Rene Lynch, Times Staff Writer
June 30, 2012
Recipe: Buffalo Cambozola burger
"Few people share my obsession with food like my friend Karen. Over the years we've tackled vats of melted chocolate (not very appetizing when dripping down your hands and elbows) to make Valentine's Day truffles and handmade ice cream sandwiches like the Good Humor ones sold on ice cream trucks —rectangular with a soft, dark chocolate cookie and a vanilla center (once was enough) for 4th of July.
June 30, 2012
Recipe: The H-Bomb Burger
"My fieriest burger yet! Some people, like me, love spicy burgers. My H-Bomb Burger is a great way to give them just what they want: the H-Bomb with fried serrano chiles, caramelized onions, habanero jack cheese, jalapeno, bacon, tomato, leaf lettuce and slathered with habanero relish and chipotle mayo all on a jalapeno-cheese bun. The devil made me do it!"
June 30, 2012
Recipe: The Howie burger
"Grilling in the summer is a pastime for all to enjoy. Anyone can do it, and it's a great way to bring friends and family together with a simple, easy meal. As long as I can remember, we were a 'grilling family.' My Uncle Howie was on the forefront — it was a passion of his. I have fond memories of him even out in the rain standing his post at the grill. He would create some great meals — all simple and clean in nature, and yet you would think there were 15 ingredients in each item. The Howie Burger was by far his best invention; he had a great love of Dijon mustard and onions. So I took it a step further and made a gastrique of red onions and a homemade recipe for Dijonnaise. The Howie Burger is sweet, tart, tangy, and it appeals to many different palates. It's also appealing because of the ease in making it and the explosion of flavor. The red onions are what does it. Slow cooked in red wine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper, they take on the complex flavor of the vinegar and finish with a subtle sweetness. The Gruyere cheese is the perfect accompaniment, as it can stand up to the Dijonnaise and red onions. Howie may no longer be with us in the backyard at the barbecue, but I'll always remember him for his famous burger and want to share it with as many people as I can."
June 30, 2012
Recipe: Taste of Italy turkey burger
"There is no better turkey burger than my flavor-packed, juicy, Taste of Italy Turkey Burger. It brings together all of the flavors that we love in Italian cooking and packs it into a burger. Then it's surrounded with even more great tastes from the heart and soul of Mediterranean cooking. Basil, oregano, sun-dried tomatoes, garlic, pecorino Romano cheese, among others fill the patty while I surround it with rich, hearty pasta sauce, provolone cheese, mushrooms and kalamata olives. With each bite you think you're in your favorite Italian restaurant or sitting on a balcony in a villa overlooking the beautiful Mediterranean along the Amalfi coast. Enjoy it with your favorite glass of wine, a little pasta or fresh grilled summer vegetables. Buon appetito!"
June 30, 2012
Recipe: BLT&E
"Breakfast is by far the best and most important meal of the day. A BLT is a near-perfect breakfast sandwich. Add an egg and you have, in my opinion, a perfect sandwich. Now people have started making breakfast burgers, topped with bacon and an egg, which is another great meal in my book! But, what if you combine the two?! A BLT&E."
December 29, 2012
5 Questions with 'Hungry Girl's' Lisa Lillien
Lisa Lillien has the world on a plate. The Los Angeles author and entrepreneur sits atop the multimillion-dollar "Hungry Girl" empire that includes TV shows on the Food Network and the Cooking Channel, several bestselling cookbooks and a daily email blast that tops 1 million subscribers. Lillien is a genius at finding low-calorie ways to scratch a craving itch and then sharing them with her legion of fans.
7:57 PM PST, January 27, 2013
'Argo' wins top SAG Award; Day-Lewis, Lawrence win drama honors
Ben Affleck's “Argo” seems to be unstoppable. The film about a CIA plot to rescue American hostages in Iran in 1980 won the 19th Screen Actors Guild Award on Sunday night for ensemble in a motion picture.
9:32 AM PST, December 24, 2012
'Next Iron Chef' winner Alex Guarnaschelli talks redemption
What does redemption taste like, Alex Guarnaschelli?
February 2, 2013
5 Questions: Diet advice that goes against the grain
You've heard about the "Wheat Belly" diet, right? Well, technically, it doesn't exist.
February 9, 2013
Reader health tip: No cocktail before 10,000 steps
How's this for motivation? No workout, no cocktail.
December 29, 2012
52 ways to leave your blubber
This is the year you will resolve to ditch the diets, the "all or nothing" mentality and the "no-pain, no-gain" fitness goals. This is the year you will resolve to use common sense to eat less junk food, move more — and have fun doing it.
August 4, 2012
Many new diet books avoid food extremes
It's too late to lose that unwanted weight for summer. But if you start now — and aim to shed a modest 2 pounds a week — you could drop as much as 40 pounds in time to ring in 2013.
