When Tara Met Blog: March 2009

The Cupcake Challenge Take 2

On Sunday, I once again was one of the official judges at the annual L.A. Cupcake Challenge sponsored by Nesquik and organized by Drink Eat Play. Basically, 37 cupcake flavors compete for Best Traditional, Most Original and Best Cupcake Overall. I had tried many of these shops before, but there were many cupcake delivery services that were new to me.

As always, I enjoyed the red velvet from SuiseCakes and HotCakes Bakes, loved the super moist berry cupcakes from Sugar Jones and Polkatots and found the Lavender cupcake from Melli Belli desserts unusual and new.

Anyway, after tallying up the judges results and the picks from all the attendees, the following are this year's winners:

Best Traditional
1st: Susie Cakes: Red Velvet
2nd: Two Parts Sugar: Raspberry Red Velvet
3rd: Blue Cupcake: Chocolate

Best Original
1st: Polkatots: Dulce De Leche (which the LA Cupcakes MeetUp group got to try two weeks ago!)
2nd: Sugar Jones: Blackberries and Cream
3rd: Southern Girl: Sweet Potato Pie

Best Overall
1st: Polkatots: Dulce De Leche
2nd: Sugar Jones: Blackberries and Cream
3rd: Sugar Jones: Casanova's Kiss

Also, you can read more cupcake challenge coverage from the other judges at:

Now get ready for some photos or as I like to call it, cupcake porn. And if my camera could take a picture of itself it would reveal how sticky and dirty it got from my frosting licked fingers. I literally had to clean my camera off with a sponge when I got home.

A Soolip Wedding Event

Having spent all of 2008 planning my wedding, I'm going through a bit of withdrawal in 2009. I miss looking at pretty flowers, dainty decorations and glossy bridal magazines, but luckily I got my fill today when I took my engaged friend to Los Angeles' annual Soolip Wedding event, which is basically a local bridal show, but extremely classy and with a green focus.

I had to take photos of Vanilla Bakeshop's elegant fondant cake and cupcake tower:

Although it seems like a new trend instead of cakes or cupcakes though is having a candy buffet:

I also liked this silver place setting from Beautiful Day Wedding Planning:

Chocolate Afternoon Tea

Like chocolate? Like tea? Like me?

Well, then you'd love The Langham, Huntington Hotel & Spa in Pasadena's “Chocolate Afternoon Tea,” which just launched last weekend and will now run every Sunday. This extravagant tea features all the delights of a traditional high tea, but with a decidedly chocolate twist. So, guests can enjoy a selection of savory tea sandwiches, scones with Devonshire cream, fruit tarts, mousse torts and crème brûlées – all containing a different chocolate essence. Hungry yet? Well, there is also a chocolate fountain with plenty of treats to dip, including marshmallows. Besides their unlimited refills of fine tea (I get their Green Tea Passion) there are three selections of pure liquid chocolate and champagne! Seriously, it's my favorite luxury. Almost trumps a day at the spa. I also found out that in 1865, The Langham, London was Europe’s first grand hotel to serve afternoon tea and that later on Princess Diana used to frequent it, thus a true royal experience.

I actually took my mother and Raphael to their first afternoon tea there. My mom at first was complaining that she was hungry and wanted a real lunch, but was soon too stuffed to finish her scone and Raphael was originally grumbling about feeling out of place, soon look rather satisfied eating and drinking in the feminine setting.

Chocolate Afternoon Tea is served at The Langham on Sundays from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. in The Lobby Lounge, beginning March 22. Price is $59 and reservations are recommended. For those seeking a traditional tea experience without the chocolate extravaganza, which I also like, Langham’s Signature Afternoon Tea is served Thursday – Saturday from 1:00 – 4:00 p.m. at $39 per person. For those in Boston, Boston's Langham hotel also offers a Chocolate Tea, but it might be a little different, not sure.

