Posts Tagged ‘Los Angeles’

Massages and Cocktails: Hawt on Yelp Spa Week

Friday, October 30th, 2009

Voda Spa in West Hollywood features luxurious treatment rooms - they also serve cocktails in the lounge. (Courtesy photo)
For the past few weeks I’ve been running around the country doing Bubbly Bar book parties and boy are my legs tired (ba-dump.) Actually, toting suitcases around and being squooshed into less than capacious airplane seats has taken its toll. The Bubbly Girl could use some pampering.

Good thing next week is Hawt on Yelp Spa Week! From Nov. 2-8, Yelp members get 50% off on services at selected spas around Los Angeles. At Mani-Kir Royale (love it) in North Hollywood you always get a glass of bubbly along with a gorgeous set of nails. They also use lots of fun products that have cocktail themes. The Bellini foot treatment include a bubbly foot soak, a peach nectar scrub and a champagne oil massage; the Sangria Massage is done with tropical fruit oils while the Champagne Facial uses actual champagne grape seed extract to leave the skin wonderfully moisturized.

Another highlight is Voda Spa, a chic day lounge in West Hollywood that features a Russian banyas, a private spa room for group events. Signature treatments include the Clear as Water Facial (voda means water in Russian) that uses a unique combination of enzymes, sulfur and probiotics to erase the conditions that cause acne and the Caviar Wrap that uses caviar extracts to exfoliate, nourish and tone the skin all over your body.

Then when you’re firm and and pretty, head down to the Voda Lounge lounge that serves drinks that highlight the health benefits of champagne and vodka. For Hawt on Yelp week, they’re serving a $7 Detox Martini that includes organic Ocean Vodka and a splash of electrolyte blend. To that, I say Na zdrowie!

Download the entire Hawt on Yelp a list of spas here.

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Moet & Sugar Cubes: The Bubbly Bar Los Angeles Launch Party at The Edison

Thursday, October 15th, 2009

moet champagne cocktail
Last week I met up with some new and old friends in Los Angeles at The Edison for a Bubbly Bar book launch party that featured Moet & Chandon Champagne. In case you haven’t been, The Edison is a unique night club venue in downtown Los Angeles set in an old private power plant. Many of the old power plant fixtures like doors to coal furnaces remain, but the place has been plushed out with velvet sofas, original vintage style light fixtures and movie screens that show old sepia toned movies.
Members of the Medill Alumni Club of Southern California at The Bubbly Bar launch party in LA.<

Besides lots of friends, the party in the Tesla Room drew members of the Medill Club of Southern California, media Los Angeles including Lori Corbin, the Food Coach from KABC, Michael Reel of Reel Urban News and Natalie Bovis-Nelson, The Liquid Muse and Michael Jenkins Brown of South Bay Foodies. I only wish Julia Fitzroy, the lovely and super busy Moet rep who made the party possible, had been able to make it down.

I'm flanked by Annie Kuo, president of the Medill Club of Southern California, Liquid Muse Natalie Bovis Nelson.
The featured drink was Champagne Cocktails which guests could customize. The capital C “Chamapagne Cocktail” is the original drink made with champagne, dating back to the mid 1850s. This was a time when champagne had an undisputed association with luxury and slightly decadent living; it was also known as chorus girl’s milk. The simple recipe for a Champagne Cocktail is a dousing a sugar cube with aromatic bitters before dropping it into the glass. As a variant, I infused sugar cubes with a variety of flavors including La Fee Absinthe, PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur, Angostura Bitters, and Stirrings Blood Orange Bitters.
A silver tray held sugar cubes flavored with Angostura bitters, absinthe, PAMA Pomegranate Liqueur and blood orange bitters so guests could make their own style of Champagne Cocktail.

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Bubbles on Tour: Bubbly Bar Book Events

Monday, September 14th, 2009
Signing books at the Hotel Solamar on Aug. 26 at the San Diego launch party presented by Slow Food Urban San Diego  and Domaine Chandon - what a blast!

Signing books at the Hotel Solamar on Aug. 26 at the San Diego launch party presented by Slow Food Urban San Diego and Domaine Chandon - what a blast!

