Deb’s Blog of Mac, Life, and Stuff

The 7th Annual Malibu Wine Classic, a fund-raiser for Childhelp is being held at the Malibu Civic Center on Saturday, 8/29.

Great food & wine.

Confirmed wineries for 2009 include: AJB, Alma Rosa, Anglim, Blair Fox, Brander, Bridlewood Estate Winery, Buttonwood, Calcareous, Carr Winery, Casa Dumetz, Cass Winery, Ciello, Clesi Wines, Clos Selene, Consilience, Cordon / Santa Maria Winery, Core, Demetria, Derby Wine Estates, Dragonette Cellars, Fiddle Head, Foley Estate Wines Gioia, Griffin, Hoyt, Jaffurs, Jim Palmer’s Malibu Vineyards, Kaena, Jim Palmer’s Malibu Vineyards, Kaena, Ken Brown Wines, Kenneth Volk, Laetitia, L’Aventure, Linne Calodo Cellars, Lone Madrone, Lucas & Lewellen, Malibu Family Wines, Malibu Solstice Vineyard, Malibu Vineyards, Malibu Solstice Vineyard, Malibu Vineyards, Rosenthal Malibu Estate, Sanity, Sextant, Sierra Madre Vineyards, Silver, Stolpman, Strange Wines, Summerland, Sweeney Canyon, Tablas Creek, Tantara, Tercero, Terry Hoage Vineyards, The Malibu Vineyard, Vihuela Winery, Villa Creek, Vina Robles.
More to be announced.

Confirmed Restaurants for 2009 include: Water Grill, BARREL Malibu, Monsieur Marcel, STK, American Flatbread, Casa Escobar Malibu, Charlie’s Malibu, The Four Seasons Hotel, The Engaging Gourmet, Malibu Toffee, Michael’s Restaurant, Moonshadows, SaddlePeak Lodge, The Sunset, Cafe/Malibu Pier Club, Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf, Luscious Organic Desserts and more to be announced! Water will be provided by Eternal Water New Zealand. Celebrity guests TBD.

Info here.

Meeting up with a fellow Syosset High School grad, we decided to check out Church & State, Chef Walter Manzke’s bistro. Sophie Gayot had recommended it and I know Sophie puts a lifetime of food-critic experience behind her reviews and recommendations. It was excited to get to eat someplace she’d liked, and I’m glad I did! I was also very happy to find such a fine dining experience where entrees don’t start at $25. If you’re ever staying in downtown LA and want a non-pretentious, unstuffy, meal of one fine bite after another, make a note of Church & State.
You can check out Sophie’s review and my 2-cents at Gayot.com.

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This week I got a large post card in the mail from the Los Angeles Metro. It was exciting — at first.

The card says, “Out all night? So are we.”
It then shows me 4 bus routes that are somewhat in my area. 2 of the 4 are about a 2-mile walk, but the other 2 are just a few blocks. So far, this looks great. The Metro folks have done and outreach that gives me info that enables me to take public transit instead of driving.

Here’s what the card doesn’t say:

1. where are the actual bus stops? They show 3 main north-south roads but these are several miles apart, so what about all the people who live in between them? Are there local stops at 1am, 3am, 5am?
2. how far apart is each bus? Will I be waiting 30 minutes for a bus, or 10?
3. what times does the bus hit some particular street? If I get to a main corner at 1am will I be waiting until 1:20, 1:40… or did I just miss the bus?