The good folks at Orlando Home Show are offering a special $4 discount off full-price $10 admission when purchasing online at www.orlandohomeshow.com and using the promo code “BLOGDEAL” at check out.

We are also giving away two free tickets to the show this weekend! Leave a comment below about what you look forward to seeing at the Orlando Home Show with your e-mail and the winner will be chosen tonight at 9pm using a random generator! Make sure you like our facebook too but not necessary to win. We’ll send you an email to let you know you won tonight!

Press release follows below

ORLANDO HOME SHOW RETURNS OCTOBER 7-9, 2011
BRAVO’s Top Chef Just Desserts Winner Yigit Pura to Appear

ORLANDO, Fla. – One of the region’s most anticipated fall events will be here in no time: the 2011 Orlando Home Show Show, returning October 7-9 to the Orange County Convention Center’s North/South complex off Universal Boulevard in Hall South B. Central Florida’s original, most-established home show boasts the area’s largest selection of the latest products and services for virtually every area of the home, indoors and out. Consumers can find inspiration, celebrity tips, must-see features, great entertainment and one-stop-shopping all under one roof.

New at this year’s show will be the creation of a one-of-a-kind sand sculpture.

Guests will be in awe when they watch an artisan from The Sand Sculpture Company — a 7-time Guinness World Record holder — create a unique work of art on the show floor. Construction begins on Friday and continues throughout the weekend, so guests should get there early for the best view! Returning crowd pleasers at the show include celebrity appearances and the edible Orlando Cooking Stage with many of the area’s top chefs dishing up delicious samples and tips.

According to research conducted by Marketplace Events, the nation’s largest producer of home shows, including the Orlando Home Show and the Central Florida Home & Garden Show, consumers continue to invest in their homes for their current enjoyment, as well as make smart improvements to help sell in the future.

“Local residents can find inspiration throughout our show floor and meet with hundreds of experts to get the most bang for their home improvement buck,” said Cristian Moore, Orlando show manager for Marketplace Events. “Our show has something for everyone and offers a fun day out.”

And a sweet one, too. BRAVO’s Top Chef Just Desserts winner Yigit Pura will bring his tantalizing talents to the edible Orlando Cooking Stage on Saturday at 12 noon and 3:00 p.m. and Sunday at 1:00 and 3:00 p.m.

Attendees can learn from other culinary experts and dig into delicious samples throughout the weekend at the edible Orlando Cooking Stage. Chefs from The Crooked Spoon, Big Wheel Provisions, The Rusty Old Hickory Steakhouse at Gaylord Palms Resort, edible Orlando and Whole Foods Market will appear, plus healthy cooking expert Charles Mattocks, known as “The Poor Chef,” and Real Radio 104.1’s self-proclaimed grill master, Dirty Jim, will also appear.

Guests can “spice up” their Saturday early evening at 6:00 p.m. with a one-hour live performance, followed by an autograph signing session, by Sony Music Latin recording artist Fabi?n. Presented by Jose 98.1, DJ Victor Pacheco “El Pache” will host this exclusive event, free with paid admission.

If you’re a steadfast DIY-er, you’re in luck: Dr. Fix-It, a guest columnist appearing every Sunday in the Orlando Sentinel, will present on the Home Improvement Stage on Friday and Saturday at 5:00 p.m. and Sunday at 11:00 a.m. with tips on tackling your most important projects while saving a bundle in the process.

And speaking of saving money, Josh Elledge of SavingsAngel.com® appears on the Home Improvement Stage at 12 noon on Friday and Sunday at 1:00 pm on Saturday with advice on “extreme couponing” without the time, hassle and waste usually associated with coupon-savvy shopping. From energy savings tips to fall entertaining ideas, guests can pick up helpful advice from a variety of other experts presenting throughout the weekend on the Home Improvement Stage.

Other experts can help you save in the garden, too. Fall offers some of the best gardening weather of the year in Central Florida and now is a great time to prune and plan before winter’s chill arrives. Show attendees can meet some of the area’s leading experts in gardening, landscaping, water features and supplies, including A & R Landscaping and Lighting, Knox Nursery, Pondtastic Water Gardens and Smithwell. Landscape Supply will also make an encore appearance at the show with a huge retail display of garden supplies, from mulch to trimmers.

