Tag Archives: food festival

Palm Desert Food & Wine GIVEAWAY + Crab Cakes With Iron Chef Cat Cora

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TEMP Crab Cakes

Crab and Avocado Sandwiches with Mango Coulis

 

When the Palm Desert Food & Wine asked to pair me up with one of five headlining chefs doing demos at the festival to re-create their recipe using the SideChef app, I was very curious as to whom they would pair me with. When I got Cat Cora, I was ecstatic!

Not only is she insanely talented in the kitchen, but she was the first female Iron Chef on Iron Chef America. That’s definitely someone to look up to, as a female culinary enthusiast!

I was anxious to see what recipe I would be making, and boy was I shocked when I got a huge bag of Whole Foods ingredients, hand delivered fresh to my doorstep thanks to SideChef. When I peeked into the bag (while Snapchatting it all live at MsTanayaG), I was definitely surprised, in both a good way and a kind of sad way initially. You see, it was all the ingredients for Cat Cora’s Crab and Avocado Sandwiches with Mango Coulis.

SideChef Ingredients Cat Cora

While that sounds pretty incredible, the only problem was that I wouldn’t be able to taste any of it! You see, a few years back, I developed a slight (and VERY unfortunate) allergy to crustaceans, including crab! Quite the ironic bummer, right?

Still, I thought this was the perfect opportunity to work with an ingredient I normally wouldn’t choose to cook, for obvious reasons. So I got prepping, and followed the super simple step-by-step instructions with crisp visuals and audio cues on the SideChef app to create the full dish with all three components!

Here’s a quick video of some of the steps that went into making the dish:

In the end, I had essentially created a slider made with warm, crispy crab cake buns, cool, refreshing avocado salsa, and a tangy-sweet mango coulis to bring it all together. I can only imagine how it all tasted together (I definitely tried the avocado salsa & mango coulis!), but according to my family for whom I cooked the meal, it turned out “incredibly delicious!”

What I love just as much as eating, is making something with my own hands to feed the people I love. So that worked out well, allergy or not! Also, shoutout to Cat Cora for sharing this post with her awesome followers… I hope I did your recipe justice! 😉

So what’s the deal with the giveaway, you ask? Well, I’m giving away TWO PAIRS of tickets to the Palm Desert Food & Wine Festival happening all of next weekend! AND, the grand prize winner will receive VIP tickets! To win, do ONE or BOTH of the following by 11:59 p.m. PST tonight:

  1. Follow @tanayas.table on Instagram and tag 3 friends in the comments of my crab cake slider photo.
  2. Subscribe to my Nom channel at Nom.com/TanayasTable and pop in to say hi on my live show tonight from Hollywood at 7:30 p.m. PST! It’s interactive, so you can ask us questions and more. 🙂

Winners will be announced tomorrow on those platforms! GOOD LUCK!!

For the full recipe to make these crab cakes at home, download the SideChef app. They’re celebrating a whopping 1 million meals made through the app by donating 1,000 meals to charity… and they will donate 3,000 if they make it into the top 10 in the app store! So let’s make it happen to feed more people who really need it, guys.

If you do make this recipe by Cat Cora through SideChef, please do let me know how they turn out for you! Big thank you to PDFW, SideChef and Iron Chef Cat Cora for the fun collaboration.

Until next time, cheers! ❤

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VIDEO: Sneak Peek At Knott’s Boysenberry Festival

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Tanayas Table Knotts Boysenberry Fun Bun.png

You know the main reason I was so excited to attend the Knott’s Berry Farm media preview a couple days ago? It’s because I pass it on my way to the gym EVERY DAY. Well, every day I go to the gym, that is ;).

Although I really love my MMA kickboxing class, every time I pass by Knott’s I kind of secretly wish I were going there instead. I mean, who wouldn’t pick a theme park over the gym, right? What a tease.

I was also excited because I LOVE boysenberry, and I geek out over creative ways to incorporate a particular ingredient into a variety of sweet and savory dishes. The chefs at Knott’s executed that concept very well, with over 70 boysenberry-infused bites of theme park gastronomical glee. Here’s a glimpse into some of the bites you can expect to taste, along with more in this video:

So yes, that Fun Bun is indeed a gigantic cinnamon roll dipped in funnel cake batter and deep fried… then slathered in boysenberry cream cheese! It was absolutely gooey and delicious on the inside, with a nice tanginess to the cream smothered on the outside. I highly recommend getting one and sharing… or not!

Whether you love roller coaster thrills or not, if you’re a foodie thrill-seeker you’ll appreciate the crispy alligator bites with a creamy boysenberry aioli to dip your reptile nuggets into. Check them out in the video, and shoutout to my buddy Nick of @grubfiend for being my alligator hand model and dropping some funnel cake “knowledge” in there.