November 17, 2012
At the holiday table, bring napkins into the fold
You might not be able to pull together a Thanksgiving table decor à la Martha Stewart, but rest assured you can fold a napkin. And that's really all you need, says Los Angeles food writer and food stylist Denise Vivaldo, author of a new book, "Top 100 Napkin Folds."
4:03 PM PST, November 28, 2012
Zig Ziglar dies at 86; motivational speaker inspired millions
Zig Ziglar died Wednesday at age 86, a deep-voiced motivational speaker whose clever way with words inspired millions to stop looking for shortcuts to success -- and instead earn it the old-fashioned way by rolling up their sleeves and getting to work.
8:42 AM PST, November 27, 2012
Dunkin' Donuts coffee claim: Best in U.S.? Forget it, agency says
Dunkin' Donuts claims to have the "best coffee in America," but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office disagrees.
January 3, 2012
Bob Harper soldiers on with 'The Biggest Loser'
It's Saturday morning and Bob Harper is sidling up to a stationary bike at Crunch gym on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles. He's been teaching this cardio cycling class for years — long before becoming a trainer on NBC's "The Biggest Loser." In fact, he gets paid the same amount as any other cycling instructor employed by the chain.
November 17, 2011
Food bloggers share passion for cooking, eating
Absolutely no one cared that the Thanksgiving turkey was growing colder by the moment, along with the garlic-and-herb potato gratin and the caramelized chestnuts and Brussels sprouts tossed in a velvety cider vinegar braise.
October 29, 2011
Established chefs risk reputations to be 'The Next Iron Chef'
They're the food world's equivalent of "made" men and women — instantly recognizable chefs who have their own cooking shows, cookbooks, brands and fan following. Names like Napa Valley's Michael Chiarello. New York City's Marcus Samuelsson and Alex Guarnaschelli.
6:15 AM PDT, October 18, 2011
BOOSTER SHOTS: Oddities, musings and news from the health world
Emily Zaler's ingredient for guilt-free food: protein powder
Emily Zaler's business card should probably read "mad scientist."
8:36 PM PDT, September 26, 2011
Yes, Anna Kournikova can relate
What does Anna Kournikova know about losing weight?
September 21, 2011
Culver City gallery owner gives crutches to Sierra Leone disabled
As a Culver City art gallery owner and marketing and advertising executive, Lisa Schultz wondered whether there was anything she could do about the plight of disabled men, women and children in Sierra Leone.
8:51 PM PDT, September 18, 2011
'Mad Men,' 'Modern Family' take top Emmys
It was repeat victories for ABC's "Modern Family" and AMC's "Mad Men" on Sunday night as they captured the marquee prizes at the 63rd annual Emmy Awards.
7:25 AM PDT, July 14, 2011
HBO dominates the Emmy nominations
Premium pay channel HBO dominated the nominations Thursday for the 63rd Primetime Emmy Awards, earning a stunning 104 nods, including honors for its two freshman series, "Game of Thrones" and "Boardwalk Empire," as well as the acclaimed miniseries "Mildred Pierce" and the TV movies "Cinema Verite" and "Too Big to Fail," about the nation's banking crisis.
The 83rd Academy Awards
'The King's Speech' wins top Oscars
"The King's Speech" was crowned best film at the 83rd Academy Awards on Sunday night.
June 30, 2011
He's a stickler about no-fuss parties
Food photographer and blogger Matt Armendariz knows how to be the life of the party: Make food on a stick.
June 23, 2011
Tal Ronnen says make it vegan but make it delicious
Tal Ronnen catered the vegan wedding for Ellen DeGeneres and wife Portia de Rossi. Casino mogul Steve Wynn tapped him to add vegan dishes to the menus at all 22 restaurants at the luxurious Wynn and Encore resorts in Vegas. Former McDonald's executives invited him onboard to help launch a chain of healthful fast-food restaurants later this year. And when Oprah decided to try the vegan thing, Tal was her guide. (She calls him the best vegan chef in America.)
June 6, 2011
'MasterChef' returns for second season
What does it take to charm Chef Gordon Ramsay into giving you a white apron? A Scottish accent and the audacity to serve up some foul-tasting haggis.
June 4, 2011
Competition on 'Food Network Star' takes on a new edge this season
The knives are drawn.
March 31, 2011
Sarah Gim's servings of virtual food prove irresistible
Sarah Gim certainly didn't invent food porn. But she's perfected it.
February 3, 2011
Olive oil 101
When life gives you olive oil, Theo Stephan has a suggestion: Make a pie. Or a tart. Or cookies.
