Ambitious Deliciousness – Dont Eat Lazy.

Congratulations to the Giants on their superbowl win! Woot woot! Now, here’s your chance to meet one of the Giants players!

Check out these fun events that are happening this week at Macy’s in Herald Square:

Wednesday, 2/8: Meet New York Giants Champ, Jason Pierre-Paul!

Image courtesy of Macy’s

Be one of the first 300 customers to make a $50 licensed merchandise purchase, beginning at store opening and get your photo taken with JPP beginning at 6 pm on the Men’s Lower Level.

Thursday, 2/9: Valentine’s Day Cooking Demonstration with Johnny Izzini

Image courtesy of Macy’s

Johnny Iuzzini is the head judge of Bravo’s “Top Chef; Just Desserts” and author of Dessert Fourplay: Sweet Quartets From a Four-Star Pastry Chef. Chef Iuzzini spent the past seven years as Executive Pastry Chef at Jean-Georges.

Planning a romantic meal with your special someone? Sweeten the deal and join Chef Johnny Iuzzini for a free Valentine’s Day cooking demo at 1 p.m. in the Cellar Kitchen as he demos and shares his favorite pastry recipes.

Back in July, I attended a great event by Harry & David. I’m writing about it now since the event was centered around their Holiday Collection!

There was a cocktail reception, along with a cooking demonstration. It was fun to see what dishes we could cook with some of their products! Harry & David consistently dishes out good quality products, not to mention tasty. I can’t think of anyone who would not want to receive delicious treats from them!

This beauty was raffled off. Sadly, I did not win!

At the event, we tasted the following dishes made with Harry & David products: seared lamb, butter poached shrimp, pulled pork sandwiches and grilled cheese!

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I attended another Hellman’s Mayo event (no Bobby Flay or aunt Becky this time) back in September. The event was set up like an abbreviated version of Iron Chef, calling the event space “chicken stadium” (get it?) while three chefs compete for the title.

Each celebrity guest made a dish using chicken and a secret ingredient: Hellman’s mayo!

Photo courtesy of Hellman’s

Sissy Biggers, Mark Consuelos, and Tim Love competed in the challenge. We got to taste the finished dishes and vote on our favorite! Click below to find out whose dish won the audience vote!

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A couple of weeks ago, I was invited to attend a press event hosted by Nescafe, featuring Nescafe Dolce Gusto coffee machines. The event was held at Almond Restaurant, a spacious, rustic restaurant with a raw bar. I enjoyed a gut busting meal with fellow food bloggers and also tried out the coffee!

(Disclaimer: I had some lighting issues so these are the best photos I have. )

As a part of their “Foodie Feed Up” tour, Nescafe Dolce Gusto held events in Cleveland, New York City, Tampa, Chicago, Seattle, Houston, LA and Denver. I have an actual espresso machine that I rarely use (mostly because it’s so big), so I was excited to try out a smaller espresso maker. To make a latte, all you do is add water, insert 2 capsules of coffee and 1 capsule of milk – then you have a latte!

Before I get to the coffee, let me tell you about the food we had at the event.

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Have you watched Kimchi Chronicles on PBS? The show features people eating delicious food by traveling through various parts of Korea. I wish I can be on the show too (if you can make this happen, call me please.)

Marja Vongerichten is the host of Kimchi Chronicles. She was born to a African-American father and a Korean mother in Korea, then adopted by an American couple. She was born in Uijenogbu, a city with many U.S. and Korean military bases, which also happens to be where I lived as a child. Marja reconnected with her birth mother (who now lives in Brooklyn, of all places), and rediscovered her love for Korean food.

A recap of the event and a Kimchi Chronicles cookbook giveaway, after the jump!

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In the wise words of Forrest Gump: ”Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you’re gonna get.”

Fortunately for me, this box of chocolates were not mysterious at all. I was invited to a press event at La Maison Du Chocolat to taste their summer collection of goodies. I sampled their chocolate, macarons, sorbet, and the most amazing cake!

I tasted the chocolate in order, from light to dark, with a quick rinsing of my palette between each piece, in true wine tasting or coffee tasting fashion. This was certainly a nice change of pace from my usual act of scarfing down as many chocolate pieces as I possibly can. =)

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I had the privilege of attending Top 10 Pastry Chef Awards presented by Dessert Professional Magazine (did you know that there was a dessert professional magazine? It’s ok, me neither). Needless to say,  Top 10 pastry chefs in America in one room = crazy amount of amazing desserts.

Chef Antonio Bachour (Quattro- New York, NY & Solea – Miami, FL): Panna Cotta with peach sorbet, morello cherry and peach pearl, cherry gel sheet and cellophane of sugar

During this event, I actually started wishing that I could grow another stomach on the spot.  I was overwhelmed by all the desserts and after a while, couldn’t eat another bite. I wished I could take some home!

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If you work in NYC, you’ve most likely visited a website called Midtown Lunch, whether it was to read an article about the latest Department of Health closings, the newest hot spot, or where to go for a delicious lunch under $10.

I first started reading the site back in 2007, before I even had a blog. Through the forum and events, I’ve been fortunate enough to meet some of the people behind the website. In honor of the website’s 5th birthday, Zach (founder) and crew threw one delicious party with a bunch of food trucks and drinks! Happy Birthday, Midtown Lunch!

Read below to find out what I ate.

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I had the privilege of attending an event that was held at the allmenus.com offices here in NYC. We had pizza, wings, sandwiches, pasta salad, taquitos, and burgers from some of the participating restaurants, as well as a chance to mingle with other bloggers.

The food reminded me of the good ‘ol days of college life. We’d order pizza and wings at 3 am because we had to “study all night”, and truth be told, we really meant to stay up all night to study. But let’s face it – for me, food at 3 am –>food coma –> sleeping til the next morning. (D’oh).

While I hold fast to the “Don’t Eat Lazy” philosophy, every once in a blue moon, I’ll avoid looking for the perfect ingredients just for one meal and order in. That’s when websites like this one comes in handy!

Read more to see pictures of what we ate at the event, and to find out what I’m giving away!

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Disclaimer: this is not a April fools post. It happened for real.

On March 11, 2011, I had the pleasure of attending a taping of the Martha Stewart show, thanks to my friend Evie, who had scored tickets! You don’t get to choose the theme when you sign up for tickets, but they did tell us that the theme of the show was spring weddings. Evie, her mom, and her friend Karen headed out to Chelsea for a 12:30 pm taping of the show. We were all told to wear bright colors and also to dress up because “Martha loves bright colors.”

Can you find me? (Photo courtesy of Martha Stewart Show Fanpage)

We weren’t allowed to take photos during taping – just before and after – so I snapped as many shots as I could. I felt like a tourist! Before I get to the contents of the goodie bag, let me show you the set, and share a little bit about my experience.

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