Last Friday I had the opportunity to participate in a wonderful luncheon at Vincente Italian restaurant in LA. There was a group of bloggers there to celebrate the release of the Sony Pictures movie Eat Pray Love on DVD & Blu-ray. Just in time for the holidays!
Not only did I get to see some of my great food blogger friends, but we enjoyed lunch with Susan Spungen, the food stylist & Dede Gardner the producer from the movie. Lunch was filled with lots of laughs & we learned all about life on the set of the movie. It sounded like the days were long, demanding, exciting & well worth the effort.
We sat with Susan for most of the meal. She is an amazing woman who has a splendid career. She has a history of working closely with Martha Stewart & she has authored & styled award winning cookbooks including hew own Recipes: A Collection for the Modern Cook. She also was the food stylist for the movie Julie & Julia. Susan’s wit, enthusiasm & passion for life shine through her genuine, fun personality. She is the kind of gal I def could see being buddies with.
Lunch included a lovely salad, 4 different pizzas and a cookie plate. My dessert? That beautiful fruit plate shown at the top of this post.
I did not get to spend as much time with Dede, but she was also a kick. You can tell from these photos that her & Susan have a wonderful relationship.
If you want to learn more about this event check out the posts by Rachael La Fuji Mama, Erika In Erika’s Kitchen, Veronica The Enchanted Cook &Â Cristina Teenie Cakes. They all did great write ups & while visiting their blogs you can learn more about what we talked about at lunch. Greg from Sippity Sup shared great news with us that he is featured in the January Food & Wine magazine. Congrats Greg! A well deserved article profiling you.
Eat Pray Love Blu-ray Disc Giveaway
This giveaway is now closed. Thanks for all of your entries. The winner is Marly from Namely Marly blog. Stay tuned for more fun giveaways soon!
What is more fun in the chilly months then to curl up with your favorite hot cocoa & enjoy a movie? Lucky you I have a Blu-ray version of Eat Pray Love to giveaway to one lucky reader. This promotion is open to folks in the USA only & will close on Sunday 12/19/2010 at midnight PST. Here are the the details on how to enter.
You must leave a SEPARATE COMMENT per entry for me to include it.  Please do not leave all your entries in one comment form, it will only be counted as one entry if you do so.
Here is a list a few ways how you can enter to win (remember more comments = more entries!)
- COMMENT What is your favorite foodie movie?
- TWEET THIS Copy and paste the following Tweet into the Twitter message field: @MarlaMeridith has a copy of  {Eat Pray Love} on Blu-ray disc to giveaway. Enter to win here: http://su.pr/7anxCu
- OR MAKE UP YOUR OWN TWEET
- TWITTER Follow MarlaMeridith.com @MarlaMeridith
- FACEBOOK Become a fan of MarlaMeridith.com on Facebook
- E-MAIL SUBSCRIPTION Create a new FREE E-Mail Subscription to MarlaMeridith.com
- RSS FEED Make sure you don’t miss a post with a RSS feed
- TWITTER Follow my new @familyfoodchat on Twitter
Winner will be chosen at random by random.org
MarlaMeridith.com Full Disclosure: The luncheon at Vincente Restaurant was paid for by Sony Pictures Home Entertainment, I was given a DVD of Eat Pray Love & they will send a Blu-ray Disc to one  USA based reader of this blog.
How fun!
I’d say it’s a toss up between Chocolat and Waitress. And Eat, Drink, Man, Woman. I love foodie movies!
I follow you @MarlaMeridith
I’m an rss subscriber (apologies for that name misspelling on my previous comment!)
I follow you @familyfoodchat
Favorite foodie movie? Ratatouille for sure!
i love Babette’s feast and Big Night! Looks like a fun lunch date!
i have to say i love Eat, Pray, Love and Under the Tuscan Sun…so much amazing food, and it’s all Italian!