January 28, 2011
Rulon Gardner makes no excuses
For much of his storied sports career, two-time Olympic medalist Rulon Gardner was a slave to the scale. He used rigorous, hours-long workouts to keep his weight in check and relied upon old-school wrestling tricks — like exercising in a sauna — to drop unwanted pounds before a competition.
6:46 AM PST, January 25, 2011
'The King's Speech,' 'True Grit' top Academy Award nominations
"The King's Speech" dominated the Oscar nominations on Tuesday morning, earning 12 nods including best picture and best lead actor for Colin Firth as King George VI, who battles to eradicate his stammer before he unexpectedly takes the throne.
January 21, 2011
'Spartacus: Gods of the Arena' goes on with new story line
"Spartacus: Gods of the Arena" is a prequel born of adversity.
January 16, 2011
Golden Globes shows love to 'The Social Network'
"The Social Network" has a lot of friends in Hollywood.
9:00 AM PST, January 15, 2011
BOOSTER SHOTS: Oddities, musings and news from the health world
'The Biggest Loser's' Alison Sweeney talks about shedding the baby weight and staying in shape
Each week on NBC's "The Biggest Loser," host Alison Sweeney puts contestants through grueling physical challenges, issues beguiling calorie-rich temptations and then weighs them on a scale to determine whether their punishing gym sessions are paying off.
December 23, 2010
Food critic outed and ousted from restaurant
Los Angeles Times restaurant critic S. Irene Virbila ducked into Red Medicine, a new Beverly Hills restaurant, for some modern Vietnamese food the other night, but got nothing to eat. Instead, she was outed and ousted, her party turned away, her picture snapped and critic's anonymity shredded by the restaurateur himself.
November 25, 2010
Cap the Thanksgiving feast with an after-dinner drink
There's little ceremony to the digestif. Certainly nothing that compares to the pouring of tea, the pulling of a perfectly made espresso or even the carving of a shamrock into the thick, creamy head on a pint of Guinness.
November 21, 2010
After a cornucopia of sweets, what's for dessert?
It was a sweet day in Southern California — and a not a bad day to be a food judge.
November 11, 2010
Life is good for Gluten-Free Girl
The long narrow plate arrived at her table, and, like any good food blogger, Shauna James Ahern paused to take it all in: roasted red piquillo peppers — plump with a lentil stuffing — alongside graceful strands of quick-pickled green beans and red onions, and emerald pools of cilantro-ginger sauce.
5:15 PM PDT, October 6, 2010
Biggest Loser resort weighs in with heavy bookings
The new Biggest Loser Resort at Fitness Ridge in Malibu is already booked through mid-November, despite a troubled debut that would have challenged the most dogged contestant on the NBC-TV show that inspired it.
August 14, 2010
Television review: 'The Great Food Truck Race'
It's like "The Apprentice" meets "The Amazing Race." On wheels. With lots and lots of food.
July 27, 2010
'MasterChef' features a kinder, gentler Gordon Ramsay
There's no shortage of cooking shows that put chefs on a pedestal, with their gastriques, foams and gelees.
July 8, 2010
The milkman cometh
One of the hardest parts of Jim Pastor's job is convincing people that he exists: He's a milkman.
June 4, 2010
They all want to be the next Guy Fieri
She's Indian, speaks with a lovely trill and has a kittenish sex appeal that will remind you of Nigella.
June 1, 2010
Jillian Michaels, the biggest winner
Jillian Michaels is used to barking orders and having them followed. But right now, she's being ignored. She's trying everything — even cooing and high-pitched baby talk — to persuade Buzz to stand still for the camera.
May 6, 2010
Aprons: Go ahead and tie one on
Is there another kitchen object that carries as much baggage as the apron?
April 22, 2010
Are the James Beard awards snubbing the Los Angeles restaurant scene?
Is Los Angeles getting snubbed by the James Beard Foundation?
February 11, 2010
Crack Pie: It's love at first bite
As a woman, I know I'm supposed to swoon at the sight of chocolate and lower my voice when I rhapsodize about chocolate truffles, souffles and bouchons, as if I were talking about an illicit love affair.
January 4, 2010
TELEVISION
A 'Biggest Loser' challenge to just lighten up
The alarm goes off Monday through Friday at 5:20 a.m. Shay Sorrells is out the door of her Newport Beach apartment by 5:40 a.m. -- with a piece of fruit and a handful of almonds to fuel her through an hourlong kettlebell workout followed by an hour on the treadmill. She'll head to work, and then it's back to the gym for her second workout session of the day. It can last up to four hours.
January 2, 2010
Food Network's 'Worst Cooks in America' gathers the inept
This should have been Wilhelmina Josephine's first clue that she was a bad cook: Her husband would routinely call the Aliso Viejo stay-at-home mom in the afternoon to ask what she was making for dinner. And then, more often than not, he would tell her he was going to grab something else on the way home.
