I love Christmas. All the lights, music, decorations, and the annual legends tree lighting…read more We have only done this two times, but both times it has been very cold. So dress very warmly. Legends puts three tree in the open area in the of scheels. A live band plays Christmas music, ranging from holiday classics to more modern Christmas tunes. The band plays about an hour of Christmas music, then does a holiday tradition I love. They read the Book, How the Grinch stole Christmas to all the kids. Not only do they read, but they sing to. All the favorite Grinch tunes from the rimless holiday classic, they play and sing. The first year we went, they had fireworks. This year they did not, perhaps because of the wind. This is a great family experience.

Food, games, fun all around the park & market. The weather cooperated 100%…read more This was a great option to get out with mom and find local flavors. The who's who of food trucks, huge variety of local farms and vendors, music... Great job to everyone that brought this together. See you next year.

It's time for my favorite Reno event - Reno Bites Week…read more This year the kickoff party was at Reno Provisions. A nice large venue with several different areas to mingle around with helped the large crowd traffic flow. As we checked into the free event CM Michael and his Yelp helpers Ly and Sarah greeted everyone and handed out the limited passports for next week. I love trying to fill it with all the restaurant stamps. Tahoe Blue Vodka was sampling the vodka is a nice summery pineapple cocktail. Joe and Ben were serving alligator etouffe, can't wait for their new place Feast to open. They are also offering a prize to be drawn for at the chef showdown. Provisions served up pork sliders. In the very back was Whitney and Josh Deri of Blend. The had melt in your mouth pork belly and fried creamy polenta squares. I admit I snuck back for a second piece of the polenta. Back up front Nicholle, owner of Homage had pedestals of sweet treats- German pecan mini pies, cheesecake, walnut mini pies and chocolate peanut butter cups. If you thought you might share one of these treats you were totally wrong. Too delish to share. She also served an incredible crab and corn chowder- lots of crab in each bit and a hint of heat in the end. Sorry if I left anyone or any bites out. It was a busy evening This is a great start to RBW, you get a chance to sample some of the food available during the next week and talk to many of the area chefs. Reno has a fantastic food scene DON'T MISS IT !!!

What could be more appropriate. We have a great week or so ahead of us. A journey of culinary…read moreadventure that Reno has possibly never seen before. And where do we lash the dogs to the sled? Where do we embark on this epic sojourn? A place called Provisions. And provisions were provided in abundance. Tahoe Blue had the entrance cocktail. Just a little sip to get the appetite whet. A light lemony concoction perfect to get things going. Immediately following that is Tournant giving up a proper honorific to Chef Paul Prudhomme in a tasty Alligator Etouffe. This was a nice start. Not to wild in the flavors but rich and balanced all at the same time. If I wasn't excited with the soon to be open Feast....I am now! The brains/brawn combo here isn't just a one two punch but a three, four or even more series of hits! Loved the corn husk bowls! From there I think the intent was to head back to the Sliders being served from the Reno Provisions counter proper. The sliders were just right and not too heavy. I personally would have loved a stronger horseradish sauce, but that is just a personal preference. Further into the depths of the store we found ourselves at the Czyz's demo kitchen where Blend was offering a skewer of pork belly and some sort of deep fried hummus. The pork belly made me wish I could go to every event these guys ever cater. Then I had the chickpea thing and I wanted to just book them right now for every meal of my life. I made my Uturn and returned to the front of Provisions. My spot of drink was long gone...so I opened a tab for the House Barreled Negroni on tap. During Happy Hour this is the best deal in town for a Negroni unless you come to my house. The aging mellows the Negroni as many people know it...giving it a much more drinkable profile. Totally worth trying this one or even the one at Campo if you haven't been a fan in the past. After the bar I headed to my last stop...the table of Homage. Oh My Homage! That crab etc chowder was right. And by right I mean it worked so well to finish the tour around the Provisions store Reno Bites Kickoff trip. What? There's more? These desserts are for the guests too?! Wow. I can't say just how great this even was because I don't have the words to do it justice. The samples here tonight were made by the "Michael Jordan's" of the Reno food scene. Some of the hardest working and most talented that Reno has to offer. Speaking of hard work and oozing talent...I picked up that Yelp Passport to Reno Bites sometime between Negroni and Negroni. ;) Yelp of course had a great presence there, Michael T. always knows the best events to support and be involved in. From all of the food talent and great friends I was able to catch up with, the Kickoff turned out to be an event that fired on all cylinders for me. Now if I could only get that hot girl at the Yelp booth to come home with me....

