Soiree or Scam: A Must Read For All Single Women!
The Avalon Hotel Beverly Hills
The Single life is an amazing one. Do what you want, when you want, and with who you want! It’s kind of like going to Vegas, and what happens there stays there unless you tell someone! After all, life is made up of a series of choices, and believe it or not you have chosen to be where you are at this very moment!
Unfortunately, there are plenty of haters in this world! And many choose to prey on those of us who are single, and female. Maybe due to envy, they think single woman are weak, or they think we are vulnerable because we do not have a man by our side. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a man hater, but nor am I an invalid.
My eyes became wide open to this fact last week, that brought with it a series of events which prompted this blog.
It all began when my hot water heater decided to break up with me and die. I found out not by text message, which seems to be the popular way of breaking up these days, but by an icy cold shower hitting my naked body at 6 am! I decided to tough it out for 2 days, before I did my research on YouTube, trouble shot the problem and called a plumber.
With in an hour, Julio was at my door. I know what you are thinking, there was no bow chic a bow- wow action: Only a guy who was extremely tall, obese, sounded like Darth Vader with a Spanish accent, and had a broken right hand. I let him in, we discussed the issue, and then he asked: “Why you husband no do the job?” Who said anything about a husband? And why does that matter Julio?
After struggling to get into the small space where the hot water heater was, Julio asked me to be his assistant and hold his hose. If I am paying anyone $75.00 an hour, I refuse to hold any type of hose! Unhappy with having to perform solo, and so much panting, he nearly passed out, Julio quoted me $1100.00 for a new hot water heater. I called his office spoke to his manager, and fired Julio before he decided to have a cardiac arrest in my bathroom. Luckily, a friend completed the job for under $500.00, and also added some handy man work I needed around my home.
Then Friday night bored and curious, I decided to attend a “Soiree” hosted by LA Wine Tasting at the Avalon hotel in Beverly Hills. The invite was a bit confusing, advertising both a wine tasting and an $86.00 dinner by executive chef Mirko Paderno. I decided to go with the dinner option since I’m a big foodie.
The pool area Avalon Hotel Beverly HillsAs I entered the pool area of the Avalon hotel, I was stopped at the door by a rude woman with a French accent. She said my party was on the other side. After trampling over many hotel guests, I finally found the dinner part of the “Soiree.” I felt incredibly awkward as I walked around empty dinner tables not holding a glass or even being greeted. I spied many equally awkward people standing in corners hypnotized by their phones. For a second, I thought they could be Zombies, probably due to my ‘Walking Dead” addiction on Netflix. But, they were alive, and just following the trend of “Smart Phone” addiction and inability to be social.
The overpriced dinner tableFinally, I found the event coordinator who asked me to sit down. I ignored her request since I did not want to be the first to sit at an empty table. Instead I was scoping out chef Mirko who was a handsome bear of a man. Rawr was all I could say, in anticipation of his spiel he would give us at the dinner table.
Bar @ Avalon Hotel, Oliverio restaurantOnce I noticed more guests taking their seats, I decided to stop stalking the chef and sit down. After some idle chit-chat with my new dinner partners, I noticed something interesting. I was sitting at the “Single Girl” table. Virtually all the woman at the table were single while the other table had couples? It was as if I was sitting at the children’s table at a wedding.
One fact was certain we were all there for the same thing, to eat! But, for those who were looking to find a man, well surprise! Men usually don’t attend over priced dinners alone. Probably because they know it’s a scam.
The dinner was a 5 -course meal and started out with an extremely dry tuna carpaccio, followed by ravioli made with baccala and potatoe. Baccala is a salt cod, and popular in the southern Italian region. I should know because I am southern Italian, and grew up with my mother making her own baccala and keeping it in the garage until it was cured. And yes the stench was wretched! As was the ravioli course that was also dry and fishy! Why make a ravioli with potato when baccala is already so dry? Fact of the matter is, most Americans do not like fishy tasting fish!
The menu
Smoked Sicilian Tuna Carpaccio
The Baccala and Potato RavioliEach course was paired with a different glass of Gruet champagne who was the sponsor for the dinner, and a guy from the company gave a speech about the different pairings. He also bashed Vueve Cliquoe and said it was a bastardized champagne! Wow, that was harsh, since I love Veuve, and hate it when companies put down other companies, it seems very low class.
Gruet ChampagneThe pork belly, and Sfogliatella dessert were the only 2 things I somewhat enjoyed. But something was missing during the dinner. The chef failed to come out and introduce his dishes or even himself for that matter.
Sogliztella NapoletanaI decided to ask the waiter where the chef was, and he said cooking. Perhaps in a perfect world, I would have believed him, but my world is a little less than perfect, and I was sitting facing the interior of the restaurant where I was watching the chef entertain his guests all night long paying special attention on one particular table.
Finally, I rallied all the single girls at the table and together we demanded that the waiter bring out the chef! He approached the table and asked in a heavy Italian accent “Who ask for me?” I of course hid under the table, while one of the older women at the single girl table said: ”I did!”
Chef Mirko PadernoChef Mirko promptly sat next to the women, chit chatted for about 5 minutes, and then left! Now, I am no foodie virgin, and this was by far not my first pricey meal, but every dinner that I have attended in the past that was show casing a chef, at least had the chef come out and talk about his food! This whole dinner thing was weird, and I smelled something fishy, and it was not the baccla ravioli!
Basically, we were fed a $40.00 dinner, and the event planner got paid $40.00 for sending out an email. And then tax and a fifteen dollar tip was added without prior notice, making the grand total $109.55. A scam indeed!
If you are attending one of these events for the food, you may want to google the restaurant, price the food, and read the Yelp reviews. But if you are attending these events to meet single men, save your money and go to Nordstroms or some other fabulous store and by a pair of amazing shoes. The fact of the matter is a man is more likely to check out your sexy shoes, rather than attend an overpriced dinner where the chef could care less about his guests!
As a single woman, I have come to learn an important lesson, always trust your gut (intuition). Scams are lurking everywhere to deceive us, from plumbers to executive chefs, and men with French accents posing as a sommelier. Pay attention to that little voice inside that screams foul and raises the red flag! And never ever be afraid to stand up for yourself! After all, if you don’t, who else will?
notoriouslysinglegirl 
2 Responses to “Soiree or Scam: A Must Read For All Single Women!”
Your number one fan!! Love it
Luv you chica!! thanks for reading!!