TV. Food. Pop Culture.
Last month, I challenged readers to submit their favorite cake recipes in the hopes of winning a brand new copy of Entenmann’s Big Book of Baking, courtesy of — you guessed it — Entenmann’s. Well, I’m happy to announce that I’ve since decided upon two finalists, baked up the recipes, and shared the end products with an esteemed panel of judges. The winner — and pictures of the baking process — after the jump…
Continue reading “ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Entenmann’s Cake Challenge Results!”
Bravo titled last night’s episode of The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills the “Night of 1,000 Surprises,” and it was about as apt a name as could be. The action all centered around Lisa’s opening bash for Sur, and pretty much every segment of the super sized episode featured a noteworthy bit of drama — whether it was Kim acting wasted in a limo, Brandi lashing out at her husband’s mistress (who’s now a waitress at Sur), Cedric crashing the party, the Richards’ sisters emotionally confronting each other, Taylor popping up with a black eye, Camille demanding an apology, or everyone laughing at Ken for being called a gay bullmastiff. Hmm… I think I just recapped the whole episode. It was all golden stuff. I have much to say, but I know all people really care about are the photos; so I’m just going to save some time and get right into it!
Continue reading “REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: High Times at Lisa’s Party”
After two weeks off, The Real Housewives of Atlanta returned on Sunday, and maybe it was just me, but this episode was about as boring as it gets. Almost nothing interesting happened, save for Kandi’s songwriting session with JoDee Messina, which proved fascinating in the way that all of Kandi’s professional scenes have proven to be fascinating. I almost feel like she deserves a spin-off where we watch her working with artists because it’s a hell of a lot more compelling than most of the other stuff we were stuck with. Phaedra continued to investigate a second career as a funeral home owner; Kim continued to pack up for her move (when WILL that happen already?); Nene played dress-up and pretended to be a high class lady; Sherayay did yoga; and Cynthia and Peter fought again over nothing particularly noteworthy. The big takeaway on that front was that Peter doesn’t like being called a dinosaur and will only compliment Cynthia when forced to by a pastor. Great.
Continue reading “REAL HOUSEWIVES OF ATLANTA PHOTOCAP: We Waited Two Weeks For THIS?”
The Hawaiian holiday continued last night on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and while it was hardly the second coming of Scary Island, the vacation definitely saw its fair share of drama between the Richards’ sisters. The issue at hand was Kim’s chronic tardiness, something that has plagued her all season but seemed especially gauche on this weekend getaway. First Kim missed her flight from LA to Hawaii. Then she missed her island jumper connection. And then she was too late for a catamaran adventure. Sure it could all be chalked up to general, meth-y confusion, but I don’t particularly blame Kyle for feeling like it was all Kim’s passive aggressive way of showing that she didn’t want to hang out with the group. It’s no wonder then that Mauricio & co. were particularly cranky with Kim at every meal, especially when Kim made some bogus excuses about why they had been late.
Continue reading “REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: Late to the Luau”
Last month, I implored readers to submit their favorite cookie recipes in the hopes of winning a Good Cookie spatula from OXO. Well, I since narrowed the field down to two contenders, baked them off, and shared them with friends. The winner was unanimous.
So who are our finalists? In one corner we have Alyssa and her Salted Oatmeal White Chocolate Cookies. In the other corner Tanya with her Brandied Cranberry White Chocolate Chip Cookies. Yes, two cookies with white chocolate chips — kind of shocking. There were some other fascinating entries, but they had to be DQ’d for being bars, not cookies. Read the directions, people! (There was also an intriguing cookie sweetened with banana that I wanted to try, but the ingredients — almond meal, coconut oil — would have cost $17, which is entirely way too much for cookies, especially because I don’t know what else I’d do with almond meal and coconut oil).
Anyway, after the jump, check out pics of the cookies and learn who the winner will be!
December 31, 2011: It’s New Year’s Eve. I’m having a few people over for drinks (a.k.a. loud, drunken screaming along to songs). A veggie tray from Costco makes its way to my apartment — what better way to feed the masses?
January 1, 2012: Exactly 5.6 carrots have been consumed, and now I have a giant platter of crudités lingering in my fridge.