Fun 7 block "block party." Lots of vendors, live music, food and culture. Of course, this is the…read moreseason for political booths (ugh), I did meet Frank Flores and his family walking around. Good luck, Frank. Perfect weather and open till 6pm today.

Hope you got to enjoy Fiesta on Wells yesterday. Wells was blocked off and many enjoyed the music,…read morefood and community booths lined up for the public. The fire department parked a large truck for the kids to view. Antojitos was excellent on the way back from the event. Chamango Heaven!

Wow This group has a…read morelot going on outside of Burning Man. They had the biggest group performing at Compression recently. A friend's husband has been working with this group to perfect his skills at spinning fire. This group had all ages on stage. It was cool to see the kids as young as 10 spinning lights, as they master their art they'll get real fire like the big kids. There was just so much going on- batons, rings, chains and fans, all on fire. They had incredible choreographed dances. Each costume had its own flare and yet the entire company melded together. What a fascinating group. Off stage there was a giant fire cannon shooting massive flames into the sky over the audience. On the other side of the stage and old van converted into a unique fire thrower. It was like a calliope that mixed music and flames. Across the back of the stage was this massive, I mean beyond huge, structure or pipes that created nine forks tossing up more flames that kept up with the music and stage performance. It was incredible and I'm glad I got to sit down from and enjoy this amazing group. And all that warm heat drifting over the crowd was fabulous too. Angie B you would have loved it on the cool summer night.

I first saw Controlled Burn a few years ago in San Francisco's Union Square during the Annual…read moreTemple of Poi's free Fire-Dancing Expos. I've been seeing a few of these annual amazing fire expos now, and Controlled Burn has been an integral part of the SF fire expo. Yesterday 28 July 2012 was when I was able to attend, photograph and watch with AWE Reno's very own amazing 5th Annual Compression! Art and Fire and what an event it was! It was fabulous, and included Burning Man vehicles and personalities, and on center-stage downtown Reno City Plaza converted to Reno's very own (smaller) version of Burning man. In stage were hoopers, martial arts moves, flying aerialists, belly dancers, drill team bands and acrobatic beauty. There was also gypsies, performances by the Bay Area's Temple of Poi's members, the Vulcan Crew, the Oregon Conclave, Black Rock City All-Stars, the eNVision Performing Arts, and a grand finale by the event's host: Controlled Burn . It's fantastic enough to see all this fab performances but add to this as night fell the artistic and fiery addition of propane flame effects by Dave King of Controlled Burn and programmed by Stu D'Alessandro which added a incredible and unique background "curtain" after each fire-dancing and performance end with bursts of flame, and the whole event ending with a fiery dance party! If you haven't seen a fire event ever, or yes you have, I'd highly recommend seeing this event for an awesome fire display which will rock your visual senses plus fry your skin even 100 yards away! WoW!! Photographically Speaking: Photographing a fire scene is not easy. Night scenes are difficult as it goes, then add bright flashes of fiery flames and it all calls for a nearly-impossible scene. Use a steady heavy tripod and a fast eye/hand coordination to determine correct exposures. Use longer exposures of about 1-3 secs for capturing the flaming designs but shorter exposures starting at abt 1/30th of a sec or higher to record the individual performances and details. For organized events like this be first to contact them to get permission to snap, plus get closer. If not, then be sure to get a clear spot yet not block anyone else's view, after all everyone wants to see the awesomeness of such an event! A wide-angle might get you a good scene shot but a short/long telephoto zoom will get you some incredible closeups once you get your exposures pat-down. Be sure to bring a short portable chair and maybe even knee-pads to save your joints against the hard ground. Have fun!!

Probably the best artist in Reno or anywhere nearby. Her work is excellent quality, unique,…read morebeautiful, and incredibly deep on an intellectual level. Don't miss the opportunity to visit her studio and add some of her work to your collection before she gets famous.