I decided to try the gator bites on Snapchat (find me at TanayasTable) with a couple of my foodie friends, Yohana of @foodnvibes and Naomi of @xodaydreamers, with Brenda filming! The conclusion we came to is that it does taste like chicken, but it has a chewier texture. So I suppose you could say it tastes like if a chicken and a squid had a baby… and then you ate that baby?! Ah, never mind! Well you know what I mean, right? 😉

Other bites we tried (ALL in the video above) include boysenberry BBQ short ribs, boysenberry BBQ meatballs on a stick, pulled pork sandwich with boysenberry bread & BBQ sauce, and the Fun Stick… which is a slice of creamy boysenberry cheesecake on a stick, dipped in funnel cake batter and slathered with boysenberry sauce. SO GOOD!

Tanayas Table Knotts Boysenberry Cheesecake

Meet the Fun Stick: Funnel-cake battered boysenberry cheesecake on a stick. How adorable is that Snoopy topiary in the back??

In addition to food, we also got to taste boysenberry beer, wine and other libations. If you decide to go, please let me know what you think of all the berry-infused drinks and bites. I’d love to hear your thoughts!

Not only did I have a blast photographing, filming and tasting all the boysenberry things, but I enjoyed doing all of the above with my foodie friends.

To find out more and to attend the Boysenberry Festival this year,  go here. Wishing you a *berry* wonderful spring season… ha ha. Stay tuned for lots more food adventures to come!

Cheers! ❤

Fall Treat: Family & Friends Tickets To CAKE EXPO!

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copyright Tanaya Ghosh

As most of you know, I’ve got a major sweet tooth. It’s not the healthiest so I don’t do it often, but I could totally eat a small meal or an appetizer just to have room for a proper dessert!

That’s why I’m so excited that CAKE Expo is coming to the Orange County Fair & Event Center this Saturday… and I bet a lot of you are, too, if you enjoy all the dessert pics on my Instagram.

Here’s what you can expect this weekend at the first CAKE Sweets & Party Expo:
  • Tons of sweet samples from talented vendors
  • Demos on the main stage every hour
  • Win prizes on the main stage every hour
  • Classes & private demo tickets available to learn tricks of the trade
  • VIPs get 2 exclusive hours 9am-11am Saturday morning, and get access to the VIP Lounge
  • A meet-and-greet and book signing by author Gemma Touchstone
  • A special Kids Create Zone hosted by Club MomMe
  • Check out the Cake Expo official website for the full schedule
If you want to check out the biggest sweets party happening this weekend and discover some cake tricks, I’ve got a major early Halloween treat for you! Here’s a Friends & Family ticket link to get your regularly priced $45 tickets for $5 a (cake) pop. Just scroll down and choose the Friends & Family ticket option here.

It’s going to be a sweet weekend for sure. Stay tuned for realtime updates on social media, on the Tanaya’s Table Instagram and Twitter accounts. Hope to see you there, my sweet-toothed friends!

Flash Giveaway: Win Tickets To Big Bite Bacon Fest!

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Tanayas Table Big Bite Bacon Fest

If you weren’t the lucky winner in the last giveaway, there’s still hope to snag a free pair of tickets to an epic food event this summer!

I present you with the Big Bite Bacon Fest, to be held at the Queen Mary in Long Beach, August 1-2. If you’re a bacon lover, or just love meat and savory goodness, you’ll definitely want to check this event out. There will be a ton of savory bacon fare, but also drinks, entertainment and even bacon-infused desserts!

In the meantime, if you can’t wait to get your bacon fix, try this recipe I made last year for Bacon-Whiskey Fig Jam.

If you’re down to get piggy with it, enter to win one of two ways:

Instagram

  1. Follow me on Instagram (@tanayas.table) so I can direct message you to redeem your prize
  2. Comment on the image with “PEACE” and a meaty appetizer, tagging whom you’d want to take (extra cool points for throwing in a bacon pun!)
  3. Entry closes at 3 p.m. on 7/27. This is a flash giveaway, so act fast and spread the word so if your friend wins, they’ll (hopefully) take you 😉
  4. Wait for the winner (chosen at random, to keep it fair… since I want you all to win!) to be announced by July 28. Good luck!

Twitter

  1. Follow me on Twitter (@TanayaG) so I can direct message you to redeem your prize
  2. Retweet this tweet to enter to win, and reply to the tweet tagging whom you’d want to take with you
  3. Entry closes at 3 p.m. on 7/27. This is a flash giveaway, so act fast and spread the word so if your friend wins, they’ll (hopefully) take you 😉
  4. Wait for the winner (chosen at random, to keep it fair… since I want you all to win!) to be announced by July 28. Good luck!

