The Brief

When I walk into Saumya Dharmasiriwardena’s home in Canoga Park, I am immediately transported to balmy December evenings at the Galle Face Hotel in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, the sweet smell of sugared fruits intermingled with the heady aromas of cardamom and cloves hanging in the air.

Chefs use wooden paddles to stir dried fruits and nuts, while hotel staff pour in copious amounts of brandy. This is Christmas as we know it in Sri Lanka.

Candied chow chow, candied pumpkin, candied ginger, maraschino cherries, dried fruit and nuts left to stew in brandy.

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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena

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“You would've got the Christmas cake smell,” Dharmasiriwardena tells me. The baking of a Christmas cake kicks off the holiday season in Sri Lanka, a relic of the time when the teardrop-shaped island nation to the south of India was colonized by the British.

When they ruled Ceylon, as Sri Lanka was known at the time, they brought with them a Christmas tradition of making fruit cake, packed with candied orange peel, glace cherries and sultanas.

The islanders then took this treat and made it their own, using locally sourced ingredients like candied chayote (a type of squash known as chow chow), candied ginger and candied peel from lime and green oranges.

Behold the cake

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Courtesy Saumya Dharmsiriwardena

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Saumya Dharmasiriwardena mixes the crumbed cake mixture.

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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena

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The candied version of Sri Lankan pumpkin — a large green vegetable with white flesh — also gets added to the cake mix, along with cashews and maraschino cherries. And with everything Sri Lankan, added spices are a necessity, including cardamom, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg, along with vanilla, rose and almond essences.

She gets all her spices directly from Sri Lanka — “the best,” she declared emphatically, because what she can buy here in L.A. is “nothing like what you get there.”

Dharmasiriwardena began making the Christmas cake in Sri Lanka in 1984, and when she moved to California 13 years ago, she brought this little piece of home with her. Since then, she has purchased the cashews, maraschino cherries, raisins and sultanas stateside, but for other ingredients she still relies on trips back to Sri Lanka to stock up.

The spices and essences Saumya brings from Sri Lanka.

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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena

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For the candied ingredients, she specifically travels to Sri Lanka’s commercial capital Pettah to shop from Latheefia Stores — a small store that has been around since the 1960s with a red and white sign — because their versions are not heavy in sugar syrup. She says she sometimes brings back “about 27-30 kilos — just cake ingredients only.”

That’s 50 pounds.

The candied ginger, candied peel, candied chow chow and candied pumpkin that Saumya Dharmasiriwardena brings from Sri Lanka.

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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena

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Sri-lankan Anne Renuka Perera, who lives in Santa Clarita, is also a fan of Latheefia stores. She enlisted the help of her son this year to bring her the ingredients.

“Last time when he came with his wife … he was allowed to bring four suitcases,” Perera said. “I asked him, 'Can you give me one suitcase?’ And the whole suitcase was full of my stuff.”

Religious acceptance

Only 7% of the country’s population is Christian, and despite a civil war from 1983 to 2009 fought on ethnic lines, the people in the country tend to be tolerant of other religions. A Pew research study , earlier this year, found that 62% of Sri Lankans believed that religious, ethnic and cultural diversity made their country a better place to live. Only 6% said it made it a worse place to live.

“Christmas in Sri Lanka isn’t just for Christians or Catholics, everyone shared that time,” said Dharmasiriwardena.

As a kid, she dragged a makeshift fern plant into her home and decorated it with toys and balloons to bring that festive spirit into her home. Now, at her home in Canoga Park, a statue of Lord Buddha hangs on her wall and in a corner, fairy lights twinkle on a Christmas tree.

Saumya Dharmasiriwardena sits beside the Christmas tree in her home.

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Courtesy Navodya Dharmasiriwardena

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That kind of cultural mixing is common. Yasodhara Sonali Tucker, who has lived in Los Angeles since 1981, said when she was growing up in Sri Lanka and even now, visiting, she observes how everyone goes out during the Buddhist holiday of Vesak to see colorful lantern decorations and get free food from dansals (food stands). When the Hindu festival of Vel comes around, people line the street to observe the Vel cart, an intricately carved wooden structure decorated with fresh flower garlands. And come the Muslim festivals of Eid, the “big food holidays,” her friends would bring biryani and a jaggery custard pudding, wattalapam.

“Everyone had very good friends that they moved around with from all faiths,” Tucker said. “We were beneficiaries of all of these culinary experiences and were able to partake of any festival that was on the calendar at that time.”

Holding on to traditions

Perera, who has been making the Christmas cake for 40 years, still continues to make it because the Sri Lankan community in Southern California wants it, she said.

