It always seems a bit early to talk about holiday trees and gatherings before Thanksgiving, but turkey day approaches.
The malls and hotels and some restaurants already are decked out in their finest holiday decorations.
Our schedules start to get even busier with parties, our own home holiday decorating and gift shopping.
One thing for sure will be on my special “to do” list: participating in the inaugural Adopt A Family Festival of Trees.
This event will have a display of special trees, food and family entertainment that will help Share Our Selves provide food and holiday gifts for struggling families.
It’ll be held Nov. 27 to 30 at the Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa Hotel, which is three blocks south of South Coast Plaza on Bristol Street.
|
|
Hilton Orange County lobby: tree fund-raiser to benefit needy families during holidays |
There’s a free open house. The hotel lobby will showcase a grand parade of specially decorated trees sponsored by several groups: the Anaheim Ducks, Hilton Hotels Corp., Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian and the Daily Pilot among them.
Celebrity sponsors of trees include Anjelica Houston, Merv Griffin, Quincy Jones, Britney Spears and Robin Williams. Many other local businesses and media also are helping to underwrite the event.
The trees will be glamorously decorated by a host of highly acclaimed design consultants.
The open house is from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. View the gorgeous trees and make a silent auction bid if you care to.
Enjoy songstress Alice Tatum and her highly regarded jazz trio. A tree will be available each evening for the children to decorate. Santa will make an appearance, too.
On Nov. 30 from 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m., it’s the Family Celebration event. In addition to the music, trees, Santa, children’s tree for decorating and silent auction, there also will be an elegant buffet, a live auction of two trees reserved especially for this event, cookie and ornament making for the kids and other activities.
Master of ceremonies for this spectacular evening is Tom Johnson, publisher of the Daily Pilot.
The Family Celebration evening is $75 for adults, $25 for children. Youngsters under 3 are free.
Share Our Selves has had the Adopt A Family program for 36 years, serving more than 1,200 families last year. The group holds several interesting fund-raisers throughout the year.
This Festival of Trees is a new idea for joining the aromas, tastes and beauty of the holiday season with their Adopt A Family program.
If you’d like to adopt a family this season, or anytime throughout the year, you’ll be greeted with open arms.
If your business has not yet confirmed plans for your holiday party, Share Our Selves invites companies to consider holding your holiday business gathering/party at this Family Celebration evening on Nov. 30. You can treat your employees and their families to a wonderful time and also support the community.
For company groups, the cost is $65 for adults and $20 for children. But you must make plans with Share Our Selves this week. Contact Karen Harrington for details at (949) 515-5400, ext. 31, or via e-mail at Kharrington@shareourselves.org.
I suggest you go to the Share Our Selves Web site and read about this event and what the nonprofit does throughout the year for those in need.
It’ll probably make your day just seeing how much they reach out with the money we give them. It’s inspiring. The Web site is www.shareourselves.org.
Hilton Orange County/Costa Mesa Hotel has undergone an elaborate multimillion-dollar renovation and it is a beauty.
The hotel is at 3050 Bristol St., Costa Mesa, phone (714) 540-7000.
Local Chef, Legendary Winemaker
Legendary winemaker Mike Grgich will preside over the wine presentations when one of our favorite chefs, Pascal Olhats, cooks a multicourse meal to match Mike’s wines this week on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. The dinner will be at Pascal’s restaurant, Tradition by Pascal.
I write these columns about nine days ahead of when you read them and while I know that this world famous winemaker and the master chef are planning the details, I do not have the menu or the wines that Mike is matching with the food.
Makes no difference. These two are so tuned in to flavors and textures in fine food and wine, and having a joyous experience at the table,so it’s a given the meal will be tremendously interesting.
Cost for the evening is $140 and you should call for reservations.
Just in case you miss this Grgich/Olhats dinner, I remind you that this also is Beaujolais Nouveau month. At Pascal Epicerie, next to the Tradition by Pascal restaurant, this Thursday there is a tasting of the newly arrived Beaujolais Nouveau wines. Time is 6 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. and cost is $30.
This is a fun, French tradition to taste the brand new wines on the third Thursday of November and you might as well have access to the good times too.
In case you can’t make the Pascal wine tasting on Thursday, two more opportunities pop up this Friday and Saturday. On those nights Pascal is expanding the Beaujolais Nouveau enjoyment by way of a five-course dinner of Lyonnaise cuisine with a bottle of wine per couple. An accordionist will add to the festivities. The dinners are $75 per person.
Tradition by Pascal: 1000 N. Bristol St., Newport Beach. Call (949) 263-9400 for more information and to make reservations for any of these events.
JWA’s Oasis
The next time you fly in or out of John Wayne Airport, you might want to have a meal in Oasis Grill & Sky Lounge, restaurant guru David Wilhelm’s latest venture,one of his French 75 Bistros being constructed in Scottsdale will debut in 2007.
You have to admire David and his corporate partner John Martin (former chief executive of Taco Bell Corp.) for their coup on this teamwork assignment with HMSHost Corp.
HMSHost is a leader in retail and dining in the travel industry, operating in more than 80 airport restaurants around the globe, including 18 of the 20 busiest airports in North America. The company has annual sales in excess of $2 billion and employs more than 26,000 people worldwide.
David’s done what he’s so good at. He envisioned a casual but clever eatery where we could find decent food once inside the secured gate area of the airport. And since airlines no longer feed us on flights, Oasis Grill & Sky Lounge also offers carryout food as well.
With comfortable surroundings, Oasis serves breakfast, lunch and dinner. American fare is featured, including appetizers, sandwiches, burgers and large salads.
On the breakfast menu is chilaquiles: scrambled eggs with Ortega chiles, tortillas, cheddar cheese and sour cream.
For lunch or dinner, the shrimp Louis or Brown Derby cobb salads or the Palm Springs club sandwich all sound good.
I’m glad it’s called the Oasis Grill & Sky Lounge. I will probably take advantage of the latter part of the name if my flight departure is past 11 a.m. because then I might have a pre-flight cocktail as my appetizer.
