B-Side Blog

ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Rum Raisin Ice Cream Edition

Over the summer, my friend Meeshie visited me here in Los Angeles and humbly requested that we make ice cream. I handed her David Lebovitz’s seminal ice cream bible The Perfect Scoop and told her to pick out the flavor of her choice (as long as it wasn’t something vile that involved berries — eww). Anyway, after much browsing and deliberation, Meeshie decided on one of her all time favorite ice creams: rum raisin. A trip to the grocery store later, we were ready to make ice cream!

Pics of our adventure after the jump…

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The Entire Real Housewives of NJ Cast Will Be Back… Allegedly.

Everyone is back, according to Andy Cohen.

My DVR had some issues while I was off in New York, which meant I missed an episode of Real Housewives of New Jersey. Luckily, we have this critical news to hold us over through the long national nightmare that is my TV viewing tardiness. In case you hadn’t heard, word on the street was that Jacqueline Laurita had called it quits during taping of the fourth season of RHoNJ, which had been occurring while the third was still airing. Andy Cohen, however, assures us that the entire cast will be back for a fourth iteration. This doesn’t, however, explain Jacqueline’s absence on the forthcoming reunion set to air this Sunday. I guess we’ll have to wait to find out what that’s all about.

In the meantime, check out some of the other gossip items from NJ at Socialite Life where you can also find a bonus Melissa Gorga “On Display” remix. You can thank me later.

Socialite Life: Andy Cohen Unveils Studio 54′s Marquee, Does ‘RHONJ’ Damage Control

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: Let The Games Begin!

We’ve had “The Last Supper.” We’ve had “The Dinner Party from Hell.” And now Bravo has introduced us to GAME NIGHT, which wasn’t nearly as full of the merriment and whimsey as the name implies. Don’t get me wrong — it was crazy fun for the us, the audience. I’m not so sure the same could be said of the participants in this utter disaster. Yes, it was another soiree gone awry on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and once again I’m left loving this trainwreck combination of women.

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REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS: Cocky Gestures

There are two new women — not official housewives, mind you — on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, and already they’re making waves. Last week, we met Brandi Glanville, who I thought would be a bitch on crutches, but I have to say she’s not the worst. Sure, she’s a bit rough around the edges, and sure, she certainly seems quite jaded from her fiasco of a marriage to Eddie Cibrian, but all in all, we haven’t really seen her do anything terribly horrific aside from a lightly obnoxious comment here and there — nothing worse than what any of the other women say on a day to day basis. However, if you were to ask the other ladies, Brandi is a whore slut bitch, who deserves to fall into a pit of fire and vipers. I guess we all have our different perspectives.

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Win A Free CBTL Kaldi Machine!

Ladies and gentlemen, get psyched. I have a VERY cool contest to present to you today (and I promise I won’t be a slacker with it). The good people at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf are giving away a free (FREE) CBTL Kaldi single-serve coffee maker (it brews tea too!). This is a $150 value, and it can be yours for free FREE FREE!!

All you have to do is submit a recipe that incorporates a single-serve CBTL capsule (see the offerings here). Recipes can be for entrees, desserts, cocktails — you name it. Just make sure to incorporate coffee, espresso, or tea. As usual, there will be a bake off of the finalists, and the winner will receive the machine in the color of his or her choice (white, red, blue, black, or gold).

Submit your recipes in the comments section, and to read more about the CBTL Kaldi, check out my review here. Deadline is 10/12/11 at noon PDT.

Good luck!

B-Side Blog Is Back On The Grid! Also, A Contest Update

As some of you may have noticed, I haven’t posted anything on this blog in nearly a week. That’s because I spent four days sans laptop, thus rendering me powerless as a blogger. The good news is that my laptop and I have been reunited, and now I can resume normal blogging activities.

First things first: some housekeeping. Over the summer I launched two contests, neither of which I ever announced the winners of. One was for a copy of Rocco DiSpirito’s cook book Now Eat This! I’ll be honest: I totally forgot about the contest. I pledge to try the submitted recipes next week and provide a winner.

As for the second contest, I challenged readers to submit haikus in order to win a free Beauty Express Brow Kit from Anastasia of Beverly Hills. Well, I’ve selected a winner. The glorious haiku after the jump…

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Chris March Re-Enacts Seminal ‘Real Housewives’ Table Flipping Moment

I still don’t know what Mad Fashion is about, but if it has anything to do with reenacting famous scenes from older Bravo shows, I’m all in. Check out the clip above where Project Runway alumnus Chris March and his pals perform a dramatization of Teresa Giudice’s legendary table flip from season one of The Real Housewives of New Jersey.

REAL HOUSEWIVES OF BEVERLY HILLS PHOTOCAP: Flying High; Also, Meet Brandi

I’m currently writing this photocap from aboard a plane, which I suppose is appropriate given the noteworthy flight Adrienne Maloof took on the latest episode of Real Housewives of Beverly Hills. As you may remember, the multi-millionaire was off to Sacramento to see the final game of the Kings’ season (and perhaps tenure in the city), and for whatever reason, Adrienne had decided to invite the loopiest cast mate of all: Kim Richards. Well, Kim was late due to some sort of power outage that left her struggling to do her hair, let alone see her hand in front of her face. Never mind that it was pure daylight outside. Kim apparently lives in a dark cave somewhere deep in the Santa Monica mountains.

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Your Guide To ‘Ringer’ Thus Far

I’m not one of those people who watches TV and movies ironically. There was a period of time — specifically high school — when I delighted in saying, “It’s so bad it’s GOOD,” but since then I’ve more or less moved on to things that I think are good on their own merits. However, that’s all pretty much gone to pot with the arrival of Ringer on the CW. It’s not so bad that it’s good. No, the word “good” couldn’t really be used in any context with the show. However, it is wonderfully campy. With clunky writing, cheesy special effects, and plots twists that are at once hilarious and, er, engaging, Ringer has all the makings of the next pulp disaster.

Just start with the names alone: there’s Bridget; there’s Siobhan (also known as “Shiv” — or is it SIOBH?); there’s Gemma; there’s Juliet; and there’s Henry Butler, who is neither British nor a dandy. All that’s missing is a Poppy, a Hortense, and perhaps a Nigel.

Now, in case you haven’t been watching this cerebral series, fear not: I will hold your hand through the first two episodes. There’s plenty of information to take in, but I think I can guide you through it…

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ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: Madhur Jaffrey’s Chicken in a Red Sweet Pepper Sauce Edition

Recently I’ve been craving Indian food for no good reason, and while I’m usually more than happy to simply pick up a hefty order from my favorite local spot (Crown of India — don’t mind the hookers in the parking lot), I’ve decided that this is a cuisine I’d really like to start cooking. I already knew how to whip up a pretty awesome chicken tikka masala thanks to a Cooks Illustrated recipe, but how many times could I make that? Many, as it turns out. But I craved more. And so I decided to look up a recipe for one of my favorite Indian dishes: chicken Korma. Well, thanks to the magic of the internet, I found many recipes for this simple curry. In fact, I found TOO many. I didn’t know which to choose. Do I trust a random blog? Or do I go with the seemingly inauthentic stuff found on Food.com? Clearly, I needed a source I could trust. Enter Madhur Jaffrey.

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