Chinese New Year is fast approaching and with it the grand celebrations. Every year hundreds if not thousands of red envelope are passed out as a sign of good look between thousands of Asian families.  Another way to kick off the celebration is with lion dancing, which is a traditional form of dance that mimic the movements of a lion which is believe to bring good luck. Lion dancing is not just for new year celebrations but also weddings, grand openings, and any celebration. It is believe to bring good luck where ever it dances and is a great source of entertainment.

Dieu Ngu Temple is now offering you the opportunity to rent their lions to bring good luck and entertainment your celebration. Usually it costs about $300 per head but if you mention you heard this off localbeat.org they are willing to give you a promotional offer of $200 per head, or $300 for two. Along with the lion which is operated by two people each, you get a drummer, a gong player, and two cymbals player. For more information or to make a reservation feel free to call Quang Nguyen the project planner.

Managers

Quang Nguyen
Cell
(714) 224 – 9946

or

Gia Nguyen
Cell
(714) 624 – 2780

Address
Gia Dinh Phat Tu Dieu Ngu
14472 Chestnut St
Westminster, CA 92683

Volcano Tea House has been open for a little over a month now and it’s still packing it. Their customer service is lacking a bit but they do have a lot of potential. This place is always pack so they must be doing something right. The shop is currently having a promotional deal of Buy One Get One Free drinks and snacks. For every drink you buy you get one free from the Tea menu, which comes out to be about $1.50 each.

Personally I’d recommend the Strawnana from the smoothie side, with a FREE Taro Milk Tea. The drinks are very cheap when regularly priced an very delicious. Depending on what you get it’s about $2 or $3 dollars for a drink, an Popcorn chicken is only $1.99.

Volcano Tea House is located in the same plaza as the Boiling Crab, next to the plaza Tastee is in. If your ever in the area or waiting for a table at the boiling crab you should drop by and check the place out. The shop is narrow and colorfully decorate will a number of plasma spread out on the wall. There is always music playing and board games on the table. The atmosphere is very lively an inviting.

Address
13916 Brookhurst St
Garden Grove, CA 92843

Phone
(714) 636-1300

Hours
Sunday through Thursday from 11:00am to 12:00pm
Friday and Saturday from 11:00am to 2:00pm

If you have any small mammal, amphibians, retiles, or bird, Pet Supply is the place to go for all their needs. The workers are super friendly and very helpful. Everyone here is well educated on the products the stores carries and are always eager to answer any questions you may have. They carry a wide selection brand, food, quality, and pretty much everything you and your pet may need. Everything is well prided and there are tons of free samples. You pets are welcomed to come along as long as they are on a leash or in some sort of cage or tank. I’ve taken my little puppy here two or three times already and she loves it. She usually comes in hungry and comes out with a belly full of treats. I definitely recommend this place for anyone and everyone who has a pet. Why go to two or three pet stores to get all your necessity when you can go to a one stop pet supply store.

Phone
(714) 964-5585

Tastea is not your typical Asian boba stop. I can honestly say this place is different. First of all, they don’t use any artificial. Everything is fresh and everything is real, the taste doesn’t come from powder but from REAL fruit juice. Even the tapioca boba are fresh, and you can tell; the outside is soft and the inside is chewy not stale. Recently the store in Westminster under went some reconstruction and i have to the place has great interior design. There’s more seating now and the service is great, the workers are friendly and patient. What i love most about this place is their creative names for all the drink. They serve a variety of boba, tea, smoothie, coffee, shaved ice, and cookies. They do take cards here but it’s almost always croweded. The drinks are totally worth it though, you have to try it and you’ll know why it’s worth all the trouble.

Hours
Sunday – Thursday from10:00am to 11:00pm
Friday & Saturday from 10:00am to 12:00pm

Address
10189 Westminster Ave
Garden Grove, CA 92843

Phone
(714) 539-1832

Website
www.tastea.net

You can meet Santa today in Nordstrom at the Irvine Spectrum Center. Santa will be located on the first floor between the woman’s shoe and cosmetics. Take your kids and make some memory. There won’t be professional picture packages but personal cameras are welcomed and encouraged. Children will be able to sit on Santa’s lap and tell him their holiday wishes. While you’re in the area you can also do some shopping.

