Cookie Battle 2012: The Results!

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 …

Getting Into the Holiday Spirit with Susan Feniger and Mary Sue Milliken

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 …

THIS IS REAL: Introducing the Silent Disco

I love a ridiculous fad, and Los Angeles is home to many of them (remember oxygen bars and pitch black restaurants?). Over the weekend, I stumbled upon my first ever Silent Disco, a unique party wherein participants can only hear music by donning wireless headsets. In other words, it’s the most antisocial conceit of all …

Inside Mark Joseph Cakes

Every so often I post about my friends’ bakery, Mark Joseph Cakes, which is run by Mark Randazzo and his wife Leslie. Mark is responsible for my most popular blog post of all time (the famed R2-D2 cake, which still draws hundreds of readers every day), and I’m happy to report that since that droid …

ADVENTURES IN DOMESTICITY: CBTL Winner Crowned with Coffee-Inspired Short Ribs and Pork Skewers

About a month ago, I posted yet another contest on this blog imploring readers to submit recipes with the chance to win a free CBTL Kaldi single serve coffee machine. The rules were simple: enter a coffee or tea-inspired dish, and the winning recipe (as judged by an elite panel of tasters) would win the …

So I Made a Taylor Armstrong Jack-O’-Lantern…

Classify this as creepy but fun. I decided to make a jack-o’-lantern out of Taylor Armstrong’s face, and I must say that I’m very happy with the results. I really wanted to do some pop culture themed pumpkin, and what better place to look for inspiration but The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills? Clearly, I …

How To Pub Crawl for 12 Hours in Downtown LA

Your guide to some of Downtown LA’s best bars: divey hole-in-the-walls, swanky rooftop escapes, artsy biergartens, and much more…

Rush Street in Culver City Offers Up Clambake Fun

Ah, the clambake. If ever there was a dish that spoke of summers in Cape Cod, it’s the clambake. I say this as if I’d spent every summer of my youth on the shores of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard. That’s hardly the case. However, I did spend significant stretches of my youth gazing at J. …

An Evening with Wonderful Pistachios

Last week I was invited to participate in a pairing concepts program by Wonderful Pistachios, the company that has found mascots in the likes of Snooki and Chad Ochocinco (two of my favorite celebrities, it should be noted). The purpose of the happy hour event was to pair pistachios with food and beverages at Ray’s …