Category Archives: Video
Au Fudge!
I was just noticing LA Mommies looking for places to eat with their kids besides Chucky Cheese. Thought you’d like to know about this new offering from Jessica Biel:
Delish.com takes you inside Jessica Biel’s new restaurant Au Fudge, which opened its doors on March 4 in Los Angeles.
In the feature and video, Jessica opens up about the inspiration behind the restaurant, which she and her confounders envisioned as a stylish escape for parents who can unwind with a glass of rosé on the patio, while their kids (supervised under the watchful eye of an au pair) play in a drum circle or climb an indoor treehouse.
Not only is Au Fudge a playground for kids and parents, it also serves delicious dishes and treats – Jessica’s personal favorites are the vegan Caesar salad, chicken nuggets and French fries, and avalanche bars (brick-thick rice krispy treats studded with chocolate chips and sprinkles).
You can read the full piece at http://www.delish.com/restaurants/a52533/jessica-biel-restaurant-tour/.
Z: The Beginning Of Everything
Z: THE BEGINNING OF EVERYTHING available to stream on Amazon Prime Video January 27th.
Celebrate in style Wednesday, Thursday or Friday as Amazon takes over several speakeasies in the New York and Los Angeles areas where they will be hosting free, open bars to the public.
Z is a biography series based on the life of Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald, the brilliant, beautiful and talented Southern Belle who becomes the original flapper and icon of the wild, flamboyant Jazz Age in the 20s. Starring Christina Ricci (Monster) as Zelda Fitzgerald, Z starts before she meets the unpublished writer F. Scott Fitzgerald (Gavin Stenhouse, Allegiance), and moves through their passionate, turbulent love affair and their marriage-made in heaven, lived out in hell as the celebrity couple of their time. The series travels through the wild parties, the wicked jazz, the dissolute artists of the era, as well as the alcoholism, adultery and struggle with dashed dreams and mental illness that characterizes their later years.
The Deets:
Pour Vous (LA), No Vacancy (LA), Raines Law Room (NYC) and The Back Room (NYC) will all be taking part in the #ZTakeover January 25th, 26th and 27th. Not only will these venues be serving up prohibition era cocktails, they will also be decorated to the theme of the series with branded barware, 20’s jazz bands, bartenders in classic 20’s attire and tons of other early 20th century accents.
Wednesday, Jan 25
No Vacancy (1727 N Hudson Ave)
8PM-11PM
Thursday, Jan 26:
Pour Vous (5574 Melrose Ave), 8-11PM
Friday, Jan 27:
Los Angeles:
No Vacancy (1727 N Hudson Ave), 8PM-11PM
Tea & Tears
Tea & Tears: The Best Of Me Movie Screening Party

A movie date with good friends, good food, fun times and goodie bags! (The teenagers took their own pictures on their phones in the next room.)
Okay, here’s what we did. We screened the *Tears of Joy Edition of The Best of Me here in the EncinoMom screening room on Sunday! Before the movie (which arrived with a box of Kleenex – I’m not kidding) we had some tasty samples lined up for our guests.

Here’s a snap of the SusieCakes cupcakes before we even took them out of the box. The cake part was perfect – read – not a crumb left on anyone’s plate – and the frostings were swoon worthy. Sigh.
Ultimately, we decided to watch the theatrical release version of the movie because none of us would watch it if we saw the storybook “Tears Of Joy” ending first. So the Kleenex turned out to be a very good thing to have on hand in the studio!
When guests first arrived, everyone commented on how good it smelled. I credit the tea and the scented candles in the goodie bags, even though we hadn’t lit any of them, yet!
The tables were laid out with vintage tea cups and ladies’ luncheon plates. You can definitely tell the plates are authentic because there is an ashtray molded into each one, so ladies could smoke while enjoying their lunch. Seems outrageous, now, but I imagine these plates were used at fashionable gatherings where the women wore gloves and girdles.

Vintage tea cups and saucers with a teapot my daughter made at Color Me Mine when she was 3.
We sampled the new Kale Caesar Salad from the Corner Bakery, some Davidson’s Safest Choice Eggs (which I used to make egg salad sandos with cucumber) and then we tucked into some amazing cupcakes and treats from SusieCakes along with a limited edition tea from Teavana, created especially for Valentine’s Day.

The ashtray is in the lower right hand corner of the dish – the empty area next to the punch cup. Click to see the Kale Caesar (under 600 calories when paired with soup from The Corner Bakery’s 100 Combos Under 600 Calories Menu). The dressing is perfection.

