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Taste Addison fanfare and free tickets!

A couple weeks ago, I was invited to serve as a judge for Taste: The Competition, an event affiliated with Taste Addison, where local restaurants were tasked with creating tasty, portable treats that’d make ideal street food. Of course I’ll judge that!

Fifteen restos were represented, and judges sampled delights ranging from Asian fare to Tex-Mex-inspired specialties. Among my faves were Thai Star’s Mi Kati (below).

And Buffalo Wild Wings’ Deep Fried Bread Pudding Bites made my day as my favorite dish of them all … happily it placed third, with the grand prize winner being Blue Mesa for its Chimayo Market Corn (top), coated in herbs, spices and cheese. Yurrrmm. Edited to add: Sadly, none of the sweet and savories made at Taste: The Competition will be available at Taste Addison OR at the restaurant that created it. Nuts!

But Taste: The Competition was but a precursor to this year’s big Addison food event: Taste Addison. The annual toast to good eats features dozens of area restaurants serving up samples of the best dishes they have to offer. There’s also carnival food for those who’re in a classic fair-food mood.

This year, the event has snagged some considerable talent as musical headliners: Reckless Kelly, The O’s, Blue October and Sister Hazel are among the acts that’ll hit the giant Dos Equis Main Stage smack in the middle of the festival grounds.

Wanna get out there this year? Your Diva’s here to make that happen … I have two tickets to give away to the first person who leaves a delicous comment here or under this story on my Facebook page — simply tell me what culinary specialties you’re most hoping to encounter and savor at Taste Addison. Good luck, chicadees!

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Weekend highlights in Dallas

This weekend, I’m highlighting charity and getting your chi aligned. Roll tape!

Texans for West benefit concert

This Sunday, AT&T Performing Arts Center will host a slew of local musical talent and a handful of vendors for a benefit event aimed at helping the victims and survivors of the recent fertilizer plant explosion in West, Texas. Among the performers set to take the stage at the Annette Strauss Square are the Toadies’ Vaden Todd Lewis, The O’s, Somebody’s Darling and Goodnight Ned. Additional event partners include Goodfriend Beer Garden & Burger House, Granada Theater, Kessler Theater, House of Blues, Homegrown Fest, Club Dada, The Door and Good Records. Tickets are $20, and $7 for kids under 10, and ALL proceeds benefit the folks of West, Texas.

When: Sunday, April 28, 4 to 10 p.m.
Where: AT&T Performing Arts Center’s Annette Strauss Square, 2403 Flora St.
Why: Because you have a heart and it wants to help your fellow Texas in West AND get to listen to great local music!

Exhale Spa yoga at Klyde Warren Park

“Ommmm … nom-nom, which food truck should I raid after yoga class?”

I’ve become hooked on yoga on the greenspace at Klyde Warren Park every Sunday morning at 10 a.m. Led by very friendly Exhale Spa instructor Laura, the class works through a series of stretches and poses for an hour under the sun and with a breathtaking view of the downtown skyline to take in with each restorative deep breath. I love it! As if starting the day off with some terrific yoga isn’t fantastic enough, by the time you’re whispering “namaste” at the end, all the food trucks are parked and opening their windows for service at 11 a.m. So my new routine has become yoga, food truck noshin’, sunnin’ on a blanket till my parking meter goes off. It’s a really great way to soak up the city, and some lovely yoga vibes. And — bonus! — everyone who participates gets a voucher to try an Exhale class for free or an Exhale Spa therapy at a discount. An epic win-win, if you ask me. Check it out!

When: Every Sunday, 10 a.m.
Where: Klyde Warren Park’s main lawn
Why: Because you love breathing in everything fabulous about the city … oh, and stretching and yoga-posing your butt off!

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Edgy art, fashion at Sugar Does Dallas

There’s a fierce little event coming to town this evening that I wanted to share with you. Art, apparel, music and accessories come together at the Quixotic World Theatre in Deep Ellum as part of Sugar Does Dallas, an edgy art and fashion show out of California. Here’s more details, straight from the press release:

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Cirque du Soleil does MJ

Admittedly, I’m a late-comer to the wonders of Cirque du Soleil‘s wholly engrossing stage shows, as I’ve just seen my first in the last several months. Still, I’m jazzed as can be to see what the way-over-the-Big-Top traveling circus will do with the King of Pop on its current jaunt, Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour.

Showing at the American Airlines Center in Dallas this Tuesday and Wednesday only, the visual and aural extravaganza gives Michael Jackson’s musical bio the ultimate Cirque treatment: Dancers, acrobats, instrumentalists, all kinds of performers will pay homage to MJ in their own unique fashion. If the promo vid below is any indication, it promises to be a breathtaking event. More than 30 songs from his career will be featured, and choreographers and performers who worked with Jackson have roles in the production.

Writer/director Jamie King is a master of just this kind of tour, having served as Madonna’s creative director for more than a decade and helmed shows for Rihanna and Britney Spears among other superstars. Certainly, his experience will lend The Immortal World Tour more of a concert feel, rather than your typical Cirque display. Methinks it’ll be the best of both worlds!

I’ve been invited to view Wednesday night’s show, where I’ll no doubt be busy getting gobsmacked by the fabulousness of it all. Snag your own seat here, after you take a peek at what’s in store for you at the AAC.

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Taste Addison starts today!

This weekend is one of the few events that I actually endorse leaving the 635 Loop for: Taste Addison 2012! Beginning at 6 p.m. through Sunday, more than 60 restaurants will offer samples of their food at Addison Circle — but there’s more! Highlights include cooking and wine demos, carnival rides, midway games, and a pretty sweet musical lineup featuring local fave Rhett Miller and the Serial Lady Killers and Mat Kearney (right), a singer-songwriter cutie who hit big several years ago with the tune “Nothing Left To Lose.”

So much to see, do and eat this year! Get your head and schedule straight by checking out the event program online. Tickets range from $5 to $15, depending on when you attend, but you can snag $10 anytime tickets at Albertson’s.