She uses a hand mixer to mix the candied fruit, vegetables and essences which have been left to soak in brandy with eggs, semolina and butter before baking the cake.

Once the cake is baked, it is broken into crumbs by hand. Perera mixes jam in but Dharmasiriwardena does not, instead keeping the crumbed mixture in an airtight container, mixing it with a wooden spoon daily.

It looked like physically taxing work from what I saw, but Dharmasiriwardena does not think so.

“I feel that whatever you do with love, it doesn't affect much,” she said. “But if you do something that you don't like, yes, of course, then you're stressed and you get upset with everyone.”

The crumbed mixture gets shaped into rectangles and then packaged with festive paper.

Anne Renuka Perera packs her Christmas cake into individual portions and chose a festive green and red paper.

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Courtesy Anne Renuka Perera

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The cake then takes a place of pride on the breakfast table on Christmas morning. Since it's so decadent, most people savor a 2-inch piece. Then they do it again at lunch time and then dinner time. And fine, some of us have it at teatime too, with a cup of Sri Lankan ginger tea.

Recent operations under the Trump administration have raised eyebrows and drawn criticism, not only because of their missions but also because of their names and the intent behind them.

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Thursday announced Operation Southern Spear, aimed at what he calls "narco-terrorists" who are allegedly bringing illegal drugs into the country. The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) on Saturday also announced it was launching Operation Charlotte's Web — matching the name of the classic children's book — in Charlotte, N.C., to target undocumented immigrants.

"There is no parent who has read Charlotte's Web to a child who cannot be outraged by this," Dan Shapiro, who served as U.S. Ambassador to Israel from 2011 to 2017, wrote on X .

Asked about the inspiration for the operation name and the message the agency wants to send by using it, DHS responded to NPR with a press release about the operation that included a statement from Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.

"We are surging DHS law enforcement to Charlotte to ensure Americans are safe and public safety threats are removed," McLaughlin said in the statement. "There have been too many victims of criminal illegal aliens. President Trump and Secretary Noem will step up to protect Americans when sanctuary politicians won't."

NPR also reached out to the Defense Department for comment but has not received a response.

Here is what to know about military operation names.

Naming military operations is not new. Neither is criticism of names

Code names for U.S. military operations date back to the World War II era and began for security reasons, according to Lt. Col. Gregory C. Sieminski in the article " The Art of Naming Operations ," in The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters. The names were based on colors at first, such as Operation Indigo, but as World War II spread, military officials switched to a name-based system that included projects and locations.

After the Vietnam War, military officials started using a computer system to reconcile nicknames and code words, called the Code Word, Nickname, and Exercise Term System, or NICKA.

Routine military exercises use the NICKA system for naming operations, according to Mark Cancian, a retired Marine colonel and a senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Highly visible operations generally get two-word names chosen outside the system, such as operations Just Cause in Panama, Iraqi Freedom, and Enduring Freedom in Afghanistan, Cancian told NPR.

"The ones that are chosen are chosen for a reason to project a message," Cancian told NPR. "So, going back to Iraqi Freedom and Enduring Freedom, the message is freedom. With the recent ones, Midnight Hammer and Southern Spear, the message is lethality."

Although DHS is not considered part of the U.S. military, using the name "Charlotte's Web" could also have been chosen because "you've got the spider's web that catches people," but it could also be the administration trying to be "tongue in cheek," he continued.

And other military operations have received backlash and criticism in the past, including what is now known as Operation Enduring Freedom. It was first called Operation Infinite Justice, but was changed after backlash that it was offensive to Muslims.

"The fact that these names get scrutiny is not unusual," Cancian said. "Now, I think in this case, given the administration's aggressive rhetoric, I think that inspires maybe pushback, but it's not unusual that names get a lot of scrutiny."
Copyright 2025 NPR

Pasadena Unified School District will vote Thursday on $25 million in budget cuts that would include layoffs across athletics, arts, libraries and landscaping, among other areas.

The cuts are part of a proposed $30.5 million total reduction that represents about 16% of the district's $189 million projected general fund budget next school year.

“We have been very rich in resources,” Superintendent Elizabeth Blanco said. “It is always hard to lose things, and these are all great value [adds] to our students and families, but they're still gonna get a very high-quality education with what we're going to have left.”

District staff presented their recommendations for reducing the budget at a Thursday board meeting . Parents, educators and students who spoke up at the meeting said the cuts will decimate programs that have helped improve literacy , attract families to the district and provide a meaningful educational experience to students.

 ”Art is my entire life and doing it in school is the reason I wake up to go there,” said Lyric Mims, a junior in Marshall Fundamental’s Academy for Creative Industries.