When
Sunday, December 20th 2009 from 11:00am to 1:00pm

Location
Nordstrom (#330) 
101 Fortune Drive
Irvine, CA  92618

Phone
(949) 225-2800 

This Sunday get into the Museum of Latin American in Long Beach for FREE. This Sunday’s workshop will be devoted to the Mexican holiday tradition of Las Posadas that you and your entire family can enjoy for FREE, along with lot of other activity. This freebie is sponsored by the Target Free Sundays programs that offers free museum admission on various weekends. For more free events at the Museum of Latin American Art visit www.molaa.org/Programs-and-Events/Events-Calendar/free-events.aspx

Address
628 Alamitos Avenue,
Long Beach, CA 90802  

Phone
(562) 437-1689 

Fax
(562) 437-7043 

The Lil’ Pickel is a small but clean, friendly neighborhood deli. The store is filled with a couple of chairs and table with wall filled with pictures and boards. shop. They are heavily involved in the community so the walls are obvious covered from top to bottom with pictures of it. You can see pictures of the Costa Mesa High School athletic team dating back to the 1980s. It has a back to basic sort of feel to it and packs a mean sub. The bread is soft but slighty doughy, and the quality is much better then any Subways. The prices are affordable; a sub and a bag of chips totals a little over 6 bucks and trust me that can stuff you to your limits. This shop has a potential to franchise but just never chose to, they want to reamin a mom and pop which i think is great. They’ve been in business for centuries so they must be doing something good. If you want to try a real sub this is definitely the place to go. They don’t take any forms of credit card or debit card, but they do have a ATM. It charges a fee of $2 but the store reimburses you with a FREE drink your choice of size. They do however take cash and checks.

Address
2985 Fairview Rd
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Phone
(714) 979-5522

To kick off the national tour of the hit musical Xanadu, the Orange County Performing Arts Center will transform its community plaza into a FREE roller rink. This is happening this Saturday and Sunday the 19^th and 20^th of December. You can either bring your own skates or rent one for just $5. Songs from Xanadu will be played in the background and the fun is waiting for you. For more information visit the website directly at www.ocpac.org/home/Events/EventDetail.aspx?EventID=983

When
Saturday and Sunday December 19th & 20th from 2:30pm to 5:30pm

Address
600 Town Center Drive
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

There are dozens if not hundreds of websites these days featuring coupons for online stores. 10% – 50% off purchases that years ago you would have put off because of the steep price. During this recession, all of a sudden things are becoming so…affordable. But while the online retail space is littered from deals that often may be too good to be true, how about offline deals? The top e-tailers may be grabbing a big piece of the pie, but sometimes, its still nice to have whatever you want today – right here, right now.

While its not likely that you’ll find exceptional deals on electronics, there are still a lot of great local stores and services that you simply can’t replace with a transaction in a parallel virtual universe.

Over the next few weeks, as we comb through the Twitter landscape and find savvy local coupon promoters, we’re going to add them to our site to both promote them for their hard work and to also give our visitors more visibility into the range of deals out there. We’re going to work as many cities as we can to help more local stores, more shoppers looking for deals locally, and connect with more people who are local promoters.

It’s that time of year again and Metrolink is having its’ yearly Holiday Toy Express. The train is giving away FREE rides with Santa Claus, Mrs. Claus, and a live singing and dancing cast at participating locations. The train is lit with over 50,000 colorful lights and is filled with a warm and fun atmosphere. This is a great family event and it’s totally FREE. So join in the fun and get into the holiday spirit with your loved ones.

While you’re there remember to think about less fortunate. At every Holiday Toy Express stop, there will be Orange County firefighters who will accept toys for the Spark of Love Toy Drive. They are currently collecting any unwrap toys which will later be distributed to the less fortunate this holiday. Keep in mind that this is the season of giving after all.

When & Where
Saturday December 12, 2009
Anaheim 5:15-5:45pm
Orange 6:00-6:30pm
Santa Ana 7:00-7:45pm
Fullerton 8:30-9:15pm