February 27, 2014 by Melissa Fox

Join Us on Our Next Irvine Food Tour Destination: 99 Ranch Market and Bread Farm Bakery!

“There is no love sincerer than the love of food.” George Bernard Shaw, Man and Superman (1903)

Please join me as we continue our Irvine Food Tour with Commissioner Melissa Fox and UCI Professor Catherine Liu, showcasing and sharing our wonderful cultural diversity in Irvine as expressed in scores of amazing restaurants and markets featuring cuisines as diverse as Irvine’s population.

Our next food tour stop is on Friday, March 14, 2014, at 4:30 pm for a guided store tour (with samples) and then dinner at Irvine’s 99 Ranch Market on 15333 Culver Drive.

Founded by Taiwanese American immigrant Roger H. Chen in Orange County’s Little Saigon neighborhood in 1984, 99 Ranch Market has grown to become the largest Asian American supermarket in the United States, with over 35 store locations in California, Nevada, Texas and Washington State.

The 99 Ranch Market on Culver Drive in Irvine also features a newly opened Bread Farm Bakery and Café, which offers customers traditional Taiwanese and European bread and pastries, prepared fresh every day. Bread Farm Bakery is the first endeavor for Executive Chef Haruka Lin, who headed 99 Ranch’s pastry department for the past several years. Chef Lin was trained in Taiwan and served as a pastry chef at the Grand Hyatt in Taipei.

Irvine Food Tour co-host Catherine Liu is Professor of Film & Media Studies and Director of the UCI Humanities Collective. Professor Liu studied at Yale University and received her Ph.D. in French from the Graduate Center, CUNY. She also speaks Mandarin Chinese, German, Italian, and Spanish.

As always, there’s going to be great food and great conversation!

What: “Irvine Food Tour with Commissioner Melissa Fox and Professor Catherine Liu.”
When: Friday, March 14, 2014, at 4:30 PM
Where: 15333 Culver Dr., Irvine, CA 92604

If you have any questions, please contact me at 949-683-8855 or melissa@melissafoxlaw.com.

Previous Irvine Food Tour Destinations:

Gourmet Grill Masters Restaurant, 14141 Jeffrey Road, Irvine, CA 92620
Mokkoki Shabu Restaurant, 14041 Jeffrey Rd., Irvine, CA 92620
Four Sea Restaurant, 15435 Jeffrey Rd., Irvine 92618 (Jeffrey and Irvine Center Drive)

UPDATE:

Teresa Leung

Our host will be 99 Ranch Marketing Associate Teresa Leung. Teresa is a specialist in exposing Asian cuisines and Asian culture to the larger SoCal community.

The store tour will start at 4:30 pm and last approximately 30-40 minutes. It is suggested that we bring a jacket, since it gets cold in the store.

Teresa and 99 Ranch staff will guide us around each department of the store with food sampling along the way: Produce, Drinks, Meat, Seafood, Dairy, Freezer, Bread Farm, Asian Kitchen and Deli.

We will conclude the guided tour at the Hot Deli department with samples, around 5:10

We will then take a group photo prior to dinner and may purchase our own meals.

Again, if you have any questions, please contact me at 949-683-8855 or melissa@melissafoxlaw.com.

Reservations are not necessary, but are requested so we can better estimate the size of our group.

I hope you’ll join us!

Melissa

Please note: The Irvine Food Tour is the creation of Melissa Fox and Dr. Catherine Liu, based on their love of Irvine’s many cultures and cuisines and their desire to share Irvine’s many wonderful cultures and cuisines with you, as well to support local businesses, and is not an official activity or event of the City of Irvine.

February 21, 2014 by Melissa Fox

Irvine’s New Incredible Edible Farm to Help Feed Orange County’s Hungry

The Incredible Edible Farm — a new 4.5 acre urban farm at the Orange County Great Park that will grow produce for the hungry to be harvested by volunteers from Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County — is great for Irvine, great for the Great Park, and great for our community!

The Incredible Edible Farm is the transformation of the City of Irvine’s Incredible Edible Park, which was created in 1999 and located on an easement under Southern California Edison power lines off Harvard Avenue in Irvine, into something even better.

The new Incredible Edible Farm is expected to produce 144 tons (288,000 lbs.) of food per year – more than double the yield of the old Incredible Edible Park – enough food for an additional 156,000 meals for Orange County’s needy families.

Broccoli, cauliflower, onions, kale, and a variety of other vegetables will be grown at the Incredible Edible Farm and harvested by volunteers from Second Harvest Food Bank who donate thousands of hours of their time each year to provide food for the hungry throughout Orange County.

The Incredible Edible Farm is located just behind the Great Park’s Sunday Farmers Market.

If you are interested in volunteering at the Incredible Edible Farm, please call Second Harvest Food Bank of Orange County at 949-653-2900. Volunteers of all ages are needed to plant, maintain and harvest crops for the hungry.

February 14, 2014 by Melissa Fox

Congratulations to Team Orange — the New “Home Team” of the Solar Decathlon!

Congratulations to Team Orange – consisting of students from UC Irvine, Chapman University, Irvine Valley College, and Saddleback College – on their selection to compete in the U.S. Department of Energy’s 2015 Solar Decathlon, the biennial international student competition to design and build the best solar-powered home.

The announcement that Team Orange had been selected as one of the 20 collegiate teams to compete in the 2015 Solar Decathlon was made yesterday at UC Irvine by U.S. Deputy Secretary of Energy Daniel Poneman, who also announced that the 2015 Solar Decathlon will be take place once again at the Great Park in Irvine.

The Solar Decathlon is an award-winning international competition that challenges collegiate teams to design, build, and operate solar-powered houses that are cost-effective, energy-efficient, and attractive. The winner of the competition is the team that best blends affordability, consumer appeal, and design excellence with optimal energy production and maximum efficiency. Team Austria from the Vienna University of Technology won the U.S. Department of Energy Solar Decathlon 2013. The University of Las Vegas-Nevada took second place in the overall competition, and Czech Technical University took third place.

The first Solar Decathlon was held in 2002. The competition has since occurred in 2005, 2007, 2009, 2011, and 2013. Last year, the Solar Decathlon was held for first time outside of Washington, D.C. – at the Great Park, here in Irvine, California.

Thus far, the Solar Decathlon competition has provided more than 17,000 college students with training and hands-on experience.

Click here for a spectacular aerial video of the 2013 Solar Decathlon at the Great Park.

“I’m thrilled that Team Orange has been selected to compete in this world-class event,” said Professor Gregory N. Washington, Dean of UC Irvine’s Samueli School of Engineering, who will lead Team Orange. “We and our partners will show California and the nation that our campuses and Orange County lead the way on innovative, affordable solar power and other clean energy advances. The home team can definitely win.”

Team Orange plans to create a residence that reflects the traits of the drought-resistant, sun-loving California poppy, our California state flower.

“As President Obama made clear in the State of the Union address, we need an all-of-the-above energy strategy that creates a safer and more sustainable planet, while ensuring American students and workers have the skills they need for the challenging jobs of today and tomorrow,” Poneman said. “The Solar Decathlon provides the next generation of America’s architects, engineers and entrepreneurs with the real-world experience and training they need to strengthen U.S. innovation and support new, clean sources of energy.”

I am tremendously excited that the 2015 Solar Decathlon will be held once again here in Irvine, which can now claim the title of the nation’s energy innovation capitol.

I am also tremendously excited for our own Team Orange – the new “home team” of the Solar Decathlon!