Need home improvement advice but worried about missing the big game? Catch all of the college football action on Saturday and NFL games on Sunday at the Home Show End Zone, provided by the Home Theatre Geeks, Coast to Coast Communications and custom-themed tables by OFAB – perfect for putting your feet up after walking the show.

Guests can also shop, compare and save at hundreds of exhibits with the industry’s latest products and services for home and garden, plus enter into contest and prize drawings.

Show hours are Friday and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. – 9:00 p.m, and Sunday, 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m. Tickets are available at the door, and are $10 for adults, $5 for seniors (60+; this discount is ONLY valid at the door and no other discounts apply), $5 for students 13-18 (ID required), and free for children 12 years and younger.

 Advance tickets can be purchased online for a $3 discount off full-price $10 admission at www.OrlandoHomeShow.com. Convenient on-site parking is available adjacent to the Orange County Convention Center off Universal Boulevard, and is $8 per car. Consumers can get a free parking pass (while supplies last) through the show’s partnership with Hometalk.com. (Visit www.OrlandoHomeShow.com to obtain a pass).

For more information, visit www.OrlandoHomeShow.com, or call 877-871-SHOW (7469). The Orlando Home Show and its spring sister show, the Central Florida Home & Garden Show (May 25-28, 2012) are both produced by Marketplace Events.

Orlando Magical Dining Month is still going on this month! It ends at the end of September so make sure you check it out before its too late! All throughout this month you can get three course pre-fixe meals for $30 at select area restaurants. Visit www.orlandomagicaldining.com for details.

In order to spice things up with the month and encourage our readers to check out the restaurants, Visit Orlando is partnering up with Tasty Chomps! to provide gift certificates for dinner for two to the famous Le Coq Au Vin restaurant (http://www.lecoqauvinrestaurant.com/index.html)

Le Coq Au Vin is a French restaurant and winner of many Orlando Sentinel Foodie Awards, rated by Zagat and Fodor’s. Le Coq au Vin Restaurant was among the first, open in 1976, and is still among the best Zagat America’s top restaurants 2009. Le Coq Au Vin restaurant is now owned and operated by Chef Reimund Pitz and his wife Sandy, in partnership with Chef Louis and Magdalena Perrotte. The cuisine reflects traditional classical cooking techniques as well as different cultural influences.

In order to enter the giveaway contest, please purview the OrlandoMagicalDining.com website to answer these questions and e-mail the responses to tastychomps@gmail.com with the subject heading “Orlando Magical Dining Month Contest!” to enter to win:

1. How many restaurants (including the number of multiple locations of a restaurant brand) are featured in the Orlando Magical Dining Month event?

2. Chef Brandon McGlammery is the executive chef for which Winter Park area restaurant?

3. What and where was Chef Juan Mercado of the Prickly Pear’s first professional kitchen job?

4. What charity does the Orlando Magical Dining Month benefit?

5. What day is the last day for Orlando Magical Dining Month?

Deadline to Enter: 11:59pm September 20 2011
Thank you for your participation!!

Anthony’s Coal Fired Pizza, out on Sand Lake Road in “Restaurant Row” near the Whole Foods Market, recently introduced their new Roasted Cauliflower pizza and craft beers to the line up. I personally never thought much of the cauliflower: it always reminded me of a color-less broccoli that had been cooking for too long so it falls apart so easily. In fact, it belongs to the species Brassica oleracea which also includes cabbage, brussels sprouts, kale, broccoli, and collard greens. But Anthony’s has come up with a way to actually make the cauliflower quite delectable by putting on their pizza, roasted and with no tomato sauce. The roasted cauliflower pizza is made with romano and mozzarella cheese, topped off with bread crumbs and olive oil and garlic.

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The Roasted Cauliflower Pizza

Try it with some of their craft beer like the Dogfish Head Imperial India Pale Ale

or the chicken wings!

Two Degrees® now available at Whole Foods Market® 

Two Degrees, the food company on a mission to help feed the world’s 200+ million hungry children, announced today the availability of its all-natural food bars at Whole Foods Market stores nationwide. Two Degrees is the first food company to adopt the one-for-one business model of social giving, donating one medically-formulated nutrition pack to a malnourished child for every one bar sold.

The nutrition packs that Two Degrees donates are endorsed by the World Health Organization and have become the global standard for treating childhood malnutrition. They are 95 percent effective in curing malnutrition, but only a fraction of children in need actually receive them. With the simple purchase of Two Degrees food bars, everyday consumers can help bridge this gap.