Pasadena Unified’s financial deficit is years in the making. The Los Angeles County Office of Education (LACOE) has warned that without significant reductions in spending, the district will not be able to meet its financial obligations and risks losing the ability to govern itself.

At the end of Thursday’s nearly five-hour meeting, LACOE Director of Business Advisory Services Octavio Castelo told district leadership it was going in the right direction.

“But keep in mind, we look at the totality of your budget,” Castelo said. “We can't sit here and arbitrarily just tell you, ‘Yeah, everything's fine.’"

What are PUSD's proposed cuts?

District staff said the proposed cuts are based on months of meetings with staff, parents, students and labor partners.

The board will vote on three categories of cuts :

• $18.5 million of school-based staff
• $3.6 million in central office/administrative positions
• $2.8 million in contracts for outside services, i.e. professional development and consultants 

The Superintendent's Budget Advisory Committee is a group of parents, educators, students and community members that met throughout the fall to review the district's programs and score them from 0, “easiest,” to 4, “most difficult” to reduce.

Though committee member and parent Warren Bleeker said “easy” is a misnomer.

“ There's really nothing easy to be cut,” Bleeker said. “The thing that was most difficult is that most of these categories are direct services to students and so in an ideal world, you would not want to cut any of them.”

Proposed cuts were divided up into more than three-dozen groups (“packages”) and then ranked . District staff reviewed the rankings and suggested eliminating about two dozen of those packages while preserving several positions , including school clerks and assistant principals.

PUSD created summaries of how the cuts would affect elementary , middle and high schools and the district at large .

Cuts to athletics would be spread across high schools.

“There would be no sports that would completely leave the school district,” Blanco said. However, not every school may offer every sport. Students will have the option to transfer to a school to pursue a specific team. District staff said the goal is to have a final list of sports at each school by January, should the cuts be approved as presented.

There are also five other categories (PUSD calls them “workstreams”) where there could be funding changes — grants , special education , transportation , property management and staffing/vacancies — but those actions do not require a board vote. They account for $3.5 million.

Why not consolidate?

Some parents have asked why the district is not considering school closures to save money.

In a virtual town hall, Superintendent Blanco said she served on three consolidation committees in her tenure where recommendations to close schools were ultimately turned down.

“We want to be sure that if we embark upon that kind of a process, that we're really going to take it seriously and follow the recommendations that come forward,” Blanco said. “And that's not been our history.”

The district’s decision to close three elementary schools in 2019 is currently being challenged by a lawsuit .

In a follow-up interview, Blanco told LAist the board has not directed staff to begin working on a plan to consolidate schools.

How did the district get here?

For the last several years, PUSD has spent more money than it brings in and is projected to have a $29 million budget deficit next school year. One factor is that PUSD, like many districts in the region, is enrolling fewer students, which equates to less funding from the state.

Blanco said the district cut $13.8 million from the 2024-2025 budget and another $5 million from this year’s budget largely from reductions in non-school site positions.

 ”It has felt like year over year the pressure on parents to fill the gap, the funding gaps has gotten larger,” said Sandy Hoffman, the parent of an alum and seventh-grader at Octavia E. Butler Magnet, and a member of the PTA and the Northwest Parent Coalition.

Over the last decade, the district has lost thousands of students amid declining birth rates. The district has also lost families after the January fires. Preliminary enrollment numbers show 13,228 students were enrolled this school year, Blanco said — the biggest year-over-year drop since 2021.

Nancy Rose Dufford, executive director of the Pasadena Education Network, said she hopes families stay in the district despite the cuts.

“Hopefully parents will continue to support their schools and students will stay in the district and that it won't perpetuate a further decline in enrollment because that's ultimately what the problem is now,” she said.

Another factor is the district is now contending with the expiration of tens of millions dollars it received in federal COVID-19 relief funding.

District officials have also said that state funding to help with the rising cost of living hasn’t kept up with inflation and the true expense of operating schools.

What’s next?

The district’s board of education is scheduled to vote on the proposed cuts Thursday, November 20 .

The board could choose to approve the cuts as presented or propose changes that would require an amendment and agreement from the majority of their fellow members.

The Superintendent cautioned against mixing and matching cuts from different categories. For example, keeping a music teacher and then cutting more from central office positions.

The $30.5 million recommendation is on the low end of the $30-35 million of cuts envisioned earlier this year.

“As painful as this process is, I want to restate my concern that I don't want to have to go through this again later on because we didn't make enough cuts,” said Board Member Yarma Velázquez.

How to weigh in

Contact your board member

One of seven PUSD board members represents each person who lives within the district, which includes Pasadena, Altadena and Sierra Madre. Identify yours on this map and contact them by phone or email .

Speak up at a board meeting

Each board meeting includes an opportunity to give public comment during a specific 30-minute window. Comments may also be emailed to publiccomment@pusd.us.

Fill out our survey

We'd like to know how these possible cuts affect your family:

Once again, the Citadel Outlets in Commerce is laying claim to hosting the tallest fresh-cut Christmas tree in the world.

It’s a record the shopping center tries to match, or even top, year after year, as it draws in residents from across Southern California who make it part of their annual holiday tradition, as well as tourists from around the globe.

“We just like to do things big, but we always like to make things memorable,” said Ken Crow, general manager of the shopping center located just outside downtown L.A.

This year’s tree is a white fir that stands 115 feet tall.

For comparison’s sake, this year’s Rockefeller Center Christmas tree is 75 feet tall. And the tree chosen for the U.S. Capitol’s Christmas tree, currently making its way to Washington, D.C., is reportedly 53 feet tall.

This kind of annual record doesn’t just happen, of course. It’s a months-in-the-making process that starts each summer up on Mount Shasta, with a scouting team that identifies the perfect tree. (And then, ahem, cuts it down.) This tree was found about 3 miles into the forest, Crow said.

Here are a few other things he told us about the Citadel’s record-setting trees:

It starts with a long haul

It takes three to four days to make the 600-mile journey from Mount Shasta to the Citadel.

The process involves two flat-bed trucks — one holding the limbs and branches of the tree, which have been methodically trimmed off and organized for transport, and another truck holding the trunk.

Heavy machinery is required

Once the tree arrives at the Citadel, a crane is needed to hoist it up and into an 8-foot-wide well engineered to support it — kinda like a giant Christmas tree stand.

Then, it's like a puzzle

It takes about eight to 10 days to put the tree back together.

Crow said the process is very much like that you might have experienced with a fake Christmas tree: Holes are drilled into the tree, and branches are then inserted and secured. The tree is sprayed with a material that keeps it looking fresh and lush and prevents it from drying out.

Finally, the decorating can begin

“It takes about 10,000 ornaments to decorate it, so we use two lifts that come in. There’s over 18,000 lights,” Crow said. “The fun part for me is observing people watching it come to life.”

The lights never go out

Once the holiday lights are on — that happened at a special ceremony earlier this month — they stay on all season, day and night. You can see a time lapse of the process here with last year's tree. (We're waiting for the time lapse video of this year's tree, and will link to that when we have it.)

The tree will remain on display until early January.

And if you want to go down a “tallest Christmas tree” rabbit hole, there are many others who claim holiday tree records too.

The world’s tallest living Christmas tree (at around 222 feet tall) is said to be in Mendocino County and accessible by train. Indianapolis strings lights from a monument that is over 284 feet tall and calls it a Christmas tree . And the tree at the center of Germany’s famous Dortmund’s Christmas market typically stands around 220 feet — but is actually built from many smaller trees.

Next year is going to be a big one for new museum spaces in L.A. Just last week, the $1 billion spaceship that landed in Expo Park — the new Lucas Museum of Narrative Art — announced an opening date: Sept. 22, 2026. And on the other side of downtown, Dataland from AI artist Refik Anadol is opening in the spring, plus the Geffen Galleries at LACMA will open in April. We have our weekends cut out for us in the months ahead!

As all those doors open, we’re also saying goodbye to some favorite places as the year speeds to a close. Hotel Cafe announced the venue will be closing and moving to a new location in 2027, so make sure to get those last shows in at their beloved original space on Cahuenga while you can, like their weekly Monday Monday showcase .

More music picks this week from Licorice Pizza include it-girl Sabrina Carpenter at Crypto.com Arena for five shows starting Monday, Tame Impala at the Forum Thursday, Sigur Rós at the Palladium on Wednesday, Burna Boy at the Intuit Dome Wednesday and indie pop’s Ginger Root at the Troubadour, also on Wednesday.

Also on LAist, you can read about Shohei Otani getting his fourth National League MVP award , and get ready to welcome our robot overlords — Waymos are now allowed on the freeway.

Events

Wednesday, November 19, 7:15 p.m.
Nth Power 
The Mint
6010 W. Pico Blvd., Mid-City
COST: $24.72; MORE INFO

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Tim McG

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Nth Power

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Ahh, to be a fly on the wall (or maybe just a guest with an Abita) at the Jazzfest jam that formed Nth Power… The trio hails from, of course, New Orleans, and brings together soul, funk, rock and R&B in their Grammy-nominated grooves. Drummer Nikki Glaspie (Beyoncé, Maceo Parker), guitarist/vocalist Nick Cassarino (Jennifer Hartswick, Big Daddy Kane) and bassist Nate Edgar (John Brown’s Body) are the cure for these early sunset days.

