Ani Phyo: Health, Wellness, Raw Food & Detox Expert NEWS & EVENTS PAGE Archives - Page 2 of 13 - Ani Phyo: Health, Wellness, Raw Food & Detox Expert

WATCH LIVE! Saturday 11am to 11.45am PST – “Ani’s 15-Day Fat Blast”

Sat, May 26th, 2012, 11am to 11.45am PST – we will be broadcasting LIVE! (as long as the internet connection is strong enough)

Join me for this LIVE netcast celebrating my newest book “Ani’s 15-Day Fat Blast“. This event is being broadcast from 11 to 11.45am PST on Sat May 26th, 2012 from San Francisco, CA.

Please stop by if you’re in the SF embarcadero area:
Ferry Plaza Farmers Market: 1 Ferry building, San Francisco, CA 94111
(415) 983-8030

I’m starting to netcast for the first time again since I conceived of and executive produced ‘Fiber‘ back in 1995, before ISDN or T1 were available! ‘Fiber’ was the World’s 1st online fashion show event ever, and it was broadcast over copper phone lines to the Mbone at UC Berkeley, CA, and then out to the world!

Thanks for joining me here and for helping me celebrate my newest book “Ani’s 15-Day Fat Blast“! Love you all xo, ani

Ani's 15-Day Fat Blast cover

By admin|May 15th, 2012|Book Signings, Events & Talks, NEWS & EVENTS, NEWS & EVENTS PAGE, VIDEOS|1 Comment

Happy Lunar New Year 2012

I went down to Little Saigon in Orange County to celebrate Lunar New Year, Vietnamese style. Here I’m being fitted for my dress. Traditional Vietnamese dresses are called Ao Dai.

These dresses are super flattering with high side openings and wide, silky, flowing pants.

Next stop is the Vietnamese New Year Festival, where I found a baby cherimoya tree.

This marketplace made me feel like I was in SE Asia, except it was much colder here in California. Tons of tropical fruit like rombutan, cherimoya, and jackfruit. Yummy!

These magnolias are so pretty!

There were so many varieties of orchids at the Lunar New Year Festival. Check out the bulbous orchids at the top of this photo, hanging down.

It’s the Year of the Dragon. And, no Lunar New Year Celebration is complete without dragon dancers. These Vietnamese dragons, aka lion dragons, are made up of 2 people, while the Chinese dragons are much longer.

There were 4 different lion dragons in different colors. People were feeding the lion dragons ‘lucky’ dollar bills to ensure good luck and fortune for the new Lunar New Year.

And last but not least….. fresh durian! Here my friend and I are driving and eating durian in the car. We actually think durian smells good! Sweet and delicious. I guess I can only be […]

By admin|January 23rd, 2012|LIFESTYLE, NEWS & EVENTS PAGE, Travel|1 Comment

Ani’s dineLA Restaurant Week Vegetarian Roundup

dineLA is an exciting 2-week dining event created by the Los Angeles Convention and Visitor Bureau (aka LA, INC) to introduce diners to hundreds of neighborhood restaurants throughout Los Angeles County. LA’s a huge county full of many great spots for food and drink. So, to help filter through over 300 participating restaurants, dineLA’s invited me to call out a few restaurants offering vegetarian dineLA menu items. I live in West Hollywood, so most of my recommendations are for spots in my area.

For dineLA, participating restaurants offer a fixed 3-course menu for lunch and/or dinner…a great way to taste popular dishes. If a restaurant offers only 1 or 2 vegetarian items on their dineLA menu, many will let you order just those vegetarian items, so do ask. You’ll also find a few vegan and almost raw items too.

With so many great dineLA restaurants, it was challenging to choose just 10! Here’s a few vegetarian items to look for. If you prefer vegan, ask to leave off the dairy. It’s that simple. Click each link below to view their dineLA menu:

Akasha - Chef Akasha and I share a similar outlook for living a life that’s eco green, treading lightly on our planet Earth. Her dinner menu includes a Black Kale Salad, Olive Oil Croutons, Sheep Cheese, Meyer Lemons Vinaigrette – I love kale for it’s texture, color, flavor, and potent nutrient profile. Meyer lemons have a sweeter, less acidic flavor that the more common store bought lemon varieties. Akasha’s desserts sound yummy too: Salted Caramel + Chocolate Fudge Sunday (sounds so gooey and decadent), Pineapple Upside Down Cake, and a Flourless Tiramisu (I always like to choose flourless as a gluten-free option). […]

By admin|January 18th, 2012|Events, Farmers' Market, Green Living, LIFESTYLE, NEWS & EVENTS PAGE|0 Comments

dineLA Kickoff Celebration

dineLA Restaurant Week is a 2-week dining event created by the Los Angeles Convention and Visitor Bureau (aka LA, inc) to introduce diners to hundreds of neighborhood restaurants throughout Los Angeles County.