Two Degrees food bars are developed by the former Creative Chef and Director of Product Development for Odwalla, Barr Hogen. The bars are all-natural, gluten-free, vegan and under 200 calories, and come in three flavors: Chocolate Peanut, Cherry Almond and Apple Pecan. Two Degrees will begin selling nut-free flavors later this year. Individual bars retail for $2.49 and a box of nine bars retails for $21.99.

People can also make a difference by giving Two Degrees virtual bars to friends by email or on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/TwoDegrees. For every virtual bar given, Two Degrees donates a real nutrition pack to a malnourished child.

For more information and to locate your local Whole Foods Market selling Two Degrees, visit www.twodegreesfood.com.

Debi Dyer from Orlando, FL needs your vote to become a finalist and compete for the $1 million grand prize. The Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest is letting You Be the Judge!, allowing consumers a chance to choose who gets to go to the Bake-Off Contest finals.

Visit www.bakeoff.com for official rules and to vote for Debi’s Ginger-Coconut Bars as it faces off against Peanut Butter Crème Cookie Cups entered by Mary Fields of Gilbert, AZ. At the end of two weeks, the home cook whose recipe receives the most votes will become one of 100 talented finalists competing in the 45th Pillsbury Bake-Off Contest in Orlando, Florida from March 25-27, 2012.

The recipe is currently facing off on www.bakeoff.com against Mary Fields’ Peanut Butter Crème Cookie Cups. Voting is open for these recipes until 12:59 p.m. EST on September 1, at which point 2 new recipes will face off. Only 1 from each pair will take the 10 open finalist spots where they will join 90 others in March 2012. The final competition will take place at the Peabody Orlando hotel on March 25-27, 2012 where 100 finalists compete for the $1 million grand prize.

Ginger-Coconut Bars
Category: Sweet Treats
Eligible Ingredients: Pillsbury® Ready to Bake Refrigerated Sugar Cookies 16 oz (24 ct)
Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
LAND O LAKES® Unsalted Butter
McCormick® Ground Ginger

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Start to Finish: 1 hour 55 minutes

1 package Pillsbury® Ready to Bake!™ refrigerated sugar cookies
2 cups flaked coconut
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 can (14 oz) Eagle Brand® Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 cup LAND O LAKES® Unsalted or Salted Butter, melted
4 teaspoons McCormick® Ground Ginger
4 bars (1.55 oz each) Hershey’s® milk chocolate candy
1/3 cup crystallized ginger, finely chopped

Heat oven to 350°F. Spray 13×9-inch pan with Crisco® Original No-Stick Cooking Spray. Evenly arrange cookie dough rounds in pan; let stand 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine coconut, cracker crumbs, sweetened condensed milk, butter and ground ginger; mix well (mixture will be thick). Press cookie dough evenly into pan. Drop coconut by small spoonfuls over cookie dough; carefully spread over dough.

Bake 33 to 37 minutes or until edges are golden brown.

Remove from oven to cooling rack. Break up chocolate and place over hot bars. Let stand 2 to 3 minutes. With spatula or knife, spread melted chocolate over bars. Sprinkle with crystallized ginger. Cool 30 minutes. Refrigerate 30 minutes to set chocolate.

For bars, cut into 6 rows by 4 rows. Store covered in refrigerator.

24 bars

Debi Dyer
Orlando, FL

Orlando, FL – July 21, 2011 – The producers of the Orlando Chili Cook-off, Events for Change, Inc., announce the first annual OB3: OrlandoBourbon, Beer N’ Bites taking place Saturday, September 24^th, 2011 in Baldwin Park to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project (WWP). The WWP is an organization founded by veterans and friends who took action to help the injured service men and women who served for our country – they have helped countless numbers of veterans and their families adjust to civilian life.

Bourbon lovers, beer aficionados and foodies are invited to come out to Baldwin Park to sip, mingle and enjoy live, local music. Your $40 admission buys you a sampling glass so you can enjoy UNLIMITED sampling of beer and bourbon, along with “bites” from local restaurants.

OB3 admission includes:
    * A souvenir glass, with commemorative logo, for sampling
    * Unlimited Bourbon and Beer tastings
    * Delicious Bites! Enjoy a selection of food from some of Orlando’s best restaurants
    * Vote on your favorite “bite” and chow down on other food items for sale
    * Learn something new at the Tasting Theater from a local chef, master distiller or brew master
    * Listen to Live Music on the main stage all day
    * Like football? Watch college football on our giant screen!
    * Valet Parking and plenty of FREE Parking also available
    * Shuttle to Park Ave., Central Ave. and in-and-around Baldwin Park.

