Happy 2021! I cannot believe it has already been over a year since the start of the pandemic! I am grateful that vaccines are becoming more available, everyone still needs to keep their masks on, stay socially distanced and get vaccinated when it’s their turn. I just hope we all hang in there, as we have a long way to go. I feel the same way too with all of these tragic AAPI attacks and other acts of racism throughout the community. We all need to stay vigilant and protect ourselves. Sending positive vibes to you all! I wanted to kick off my first blog post of 2021 with a recap of media events and collaborations from the first few months of this year.
1) Dog Haus (Alhambra, CA) - @sliquemedia
Dog Haus partnered up with Sam the Cooking Guy to create the Mr. Miyagi, which was a deep-fried beef dog topped with mayo, teriyaki sauce, caramelized onions, tempura crumbles and wasabi furikake, and served on grilled King's Hawaiian rolls. Through the end of March, $1 of the purchase price for each Mr. Miyagi sold benefited No Kid Hungry. What a great cause!
2) Vitacane (Alhambra, CA) - @calvindhang
I had been a big fan of Vitacane ever since I first tried their sugarcane juices last year. I was impressed with their drink menu as well as their generous acai bowls! For this visit, I got my favorite drink, the Fire Dragon, and we got two Acai Bowls with a variety of bases. I think we got to try each base that day! It was delicious and I loved that we could combine as many bases as we wanted, and that toppings were unlimited!
3) Keyks (Los Angeles, CA)
Keyks reached out to me to share another festive menu: their Valentine’s Day menu! Pictured are the Rose Lychee Trifle, Red Velvet Raspberry Chocolate Trifle, Mexican Hot Chocolate Keyk, and Strawberry Champagne Keyk. I loved how unique each item was. They were so delicious and adorable to photograph!
4) My Delight Cupcakery (Ontario, CA)
My visit to My Delight Cupcakery was a long time coming, as I had been communicating with the manager for over a year, but luckily everything worked out and I was sent home with so many beautiful cupcakes and yummy treats to photograph just in time for Valentine’s Day! Pictured are the Vanilla, Vegan Strawberry Horchata, Pineapple Upside Down, Gluten Free Chocolate Caramel Turtle, Strawberry Pop Tart, Raspberry Cheesecake, and Chocolate Covered Strawberry Cupcakes. They also gave me a Gingerbread Wookie Cookie and Chocolate Covered Strawberries.
5) Randy’s Donuts (Pasadena, CA) - @dogandaduck
Randy’s Donuts also had seasonal treats for February. They were serving Coffee Donuts for the entire month of February, and Valentine's Day Donuts through Valentine’s Day. I love anything with sprinkles, and thought the Valentine’s Day Donuts were so cute! Of course, they all paired so perfectly with my cold brew!
I got invited a second time to check out the Easter Donuts! These donuts were so adorable and festive, and they were topped with rabbit peeps, M&Ms and sprinkles. I had so much fun styling this shot!
6) The Pie Hole (Pasadena, CA) - @dogandaduck
March 14 was Pi Day and The Pie Hole was celebrating with some specials, including their Lonely Pie, Chocolate Brownie Pies (topped with the pi sign), and pie holes. While I didn’t go on March 14, I got to take home a few slices of pies to try out. Pictured are the Cereal Killer and Salted Honey Custard Pies.
7) Sweetfin (Los Angeles, CA) - @the_defiant_
I had never tried Sweetfin before and I was very impressed with their menu, especially with their Signature Bowls. Pictured are the Truffled Yuzu Albacore Bowl, Spicy Tuna Bowl, and Citrus Chamomile Tea. What was unique about these bowls was the rice used in them! The Truffled Yuzu Albacore Bowl had purple rice in it, and the Spicy Tuna Bowl had bamboo rice in it.
8) Rike (Los Angeles, CA)
I am such a fan of bento boxes, and I was so excited to check out Rike and to help promote their bento boxes. I tried the Japanese Fried Chicken Special Combo, which came with fried chicken with lime, mashed kabocha (winter squash) with trail mix, kale salad, spicy yaki onirigi, and fresh squeezed orange juice! The Kabocha was so good, and I loved that they used blood orange for the juice! They also had a Vegan Combo option.