:: Check out my dineLA Vegetarian Roundup – my top 10 picks for restaurants who have vegetarian and even vegan items on their dineLA menus.

To celebrate, dineLA hosted a party at the W Hotel in Westwood last week on Jan 11th, 2012 with flowing scotch, champagne, beer, and wine. Though I’ve taken a break from drinking, I had to have just one scotch because it was Highland Park 12 year, neat with one ice cubes on the side please.

Chef Jason Fullilove from The Tar Pit has the best last name ever! He may look familiar because he was on the 1st episode of Chef Hunter on Food Network last month. Keep a look out, as he’ll soon be on Cooking Channel too. Finally, diversity on TV, yeah! Chef Jason’s food is yummy. For dineLA, you will find 2 vegan dishes on his vegetarian menu including a Roasted Vegetable Terrine, Winter Root Vegetable Pasta, and a choice of 3 decadent desserts.

Executive Chef Chris Morningstar from Ray’s and Stark Bar, hailed by Esquire Magazine as “One of the best new restaurants of 2011″. Bravo Chef Chris! Chris and I first met while we were both preparing for our Test Kitchen dinners as Chris’ dinner was the night following my 2-nights of Ani Phyo’s Gastrawnomique. His menu was completely […]

By admin|January 15th, 2012|Events, LIFESTYLE|0 Comments

Donate Life Rose Parade Float, New Year Day 2012

New Year’s Day 2012 I took a trip out to Pasadena’s Rose Bowl to help with the Donate Life float for the Rose Parade, which was on Jan 2nd this year. Donate Life is an amazing organization that raises awareness so we stick that pink dot onto our driver’s license, to help save lives by being an organ donor. My dad was a kidney recipient, so this organization rings very close to my heart.

This is the beautiful finished float. The folks sitting on it are the stars of the show…family members of donors from 2011. The stories I heard yesterday were so moving, and I broke into tears numerous times. One woman’s 9-year old daughter had gone to the hospital for an ear infection. The hospital misdiagnosed and mistreated her (not uncommon), and she died. Her mom was proud to share how her daughter lives on in others, literally, and that her daughter has saved many lives by being a donor. You can see the portraits of each donor on 6 clock faces, a total of 72 donors are honored.

My good friend Vicky is a ‘red jacket’ and one of the team leaders on this huge project. She’s been here working on the float for weeks from early morning until 11pm. A huge undertaking, whew.

We are all misting the flowers with water before the float is moved outdoors for judging. It was gorgeous in Pasadena, 80 degrees!

Everything on all of […]

By admin|January 2nd, 2012|Events, Green Living, Health, LIFESTYLE|0 Comments

NetKal Gala Photos

This was the beautiful view of the rose gardens as we arrived at the NetKal Gala event….. gathering of Asian Americans in entertainment.

Styled by my favorite fashion designer Linda Loudermilk of all time, plus…she’s all about luxury eco! Makeup and hair by the best artist ever, Dorit Genazzani.

The beautiful Lisa Ling (Oprah Winfrey Network, Our America) and her husband Dr. Paul Song.

Bryan Tee from Fast and the Furious. I can count all of 2 Asian actors in film. At least they’re representing! Yeah.

From the TV show Dexter, actor C.S. Lee. Okay, this makes 2 Asian actors…one TV, one film, so far. I can think of one more Asian male from TV. Hopefully, you can too.

The NetKal Gala was held at USC at the Annenberg Center.

The event was catered by my friends at Good Gracious Catering. I met Pauline and Joanne at Sunset Magazine’s annual Celebration weekend event last spring, where I was invited along with Chef Rick Bayless (Frontera), Candace Nelson (Sprinkles), and Govind Armstrong (8oz Burger). So impressive they included vegan raw along side these TV celebrities.

The food was presented beautifully. And, my friends hooked me up with a vegan meal, of course!

By admin|October 31st, 2011|Beauty, Events, Health, LIFESTYLE|0 Comments

Network of Korean American Leaders Gala (NetKal)

Last night, I was invited to attend the 6th annual NetKal Gala at USC in Los Angeles, CA. I’m wearing my favorite Luxury Eco Designer Linda Loudermilk: gown made of organic silk, sustainable glass bead lace, ring and necklace made from recycled and remnant chain silver. Dorit Genazzani is my favorite makeup and hair artist, and I love how she makes me look beautiful…thanks Dorit!

