• The weekend kicks off at 7 p.m. on Friday, October 2nd, with an intimate party where philanthropists and foodies mingle over chic eats and innovative libations.
• On Saturday, October 3rd from 5-11 p.m., there’s a Wolfgang Puck VIP Cooking Demo, followed by a gala on the Universal Studios Back Lot: an unrivaled epicurean feast prepared by world-renowned chefs, with live bands and a luxurious silent auction.
• On Sunday October 4th, at 6 p.m., there’s a Chef’s Grand Tasting and live auction at Spago Beverly Hills. Celebrity chefs Thomas Keller of Bouchon, Dean Fearing of Fearing’s at The Ritz-Carlton in Dallas, Jereme Leung of Jereme Leung Creative Concepts, Nobu Matsuhisa of Matsuhisa & Ubon and Gina DePalma of Ristorante Babbo will each prepare one course.

The Saturday evening event at the Universal Studios Back Lot.

Whisky “on the rocks.” Photo courtesy of Tullamore Dew.

“It gives whisky enthusiasts the chance to taste some incredibly rare whiskies and meet the makers behind the barrels,” says John Hansell, Publisher of Malt Advocate magazine, which sponsors the event. The whisky celebration doesn’t start with the festival; the week leading up to it will feature events related to the spirit and promotions at popular nightspots, restaurants and bars.

For more information on ticket sales or event information, visit WhiskyFest.com.

• Check out our Whisky Glossary.
• Peruse a selection of delicious whisky cocktail recipes.

All food lovers talk about restaurants when they get together, but what about food tips? The next time you’re with one friend or ten, ask for their best food tips. What are their favorite specialty foods? Their sure-fire cocktail recipes? Have they discovered a new bakery, cheese shop, wine store, gourmet emporium? What’s their favorite easy-to-make hors d’oeuvre or dessert? Keep this list of questions in your PDA or date book, and keep adding new “tips” every time you meet someone for coffee or cocktails.

• Submit your own tip to THE NIBBLE’s Tip Of The Day.
• Get THE NIBBLE’s Tip Of The Day by RSS.

What’s ghee? It’s similar to clarified butter, but the processes and end products differ somewhat. Clarified butter (or drawn butter) is familiar to anyone who has ordered lobster at a restaurant. The clear melted butter has been rendered (melted by simmering) to separate the milk solids from the butterfat and evaporate the water. It’s a more elegant way to serve melted butter, which otherwise looks sudsy. Chefs also use clarified butter to sauté, because with the milk solids gone, ghee has an extremely high smoke point, 485°F (252°C, higher than canola oil—only rice bran oil, safflower oil and avocado oil are higher).

Ghee requires a longer simmering process, which removes all of the water and milk solids. There’s no lactose left in ghee; the lactose intolerant can slather it over everything and enjoy all the buttery goodness they want. (Well, check with your cardiologist on that latter point.)

Ancient Organics ghee is made from the organic butter of Straus Family Creamery. Photo by Corey Lugg | THE NIBBLE.

Ancient Organics takes this precious butter and separates it into the golden butterfat known as ghee. Whether or not you want to learn more about the medicinal benefits of ghee (according to Ayurveda), if you sauté, fry or stir-fry, you should get to know ghee.

• Read the full review.
• See our other Top Pick Of The Week butter reviews.
• Peruse all the different types of butter in our Butter Glossary.

This cake is an homage to the tee called “We were tomatoes.”

Let’s start at the beginning. Threadless.com is an online tee shirt community that sells hip tees designed by community members. Anyone who signs up for the community can submit a design and/or vote on other people’s designs. The most popular designs are turned into the tees that are for sale on the site. “Winners” get cash, a gift certificate and more cash each time their design gets reprinted. Cool.

Just as cool, someone got the idea of letting cake makers in on the fun. This inspired Threadcakes, a contest where members of the [theoretical] “so you think you can bake” community select a tee shirt design of their choice from the Threadless site and interpret it as a cake. Take a look and enter.

• In a cake state of mind? Check out our gorgeous Cake Glossary.
• Feel like ordering an amazing piece of edible cake sculpture? Go to Elegant Cheesecakes, a NIBBLE Top Pick Of The Week.