9) Ike’s Love and Sandwiches (Burbank, CA) - @dogandaduck
Ike’s Love & Sandwiches was celebrating National Sauce Month and wanted to highlight their iconic Dirty Sauce, a creamy and garlicky aioli sauce. I had no idea that the sauce was baked into the bread of all of their sandwiches. I got the Jim Rome and Paul Reubens and of course I paired them with Dutch Crunch bread!
10) Melo Melo (San Gabriel, CA)
Melo Melo invited me to check out their desserts and I was pretty impressed with their offerings. I thought the desserts were delicious, light and refreshing. I got the Mango Jelly, Strawberry Jelly, Dragon Fruit Jelly, and Purple Yam Jelly to try, and I love how cute the jars were!
Other Collaborations:
Doritos, Frito Lay and Mavrck wanted to share with us that Doritos 3D Crunch was back! It gave me a flashback to the old laundromat commercial I saw in the 90s! We received an influencer kit with Chili Cheese Nacho flavored chips, a T-shirt, and red suspenders, like the ones Steve Urkel wore in “Family Matters”. I loved how crunchy and flavorful they were and I definitely went to Ralphs to buy both flavors: Chili Cheese Nacho and Spicy Ranch!
The Spicy Mamas wanted me to check out their chili oil, and I had heard of this brand from seeing it displayed at Mexicali Taco & Co in San Gabriel, CA. It went so well with Dan Dan Noodles I made, as well as other food items like dumplings, eggs, rice, etc. The chili oil came in Classic Spice, Killer Spice, and Vegan. I have tried the Classic so far, and that one was already very spicy to me!
People’s Choice Beef Jerky reached out to me and offered to send me a Jerky Gram to try. I chose the Sweety Gram because I love sweet jerky. The Sweety Gram came with Teriyaki, Orange Honey Teriyaki, and Garlic Ginger, which I felt was a good mix of both savory and sweet flavors. I thought a Jerky Gram was a great idea, just so the recipient can try a little bit of each flavor, depending on what they feel like trying!
I had the opportunity to do a photoshoot for Factory Tea Bar to help promote their 10 new combos. These combos were curated by the staff of customer favorites. One of my favorite combos to get is the Dirty Nom Nom with Popcorn Chicken. Some other customer favorites included the elote fries, egg rolls, flavored popcorn chicken, flavored fries, and salted egg yolk chips!
Pear’s Snacks and Discover Ohana wanted to share some awesome snacks with me. I was very impressed with the variety of flavors they packed into each snack! Pictured are the Sugar Cookie Confetti Cashews, Maple Bacon Cashews, Memphis Style BBQ Cashews, Maple Cinnamon Apple Walnuts, Salted Caramel Churro Inspired Almonds, and Everything Bagel Cashews. My favorite was the Maple Bacon Cashews!
Vevan Foods and Feedfeed wanted to share with me the Vevan Stacks Packs, which included Ched-Melts and P’jack-Melts. I loved that Vevan products were dairy free and melted so easily. I came up with a recipe featuring both flavors; I turned the Ched-Melts into a queso and I included it along with the P’jack-Melts in a vegan-themed charcuterie board. Check out my recipe here: https://thefeedfeed.com/nomsandbeyond/queso.
Loops and Wales and Heartbeat wanted me to try out their fun socks, perfect for any occasion. They had a great selection of food themed socks, including coffee, tacos, margaritas, pizza, etc, and fun designs like dinosaurs, sports, and plants! My cat couldn’t help but be part of our cozy set-up!
Plants.com and Mavrck wanted to share about their herb collection and promote their flexible delivery options for herbs delivered fresh from the greenhouse. They also wanted me to come up with a recipe to promote cooking with plants, so they sent me a Mini Herb Garden Trio (with Mint, Oregano, and Rosemary) and Parsley Plant. I made a refreshing Grapefruit Mint Mojito. You can find the recipe here.
Ellenos Real Greek Yogurt was promoting their latest flavor, Brownie Batter, available for a limited time. I had not tried their yogurt since my last visit to Seattle, when I visited their shop at Pike Place Market. I was happy Ellenos shared all these awesome flavors with me, including Marionberry, Plain, Passion Fruit, and Lemon Curd.