Through Sunday, December 7 
Suffs 
Pantages Theatre
6233 Hollywood Blvd., Hollywood
COST: FROM $49; MORE INFO

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Courtesy Broadway in Hollywood

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Suffs is more than a musical; it’s a story we all need to hear and take to heart. I left in tears after seeing it on Broadway last year, angry about how little I was taught about the women’s suffrage movement in school and moved by the incredible performances. Go see it and join the club of Great American B*tches .

Wednesday, November 19, 12:30 p.m.
Made in LA Talk on Patrick Martinez
Hammer Museum
10899 Wilshire Blvd., Westwood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Patrick Martinez

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Hammer Museum

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You can’t miss artist Patrick Martinez’s neon and neon-inspired signs that have been seen all over the city, from anti-ICE themed ones printed for protests to his work bridging signage and sculpture in the Hammer’s annual Made in LA group show. Martinez weaves social justice, clever phrases and eye-catching color into work that has both virality and deeper meaning. Catch this free lunchtime conversation about his work with Hammer curator Juan Manuel Silverio, then check out the exhibit.

November 18 to April 12, 2026
How to Be a Guerrilla Girl
The Getty Center
1200 Getty Center Drive, Brentwood
COST: FREE, PARKING $25; MORE INFO

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Guerilla Girls

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J. Paul Getty Trust

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Do women have to be naked to get into the Met Museum? The Guerilla Girls’ iconic billboards pushing back against the male artist establishment became art in and of themselves in the 1980s. Now their archive is open to all in this show at the Getty Research Institute, which includes a look at how their work came to be and a new commission. The exhibit looks at data research, protest actions, culture jamming and distribution methods that the artists pursued to celebrate the collective’s 40th anniversary.

Wednesday, November 19, 3 p.m. to 8 p.m. 
Annual Pier Lighting and Holiday Open House
Manhattan Beach Pier + Roundhouse Aquarium, Manhattan Beach
COST: FREE, DONATIONS WELCOME; MORE INFO

I don’t know how it became holiday time already, but the lights are coming on. Nowhere is more festive this week than at the Manhattan Beach Pier, where the Annual Pier Lighting and Holiday Open House combines Christmas season lights and festivities with an open house at the Roundhouse Aquarium. Visitors enjoy complimentary hot chocolate and cookies, interactive touch tanks, marine exhibits and fun games for the whole family.

Outdoor Pick

Tuesday, November 18, 9 a.m.
Community celebration 
Will Rogers State Historic Park 
1501 Will Rogers State Park Road, Pacific Palisades
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Ford

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Dareful Communications

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Ford’s outdoor stewardship program, the Bronco Wild Fund, is sponsoring a celebration for the community at the recently reopened Will Rogers State Historic Park. The event features a service project to help restore the park, and includes speakers from The National Forest Foundation, America’s State Parks and the Angeles District of California State Parks.

Viewing Pick

Tuesday, November 18, 7 p.m.
Heightened Scrutiny
The Renberg Theatre at the Center’s Village 
1125 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Curtis Russell PR

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The L.A. LGBT Center is hosting this screening of Heightened Scrutiny, followed by a Q&A with director Sam Feder, moderated by artist/filmmaker/novelist Miranda July. The timely documentary follows civil rights lawyer Chase Strangio’s battles at the Supreme Court for transgender adolescents’ access to gender-affirming healthcare.

Dine & Drink Deals

Through Friday, November 21
National Pickle Day Collaboration: Mauna Loa x Chef David Kuo 
FattyMart
12210 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista
COST: VARIES; MORE INFO

FattyMart in Mar Vista is going pickle mad for National Pickle Day (which we’ve deemed is worthy of a whole week) with a collaboration between Mauna Loa and Chef David Kuo. The event includes limited-time offerings like Dill Pickle Macadamia Crunch Ice Cream and the MacFatty Dill Pickle Macadamia Encrusted Fried Fish Sandwich.

Wednesday, November 19, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Meet Moe of Kimono Mom: Cooking Demo & Bottle Signing at Gelson's West LA
12121 W Olympic Blvd., West Los Angeles
COST: FREE; MORE INFO

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Chemistry PR

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Moe, founder of Umami Sauce, will be doing a cooking demo and sharing bites at the West L.A. Gelson’s. You can even meet Moe in person and get your Umami Sauce bottle signed. Moe is a former Geisha who shares her passion for authentic Japanese home cooking as host of Kimono Mom’s Kitchen and founder of Kimono Mom.