Tonight is the start of the 31st Annual Taste of Greece Festival at St. Pauls Greek Orthodox Church in Irvine.

There will be food, food and more food along with cooking demonstrations, carnival rides, games, music, boutiques, greek dancing lessons and a raffle. You could win 7 days in Athens or you could munch on a gyro and enjoy the entertainment.

Admission in $3, children under 10 for free
Located on 4949 Alton Parkway, Irvine
Friday: 5-10 pm
Saturday: 12-10 pm
Sunday: 12-9 pm

PA’ME NA’ FA’ME!

September 19th & 20th from 10 am until 5 pm head on over to the Huntingon Beach Central Park for the 1st Annual Polynesian Islander Festival!

There will be cultural demonstrations, authentic music, hands-on arts and crafts, vendors, performances, story-telling, villages representing the Pacific Islands and of course, good food.

7111 Talbert Avenue,
Huntington Beach, CA.
92648

4 ounce tasting mug

As many of you know, the Orange County Beer Festival was held yesterday at Irvine Lake. As promised there were lots of breweries, lots of beer to drink and plenty of heat.

Since it was so hot – the thermometer in my car showed 100 degrees – I was shocked at how many people had on jeans, closed-toe shoes and dark shirts. However, most people seemed to be aware we were in the middle of a heat wave and dressed as such. Thankfully there was shade to be had and the vendors that happened to be in the shade produced a crowd.

Our purpose was to try beers we’d not had before. I sampled 14, but did not entirely drink them all. Some were just too heavy for such a hot summer day. I tried to stick to lights, wheats, whites, etc. plus that’s what I tend to prefer. Although, one of my favorites was none of those, exactly. MateVeza an organic beer with caffeine.

More photos and commentary after the jump.

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There are still tickets available to the Orange County Beer Festival taking place on Sunday, August 30 at Irvine Lake. Please note the web address on the flyer had to be changed due to technical difficulties. This is the active web address: drinkeatplay.com/orangecountybeerfest/ or you can just click on the flyer.

To order tickets click on the top right of the Drink:Eat:Play website or here. Tickets MUST be purchased in advance, none will be available at the door. There is also a designated driver special of $15, which gives you access to everything except the beer tastings, obviously. Enter code “dd” when ordering tickets.

Remember folks it’s gonna be hot, Hot, HOT on Sunday. In addition to all of the wonderful beer we’ll be drinking don’t forget to drink plenty of water. I don’t want to see someone keeling over ’cause, you know, that’d ruin my buzz. All kidding aside drink responsibly people and that means water and lots of it … that goes for yours truly as well. And to prevent this nonsense from happening iced tea and water will be available for FREE.

Don’t forget to mark your calendars for the  LA Beer Festival on September 19th.

This is a 21+ only event. Even if you are the designated driver you must be 21 to attend.

Fans of beer and/or drinking, mark your calendars now for Drink:Eat:Play’s first ever Orange County Beer Festival and hopefully not the last. It will be held on Sunday, August 30, 2009 from 2:00 – 5:00 p.m. at Irvine Lake. Please note, this is a 21+ only event.

With so many great Orange Country breweries, the OC shouldn’t be limited to wine tasting and pairings, which are good too. However, it’s about time for OC to have it’s own beer festival. The event will highlight Orange County’s top breweries, in addition to over 60 domestic and international brands. Click for full OC Beer Fest List. Since it really wouldn’t be a festival without food and music they’ve got that covered as well. The festival will feature barbeque, In-n-Out, and some great ’80s glam rock from Metal Shop.

To purchase tickets and for more information, click on the flyer. Tickets are $40 per person and will NOT be available at the door.

Recently a shoe outlet opening, now a festival dedicated to beer and it’s football season again. I think I’ve died and gone to heaven. Go Steelers!!! ;)

For those of you who can’t get enough beer or just one beer festival just won’t do – and really, who wants to limit themselves to one? – there will be another: LA Beer Festival on Saturday, September 19th.

P.S. I will be posting a follow-up blog about my time at the OC Beer Festival.

Allen Shellenberger, the drummer for Lit, has died of brain cancer. He was 39.

The Orange County band recorded three albums, one of which went platinum and propelled them to international fame but to us they will always be part of our talented OC family. My thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends during this difficult time.

Here’s a link to his Obituary in the Los Angeles Times.

So sad.

All I got was this tiki-tacky ashtray! Full. Of. Win.

Well that’s only sorta true, I also got a set of lovely atomic-tiki bar glasses and a wonderful clock to augment the object d’art above. If you have never been to Tiki Oasis, it’s a poly-pop appreciation weekend in San Diego that is full up hipsters, hippies and lots and lots of rum. I went with the wife and friend for a day trip and I have to tell you it was pretty fun! I was initially concerned that it would be too much of the renaissance-fair set and too little of the middle-aged hipster set. Turns out it was just a bunch of drunken tiki worshipers having a really big party!

Orange County, as you may or may not know, was once rife with tiki temples. Alas those days are gone and only a couple of places remain. Notable among these are the Enchanted Tiki Room and the former Sam’s Seafood in Huntington Beach; the later of which has changed hands and names so many times I’ve lost count. Anyway, if you want to relive the glory days of swinging bachelor pads and jet-set exotica that California was once famous for, Tiki Oasis is the place to do it. Maybe we’ll see you there next year!

Concerts in Hart Park: Wednesdays, 7-8:30 p.m.

OK, so it’s kinda schmaltzy but who doesn’t love a free concert on a nice warm summer evening? So pack your snacks and drinkies and settle in for some free entertainment. Blankets or (low) lawn chairs are welcomed but leave you pets at home – nobody wants to listen to your Basset Hound howl. Additionally, food will be available for purchase courtesy of Kiwanis of Orange.

2009 Concerts in Hart Park dates:

• July 8, The Wise Guys Big Band Machine – Big band/swing music
• July 15, The Fenians – Traditional and contemporary Irish music
• July 22, Stone Soul – Motown, soul and R & B classics
• July 29, Open Wide – Classic rock
• August 5, Crashdance – Top 40 dance favorites
• August 12, The Sam Morrison Band – southern classic rock
• August 19, The Hodads – 50’s and 60’s rock-n-roll
• August 26, Film at Eleven – Motown and R & B classics

Hart Park is located at 701 South Glassell St., Orange, CA 92866

See you there!

Yes folks, it’s true. According to this OC Register article, the fair committee approved (and apparently already filmed) a 3-D movie about “Al’s brain” to be shown at this year’s OC Fair. The 10 minute film will be shown in a temporary tent that will be set up for this year, however there are plans to build an $8 million permanent building at the fairgrounds site.

OC Fair CEO Steve Beazley likened the film to Disney’s “Captian EO”. (I personally would love a full-scale Weird Al spoof of the entire Captain EO short instead of a journey “inside his brain” but….whatever). He goes on to compare the fair to Disneyland (hehe), by stating Disney opens new attractions every year to keep interest in the parks, and they want to do the same with the Fair.

Feel free to read the full article and see the pros and cons to putting this into the fairgrounds.

But I want to know, what are your thoughts? Do you agree with spending $2.5 million on this film, just for the OC Fair? Or do you think this is about as smart as building the New Year’s Eve Orange Drop thingy?

Better yet….let’s do a poll! But please feel free to comment as well!

**Special thanks to former OC Metblogger Mike for sharing this via his twitter account.

If anyone cares what I think, I say build the thing. I don’t think we’re in a position to rule out ANYTHING that could possibly end up making money for fair. Let’s just hope it at least makes $2.5 million to cover the cost of the film!

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Who’s with me?