Everyone loves the holidays but they can be a lot of work for the cook/baker in the family. Leave time for yourself this coming holiday season by making at least some of your holidays treats ahead of time - before things get crazy. These cookies take the classic recipe for creamy shortbread and add the zesty taste of lemon. It comes in an easy to handle slice and bake recipe you can make up to a week ahead of time.

The Produce Department Is Nature's Pharmacy

Not only does an Apple a Day keep the Doctor away, a grocery basket of items from a typical produce department could force your health care practitioner to look for a new job. This educational tool for children (and adults ) cross tabulates 78 fruits and vegetables containing 23 vitamins and minerals and shows how they impact 53 of the body's functions. Want smooth skin and beautiful hair (or learn how to prevent cardiovascular disease or mitigate asthma) check out limoneira.com/unleash/naturespharmacy to learn more.

Lemon Mix It Up With Limoneira - Beverly Hills

Talented Mixologists Demonstrate Their Skill At Lemon Mix It Up Event

A fast-rising star in the mixology world over the past decade, Joseph Brooke came to Los Angeles six years ago from New York City. He has since spent time working in some of LA's most popular nightspots and continuing to train and hone his craft.

He graduated from Southern Wine & Spirits' mixology and fine service course and received his BAR-Ready certification from AKA Wine Geek in 2010. He has bartended at hotspots including the legendary Bar Marmont, downtown's vintage favorite The Edison, Copa d'Oro, Next Door Lounge, and most recently Mixology 101 at the Farmers Market.

Recent accomplishments include having taken the USBG LA's prized "Bar Throwdown" trophy, 2012, being named Crowd Favorite in 2011's "LA's Best Bartender" competition, and winning season 2 of NBC/LXTV's show "On the Rocks: The Search For America's Top Bartender" in 2009. Brooke is a member of the USBG Los Angeles chapter, and served as an official judge at the 2013 San Francisco www.mixology101.com

General Manager Brian Leon surveys the evening buzz at the 6,800 square foot jewel that is Nobu Malibu. Floor-to-ceiling windows offer stunning vistas of 180� coastline and blue Pacific waves dramatically crashing on the beach. The place is packed, yet serene. Diners are enjoying pre-dinner cocktails on ocean side daybeds and a warm glow of an outdoor fireplace. The sun is just beginning to set and twinkling stars become ever more magical against an inky sky.

After eight years of working for Nobu, Leon has seen quite a bit, especially given the heady atmosphere of Malibu. Regulars like Robert Downey Jr., Courteney Cox, Mel Gibson, Nicole Richie, and Pink love the vibe and "Paparazzi-free" calm. They also love Executive Chef Gregorio Stephenson's tiradito, black cod with miso, and mini-tacos. "We tend to stick to the staples every time we go," says Rande Gerber, who has been frequenting Nobu with wife Cindy Crawford for more than a decade.

In addition to Leon's capable management of this well oiled machine, he's a talented mixologist and enjoys the creativity of conjuring up new concoctions. He notes that "it's relaxing and enables me to be inventive". As he looks out past the crowd at the setting sun, you can see that he's completely in his element. www.noburestaurants.com/malibu.

Inspired by lifestyle icons of the 50's and 60's, the cocktails at Rivera 31 highlight the talents of resident mixologist (and awesomely named) Ferrari Watts. The drinks come with names like Coco C, Bardot, Deneuve, Grace and Piaf, and covered a wide range of ingredients. . Riviera 31 is as warm and relaxed as a neighborhood bar. Except, of course, it has the polish you'd expect from a luxury hotel lounge in Beverly Hills.

Food and wine have been a deep part of Michael's heritage for as long as he can remember. He was raised in an international community and received exposure to Korean, Italian, Tibetan, and Hungarian cuisine.

After a year of studies, Michael enlisted in the United States Army, finishing 3rd in his class at Air Defense Artillery school in Fort Bliss, Texas. Returning to Florida, Michael was named captain of the Under-19 All-Florida Rugby team and began to travel for matches. Three military activations allowed him to finish his enlistment, as well as concurrently finish a degree in Finance from Florida State University at age 22.

During college, Michael began cooking under Chef Terry White at Mozaik restaurant in Tallahassee Florida. He also studied wine and cooked under Chef J Bryce Whittlesey on Davis Island. A high capacity for work as well as a love for all things edible and fermented have allowed him to become an active member of the Los Angeles restaurant scene as a bartender, waiter, and sommelier. In the past 5 years Michael has been on the opening team as well as worked at several notable restaurants such as AOC, Lucques Catering, Sotto, Farmshop, Ludobites (7,8,10), Sirena, Melisse, Terroni, and Fifty Seven.

In 2012 Michael established red clay as the umbrella for several activities in hospitality. Though mostly known for cocktail creation, design, and implementation, red clay is also active in wine consulting, photography, and graphic design. Michael also writes a food blog, A Man About Town mainly focused on wine and Korean Food in Los Angeles.

