Fresh & Easy Holiday Party 2012

Tis the season! And what better way to kick it off than with the Annual Fresh & Easy holiday party, this year held at the Marvimon House in Elysian Park (also home to the Effen Vodka event JG attended in August). The venue is truly beautiful, and with the addition of green and white holiday décor, the scene was set with a festive atmosphere. 

Alas, the day before the big event, news broke of financial troubles for the grocery chain. The issues, covered in this LA Times analysis, seem sound, but I will say that Fresh & Easy has worked hard to reach customers through social networking. The Happy Hour Tour has been fortunate to participate in several Wine Twitter Tastings (last September, this Valentine's Day, and this summer) – where F&E wine expert Richard Wherry walked us through the evening’s selections on Twitter, complete with questions and feedback from the participating Tweeters. 

HHT regular Kitty Packard and I arrived slightly late for the party and missed the opening remarks, which apparently addressed the news with guarded optimism about re-evaluating the company structure. We were sorry to miss that, but glad to help celebrate 5 years of Fresh & Easy. For what it’s worth, we hope they’re able to continue offering their well-branded and well-priced goods for the foreseeable future!

The party featured wines from the Fresh & Easy collection as well as freshly prepared bites from chef Cyndi Perez, including pumpkin ravioli, mini-quiches, and herbed polenta topped with a blue cheese mascarpone, a slice of pair, and a walnut (pictured below). And the dessert... well, it speaks for itself!

Delicious creations!

The event was also complete with fun seasonal activities like holiday cookie decorating and a photobooth (always in season!). Many thanks as always to the Fresh & Easy team and to Allison Osorio at RL Public Relations for inviting us to the partay! 

How does this thing work?!