February 25th, 2011 Newsletter

Dear Friends,

We had a fun experience last night at The Empress where there was a culinary adventure named Battle of the Chefs.   Victoria Empress Hotel chef Takashi Ito competed with Newport Beach’s Fairmont Hotel’s chef to create dishes to compliment cocktails that were created by the beverage team.  There were five courses and really, both chefs were outstanding.  One of our table’s favorite  cocktails was a 1908 creation served in a martini glass, black tea infused gin with some other concoction.  The Newport Beach chef paired this with seared foie gras on a scone with marmalade, while the Victoria chef created a chicken with orange infusion.  Anyway it was really great.  There are many things scheduled all year long  like this which you can check out on their web site.

Oscar night Sunday night!

photos of the day
February 25, 2011

Marathon runner Joseph Tame, wearing the ‘iRun’ apparatus, stretches prior to a test run in Tokyo for Sunday’s Tokyo Marathon. Tokyo-resident Tame, of Hereford, England, intends to run the Tokyo marathon with his self-made, mobile, social-media studio that is equipped with four iPhones, an iPad, two Android handsets, a weather center pinned on his helmet and a heart monitor with a GPS, to give viewers a real-time experience of the marathon on his website www.tm2011.com.

Itsuo Inouye/AP

Sotheby’s technicians hold Guardi’s Venice, A View of the Rialto Bridge, which will be auctioned on July 6, 2011. The painting is expected to sell for more than $32 million.

Joel Ryan/AP

One of two 8-foot-tall Oscar statues is delivered to The Carlyle Hotel for the Official New York Oscar Night Party in New York. The 83rd annual Academy Awards will be held on Sunday.Shannon Stapleton/Reuters