Alright, get ready for a chocolate orgy of photos:

Inside Billy Bob Thornton's trailer

The other weekend, American Airlines gave me the opportunity to attend an event that they were sponsoring called Faces of our American Heroes, a fundraiser from the Young President's Organization to purchase iBOT’s for wounded veterans. What are iBots? Designed by the creator of the Segway, the iBOT is a motorized wheelchair that can go up stairs and do lots of other cool things to make life somewhat easier for these injured vets. Performing at the event was Billy Bob Thornton and his hillbilly band--The Boxmasters. Since I was attending the event as media, my colleague Kathleen thankfully came as my camerawoman to create some online videos of the overall night, speak with some soldiers, see the iBots up close and as a bonus, we were even told we’d have interview time with Billy Bob!

Although I’ve had the opportunity to interview quite a few celebs before, for some reason I was nervous about this one. It didn’t help that when I was researching him online, I came across the fact that he has OCD and a phobia of antique furniture and heavy silverware. Not that I'd be dining with him or inviting him to sit on a Louis XIV settee or anything, either way I was anxious and afraid I would stumble over my words when it came time to do the interview, instead I just stumbled through my intro, lol.

The big night arrived, I spoke with and was humbled by the injured soldiers and their families, was awed by the brilliance of the iBOT, spoke with an American Airlines pilot and pretty much froze outside in my little red dress. The only snag came once Billy Bob's manager arrived and we found out that she knew nothing about our promised interview with the actor, singer, writer and musician. I begged that I'd only ask two questions and promised that I'd keep them focused on the event and the band. I also agreed to speak with his main band members. Thankfully, after several anxious minutes she gave the OK, so our interview was back on, but it was being moved to inside his trailer. Not the ideal situation for shooting and setting up camera equipment, but pretty cool nonetheless.

Inside the plush and rented trailer there were surprisingly tons of people lingering about. We were shown into the bedroom area and since the guys would be sitting on the bed, my colleague had to stand half in and half out of the little bathroom with the camera held on her shoulder, as I leaned my hip up on the outside sink and vanity. First entered The Boxmaster's two main players, JD Andrew and Mike Butler. We chitchatted a bit about how long their set was going to be and stuff like that when finally a lean Billy Bob entered wearing a black suit, cowboy boots and a thin black tie. I instantly thought of Johnny Cash and later wasn't too surprised to hear that some of his songs were reminiscent of the country singer too.

In one hand he was smoking a cigarette the other held a green beer bottle, he then sat on the bed in between his two band members. We introduced ourselves, shook hands and I was struck by how much he oozed charm and how cool he seemed. In fact he reminded us of his powerful country-boy, cocky Presidential character in Love Actually. My questions were rather boring, but time was limited and I had already agreed to focus them on the band, their new album "Modbilly" (releasing on April 21) and their presence at the event. Everything went smoothly, Billy Bob cracked a few jokes and I kind of melted when he called me "baby" as he thanked me when we were leaving. As for their instrumental performance later on, I really enjoyed it, especially the fast paced country bluegrass beat and funny/explicit lyrics.

Interview with Billy:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKC1SE3B9YU

Video with the veterans, A&A and iBots:

Fox 4 News video on the iBot.

Red Carpet: I Love You, Man

For the premiere of I Love You, Man, which was on St. Patrick's Day, I was unfortunately stuck with the other dot com’s—-way at the end of the red carpet. Thus, I barely saw Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, which sucks because I had my questions all prepared. I was going to ask Paul Rudd if he’s ever thrown up on someone like his character does in the film, since I figured no one would ask him that and maybe some funny college story would be revealed. As for Jason, I was going to ask if he’s ever said I love you man to a guy friend before.

