October, 2012

This month food blogger and recent law school grad Sarah Woo shares the many tastes and sights as she travels through Spain. Here are her photos of some of her most memorable meals so far.

For her full story on her food adventures in Spain go to her delicious food blog at www.winnercelebrationparty.com 

Excerpts from Sarah's blog: "I watched carefully as Oscar, the owner and my waiter, held a kettle of mint tea high in the air, pouring the tea into a glass, pouring the tea back into the kettle,

and repeating the process several times. Para mezclar, he said."

"I dropped into a chair in a nondescript place where a few Spanish men were chatting with the female owner behind the bar. She walked me over to the bar and showed me some of the hot tapas available: Albondigas, mushrooms, pork in tomato sauce. I got it all, with some cheap white wine. It was a perfect meal-the closest I’ve felt to “homemade” since coming to Spain."

 The best albondigas dish Sarah had ever tasted was at this Tapas bar in Spain. A perfect meal on a rainy day.

 For more of Sarah's travels in Spain go to her official website: www.winnercelebrationparty.com
 Sarah also is a contributing food writer for www.seriouseats.com

Hot Mint Tea with Fresh Mint in Arcos, Spain  Photo by Sarah Woo 

Best...

Manu Narayan Photo by Lia Chang

After much-acclaimed success with Varli Magazine, the Varli Food Festival, and the Varli Cook-Off, the Varli brand continues to expand its reach with the first annual Varli Culinary Awards on November 15, 2012, at The Altman Building, 135 W. 18th St. in New York.

The evening will be hosted by internationally acclaimed Master Chef Sanjeev Kapoor, along with Bombay Dream star Manu Narayan (The Love Guru), fresh from his electrifying turn as Richard Roma in La Jolla Playhouse’s revival of Glengarry Glen Ross, and Pooja Kumar (Vishwaroop, Man on A Ledge).

Vikas Khanna (Photo by Lia Chang)

The highly esteemed panel of judges includes celebrity judges, renowned food correspondents, and culinary experts such as Vikas Khanna, Jehangir Mehta, Monica Bhide, Rajesh Bhardwaj, Prasad Chirnomula, Hari Nayak.

This revolutionary concept will be the first global awards event honoring the best culinary talent in an array of categories related to Indian cuisine. “It was time to give credit where credit’s due. We really wanted to recognize and applaud the contributions and amazing achievements of Indian chefs, restaurateurs, and key influencers on the international culinary stage,” says Varli Singh, founder of the Varli brand.

In continuation of Varli’s mission to universally promote Indian cuisine, contestants spaning the U.S., India, Middle East, and Europe will compete in numerous categories including “Best Chef...

PBS program Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables and Traditions - a Chinese New Year is dedicated to chef, author, and founder of Wok Wiz tours Shirley Fong-Torres who passed away of leukemia after a brief illness in June, 2011. 

The program filmed the host, TV chef, author and restauranteur Lidia Bastianich with Shirley Fong-Torres walking through San Francisco's Chinatown and celebrating the Chinese New Year with a dinner at Shirley's home in the San Francisco Bay Area.

It was one of Shirley's last television appearances. Shirley's brother, author and broadaster Ben Fong-Torres also makes an appearance in the program.

Lidia Celebrates America: Holiday Tables and Traditions - a Chinese New Year is the first in a series of specials coming to PBS. 

The PBS special featuring Shirley Fong-Torres aired on December 20, 2011 nationally and continues to be broadcast on future television schedules. 

Check your local PBS listings for new airing dates of this special.

In Lidia Celebrates America, host Lidia Bastianich embarks on four holiday adventures:

A Chinese New Year

An Italian Christmas Eve 

A Mexican-American Christmas Day 

A Passover Seder

The series explores the American immigrant experience through the revelry of the holidays. In future specials scheduled for broadcast in 2012, Lidia will feature a variety of tasty ethnic celebrations, including weddings, rites of passage, and celebrations of independence.

As viewers...

Columbus, Ohio

Friday November 9, 2012 renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz will have a conversation with Rolling Stone's co-founder, publisher, and editor Jann S. Wenner at the Wexner Center for the Arts Mershon Auditorium in Columbus, Ohio.

Their collaboration at Rolling Stone in the 1970s is legendary. Their subsequent—and independent—roles are also legendary as interpreters and shapers of the social, cultural, and political history of America. This event is part of a public celebration of the prestigious Wexner Prize which will be presented in a ceremony to Ms. Leibovitz on Saturday November 10. 

Annie Leibovitz Photo by Nick Rogers courtesy of Leibovitz Studio © 2012 

Annie Leibovitz is the 2012 recipient of the prestigious Wexner Prize which recognizes an artist whose work reflects exceptional innovation and the highest standards of artistic quality and integrity.  

A major presentation of work of more than 200 photographs by Annie Leibovitz is on view now through December 30, 2012 at the Wexner Center for the Arts on the Ohio State University campus in Columbus, Ohio.

The Wexner Center is the first institution to be able to exhibit the complete "Master Set" which is a collection of 156 photographs personally selected by Annie Leibovitz. The exhibition will include photographs from her recent book "Pilgrimage," a project featuring interiors, landscapes and talismanic objects attached to historical figures...

If you know Rain, BoA (shown left), and Sistar, then you already know K-Pop, Korea’s contemporary pop music and its artists.

K-Pop music is one of the fastest growing music genres in the world, and along with Korea’s popular TV drama serials, films and comic books are a growing source of export revenue for Korea.  

The growing global fan base of Korea's entertainment and cultural offerings, known as "Hallyu" or the "Korean Wave" feels more like a tidal wave in some countries. In France, for example, fans mostly in their youth sold out a concert in Paris reportedly in fifteen minutes. Several hundred fans who missed out on tickets held a rally and danced to K-Pop music in front of the Louvre Museum campaigning for a second concert. They got their wish for a second concert which also sold out in minutes. Aflash mob as witnessed by this YouTube video shows hundreds of fans from all ethnicities crowding the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris last June, 2011 to welcome their favorite K-Pop artists. (image right)

On December 31, 2011 Korea's Culture, Sports and Tourism Minister Choe Kwang-shik announced a 2012 policy to expand support of Hallyu, to help keep the wave of Korean pop culture surging across its borders. The Korean government also hopes to attract more Hallyu fans into the areas of food, tourism, fashion and other cultural and entertainment offerings.

Leaders from Hollywood and S. Korea’s entertainment industry and academia convened in...