Congratulations to all of us for surviving this year! I hope this year has taught you much, as it has done for me, and that we all keep learning and keep trying to improve ourselves. I don’t know what next year will bring us but I am grateful to have made it through the new year and am looking forward to 2021!
1) Randy’s Donuts (Pasadena, CA) - @dogandaduck
Randy’s Donuts invited me to check out their seasonal donuts two times over the past few months. For October, they were promoting the Pumpkin Cake Donuts for National Pumpkin Month. I also got to try a few other donuts, such as the Glaze Raised, Butter Crumb Raised, Matcha Tea Raised, Pink Raised with Sprinkles, Nutella Raised, Blueberry Iced Cake, Cinnamon Crumb Cake, Chocolate Raised w/ Coconut, and Chocolate Raised Donuts.
For December, they were promoting Ugly Christmas Sweater Donuts. I added in a Red Velvet Cake with Ganache Donut to add to my festive photos!
2) Keyks (Los Angeles, CA)
I got to check out Keyks at Filled Market twice over the past few months as well, to check out their seasonal Keyks, which are Twinkles but in different flavors, which I think is a great concept! In October, I got to try the Fall Five Pack, which included the Truffle Honey Pumpkin, Food for the Gods, Candy Apple Popcorn, German Chocolate, and Smores Keyks. I also got to try the Halo Halo Pack, which had the Jackfruit, Pandan Coconut and Ube Keyks.
In December, Keyks was promoting the Ho Ho Ho Holiday 5 Keyk Pack, which had the Gingerbread, Orange Cranberry Pistachio, Mint Cookies & Cream, Food for the Gods, and Pumpkin Eggnog Keyks. They also expanded the menu to include Pandan Waffles & Chicken, Chicken Adobo Pop Tarts, Sinigang Pandan Chicken Sammi, and Fries (in BBQ, Sour Cream and Cheese).
3) Calajo Catering (Los Angeles, CA)
While I visited Filled Market, Calajo Catering also invited me to check out their offerings two times over the past few months. In October, they shared with me their Ube Macarons, Longanisa Milk Bun, Ube Halaya Milk Bun, Ube Rice Cereal Bar, Ube Cheesecake Bar and Chicken Empanada.
In December, they had also expanded their menu to include drinks and breakfast items: Ube Horchata, Tito Arnold, All-Day Longanisa Breakfast, and Fried Crab & Spam Musubi. For Christmastime, they were promoting their Holiday Gift Box, which came with Chai Tea Bread, Florentine Lace Cookies, Butter Spritz Cookies, Food for the Gods, and Peppermint Bark. I have enjoyed all of their menu items so far and am excited they expanded their menu recently!
4) Shlap Muan (Long Beach, CA) - @dangit.all
I had visited Shlap Muan during their pop-up events, and got invited back for the media event. I enjoyed trying their Cambodian flavored wings and breakfast items. Pictured here are the Cambodian Dirt and Pekang flavored wings. Shlap Muan also gave me some of their Cambodian Dirt seasoning to take home, and so far I have tried adding the seasoning into some popcorn and incorporating it into a snack mix and everything tasted pretty good!
5) Limericks Tavern (Alhambra, CA)
Limericks Tavern knew I had been wanting to get my hands on some Scotch Eggs, and I had failed to obtain them twice recently, so they called me as soon as they had some ready and treated me to a few Scotch Eggs! It was fun to bring them home and photograph them and enjoy!
6) Slaters 50/50 (Pasadena, CA) - @ajenda_pr
Slaters 50/50 wanted me to celebrate Thanksgiving early with their Thanksgiving Burger and Pumpkin Pie Milkshake. The Thanksgiving Burger was made with a turkey patty, brioche stuffing, turkey gravy, cranberry sauce, and garlic & sage aioli on a honey wheat bun. The Pumpkin Pie Milkshake was made with a vanilla ice cream base, pumpkin puree, crumbled graham cracker crust, whipped cream, caramel, cinnamon, and a slice of pumpkin pie on top! It was super festive! I also ordered a Lone Star Burger and one of my favorite items: the Slater’s Vampire Dip!
7) TOUS les JOURS (Cerritos, CA)
TOUS les JOURS wanted me to help promote one of their Thanksgiving seasonal cakes, the Maple Almond Pound Cake, which was a lightly sweetened almond pound cake, topped with maple flavored syrup and toasted almond bites, accentuated with edible sugar fall leaves. It was so cute to photograph and delicious to eat!
8) Go Cakes (San Marino, CA) - @lastname.ip
I had admired the cakes at Go Cakes for a while and was excited that my friend invited me to go try them out. She gave me one of each and everything was lightly sweet, just the way I like it. I got to try the Warm Puffy, Strawberry Shortcake, Pumpkin Pie, “Fried Chicken/Turkey Leg" Cream Puffs, Hazelnut Cake, Matcha Tart, Mixed Fruit Tart, Custard Cheesecake, Tiramisu Pie, and Taro Cheesecake. All of the cakes were so yummy and beautifully made!
9) Ohana Hawaiian (Rosemead, CA)
Ohana Hawaiian, a small family business, reached out to me as they wanted to promote their pre-ordered meals. These meals would be available for pickup in the San Gabriel Valley, Rancho Cucamonga, and Orange County areas. I got to try the Ahi Tuna Poke and Luau Hawaiian Chicken Plate. My favorite item was the poke!
10) Factory Tea Bar (San Gabriel, CA)
Factory Tea Bar wanted me to promote the items at the location near USC but since I live closer to the San Gabriel one and they had the same items on the menu, I visited the San Gabriel location and helped promote a few popular items. We got the Elote Fries, BBQ Flavored Popcorn Chicken, Salted Egg Chips, Sour Cream & Onion Flavored Popcorn Chicken, Matcha Latte, Chamango and Dirty Nom Nom. It was awesome to get a few of my favorite items as well as try items I hadn’t tried before!
11) Laksa in LA (Rowland Heights, CA) - @monsterlovetoeat
Laksa in LA is a small business selling laksa, a Malaysian curry noodle soup with a black pork chashu, operating from Rowland Heights for pick-up. I loved how well it was packaged and was impressed with the variety of toppings it came with. It was also very easy to prepare; I just heated up the soup, added in the noodles and toppings, and that was it!
12) Donia Begonia Kitchen (Los Angeles, CA)
I have tried the flavored chicharrones from Donia Begonia Kitchen a few times, and I love the Lemon Pepper and Buffalo flavors so far! During one of my visits to the Filled Market, they had me try their new item, Not-cho Rinds, which I thought was an awesome snack concept!
13) Tim’s Thai Tea/Mag’s Matamis (Los Angeles, CA) - @thinhobimarketing
The final collaboration of the year was also at Filled Market, where I got to try drinks from Tim’s Thai Tea and food/desserts from Mag’s Matamis. We got the Thai Iced Tea, Thai Iced Coffee, Mais Con Yelo, Halo Halo, Lobster Balls, and Red Hot Dogs. It was awesome seeing all that they offered!
Other Collaborations:
I got to try this cool DIY boba kit from Boba at Home, which is a subscription box that allows you to make boba milk tea at home. I was happy to have finally succeeded at making this and while the splashes made a mess, the final image was worth it!
I love drinking CALPICO so much that when Powerhouse Communications reached out to me, I was happy to help promote it! CALPICO is a refreshing and non-carbonated beverage that comes in mango, strawberry, white peach, lychee, and original citrus flavors. It can be enjoyed on its own or it can be made into a fruity mocktail, like I did here.