the Malibu hills, home to Semler and Saddlerock wines. Nice!

Saddlerock Ranch
31727 Mulholland Highway
Malibu, CA 90265

Oct. 24
1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
$95 in advance (for $5 more get a one-year subscription to Los Angeles magazine, too); $110 at the door

A Flud Tableturn watch. Not necessarily the one Urban Outfitters is giving away.

Free! It’s all free…if you win, that is. But the good thing is, you don’t have to pay or do (too) much of anything to enter these contests, which if you win, could mean the perfect holiday gift for that special someone (you!).

Urban Outfitters: This isn’t a month-long giveaway extravaganza, but for the rest of this week, you can enter to win one grand prize a day. Today’s prize is a Flud Tableturn watch. There will also be 10 first prize winners who will get $50 Urban Outfitters gift cards, which I think is the better prize anyway. All you have to do is fill out some information, which will probably be used for spam and junk mail, so use you crappy email address. This contest ends Friday, Dec. 11, so hurry!

ShopBop: The online shopping Web site is giving away a handbag a day for the entire month of December, and they’re not just clutches. Today’s prize is an Antik Batik shoulder bag. All you have to do is give your email address.

Discover Los Angeles: L.A. Inc., the city of Los Angeles’ tourism arm, is giving away free stays at L.A.-area hotels throughout December. Today’s hotel is the Crowne Plaza Hotel LAX (admitedly not that glamorous, but don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, I say). To enter, you’ll have to answer a question with information that can be easily found on the hotel’s Web site, which is conveniently linked from Discover L.A.’s site.

Los Angeles magazine: The magazine is giving away items from artisans featured in its December issue, “Hand Made in L.A.,” but only one per week this month. This week’s prize is a Graf & Lantz (love!) wine carrier. All you have to do is answer a simple question, i.e., “Tell us your favorite BYOB spot in L.A.” to enter.

Photo by Caroline on Crack

To celebrate its Best New Bars issue, Los Angeles magazine threw a party at Rosa Mexicano, a New York import that recently opened its doors at L.A. Live in downtown Los Angeles. The party was happening, and along with fellow bloggers Caroline of Caroline on Crack, Esther of e*starLA, Liz of Food, She Thought, H.C. of L.A. and O.C. Foodventures, Josh of FoodGPS, and Wesley and Evelina of Two Hungry Pandas, I had a great time. The food, I wasn’t so much impressed with, though there were some good items.

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Los Angeles magazine and fancy home store Snyder Diamond hosted a cooking class recently as part of its Culinary College program. The second in a three-part series, this class, “Taste of Asia,” featured — you guessed it — Asian-inspired food prepared by Andrew Kirschner, executive chef at Wilshire restaurant, and Bridget Bueche of appliance brand Sub Zero/Wolf. The wine was chosen by Ian Blackburn of LearnAboutWine.com.

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