January 3, 2012: It’s been three and a half days since the veggie tray entered my home, and little headway has been made. Visitors have snacked from it a touch, and I’ve engaged in some light grazing here and there, but clearly this veggie tray appears destined for the trash. It seems like a waste. I know these vegetables can be repurposed, but how? A few weeks ago, my friend Lynsley turned veggie tray leftovers into a triumphant quiche, but in my case, I have too many veggies for a quiche (and as luck would have it, I had JUST made a quiche. Isn’t that always the case?). My initial instincts are to make a soup or a stir-fry. I’m not a huge stir-fry guy though, and after chatting with my friends, the consensus seems to be soup.
January 4, 2012: I do something very rare. I opt to make soup sans recipe. I must rely only on my instinct. Can it be done? Results after the jump.
Continue reading “ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Veggie Tray Soup”
There’s been a whole lot of drama on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. Since I last posted a photocap, Kyle Richards had thrown her annual white party, which had many women seeing red. First Kim and Brandi got into it as they reprised their rivalry with a series of a playground taunts. Most of the obnoxious behavior came from Kim’s corner as Brandi stood patiently and watched this bird-like woman hurl petty insults her way. Kim took to assailing Brandi’s language, suddenly acting as if she were pure as snow with the words that come out of her mouth. Interestingly enough, while the women engaged in their spat, neither of their guests (Jennifer Gimenez for Brandi, Ken for Kim) bothered to intercede and pull the ladies apart. You’d think Jennifer Gimenez with her experience on Celebrity Rehab would perhaps have some sort of helpful instinct, and you’d think Ken, as the chivalrous boyfriend would think to protect his fair lass, but nope, everyone just stood and watched this train wreck unfold until Kyle finally broke up the party.
I mean, Kyle didn’t LITERALLY break up her own party — just the hate party going on between Kim and Brandi. The last thing Kyle needed was another bicker-fest on her hands, especially since she had a massive, awkward dilemma heading her way.
Continue reading “REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: Hawaii 5-Ho”
A few weeks ago, I was invited to attend a holiday cooking class held by the “Two Hot Tamales” Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken, the two chefs most recently famous for ascending the ranks of Top Chef: Masters. In addition to finding fame (or rather, additional fame) on Bravo, the two head up several restaurants including The Border Grill, which has become something of an institution here in Los Angeles. It was at that much-lauded eatery that the cooking class took place, and to say I was excited about the event was an understatement. With my friend Sly in tow, I trekked to the restaurant’s downtown location where for two hours, we learned a bevy of tips and tricks — all while watching Chefs Feniger and Milliken joke, cook, and occasionally fumble through what turned out to be more of a demo than a hands-on class. Plus, as a special treat for us, we enjoyed the fruits of their labor: a three course meal and a cocktail. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon.
Continue reading “Getting Into the Holiday Spirit with Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken”
For years I’ve loved the Entenmann’s family of products, particularly the chocolate-frosted doughnuts (best when dunked in milk), the devil’s food cake doughnuts, the cupcakes, the chocolate chip cookies, and of course the chocolate fudge cake. I therefore was thrilled when Entenmann’s offered to send me a box of bakeware as well the company’s new cookbook, Entenmann’s Big Book of Baking, for free on the condition that I hold a baking party and document it on my blog. Done and DONE.
The timing could not have been more perfect. As it turned out, I was headed to the Hamptons this past weekend to celebrate a friend’s birthday (NEIL, to be specific — his name has been bandied about from time to time here). What better way to help ring in a new year in Neil’s life than by baking up a storm? With the help of my new friend Lynsley of Popcorn and M&Ms, I set up shop in Neil’s kitchen and churned out no less than five recipes from Entenmann’s Big Book of Baking.
Ah, but how did they turn out? Results after the jump…
This Christmas, Matt Damon, Scarlett Johansson, and Thomas Haden Church all star in the movie We Bought A Zoo. It’s sort of a strange concept (if you need a plot description, look no further than the title), but if the film finds an audience — who knows? Maybe we might see a sequel or two.
After the jump, ten sequel ideas that we’re pretty sure will never happen (although, I’d see almost all of them).
Continue reading “10 Rejected Sequel Ideas for ‘We Bought A Zoo’”