Melodee gained her mixology chops by venturing out into the world of hotel bartending, family owned restaurants, and private events and she eventually found a happy home at James Republic in downtown Long Beach . The restaurant's farm to table concept and free spirit mixology bar encourages their staff's creativity and supports their growth as mixologists. Melodee say's James Republic changed her outlook on bartending and gave her an amazing platform to truly be herself www.jamesrepublic.com.

Nic first started bartending in 2006 at the Loft. In 2009, he had the opportunity to have Pablo Moix come spend a couple hours with him behind his bar and watch a very structured, precise, and more classic execution of cocktails than he'd ever had the chance to see before. The following year he moved to NYC and was opening staff at the Bar Downstairs at Andaz 5th Avenue. There he had the pleasure of training under their contracted consulting team, Toby Maloney and Joaquin Simo of Alchemy Consulting. He notes that this experience enabled him to polish his craft. In 2011 he returned to Montage Laguna and has been doing his best to incorporate structure and attention to detail into their cocktail culture www.montagehotels.com/lagunabeach.

Patrick Reynolds' career as an award winning bartender started under the guidance of Chef Ron True the owner of Epiphany (now Arlington Tavern). Reynolds was able to put his culinary degree to use and was granted all the creative freedom he'd been yearning for. Patrick is now recognized as one of the top mixologists in the region, known for his "Farm to Bar" and creative use of home grown ingredients, particularly herbs, citrus and homemade shrubs. You can often find Patrick leading tours through the Santa Barbara farmers market and making daily menus from his findings at The Wildcat Lounge with the motto,"Honor, Awareness and above all Respect" www.wildcatlounge.com.

Lanee Lee is a Los Angeles-based writer covering cocktails, cuisine and quirky destinations. She is the co-founder of Voyage Vixens, an online female-centric travel blog and YouTube series. Follow her tippling travels in L.A. and beyond here - Twitter @WanderlushDiary; Instagram @LaneeLee

Hadley has writing about ingestibles in his blood. His father published a newsletter on restaurants, travel, and hotels called Entr�e, and he has some very cool childhood memories of meeting Wolfgang Puck at the original Spago and bringing Goldfish crackers to Julia Child at the family home. He's worked in New York for Martha Stewart Living, LA Weekly and Grubb Street LA. www.urbandaddy.com/home/la

Beth Fisher is an actress turned host. Busy Beth's Blog is dedicated to Travel, Food, and Fun and shows Angelenos interesting places and things to explore and ingest. http://busybethfisher.blogspot.com

Stir and Strain is a cocktail scratch pad where your Elana Lepkowski develops and tests cocktails out of a home bar with an emphasis on seasonal, classic, and the occasional Tiki drink thrown in. The scratch pad idea means that she puts ideas to paper, but also likes to converse with her audience on what to do next. She was a finalist for she was a finalist for Saveur's 2014 Best Cocktail Blog! Her site has been featured on Serious Drinks list of the Top 8 Cocktail Blogs you should be reading. She contributes to the Serious Eats site. Liquor.com listed her as one of the TOP 5 Cocktail Instagram accounts to follow. She contributes cocktail recipes on DineXDesign! Her recipes have also been featured on Imbibe's website. www.stirandstrain.com

12 Bottle Bar was created with the simple goal of making classic cocktails accessible to the home bartender. Despite having a voluminous liquor cabinet, home bartenders David and Lesley Solmonson were continually frustrated by drink recipes that called for more and more esoteric ingredients. Their solution? Create a fixed list of main ingredients - the twelve bottles - and present hundreds of classic and original cocktails that could be made from them. Unlike other cocktail publications, which cater to the professional or seasoned amateur, 12 Bottle Bar is targeted specifically at the novice home bartender. The primary goals are to engage and excite the reader and generally raise the quality of drinking in the average American home. Here's how it all started. Our Promise: A Dozen Bottles. Hundreds of Cocktails.

Lesley's book "Gin: A Global History" (Reaktion) was published in 2012, and she is currently working on "Liqueur: A Global History" (Reaktion). She is the cocktail/wine writer for the LA Weekly and writes for Chilled magazine. Lesley has written for many other publications, including Wine Enthusiast, Gourmet, and Santa Barbara, and she serves on the Advisory Board of the Museum of the American Cocktail.