** If you are the lucky winner, you’ll have to let me know which date you choose to attend (August 1st or 2nd). If you aren’t the lucky winner this time around, you can still go by getting your tickets at the official Big Bite Bacon Fest website. Cheers, and stay tuned for the launch of Tanaya’s Travels!

Big Bite Bacon Fest

 

VIDEO: Celebrity Chefs + Highlights from LA Weekly’s “The Essentials”

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Tanayas Table LA Weekly The Essentials Logo Wine

Where do you go to interview top-tier LA chefs of celebrity status, all in the same room? How about the likes of Curtis Stone, Roy Choi, Michael Voltaggio and Sang Yoon?

Well, this past weekend, LA Weekly hosted The Essentials, an annual food event produced in honor of the recently unveiled 99 Essential LA Restaurants list. This is where I got to chat with all of the aforementioned immensely talented chefs!

Check it out here, along with some of the amazing bites offered by 50 of the 99 restaurants honored on the list:

Here are some of the highlights from what we tried at the event:

Roy Choi’s Kogi served its classic short rib tacos, while Top Chef winner Michael Voltaggio of Ink served a bagels & lox-inspired dish featuring rye pasta with smoked trout roe, bagel crumbs and dashi brown butter.

Michael Voltaggio of Ink served up a pasta play on bagels & lox

Michael Voltaggio of Ink served up a pasta play on bagels & lox

Plan Check served their famous (and heavenly!) cruller donut holes with caramelized goat cheese, coconut sugar, almond sauce, white chocolate and candied rosemary.

Plan Check's all-star cruller donut with candied rosemary, caramelized goat cheese

Plan Check’s all-star cruller donut with candied rosemary, caramelized goat cheese

This little ball of rich complexity was definitely one of my ultimate favorite bites, as the donuts were crispy on the outside and light, airy and slightly custardy on the inside. The caramelized goat cheese was the perfect balance of sweet and savory, and the candied rosemary added the right amount of aromatic essence.

A savory favorite of mine had to be Little Sister’s banh hoi with chili braised beef shank and tendon, herbs, sprouts and fried peanuts. Great balance of hot and cold, sweet and salty, and the perfect amount of heat and acid.

Little Sister's banh hoi getting some finishing touches

Little Sister’s banh hoi getting some finishing touches

Alimento’s escolar crudo was also excellent, plated with eggplant, wild fennel and mollica. The succulent yet firm white fish absolutely melted in the mouth along with its Mediterranean-inspired components. It was a very cohesive plate indeed, with deep flavors.

One last donut that stood out was Hinoki & The Bird’s miso donut with honey caramel. It was a perfect umami and sweet combination in one fluffy bite!

Spago served an interesting “Vietnamese style banh mi” with pork belly, but somehow it didn’t taste as good as it looked for me. Still, it was pretty to look at, with all its brightly colored veggies.

Spago's take on the banh mi

Spago’s take on the banh mi

Tar & Roses’ steak tartare was delectable, as was its popcorn with bacon, brown sugar and aleppo pepper. Petit Trois also served a steak tartare, while Park’s BBQ served the flavors of Korean BBQ in one bite. There was also some great Ethiopian food, and a lot of deep-flavored moles served at the event.

Korean BBQ in one bite, by Park's BBQ

Korean BBQ in one bite, by Park’s BBQ

I only heard that chef Curtis Stone of Maude’s white asparagus pain perdu with foie gras mousse, pickled pearl onions & mustard seed was amazing, since we didn’t get to try before they ran out. Still, he talks to us about it in the video above… which kind of makes up for it!

Here’s Roy Choi cracking jokes and plugging Kogi, by the way:

Joking around with Roy Choi

Instagram video: Joking around with Roy Choi

Szechuan Impression’s spicy noodles were hot and flavorful, and had just the right bite. The variety of food, from authentic international street fare to refined European-inspired dishes was a pretty accurate reflection of so much that LA has to offer.

Spicy noodles by Szechuan Impression

Spicy noodles by Szechuan Impression

Although they didn’t exhibit at the event, I was pretty proud to learn that Surati Farsan Mart was recognized as one of the 99 Essential Restaurants!

Wine, cocktails and spirits also flowed at the event, and there was even vodka made from sweet potatoes. Oh, and how could I forget shouting out Philippe The Original and their OG French dip sandwich? There was so much food and drink to try, such little time!

The original French dip by Philippe The Original

The original French dip by Philippe The Original

I do wish some of the fine dining restaurants hadn’t run out by the time we got to them, but overall we definitely left stuffed and satiated with some of the most essential bites LA has to offer.

It was a good time talking food with some very well-respected chefs, as well.

Roy Choi & Tanaya's Table talking food

Cheers from Roy Choi & Tanaya’s Table… peace out!

Check out the full list of stellar vendors here. Until next time, cheers!