EDITORIAL ARCHIVE

Holiday Recipe No. 3 by Christopher Hill

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Christopher Hill is known for creating easy-to-make incredibly tasty, impress-any-girl kind of meals. So this year, I asked him to throw his hat into the ring and offer readers some more holiday recipes. For those haven’t noticed, all of the #Recipes we’ve posted this season are totally non-traditional. First, Recipe No. 1 by Chef Jason Hook was a gourmet take on sweet potatoes that looks and tastes like art. Second, Recipe No. 2 by Ally’s Kitchen Alice D’Antoni Phillips offering us a scrumptious course taking the concept of bluchetta to an all new high. And now, well, Recipe No. 3 is ALL about Southern Comfort and rich flavors.

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Melanie Newcombe

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2013 has been one of the most creative years I’ve ever encountered and it seems fitting to close off the year by telling you the story of a truly gifted sculptor. Melanie Newcombe. The very essence of art is its ability to move you. The details, the unspoken emotion, the movement, the material tend to all be secondary. Until you come upon Melanie’s work. Made of cold, seemingly emotionally vacant materials of aluminum and metal, you are warmed by the very sight of her sculptures and find, that without pause, you are becoming entangled in the swell of feelings it provokes.

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My Fare Story + Eat Your Words No. 5

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Being in this unspoiled landscape taught me so much about food and culture. This was the first time I understood what fresh fish meant as the local tribe speared it daily and to our pleasure, it was prepared for us. I tasted REAL molé … not chalky or grainy but rich and exciting and spicy and it nestled itself in my mouth in a way that lingered like good sex. I tasted wines and rums and tequilas and libations I had never had.

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Supporting Journalists in the Field: RISC

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I am re-posting this Year-in-Review by a respected colleague, journalist, Award Winning Author, and Academy Winning Documentary Filmmaker, Sebastian Junger. I am doing so because as a journalist, the support available is limited in terms of those who risk their lives to be on the front lines in order to deliver a story to the masses. I want to take a moment to thank Sebastian for doing an interview in the Magazine earlier this year AND for spending an entire hour with me on my Radio Show. RISC is not only essential to the field of journalism but it’s purpose is infinite.

– Dawn Garcia, Editor-in-Chief

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Herringbone by Brian Malarkey

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The moment you pull in to the parking lot, raw ornate panels of wood adorn the entry, a branched fish hangs happily to the left of the main door and a patio with ease and warmth lines the sidewalk. As you enter inside, to your right are two Moroccan style chairs designed in bright colors directly across from the tiled fireplace emitting just the right amount of heat. With glass orbs listlessly leaning to light the way, a subtle and secret disco ball looms above it all. Soon you find your legs walking through the restaurant, the wooden floors cushioning your steps, your eyes bewildered and overcome with a tranquility that doesn’t in any way obstruct the anticipation of a hearty prospect of fare.

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Pacific Symphony Orchestra

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A rousing performance from start to finish, the 35th Anniversary of the Pacific Symphony Orchestra segues into the pre-holiday season with an eclecticism of pieces as profoundly intuitive as they are performed. Led by Music Director Carl St. Clair, the players outdo themselves once more as they partake in transformative renditions of, first, the overture to the folktale odyssey, Russlan and Ludmilla, then finishing the evening off with Béla Bartók’s Concerto for Orchestra. However, it’s a fact (well, depending on who you ask) that if you really want to hit the proverbial nail on the head when it comes to classicist grandstanding, you need look no further than the beloved—and oft-referenced—Tchaikovsky poesy, Piano Concerto no. 1, performed tonight by the gracefully fierce guest artist, Joyce Yang. In a production as equally “altogether everywhere” as its conductor, the only truth more fully realized is that tonight will surely be unforgettable.

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The Playground DTSA

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I noticed a small touch: a glass of Szigeti Sparkling Gruner Veltliner was waiting at my place setting. Opening a dinner with a nice glass of bubbles does wonders to not only clean the palate, but it allows one to relax before the Amuse Bouche, our first course. We were presented with an extremely interesting, but amazing, choice for the Amuse Bouche: a green chile Mexican chocolate milk with a crispy tortilla lavash topped with age cheddar cheese foam. The warm chocolate milk with a slight hint of acidity perked the taste buds, while the quesadilla soothed them, as if foreshadowing the flavors to come; at the same time, telling the taste buds, “Relax. There is plenty more where that came from.”

