Beer Of Influence

The new collaboration brew by San Diego saints Stone and Alesmith and Denmark droogie Mikkeller -- a surprisingly gentle triple-like Belgian-ish beer without a name -- raises more questions than it does answers. For starters, was it brewed in SD or the EU? …

Summer Spooning

We love to love our tomatoes. When we find plump beauties at our favorite farmer's stand we begin a slow but brief affair, one of pampering, seduction and ultimately consumption. Like any fruit, tomatoes are best when they are ripe so we like to lay ours …

Kabocha Cream

The long foggy mornings of late are some of the few and brief signs that the seasons are changing in California. The Fall, known throughout the rest of our country as a time of foliage fireworks and chilling temperatures, typically means little more in LA …

Immersion Blender

Pulse. Mix. Blend. By any other name, Cuisinart-ing an ingredient -- known to some as 'cuisin' the juice' -- is one of the most crucial kitchen skills that gets overlooked by the kind of cheapskates that we typically run with.

Knives? Sure. Cutting boards, …

The Workman's Friend

"When things go wrong and will not come right,
Though you do the best you can,
When life looks black as the hour of night -
A PINT OF PLAIN IS YOUR ONLY MAN."

Flann O'brian's eponymous ode to stout has been playing in our minds like a Joe Strummer ballad on …

Balla'Naise

Talk about mangia, mangia, mangia, mannnn. On a recent herby Sunday afternoon, we popped a bomber of ale and picked some fresh basil and got the hankering for a sloppy trough of pasta. You know, the kind that clings to the corners of your open-wound of a …