Giveaway: LA County Fair Tickets + Wine Tasting Vouchers!

As you may know, the Los Angeles County Fair kicks off this weekend!

Their PR contacted me to do a giveaway so I'm giving away a PAIR of tickets to the LA County Fair along with some wine tasting vouchers you can use to sample some of the winners of the LA International Wine & Spirits awards.

Besides the usual fair foods (like the bacon-wrapped oreos and deep-fried everything) the food trucks will also be coming to the Fair to keep you sated between the rodeo and circus shows.

Here's how you can enter:

1. Leave a comment below with your name and email address.
2. Get an extra entry by "liking" my Facebook page. If you already have, then you'd automatically get the extra entry.

Since the Fair will start this weekend and we want to get you the tickets as soon as possible, you have until midnight on Sunday, September 5 to enter. Good luck!

September: Upcoming Events!

Thursday, September 2-Sunday, September 5, 2010. Taste of Beverly Hills

This Beverly Hills' weekend extravaganza kicks off with a party on Thursday followed "sessions" starting Friday night. Famous chefs from around the country will be doing demos including Art Smith, Michel Nischan, and of course all the famous local chefs you can think of. Mixology? Brunch? Wine? Choose the right session for you by studying their full schedule.
Tickets for each session is pretty expensive starting at $135 and a day pass starts from $185, but luckily you can get 50% off tickets to The Art of Brunch on Sunday via Goldstar. There is also buy-1-get-1 deal for the BBQ on the Hills on Sunday night.

Thursday, September 2, 2010. FREE Turkey Burgers

Jennie-O Turkey is hosting a Turkey Burger pop-up restaurant and is giving away free turkey burgers to remind people of this leaner alternative to beef burgers (turkey burgers have 10 g less fat and 100 fewer calories than typical beef burgers). The eastsiders get the goods this time, as this is happening in El Monte.
11am-3pm. 11655 Valley Blvd, El Monte, CA

Saturday, September 4, 2010-Sunday, October 3, 2010. LA County Fair

The LA County Fair kicks off this weekend also. For this one you should expect things like deep fried Klondike bars and chocolate-covered, bacon-wrapped Oreos, but if those things turn you off you can go for steamed artichoke. Not to leave you dry, you can also sip on the winners of this year's Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Awards. I'm looking forward to Esmeralda's Traveling Circus myself. Trapeze lessons, anyone?
Wed-Sun (hours vary). Pomona Fairplex, 1101 W. McKinley Ave., Pomona, CA 91768

Sunday, September 5, 2010. LA Times Food & Wine Fest

It's LA Times' first food festival. Not only will there be food from LA's best chefs (including Ludo Lefebvre, Suzanne Goin, Jon Shook and Vinny Dotolo, etc) the festival will also feature live performance by She & Him and Angela McCluskey. There will be a VIP-only area with cheese and sake tasting with the Cheese Impresario and a cooking challenge with Michael Voltaggio, but alas, the VIP tickets are sold out.
Thanks to Goldstar, you can now get 50% off non-VIP tickets to this event.
12-8PM. Paramount Studios, Hollywood.

Thursday, September 9, 2010. Taste of FPAC

This is the kickoff reception for the 19th annual Festival of Philippine Arts & Culture.
The event will feature The Manila Machine, SoCal’s first Filipino food truck and more food from Chef Guerrero, owner of The Oinkster. You can read Pleasure Palate's post for the full menu. Tickets are $50 and includes all food. Beer will be available for purchase. Proceeds benefit The Association for the Advancement of Filipino American Arts and Culture, also known as FilAm ARTS. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Nerissa Silao at nerissa@filamarts.org.
6-10 PM. Oinkster. 2005 Colorado Boulevard, Eagle Rock, CA 90041

Wednesday, September 15, 2010. In the Kitchen with Neal Fraser

Los Angeles Magazine is hosting another culinary demonstration at Snyder Diamond, this time featuring chef Neal Fraser of Grace and BLD. The night will start with some appetizers from the Snyder Diamond's chef. Chef Fraser will show you how to cook two dishes:
Entrée: Sautéed Day Boat Scallop aged goat cheese risotto and peas
Dessert: Vanilla Panna Cotta, market berries, salted caramel
Everything will be paired with wine by LearnAboutWine.
Tickets are $40. Please call Estrellita Dacanay at (323) 801-0034 to purchase.
7-9PM. Snyder Diamond Showroom, 1399 Olympic Blvd, Santa Monica.

Saturday, September 18, 2010. Munch LA - CANCELLED!!

It's time school fundraising graduates from the door-to-door donut sales. Fairfax Highschool is holding a one day festival featuring 30 food trucks, culinary demos, even designer shopping (shopping for Paige Denim or T Bags dresses while munching on kimchi fries?). Tickets are $7 pre-sale and $10 at the door.
11am-5pm. Fairfax High School, 7850 Melrose Ave, LA 90046

Giveaway: Wine Competition Swag Bag + Tickets to LA County Fair

I was recently invited to preview/taste the winning wines of the 71st Los Angeles International Wine & Spirits Competition, selected from 3,165 wines by 75 judges. Alas, I can't attend the preview because I'm out of town, but they generously offered a gift bag for me to give away to one lucky reader!

The gift bag, valued at $75, will include:

• A variety of spirits and olive oil samples from this year's competition.
• A pair of tickets to the L.A. County Fair
• Vouchers to the wine-tasting seminars at this year's Fair.

Before you enter, make sure you can attend the L.A. County Fair!





You can get up to 2 entries. Here's how to enter:
1. Leave a comment with your contact information below.
2. Tweet: "Win a gift bag($75 value) from LA Int'l Wine Competition via @gourmetpigs! Enter here: http://bit.ly/afgZxL "
Once you tweet, leave me a separate comment telling me you did so (easier for me to count the entries this way).


Once you win, I will contact you for your mailing address and they will mail you your gift bag.

You have until midnight on Thursday, June 17 to enter. Good luck!

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Also, the LA International Wine & Spirits Competition is also holding a fundraiser, Wine & Cars Under the Stars, where for the first time the public can taste the winning wines. Taking place on June 19, tickets for this event are $100 each and benefit The Learning Centers at Fairplex, which offers educational programming for the community.