Alas, I did speak to some of the funny supporting characters like Jon Favreau, Joe Lo Truglio and Thomas Lennon (Reno 911). I also captured some footage of the red carpet attendees like Jamie Pressley (My Name is Earl) Jack Black, Lou Ferrigno, Ben Stiller and his wife Christine Taylor and parents Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. This premiere also had props from the film’s set along the red carpet pathway including furniture from “the man cave,” which was pretty cool. Once the press line packed up I lied out on the comfy couch briefly :)

Here's the resulting video that I did for the entertainment website, ShakeFire:

I Love You, Man releases on Friday, March 20th, it's the perfect mandate!

Candle burning tips: getting the most out of your candle

During the Pamper Me Fabulous event last week, I talked with a husband and wife team who were selling their hand-crafted luxury candles--Zensual, while I purchased their yummy smelling Asian Lychee Blossom candle, which burns for 90 hours.

I've blogged about soy candles before and how they burn longer and without emitting soot, but Rachel Evey at Zensual provided me with some other interesting candle tips that I wanted to share with everyone. To begin with, the best way to enjoy and extend the long-life of a candle begins with the first burn. It is important to leave the candle burning long enough to create a melt pool that goes across the entire candle to the glass edge. As soy candles have what is generally considered as a "melt memory," a full initial burn will help prevent future tunneling-- where the candle burns unevenly or straight down the center and eventually drowns out in its own melt pool. Most soy-based candles are designed to burn between 2-4 hours at a time.

Also, because the pure scent of a candle is released from this pool of melted wax, generally paying attention to the way in which your candle burns and taking some simple steps to correct any irregularities will prolong the life of your candle. These steps include, keeping your candle out of drafts, centering the wick after burning, and always trimming the wick to 1/4" before each use. As stated, drafts, un-centered wicks or untrimmed wicks not only cause the candle to burn irregularly and emit soot (even if soy), but also can cause a flame to enlarge, effectively incinerating away some of the beautiful fragrance.

Another interesting point that Rachel mentioned was that you don't have to have the same scented candle throughout your home and in fact, having different scents helps you to continue to smell them. After all, if the same scent is in each room you'll get desensitized to it, but if there is one scented candle in one room and a different scented candle in another room, your senses will reawaken and continue to smell each fragrance as you walk from room to room. This theory conviently worked out for me since I already have a vanilla soy candle in my bedroom and just bought this lychee one.

On another candle related note, I always liked the following proverb and think it's something more women and working professionals need to keep in mind:

A candle loses nothing by lighting another candle”

While You Were Sleeping

I've always been a light sleeper. So much so that I've been wearing an eye mask to bed since I was 12-years-old (yes, I got made fun of at sleepovers and at camp) and thanks to the noisy baseball guys that lived next to me in college, I started using ear plugs too (my poor husband).

Last week though, I saw an email about GLO to SLEEP, a sleep mask with four rows of photoluminescent ink lines inside of the eye pieces for a natural sleep aid that delivers a healthy night's sleep without sleeping pills. I was like, lights inside it? I use a sleep mask to block out the light, so I was skeptical, but also willing to try it especially since it comes with a 30-day money-back guarantee, including postage.

Basically, what you're supposed to do is hold the mask to a light for 30 seconds to charge the blue lights inside, put the mask on, breathe deeply and look at the lights, blink a few times, then close your eyes. The light strips actually weren't that bright and did emit more of a glow. The mask also blocked out all other light, cocooning my eyes. I'm not sure if it's a placebo effect or if it truly works, but it was rather calming and I had a lot more REM sleep my first night using it and when I'd wake up in the middle of the night, I'd quickly go right back to sleep. Due to the size of it and Velcro straps in the back, it's a bit bulkier than I'm used to sleeping with, but it also didn't fall off like my silky one some times does when I'm tossing and turning in the night.

Supposedly, the act of looking up and focusing on these blue "points of glo," clears the wearer's mind by converting disruptive Beta brain waves to calming Alpha waves and stimulates the body to produce natural melatonin. Also, the blue color of the ink does not inhibit the body's natural melatonin production. Honestly, I'm not sure what any of that means, but it makes me feel good thinking there is some sort of scene to all this. Either way, I'm going to continue using GLO to SLEEP and if I needed any other encouragement it seems Melanie Griffith is a fan (and look at the rock on her finger):

The mask retails for $49.95 via Amazon or DrugStore.com.