January 1, 2010
A presidential 'Iron Chef America'
White House Executive Chef Cristeta Comerford knows about all about cooking under pressure. After all, she cooks for the leader of the free world. (First under George W. Bush, now under Barack Obama.)
December 2, 2009
Get crafty this holiday season
I'm a bit of a Grinch. When Halloween rolls around, I turn off the porch light and close the curtains. Each Thanksgiving, I give thanks that I have a friend who hosts the holiday dinner so I don't have to. And I own an artificial Christmas tree with lights already attached because I can't tolerate all those tangled strands.
November 25, 2009
Thanksgiving leftovers transformed
Thanksgiving dinner puts a lot of pressure on a cook.
November 16, 2009
Guy Fieri hits the road, not for dives, but for concert halls
Guy Fieri looks at the concert-club scene and thinks it's missing food. Or maybe it's that the food scene needs more of a club-concert vibe. Actually, it doesn't really matter.
October 3, 2009
TELEVISION
'Iron Chef' tests contestants to join the stable
Grasshoppers? Grasshoppers??
September 23, 2009
The Pioneer Woman, an Internet and publishing sensation
Ree Drummond likes to call herself an accidental country girl and she considers herself something of an accidental cook. But there's nothing accidental about the success she's built combining those two.
July 22, 2009
Hungry Girl delivers
Lisa Lillien considers the bowl of cocktail wieners simmered in a quick-fix barbecue sauce as if she were appraising a fine wine.
October 29, 2008
Grocery Game creator lives for the deal
Teri Gault stops in her tracks in the personal care aisle at Ralphs when she learns someone has never heard of a BOGO.
Meet the L.A. competitors
With each season of "The Next Food Network Star" the competitors have grown in sophistication.
June 3, 2009
Stakes are high on 'The Next Food Network Star'
The winner of "Top Chef" gets a kiss from Padma and $100,000 to open a new restaurant. The chef who can withstand the heat in "Hell's Kitchen" gets a $250,000-a-year job as executive chef under the tutelage of chef Gordon Ramsay.
March 11, 2009
Too Hot Tamale Chef Susan Feniger to open new restaurant Street
Susan Feniger reaches out for the white pepper, but her hand hovers, fingers twitching -- which one is it?
April 10, 2009
Jim Gaffigan's L.A. favorites
Jim Gaffigan gets offered Hot Pockets wherever he goes. You know, those frozen pastry thingies that can be thrown into the toaster oven or the microwave when the munchies hit? They're also a cornerstone of Gaffigan's comedy career along with his love of bacon, the joys of being lazy and being really, really pale.
April 15, 2009
Food Club brings longtime friends back to the table
One Saturday night in May 1964, a group of friends from UCLA and their wives gathered together for a dinner that whimsically celebrated the French Revolution. There were crepes, fromages, French wines and true Champagne.
September 4, 2008
Chef Gordon Ramsay can't stomach some of TV's realities
Celebrity chef Gordon Ramsay says he's getting an ulcer. It's not from the stress of running restaurants from West Hollywood to Dubai. Nor is it the launch of his newest cookbook.
January 14, 2009
SHOW TRACKER
'Chopped': Food Network stirs the pot with entertainment format
It's a TV cooking competition with a knife for a logo. A celebrity host. Guest judges. Mystery ingredients. A sleek industrialized kitchen. Men and women in chef's jackets racing to plate their dishes. A cash prize for the winner.
January 11, 2009
SPRING TV PREVIEWS
'Trust Me'
TNT's new drama series “Trust Me” revolves around the chemistry between Mason and Conner, best friends who find their lives upended at a treacherous Chicago-based ad agency.
April 24, 2009
TELEVISION
'The Last Cake Standing' a recipe for stress and, perhaps, success
A producer with the Food Network was on the line, pitching cake designer James Rosselle on its biggest, baddest cake challenge yet. Competitors on "The Last Cake Standing" would vie for $50,000 and the title of "best cake artist in America."
April 18, 2009
BOOK REVIEW
'It Sucked and Then I Cried: How I Had a Baby, a Breakdown, and a Much Needed Margarita' by Heather B. Armstrong
Heather B. Armstrong is kinda like the Howard Stern of mommy bloggers. Visitors flock to her website dooce.com to see the former Mormon turn everyday life in Salt Lake City into an uproarious rant in which few topics are spared -- and no one is left unscathed.
1:29 PM PST, November 5, 2007
Writers picket outside studios
Hollywood's film and television writers fanned out across Los Angeles early this morning, setting up picket lines outside the industry's major studios -- Warner Bros., Fox and Disney among them -- and said they were prepared to settle in for what could be a long and costly strike.
August 2, 2009
Harvest Crusade at Angel Stadium takes on new urgency after the death of pastor's son
It was a question that many were thinking, but no one dared ask.
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