RISE and enjoy a Taste and Toast of summer…read more The Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality was the benefactor of this event at the Atlantis. All of the proceeds from the evening supports locals by providing meals, distributing clothing and toiletries, providing emergency housing vouchers to aide families from losing their homes, and help homeless seek emergency shelter. Often some of the area charity events have familiar participants. But I was glad to see tonight had some new and creative faces, and many fantastic summer bites. Along with delicious morsels, came ingenious presentations. The Grove's miniature campsite with s'mores, and nachos in a tin can. Gaslamp had shrimp at the beach. And Bistro 7's grilled corn bruschetta was amazing. Not even opened yet, but The Jesse was serving. I enjoyed Fin & Filet, Twisted Fork, Sierra Street Kitchen, Dorinda's Chocolates, Rue Bourbon, and The Grill too. As well as helping a great local charity, you got to talk to some fantastic local restauranteurs. I'm sorry, did I only talk about the food? The wine.....was awesome and plentiful. Saw some old favorites and discovered some new vineyards I hadn't tried yet. Thanks to those who contributed all the fabulous raffle and silent auction items. You made it hard to bid, and even more difficult not to buy an entire roll of raffle tickets. And finally, all the friends I ran into. Nice to see everyone.

We started off the Summer right toasting with libations & wine, tasting fabulous Chef creations by…read moreBistro 7, Thunderbird Lodge, Indian Kabab, The Men's Club, Beaujolais Bistro, The Grove, Fin & Filet, The Gas Lamp, the Atlantis and Dorinda's Chocolates (I think I'm forgetting a few) - all while benefitting R.I.S.E. The Reno Initiative for Shelter and Equality or RISE. is nonprofit based in Reno that was founded to "cultivate a greater sense of dignity and humility by providing equal access to shelter, knowledge and opportunity." Volunteering and other support opportunities can be found at renoinitiative.org. Everyone including us at this wonderful event were having an excellent time as we moved around the ballroom. Silent auction items were placed in the middle of the room from golf clubs, mini-vacations, fabulous bottles of wine, exquisite pieces of jewelry and of course the wheel barrel of wine and beer that you could purchase a raffle ticket to possibly take the entire contents home. We bid on several different silent auction items and purchased several raffle tickets but alas we were outbid still knowing our money went to a very worthy cause. The libations, wine and food circled the outsides of the room and throughout the night we were entertained by the DJ playing popular tunes for everyone to dance too. We saw several attendees dancing the night away to the Electric Slide including some fellow Yelpers. Great night for a great cause, thankful we could attend and support this evening via Yelp - thank you to Yelp, Michael T. and R.I.S.E. and all the numerous sponsors, vendors and local restaurants that came out too!

Sounds odd, but kind of glad we got a lot of snow earlier in the week of this event…read more The snow made some area difficult to walk around in but it the secondary glow of the lights pretty cool. I chose to wait until the sun had set to get a better lighting effect from the exhibits. This year the area was spread out a bit more because Wingfield Park is closed. So the event was on the Virginia Street bridge and north on Virginia up to Fourth Street. Also spilling over into the Believe Plaza and along the Truckee Riverwalk. Intertwined with various large light installations were several small artists vendors and a few food stalls. The event was free to wander. Parking was best at the Washoe County Courthouse parking lot.

I'll start out by saying that this festival is still fantastic, and well worth attending. If…read moreanything, we need more things like this in Reno. The fact we have this festival full of art, music, and energy, where the streets are turned over to pedestrians to enjoy, is just such a fantastic experience. Especially being held at night, where you get much more immersed in the experience. This year certainly delivered on awesome art, cool music, and plenty of vendors. And folks were really getting into the groove of things and enjoying themselves. Certainly worth braving the cold temperatures and abysmal parking situations in order to make your way here. (This is when alternative means of transportation are your friend.) The reasons for the downgrade in stars from my score last year are mostly from some assorted setup and execution nitpicks I had. Namely, a few of the music venues were not very well set up for crowd flow, and there was pretty bad backups trying to get in and out. I also feel there could be even more art installations around the streets, as at times it felt more like just strolling amongst the casinos. And lastly, I dearly miss not having events on Wingfield Park, but that was outside of their control due to construction. But all told, I still highly recommend people attend this event, should we get it back next year, and that the event will be better than ever. Definitely looking forward to attending again.