The Italian American Museum of Los Angeles hosted an exclusive media preview for the annual Taste of Italy fundraiser. The cicchetti cena (Venetian small-plates style dinner) was held in Hermosa Beach at Sosta Cucina, helmed by Executive Chef Luca Manderino. The cozy evening was a culinary treat featuring some of chef’s highlights. If this is any indication then the Taste event is sure to be a blast! Check out the gallery for some of the dinner action...

Mobile Passport will celebrate World Tourism Day on September 27, 2019 by offering its app for $9.99. For each upgrade to the Mobile Passport Plus paid app, $5 of that $9.99 will then be donated to nonprofit Tourism Cares' disaster recovery fund to support Hurricane Dorian recovery efforts. This will apply to all new Mobile Passport Plus purchases on Friday, Sept. 27's flash sale. Read on for next steps!

The Kaua’i tourism board hosted a press luncheon at Palm Restaurant to update media on the latest happenings on the Garden Island. The afternoon featured a few speakers and presentations over the course of a casual supper enjoyed together and blessed by one of the staff members. Kaua’i is the northernmost island and the oldest of the islands. It is the fourth largest and has a human heart shaped appearance on the map. 

Volunteers can help improve public lands around the country for the 26th annual National Public Lands Day (NPLD) on Saturday, September 28. More than 100,000 volunteers are expected to join in trail maintenance projects, park and river clean ups, tree planting activities, invasive species removal projects, as well as hikes and other fun activities. Events are in 49 states in local parks, state parks, battlefield parks and many iconic national parks, including Grand Canyon, Everglades, Mt. Rainier, Grand Teton, Zion, Joshua Tree, Shenandoah, Rocky Mountain and Yosemite. The Yosemite event even involves rappelling to remove trash from the edges of El Capitan and Mount Watkins. The day is a fee-free day for all national parks as well as many state and local parks.

Las Vegas is known for its shows, some more famous than others, but it’s a known fact that if you are headed to the Strip then that’s a top priority. Over the years I have watched a few shows during my visits including the Blue Man Group, a few Cirque de Soleil shows and then some. So I was plenty thrilled to be invited to a media preview of a performance by Xavier Mortimer, previously with Cirque but now a Las Vegas Strip headlining magician!

The 8th Annual Sunset & Dine Festival celebrating Hollywood’s eclectic neighborhood, a popular hub for restaurants, historic theaters, retail shops and entertainment studios, is coming up. Under the stars of Tinseltown, savor the unique flavors from Hollywood’s best eateries, including Cleo, Delicious Pizza, Farm Fresh To You, My/Mo Mochi Ice Cream, 25 degrees, Urban Masala, Intelligentsia Coffee, Rubies and Diamonds, and Wood & Vine, among others and enjoy variety of entertainment curated by Amoeba Music.
 
Where: Columbia Square Parking Lot, 1538 N Centro Ave, Los Angeles CA
When: Thursday, September 26, 2019 from 6-9 p.m.
Ticket Price: $50 available for purchase here
 
Tickets are available now through September 26, 2019. General Admission tickets are $50 which include food, beverages and entertainment. Children under 12 can attend free of charge. Proceeds from the event will benefit The Center at Blessed Sacrament, a nonprofit dedicated to ending isolation and homelessness in Hollywood by offering evidence-based wellness programs, building community, and connecting people to housing. See you there! 

Enter the “'One Dish, One Story' Presented by BBVA” contest for a chance to win a trip to Spain to shadow the legendary Roca Brothers at their world-renowned restaurant - El Celler de Can Roca - and 2 tickets to the sold out BBVA Spanish Masters Dinner on October 3 at L.A. LIVE. Chefs who have confirmed attendance and will be cooking at the exclusive event include Jamie Bissonnette, Seamus Mullen, Holly Jivinand Culinary Emcee Ellen Bennet.

Chef Pano Karatassos of Buckhead Life Restaurant Group based in Atlanta, Georgia was in Los Angeles for his new cookbook, Modern Greek Cooking: 100 Recipes for Meze, Main Dishes, and Desserts, fresh from his win on Beating Bobby Flay on The Food Network. He also launched a new line of products that he sourced from Greece – olive oil, feta, olives and greek honey. They all have a story and he personally traveled to each city in Greece to source the products. He held a private dinner on the occasion at Otium in Los Angeles.

My introduction to Autry happened almost more than a year or two ago I believe when I first attended a press event there and made a mental note to return but never did until yesterday. Unfortunately they didn’t have free entry on Tuesdays anymore as mentioned on their website but luckily the fee was only $14 so I didn’t have to turn back after having driven over to spend the day there. This isn’t a very large space to cover in a day but if your interested are in western history then you might spend a lot of time in just that area. Thankfully that’s their permanent exhibit so you can back often if you live in the vicinity.