PS: this is my 700th post!

Pamper Me Fabulous (Again)

Early on Saturday morning, I once again attended the annual Pamper Me Fabulous event by The Fresh Events Company. This amazing women-only event brings together almost all the things girlfriends love to do: mini beauty and spa services from the best Los Angeles spas and salons, shopping for trendy beauty products, eating gourmet sweets and eats, sipping free drinks and scoring a Hollywood-style swag bag all under one swanky roof, the chic Vibiana in downtown LA. Oh, and 10% of all ticket sales to the event benefited Step Up Women's Network, which I'm also a member of. Thus, what more can you ask for?

I had my ticket weeks in advance, but when I heard my mother was coming out to visit me, I purchased her a ticket for the morning energize session too, so we both got to paper ourselves while spending some quality time together. Each VIP ticket gets you access to their VIP swag bag and two spa treatments, but you can purchase additional spa tickets for $30 each.

First, I tried a 20-minute laser teeth whitening from Pure White Teeth, which consisted of me putting a mouth guard in my mouth filled with some bleaching paste and keep my mouth open and jaw aimed at a warm blue light. I looked ridiculous and even drooled a bit, but apparently the process also made me two shades brighter in just this one short session. However, they advised me that for real results I should try one of their portable machines found at participating salons or spas and do two 45 minute sessions. I'm tempted since it's cheaper than going to a dentist and quicker than doing two weeks of daily white strips.

For my second treatment, I received a mini-facial from Lierac, the skin care line from Paris that is available at CVS Beauty stores. They did a detailed skin analysis and from that they then customized an indivdual skin prescription for me. The analysis part was a bit freaky though. I put my face into this booth with an ultraviolet light and in the mirror inside showed me a horrific image of my skin and that it was thirsty in some areas. If I wasn't motivated to put on night cream before and do a weekly scrub, I sure the hell am now. Yikes. I also plan to buy some of their products the next time I go to CVS pharmacy, especially their exfoliating mask.

My mother meanwhile received a hand massage and purchased goat milk soaps and lotion from Chivas Skin Care, which are handmade by a mother and daughter team. The goat milk supposedly moisturizes and nourishes your skin nicely. I even took home a bar of their original scented soap.

You'll be hearing more in future posts about some of the other vendors that I spoke with and the products that I tried.

Sneak Peek: I Love You, Man

Last night, I was able to see an advanced screening of I Love You, Man a new comedy coming out on March 20th starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel. I didn’t see the trailer, but simply hearing that both of those funny men were in a film together I knew that it was going to be funny. Then again, it could go completely the other way too. Luckily, this film IS funny. It’s not as hysterical as Forgetting Sarah Marshall and Tropic Thunder but there were many laugh out loud moments in the movie theater and many embarrassing moments too. Combine the funny talent with a screenplay and direction by John Hamburg (Along Came Polly, co-writer of Meet The Parents, Meet The Fockers and Zoolander) it’s hard not to make an enjoyable comedy.

The story centers on Paul Rudd’s character, Peter Klaven, who is a real estate agent that is selling Lou Ferrigno’s (The Hulk) home and who just got engaged to the woman of his dreams. When it comes time to pick groomsmen for his upcoming nuptials he soon discovers that although he has a lot of girlfriends he doesn’t have any male friend’s never mind once close enough to serve as his Best Man. After hearing his fiance’s friends concern over the fact that he doesn’t have his own personal life, Peter immediately sets on a series of awkward man-dates. Finally he meets Sydney Fife (Jason Segel) a quirky and painfully honest guy and the two quickly bond over a series of jam sessions to Rush. However, now that he has his guy friend it threatens to interfere with his relationship with his fiancé.