The First Blush Tea from Teavana. The color and flavor of this tea are exquisitely subtle and lovely.
The First Blush Tea features naturally scented Jasmine green tea blended with floral orchid oolong complemented by luscious strawberries, crisp rhubarb and effervescent undertones of bubbly rosé. It arrived in a big box with surprises that we put into goody bags.
This tea smells amazing! It is lovely and subtle and beautiful, too. We used the Perfectea maker pictured above. It’s so simple to use and ensures that your tea comes out just right. It’s especially helpful if you’re a lazy tea maker like me. I tend to leave tea to steep too long which results in bitterness that no amount of milk and sugar can remedy.

Here’s Teavana’s Perfectea Maker in action. So simple. Hot water goes in the top. Tea comes out the bottom.

So much to taste and talk about!
The tea also came with this Pairing Tip: blend iced First Blush Tea with a glass of champagne for a fun and easy to make Teavana cocktail.

Thanks to SusieCakes for the perfect assortment of sweets to go with our salty tears.
We knew just about everyone on the guest list would be down with that so we picked up our favorite Brut! This was a big hit and was the perfect complement to our menu. We added a few fresh raspberries and hibiscus flowers in rose syrup to the champagne/tea cocktail as a beautiful blushing garnish. The soft color of the tea makes this a perfect choice for Valentine’s Day. Surprisingly, we sweetened the tea slightly with a few crystals of Teavana’s Perfectea Rock Sugar for just the right blend of flavors in the champagne cocktail.

The egg salad sandwiches were light and mild and layered with leaf lettuce and Persian cucumbers for a new take on traditional crustless tea sandwiches.
So Sunday was like a mini restaurant tour and product Expo! We had a great time together which of course was the point of the whole thing and our guests were encouraged to take pictures and post to Instagram, Facebook or Tweet, Flip, Pin, Kick, etc. to share the fun.

One more beauty shot of the sweets.
#BestOfTea
You can have an event like this at home with your friends and we can help! We’ve got one copy of the *Tears of Joy Edition of The Best of Me on Blu-ray and DVD to giveaway. Follow the link to enter on Rafflecopter and don’t forget to leave us a comment!
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The Best Of Me Blu-ray & DVD Giveaway
EncinoMom The Best Of Me Blu-ray & DVD Giveaway!
We thought you might like to watch the trailer before you enter to win your own copy of this romantic movie!
Based on the #1 New York Times Best Seller from celebrated author Nicholas Sparks comes this tender, romantic drama about the timeless power of love. When former high school sweethearts Dawson and Amanda (James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan) meet at a loved one’s funeral 20 years after tragedy separated them, their love is reignited. As they recall and relive the past, they come to a deeper understanding about the choices they’ve made.
Also starring Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato, and featuring beautiful scenery along with music by Lady Antebellum, TheBest of Me is a powerfully romantic story of love, hope and second chances.
For the Home Entertainment release, the “Tears of Joy” Edition Blu-ray and DVD will include an all-new storyline and “Storybook” Alternate Ending so Amanda and Dawson finally get that second chance at love.
We have one copy to give away!
Click this link
to put your name in the hat for our random drawing on Rafflecopter.
Mr. Peabody & Sherman Giveaway
Before I tell you about the Mr. Peabody giveaway,
I want to tell you that I love this family friendly feature from Dreamworks! Here’s a link to our review: Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Preview, Review & Interview. Now, you can scroll down to enter the giveaway or download coloring pages and activity sheets for your kids, but I have more good news! You can read about it here.
Special thanks to Dreamworks, Tiffany Ward and Fox Home Entertainment for making all of this possible and to the EncinoMom crew for creating this video for me to share with you! It’s easy to enter to win your very own copy of Mr. Peabody & Sherman. You can use our Rafflecopter form, or use the contact form and we’ll process the entry for you.
#PeabodyInsiders
MatchCut Review
I have been recently introduced to a new video editing app. It is extremely easy to use, fun, and effective. You don’t have to do any work. All you need to do is select a couple of videos from your Camera Roll, pick a sound effect, and then MatchCut edits together the videos and replaces the sound from the videos with cute and playful sound effects of your choice.
This is definitely a unique app that is the perfect choice for posting a birthday video for your bestie. It can be difficult finding an app that does what you want it to. As holidays come up, you can show your love by combining videos of you and your dad for Father’s Day or you and your new puppy for your family that lives out of town. You will totally be seeing tons of these MatchCut videos on my page. Here’s one I made for my Mom: