The Liquid Muse

The Liquid Muse Presents Lipton PureLeaf!

I was honored and excited when the folks from Lipton chose me to be one of their presenters at the 2008 Celebrity Food Show in Anaheim, California. I was in good company with MattBites and Oishii Eats who also did tea presentations, and write mouth-watering food blogs for you hungry Southern California residents...

The Lipton PureLeaf line features four tasty flavors: Green Tea with Honey, White Tea with Tangerine, Black Tea with Lemon and Black Tea with Raspberry and regular unsweetened tea. I like them all but Green Tea with Honey and White Tea with Tangerine were my favorites both on their own and mixed in nonalcoholic cocktails (aka: The Liquid Muse Virgin Mixology)

Still, the most exciting thing about doing this drink demo was meeting some of you Sipsters! You may recall the contest I ran for the funniest, thirstiest, most compelling reason YOU wanted the tickets. Here are the winners, and I think you’ll agree that they deserved to join in the fun!

Who could resist Christine Chang’s email, proving that flattery truly does get you everywhere. (Well, into my drink demos, anyway):

“I think I should win because I am your biggest and longest lurking fan of your a-musing blog!! I love reading your fabolous posts and hopefully meeting you too!! I would realllyyyy love to win this!!”

Matt Robold (aka: RumDood) won for being the thirstiest rum-lover in So-Cal (after that bike ride, who wouldn’t be?):

“I'm the obvious choice because I could ride my bike out to the convention center, allowing me to build up a hefty appetite for both food and refreshing, frosty beverages!”

And, Erin Williams won for the email which most pulled at my heart-strings. I was happy to meet the bff's in person:

My favorite friend in LA is the awesome gal who makes super fun, heartfelt, personalized cakes for everyone's birthdays and events - as her gift. Each cake gets more impressive and gets lots of "ooohs and aaahs." For example, my favorite band is the Red Hot Chili Peppers and the singer, Anthony Kiedis is my "pretend boyfriend" (Yes... I'm 12). She made me a Chili Peppers themed cake for my last birthday and even made a little Anthony out of fondant. Cutest thing ever!

Although we were both recently laid off from our jobs, we both love food and drink… I mentioned the event to her and could actually feel her excitement when she realized that Ace of Cakes will be there. I offered to buy tickets because I know how much she would enjoy this event, but she won't let me spend the money on such a 'frivolous thing' when the rent needs to be paid.

I would love to be able to take her to see her cake hero and to get the chance to sample all kinds of fun foods and drinks... and still be able to pay the rent.