After being the funny sidekick for so long (The Baxter, Knocked Up, The 40 Year Old Virgin) it was great seeing Paul Rudd in a starring role and he does a great job playing the loveable awkward loser. Other actors include the awesome Jon Favreau and the sassy Jaime Pressly from TV's My Name is Earl.

My only complaint is that at times certain scenes dragged a bit and that it had a slow paced narrative overall. I also wasn’t a fan of Paul Rudd’s fiancé, played by The Offices Rashida Jones and I’m not sure if it was because of the character she played or because I don’t really know her and frankly was surprised they didn’t cast the part to a more popular actress.

I’ll have more for you all on I Love You, Man when I attend the red carpet premier on the 17th for Shakefire.com. If you have any suggestions regarding questions that I should ask the cast, do post them here. Would love to ask Paul Rudd about his Friends stint, but will have to keep it focused on the film.

Girlfriends Guide to Gaming Party

Last Friday I went to a very cool Girlfriends Guide to Gaming Party by Nintendo for their handheld DS system. Held in a photography studio in Hollywood, the party was pimped out with fun furniture and broken up into four different stations for each featured DS game--Mario Kart, Guitar Hero, Brain Age and Crosswords. There was also champagne, wine and appetizers and over 20 other girls to mingle with including my pal Katelin over at PrettySandyFeet.com and bloggers yourwishcake.com and Nanette.

Upon checking it at the party, each of us were given a charm bracelet and we recieved a charm after completing each station and trying out a different game. Below is the completed bracelet.

Photo by Katelin

I had never played a Nintendo DS before and actually had a LOT of fun doing so. My favorite was Mario Kart and playing against the different girls. It took me awhile to do okay on it, but eventually I managed to finish in 2nd place for one game. I was racing that fake kart for dear life and was hurting my thumbs in the process though, but it was worth it. I also embarrased myself at Guitar Hero, but again it was still a lot of fun. Raphael would enjoy that game more since he alerady loves it for the Wii.

With each new game played I started wanting a console for myself and was thinking if I could afford the $125 price tag and if so what color I'd get it in, lol. Alas, I lucked out because we were each given our own DS Lite system and the game brain age before we left. Score! I've since been bidding on eBay for Mario Kart, Guitar Hero and other games since. Should be fun for when I travel.

More photos from the gaming night are up on Flickr.

XIV in Hollywood with Gordon Ramsay & Jason Segel

At the end of last year, XIV (14th) opened on the Sunset Strip to much fan fare. It's labeled a high-concept new restaurant opened by San Francisco chef Michael Mina and has a cool outdoor terrace, making it a popular hangout as well. I finally went the other night for a friend's birthday party held out on the terrace. Raphael and I met at the bar earlier though and a couple of drinks, a small scallops appetizer and Kobe burger ($20) later our bill was already at an alarming $93 and we still had the night ahead of us, yikes.

While seated at the bar though, literally in the next stool over was Hell's Kitchen chef Gordon Ramsay in a blue plaid shirt. I've never watched the show until my uncle's restaurant unfortunately appeared on Kitchen Nightmares back in October (more here). So, Raphael went up to him and said our Uncle was on his show and Gordon in his British accent said, "Oh f&%$ Who is he?" I told him my uncle's name and he then cursed again saying "shit." lol. He then asked how he was doing and said to say hello. It was friendly and pretty funny.

Gordon's group was then seated to a table where they ate for a couple of hours, while we headed out to the terrace to join our party. Our tables happened to be seated next to actor Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Forgetting Sarah Marshall) who was wearing a cool brown leather bomber jacket. We were hanging out next to him for awhile when Raphael bravely went up to him and offered him a drink. We were introduced, I shook his hand, said my name was Tara he said his was Jason and then I commented that I liked his coat. He did a shy head bob and said thanks. Overall, he seemed like a cool laid back guy without the Hollywood pretense. He was also really tall in person. This was actually Raphael's second time seeing Jason (first time w/photos).

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