There were over 500 Koreans and Korean Americans from the entertainment industry at the NetKal Gala, including actors, directors, producers, and studio executives. Jane Cha is Exec Producer for Project Runway, Ken Mok is creator and Exec Producer of America’s Next Top Model, and Lisa Ling (below) from Our America on the Oprah Winfrey Network.

Kenny G is still going strong, making music and performing. He’s my one token non-Asian, and everyone was stoked to see him there. hahaaa

My good friend Namju Cho looks so pretty in her cocktail dress. We met when she interviewed me for a feature in KoreAm Journal.

Food was catered by my friends Pauline Perry, Joanne Purnell, and David Cho at Good Gracious.

By admin|October 22nd, 2011|NEWS & EVENTS|0 Comments

Dance in the Park in the Sun

Old school friends came down from San Francisco last weekend to host the most wicked day of dance, tunes, and great vibes…and it was the best day I’ve enjoyed in a while! DJ’s Solar (above) and Galen (below) are both Sunset and Pacific Sound crews. (I used to have a multimedia studio back in the day in SF, and we threw a historic NYE party in 1995 together with Sunset). When I lived in SF, all I would do is dance for exercise. It’s the best workout ever! Plus, Solar cooks, and of course loves Raw Food!

Here’s Galen. These guys still look the same as they did back in the early 90′s! And they put so much love into their music, you can feel it. We agreed dancing, good music, and raves are what keep us young! I was just up in SF a couple months ago, and went to the Sunset boat party hosted on a ferry that sails the Bay from 6 to 11pm. A perfect way to finish off the weekend, always.

Since I’m usually in bed by 10pm, this daytime party in the park was exactly what I needed! The sun was bright and warm in Van Nuys where we all laid out picnic blankets, brought food, and danced up a storm. Galen, Solar, and the Sunset Crew are known for their outdoor parties on Sunday afternoons. They’ve been hosting them for probably over 20 years now! We’d all end up at Sunset parties after a long weekend. Great way to taper down off the […]

By admin|October 10th, 2011|LIFESTYLE|0 Comments

A Day in the Sun

To celebrate completing my book, I spent the day on my bicycle. Rode it about 25 miles to and from the ocean, and I was stoked the sun finally came out…even in Santa Monica (which seems to always be overcast, foggy, and cold compared to West Hollywood). While I was in Santa Monica, I stopped at the beach by the pier, where there’s an adult playground with ropes to climb, balance beams, parallel bars, and a row of rings to swing on.

Since I’m a monkey (Chinese year of the Monkey) I was drawn to the rings. It looked hard, but it really doesn’t take strength, but rather, finesse. You just have to get enough momentum, rocking back and forth, to swing and grab the next ring. That said, my hands were killing me, and I was on the kiddie set of rings! The adult set are really high up, and scary. But, perhaps I’ll give them a try next time I visit the coast.

Whenever I find myself West of the 405, which is a rarity, I make sure to stop into see Juliano at Planet Raw for his kick-ass chocolate shake….that revs up my cycle back home. Yesterday, I enjoyed a burrito at Better Life Cuisine, and spent a couple hours catching up with Dr. Z, who owns that building.

Back in WEHO, I stopped at Beverly Juice Club for my favorite green juice shake blended with frozen banana and sunflower seeds (no added sweetener). Had hoped to get to my favorite Koreatown Sauna, but ran out of time. Instead, met my friend and his puppy at the […]

By admin|September 27th, 2011|Fitness, Green Living, Health, LIFESTYLE|1 Comment

Kanga’s 9-Year Birthday + Dogversary

Labor Day marks the weekend my Rhodesian Ridgeback, Kanga, and I rescued one another….9-years ago! How time flies. (and yes, I cake sunblock on my face, as you can see).

Kanga had been at the Humane Society for over 2 weeks, and no one adopted her. Surprising, since she is a beautiful specimen of this breed. Plus, she came fully trained, so someone had spent a lot of time and energy with her. She was skin and bone, and 50+ pounds underweight with kennel cough and dusty fur. Poor baby.

Luckily, a truck intercepted 20 dogs on their way to get euthanized, and brought them back to a no-kill shelter in Portland, OR called Family Dogs NW. This was where I found Kanga early the very next morning. I applied the same raw food principles to Kanga as I do for human healing, and over the next month or two she gained 50 pounds and regained radiant health on a Raw Food diet. You can read more about her journey in Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen, where Kanga has her own dog food chapter.

My brother Max saw this photo of Kanga and said she looks like she’s “mugging”. I had to ask him what the heck that means. Max said “mugging = posing, like rappers do for pics”. Hahaa. Yup, Kanga is a superstar, and very popular too. Folks always stop us to pet her, especially young children.