Founded by a group of Baldwin Park locals in 2009, Events for Change, Inc. operates under a “good times for a great cause” philosophy. With an end goal of raising at least $10,000 for Wounded Warrior Project (WWP), attendees at OB3 will get the chance to have fun while making a difference. “The event falls on the 10-year anniversary month of 9/11, so it’s a perfect time to give back to those who served our country,” Kenneth Roberts, Events for Change Founder explains. 

http://www.strength.org/orlando/

Buy your ticket to the hottest food and wine event of 2011 and help fight childhood hunger.

Share Our Strength’s Taste of the Nation^® is the nation’s premier culinary benefit, featuring top chefs and mixologists — all of whom are coming together to donate their time, talent and passion to end childhood hunger in America.

Join us for the 22nd Annual Taste of the Nation Orlando. Guests will sample delectable specialties and culinary sensations prepared by chefs from Central Florida’s leading restaurants. Showcasing their talent and creativity, the combination of presentation and taste are sure to make the evening unforgettable.

Please note: No one under the age of 21, including children in strollers accompanied by their parents, will be admitted to Taste of the Nation.

http://www.strength.org/orlando/

Date:

Tickets:

Attire:

Location:

Local Beneficiaries:

Statewide Beneficiaries:

Beverage Providers:

I recently visited West Palm Beach and headed out on a night on the town with my family. Just south of Cityplace in downtown West Palm Beach, Joy Noodles sits off of S. Dixie Highway in a older part of town where most buildings have shuttered up, having seen better days.

Joy Noodles is a popular place though, serving up various noodle bowls and stir fried noodles based mostly from the family owner’s background from Thailand, but also dishes stemming from Japan, Vietnam, and China.

For appetizers, we chose the crispy calamari $5.95 which were quite decent calamari though a bit on the fried side, it had that fresh squid taste still in tact and wasn’t too tough to chew.

For entree, my mom ordered the mee goreng, a stir fried noodle dish stemming from Indonesia. I ordered the Chiangmai noodle soup (A northern Thai dish with a definite Burmese influence, with egg noodles in light curry coconut broth) and my sister ordered the Japanese udon noodle soup.

Their bowls are huge and shaped like toilet bowls. I think my bowl alone would have fed an entire village in the mother land. I could hardly finish a third of the bowl before throwing in the white napkin to signal defeat. The noodles themselves were okay, nothing outstanding but also not particularly offensive.

I thought this place has potential and could be better if they kicked up their spices some and added more flavor profile to their dishes rather than being one dimensional.

Friday night. Palm Beach Gardens. Do you know where your children are?

If you are from Palm Beach Gardens, they are probably hanging out with their middle school friends at the local Downtown development near the Palm Beach Gardens Mall. I recently went there to catch a movie at the Downtown Cobb Theatre and was surprised to see that the whole place was inundated with teens and preteens all walking around in packs, chatting away and otherwise enjoying themselves in a sort of huge weekend socialization / coming of age ritual where they meet up with friends at the movies, catch some froyo, and goof off around Downtown Palm Beach Gardens.

Located next to the Downtown Cobb Theatre in downtown Palm Beach Gardens, MJ Fresh is housed in a former Johnny Rocket’s building. The furniture and even the old juke boxes were still in place. They did try to fix it up a little with some modern blue light fixtures but that is about it. It was quite a strange set up but I didn’t think too much of it.

The place is owned by a small family with roots in California naming the restaurant MJ after the matriarch of the family. (Not as a nod to Michael Jordan/Michael Jackson as my sister and I had previously conjectured)

Their menu is mostly American fare such as California Chicken wraps, sandwiches, burgers, and pastas. They even have a small selection of chicken curries that you can try (owing from their Pakistani roots)

My sister had the fettucine alfredo pasta with chicken which was decent enough. I ordered the The Phoos burger topped with Gorgonzola, Lettuce, Tomato, Pickles, Onion (7.99), which was delicious: succulent and juicy, filling and topped with a fresh ciabatta bun. I will definitely have to come back to try the chicken curry.

For more information visit:

http://www.mjsfresh.com/