It’s been quite the whirlwind since my book The Bubbly Bar: Champagne & Sparkling Wine Cocktails (Clarkson Potter, $16.99) launched a few weeks ago. It’s amazing how many different skills it takes to be an author; not only do you need to know enough about a topic to write about it, once you’ve done so and had the incredible good fortune to get a book published, then you need to become an expert at marketing, event planning and logistics! All that is to say that with the help of some friends, I’ve put together some fun Bubbly Bar book events that will start happening around the country in a couple weeks.

If you’re a Bubbly Girl – or even if you just like to have fun while tasting some sparkling wine cocktails and learning something new, then I hope you’ll come out to join the fun as I make my way around the country. Stay tuned for more events in NYC, San Francisco, Atlanta and San Diego but here’s where I’ll be for the next month or so:

Chicago

Oct. 1.  – Pops for Champagne 601 N. State St. 6 to 8 p.m.
Come learn how to make great autumn cocktails with Domaine Carneros – America’s first estate grown organic sparkling wine and fine artisanal spirits. Ticket are $25 and include a signed book, cocktails and nibbles at America’s most acclaimed champagne bar. To RSVP, email rsvp@popsforchampagne.com

Oct. 3 – Shop & Sip at M2 Boutique, 3527 N. Southport Ave. 12 to 4 p.m.
We’ll have fun sipping fizz and browsing through fabulous fall fashions including TANO leather handbags at 20% off at this value-conscious boutique. Free event, no RSVP required.

Los Angeles

Oct. 7 – Moet Champagne Cocktails & A Sparkling Book Party at The Edison, 108 W. Second Ave. 5:30 to 7:30
p.m. Meet me in the Tesla Lounge for an intimate literary cocktail party featuring Moet & Chandon champagne cocktails and appetizers at this unique vintage-style bar in downtown LA. Wear business or cocktail attire – the Edison has a dress code. Stick around for the sexy cabaret show starting at 8 in the main bar. Tickets are $20 and include a signed book and bubbly. All guests must pre-pay by Oct. 3 by emailing maria at thebubblygirl.com.

NYC

Oct. 12  – The Bombay Bubbly Experience at Beekman’s Bar & Books, 889 1st Ave (At 50th) 5:30 to 7:30 p.m.
We’ll explore the unique synergy between fine aromatic Bombay Sapphire gin and bubbly at this cocktail demo and party at Beekman’s, a warm and clubby bar that’s filled with thousands of books. I’ll be mixing drinks along with resident bartender Ben Scorah – GQ Magazine’s NYC Bartender of the Year- and Bombay Sapphire U.S. Mixologist James Moreland.  Tickets are $25 and include cocktails, food and signed books. For information on reservations, email maria at thebubblygirl.com

Napa County

Oct. 24- Cocktail clinics & book signing at Domaine Chandon, 1 California Drive, Yountville. I’ll be lounging in the gift shop of this modern showcase winery and giving two cocktail clinics featuring drinks from the book throughout the day. Cocktails from The Bubbly Bar will also be available for purchase at the tasting bar. Come up and make a day of it by taking a behind the scenes tour of the winery and treating yourself to a bubblicious lunch or dinner at Etoile! Free event!

Washington DC

Nov. 4 – Cava and Latin Libations at Masa 14, 1825 14th St. NW, Washington DC 5:30 to 9 p.m.
Masa 14 is the hot new restaurant by Richard Sandoval and Kaz Okochi that serves Latin and Asian small plates in a hip setting. We’ll explore the fine Spanish sparkling wine called cava and Latin libations from The Bubbly Bar paired with small plates from the restaurant. Tickets are $35 and include, drinks, food and a signed book. Make reservations through www.hooksbookevents.com or call 202-328-1414.

NYC

Dec. 12 – Book signing & Weekend Tasting at Harlem Vintage, 2235 Frederick Douglass Blvd. 4 to 7 p.m. Perrier-Jouet Champagne will be the featured champagne at this tasting and book signing at Harlem Vintage in this famous neighborhood that was home to lots of gin joints and speakeasies dating back to the classic cocktail era. A bottle of international bubbly and a signed copy of the Bubbly Bar make a fabulous and fast holiday gift. Harlem’s own Hue-Man Bookstore will be our book-selling partner for this special tasting. Free event!

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