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Aladdin and His Winter Wish

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Enter into a second year of the beautiful world of pantomime theatre created by Lythgoe Family Productions at the Pasadena Playhouse and what you’ll find is a happiness you need to warm you this time of year. The experience begins with an interactive Wonderland in the courtyard, a game of “knock down a lantern”, a trip to see Santa, and a room filled with activities from making your own crown to fighting with magical swords. It is a fun escape from the every day and with two kiddos with me for tonight’s performance, I was able to experience it their way.

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Photographer Tim Brown

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We are not alone. Nor are we absent of space and time, emotion or truth.

We are infinitely surrounded by beauty and warmth in spite of shadows cast or the thick fog of doubt creeping into wrangle us down to the ground. We are on an adventure. The kind where our inner fearless child shakes off worry and places our feet on the bottom of a cart, seemingly idle and we see the greatest ride of our lives. Our feet rest on the bar underneath, our hands grip the cold bar above, one leg pushes off and without hesitaiton, we feel the air brushing past our cheeks, the brisk whisper of freedom liberating our very soul, and we feel, as if a magical pull has grasped into our cheeks, we feel each corner of our mouth curling upward until, without pause, our entire being is smiling.

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Holiday Recipe No. 2 Alice d’Antoni Phillips

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I have watched as Chef Alice d’Antoni Phillips (aka Ally) takes readers and fans through the grocery store, her culinary explorations around the world, and the many beautiful recipes she shares through her Facebook Page and Website. Her charisma and genuine enthusiasm for cooking and sharing color and life of food is contagious.

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A Winter Menu Southwestern Style

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As we try to make room on the table and rearrange our plates in order from lunch to dinner, we decide that our first conquest on the lunch menu will be the Winter Arugula Salad—a peak of arugula drizzled with Champagne vinaigrette and topped with creamy goat cheese crumbles, roasted golden beets, pickled leeks, shaved roasted fennel, crunchy noodles, and crisp gala apples. The salad is simple—but not to a fault. The Champagne dressing and goat cheese meld together delightfully and the added crunch of the Asian noodles, bell peppers and apple frolic with the taste buds, never feeling overwrought by an overuse of contrasting flavors and textures.

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Fig & Olive The Music Collection Release Event

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nvited to attend the Fig & Olive Music Collection Release Event on Wednesday, December 4th I was beyond elated to be heading to the pristine Melrose Place restaurant where Chef Pascal Lorange creates truly delightful Mediterranean inspired cuisine. The space has been home to Grammy Events, Oscar Events, celebrity parties and the like but it’s not because it is pretentious. In fact it boasts a truly wonderful airy feel, spacious rooms, earthy envelopment’s, crisp clean dècor with rich hues of color to warm you.

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Eat Your Words Part 4

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This month’s series delves into the often uncomfortable moments where food begins an unraveling conversation about life, introspection, fear, complacency, adventure, and truth. Each performer offers insight into a world even they are unprepared to share and it is raw and wonderful and, well, full of human moments.

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Fashion Report – The AMAs

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This weekend’s AMAs had us cheering and voting for our favorite artists to win awards, wondering what Miley would do next (she didn’t let us down), and drooling over the gorgeous gown that walked the red carpet and the stage. Black and white seemed to be the “it” colors of the night and sequins and metallic took a place in the spotlight. See some of our favorites below,and check back on Thursday as we recreate two of these amaze looks for less!

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Eroica Trio

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And yet, all of this pales in comparison to the headliner of the evening, Beethoven’s Triple Concerto in C Major for violin, cello, piano, and orchestra, performed by one of the most successful all-women chamber ensembles in the world, the Eroica Trio. Garnering its name from a Beethoven piece denoting a “middle-period” in the composer’s work where pieces henceforth were riddled with emotional depth and structural rigor, the group—made up of cellist Sara Sant’ Ambrogio, pianist Erika Nickrenz, and violinist Sara Parkins—similarly takes audience members aback with their incredibly magisterial ferocity and practiced wit. What better piece to emphasize the skills of the titan threesome than the Triple Concerto, a sporadically played arrangement that brings out the magical allure of each member, burdened with individual yet simultaneous solos throughout. Sant’Ambrogio said it best in a recent interview: “It is incredibly exciting watching three soloists toss these amazing melodies and virtuosic fireworks back and forth to each other and the orchestra while the conductor holds it all together and shapes that lush wave of orchestral sound that Beethoven is so famous for.”

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What Do You Worship

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Last night I attended an Art Exhibition unlike any other. Fashion, sculptures, photography, painting, music, soul, an infinite realm of art that extended its reach into me. The crowd peppered with familiar faces, gorgeous unknowns, smiling creatives, lustful glances, stolen touch – all swimming in a sea of inspiration that opened us up and invited us in.

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