This is so generic, but I loved Julie and Julia. Lame. I know. But I LOVE butter! 😉
I won’t enter your giveaway because the blu ray Eat Pray Love DVD was the number 1 thing on my Christmas list this year, so I know I will be getting it =) But I just wanted to say how fantastic it is that you got to have lunch with such lovely ladies! The book Eat Pray Love seriously changed my life and has also made Italy my number 1 dream trip to take before I die! =) Needless to say it is my favorite movie of all time as well =)
i really enjoyed that movie. Lunch sounded so fun! Happy holidays!
A lovely event! A pity the giveaway is only open to US residents.
Cheers,
Rosa
So awesome you got to meet the producer! I loved Eat Pray Love. I recently spent some time both at an Ashram and in Italy, so all of the scenes really resonate with me.
My favorite movie: Tough question…I’ll go with Into the Wild.
What an incredible opportunity, Marla! I just saw the movie recently and have to say it was my favorite foodie movie thus far. I was drooling for a big bowl of pasta not an hour into it! Thanks so much for sharing this experience, and this giveaway. Here’s hoping a foodie wins the loot! 🙂
Babette’s Feast!
That looks so fun!! Hope you are having a great week!
Julia & Julia is my favorite foodie movie 🙂
I have watched the movie…the best part is Liz in Italy….food part…wonderful.
1. I am extremely jealous
2. Eat, Drink, Man, Woman
Oooh, I want to see Eat Pray Love so badly. I should really set aside some time to do that.
I also love Eat, Drink, Man, and Woman, as well as Moonstruck. It’s not considered a “foodie” movie, but boy does it make me want bread, pasta, steak, eggs in toast, and oatmeal every time I watch it 🙂
I loved Julia & Julia.
I am a FB fan.
I am an email subscriber.
I loved the movie Julie and Julia!
I would love to see this movie, haven’t had the chance yet.
Following you on @familyfoodchat, great idea!
Just tweeted your giveaway!
My favorite foodie movie would have to be Julie & Julia. 🙂
I’m a follower of Family Fresh Cooking on twitter.
I’m a follower of Family Food Chat on twitter. 🙂
I subscribe via RSS and read daily! Yay!
i can’t believe I haven’t seen this movie yet! Eat pray love, in the city of angels. I love it.
Marla, your photos get better and better everyday! Love the shot of the berries. You are so inspiring. xo
Love that movie! What a great fruit presentation! Like a fresh flower in the springtime!
Another wonderful opportunity for you, Marla. What fun. I am missing your visits. Truly.
Valerie
Pixar’s Ratatouille is my favorite foodie movie.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to enter.
I follow via Twitter @HeartnSoulmom
I am a fan of yours on Facebook (Cheryl HeartnSoulmom)
I am following @Familyfoodchat on twitter @HeartnSoulmom
I am following your Rss Feed via Google Reader.
I follow via email to your newsletter.
This looks like so much fun!!
I follow you on twitter! My name is @Katrinadingle
I was having a hard time deciding what was my favorite foodie movie until I saw the
ratatouille post. I’d forgotten that one! It was good.
nineteen19@blackfoot.net
I follow u on face book
nineteen19@blackfoot.net
i like waitress quite a bit, but for one reason alone: studly nathan fillion. 🙂
Sounds like such fun. I have to admit, I haven’t seen that movie yet, or read the book for that matter. I am probably the only one LOL.
Have a wonderful weekend ahead.
*kisses* HH
I love the movie Under the Tuscan Sun – she does a lot of cooking so I qualify that as a foodie movie. Yumm!
I’m now following Marla Meredith on Twitter!
I’m following Follow Food Chat on Twitter. Thanks for the fun give away!
Ratatouille!
My favorite foodie movie is “Big Night” with Isabella Rosellini. I LOVE italian food!!
Favorite foodie movie: definitely ‘Under The Tuscan Sun!’ The book is great, too!
I’m a fan of Family Fresh Cooking on Facebook!!!
I am a follower on Twitter! Whohooo! Go Family Fresh Cooking!
I’m so happy about this giveaway! My favorite foodie movie is hands down Chocolat.
I follow @MarlaMeridith on Twitter.
I “like” you on Facebook.
You’re on my google reader.
I follow @familyfoodchat on Twitter.
This looks like it was so much fun, Marla! And you’re right, Susan Spungen has a pretty fantastic job!