Greenbar Craft Distillery represents the world's largest portfolio of organic, handcrafted spirits, including BAR KEEP organic bitters, CRUSOE organic rums, FRUITLAB organic liqueurs, IX� organic tequila, SLOW HAND organic whiskey,TRU organic gin and TRU organic vodkas. Today, Greenbar Craft Distillery produces and distributes the world's biggest portfolio of organic spirits - all made by hand with real ingredients. The environment also benefits because the company uses lightweight bottles, 100% recycled labels and plants a tree for every bottle sold www.greenbar.biz

Four Brix Winery - an urban winery located in the heart of Ventura - specializes in internationally-inspired wine blends. They produce wines based upon their four favorite grape growing regions: Italy, France, Spain and California. The word "Brix" is a term for measurement of sugar in grapes; therefore Four Brix equals four sweets spots for great wine! With a total production of around 2,500 cases, these wines are very limited and in high demand. www.fourbrixwine.com

It takes strength, creativity and patience to make great wine, kind of like raising children. In fact, our wine is like our children, so we gave them names: Smitten, Zeductive (Zinfandel and Petite Sirah), Temptress, Rhondezvous (Grenache, Mourv�dre and Syrah) and Scosso (Sangiovese, Cabernet and Merlot) are a few of our kids. Once you taste the wines, you realize how apropos the names are.

Preferred by all generations, Diablo is a delicious and refreshing drink and a staple at French caf�s and bistros. Michel Langlais de Langlade, the President and founder of the Diablo Collection does not believe that one should sacrifice taste to stay fit and healthy. this is why the Company redefined sparkling refreshment with the Diabolo brand offering a choice of all natural and exotic flavors in a low calorie, healthy formulation www.drinkdiabolo.com.

The Ventura Limoncello Company was founded in 2007 by James Carling and Manuela Zaretti-Carling. Their mission is to be the premier producer of limoncello liqueurs in the United States. They use the recipe handed down to Manuela from her Nonna in Italy.

Ventura County, California, is home to some of the most amazing lemons in the world and their peels make a world class Limoncello. According to the US Department of Agriculture, approximately 80% of all lemons grown in the US come from Ventura County. Due to the year round lemon growing season, the Company produces Ventura Limoncello in small batches all year. www.venturalimoncello.com

Spring Summer Winter Fall - Every Season Is The Perfect Opportunity To Unleash The Power Lemons With Limoneira

Limoneira Lifestyles Gifts Make The Perfect Holiday Presents

With 3,010 acres of lemons and 1,169 acres of avocados growing throughout California, Limoneira is one of the largest lemon and avocado producers in North America.

Limoneira offers delicious avocado and lemon gift boxes and baskets and all natural skin care products that make perfect presents for friends and family.

Limoneira Skin Care line contains products that are lemon and avocado based and are made with all organic ingredients that are natural and sustainable, preservative free, pesticide free, dermatologist tested and approved. Limoneira has been successfully growing and packing delicious produce for 120 years and has sustained their growth with water conservation practices, soil enrichment, green materials recycling and solar energy.

Limoneira's Skin Care line takes advantage:

Mary Paganelli - Tucson Based Chef, Writer And Editorial Director of Native Foodways Magazine And Limoneira Opinion Leader

Tucson Based Mary Paganelli is the Founder and Editorial Director Of Native Foodways Magazine, a beautifully produced publication that is all about honoring and respecting culinary heritage. Her experience as a chef, food writer and recipe tester provided her with the perfect foundation to pioneer this artistic endeavor which tells the stories of native farmers and gardeners, fishers, hunters, foragers and wildcrafters. Her skill enables her to seamlessly weave the narratives from those that preserve traditional foods and vibrant cultural food traditions.

Mary is a graduate of Vassar College and holds a certificate in cooking and baking from the New School for Social Research Culinary Arts Program. She has worked with The Food Network in kitchen prep, several top restaurants as line cook, recipe tester for Canyon Ranch Resorts, and as a private chef and caterer.

She is also the consulting chef for The Desert Rain Cafe which features Indigenous Sonoran desert and traditional Tohono o'odham foods. Mary has published numerous food and travel articles. Her travel guide, "An Insiders' Guide to Tucson", is now in its 6th edition and she is the author of the "Food Lovers' Guide to Tucson".

Bob Raser - Gifted Filmmaker And Painter

Executive Producer and Director's Guild of America member Bob Raser is an all-media content creator with career credits in network, corporate, entertainment, Live, and education productions. Raser has been a creative force in EMMY winning and nominated programming, Image Award nominee, Multiple AEGIS Award winner, and winner of the prestigious 2009 THEA Award.

Raser is also a long time and collected California plein-air artist and his recent "A Place to Grow" has been chosen for the upcoming "Art About Agriculture" exhibition and sale Nov 8 - January 28, at the Santa Paula Art Museum! "A Place to Grow" showcases the palm lined drive at The Gateway painted on location there starting last January, and finishing just last month in time for submission to the Ag Art Alliance Show. Bob says that from working with Limoneira and people in Santa Paula he learned that this place has always been an important growing part of the area, and thanks to the support and encouragement of the people of Santa Paula, and the sustainability focus of Limoneira, the land will continue to be just that, growing homes for all incomes, jobs, sports, parks, and entertainment locations as well as all important schools and continuing education opportunities. It really is "A Place to Grow".

Limoneira Winner's Block