LA From a Local’s Perspective

by Erik Olsen on

Being from LA, I always bristle at people who dis my home city. Yet, I have to say I bash it a bit myself. I mean, it’s great and all: the amazing weather, the beaches (don’t even get me started on the beaches!) but when you add up the traffic, the smog, the Hollywood culture…there are other places I’d rather be.

So while I have my own reasons for not wanting to go back and live there, it always irritates me when people criticize it as a place where there’s nothing to do, when they say that they went to Disneyland or Hollywood and Vine and found LA wanting.

So it was nice to read an article in the CSM by a local who offers some of the great places in LA that the average visitor might not catch. Places like the Museum of Art, Thai Town, Little Ethiopia and so on. The fact is, culturally, Los Angeles is a rich and textured place…probably more so than most other big cities that lay claim to being culturally rich. Even if I don’t want to live there, I still have a place for it in my heart.

How to Eat in Ecuador

by Adrienne Wilson on

There’s a right and wrong way to do everything.  The right way to try new foods in foreign countries is in bits
and pieces and with an open mind.  The wrong way is to dive right into that mouth-watering bowl of tronquito (bull
penis soup) without giving your tummy the chance to realize it’s
in Ecuador.  Be brave, but be wise.

Anywho, here’s an all-out-guide to eating in
Ecuador if you plan to go.  Ecuador Explorer notes that the country prides itself in exotic fruits, high
quality fish and seafood not to mention many different potatoes.  They have their specialities and delicacies
which include roasted cuy (guinea pig), locro soup, yaguarlocro soup (with sprinklings of, um blood), and caldo de
pata which has chunks of boiled cow hooves mixed into the broth.  Vegetarians will also be surprised as many
veggie dishes can also be found without looking too hard.  I could be wrong, but I’m thinking tons of arroz y
frijoles.

Calling Female Carpenters

by Erik Olsen on

Are you a female who can you hammer nails with the best of them? How are your igloo building skills?

The British Antarctic Survey may
have the
job of your dreams.  The BAS, a scientific research organization, has
launched a recruitment drive to attract tradeswomen. They are in
search of all type of folks who can work with with hands including electricians, plumbers, carpenters, steel erectors,
chefs and boat handlers to work for 6-18 months at its five research stations on and around the Antarctic.

The starting salary is $34,640 plus an Antarctic allowance. Not bad, really. I mean, what are you going to buy there
anyway? That all goes to the bank.

Oh, and all walrus blubber, igloo accommodations and travel are paid for.

An American Chef in Chianti

by Nino Marchetti on

This nice short
story from California Culinary Academy
graduate Heidi Schooley tells of her three month internship at noted winery, restaurant and cooking
school Badia a Coltibuono in the Chianti region of
Tuscany. She talks about her work with regarded chef Francesco Torre, her first meal in the famous wine growing region
and generally what it was like to experience life in place where she felt the most amazing part of the journey was
eating the food and not just cooking it.

Chocolate Concept Store

by Adrienne Wilson on

My mother is a firm believer that chocolate is medicine and if she were to reside in Sydney then
the doctor would probably be some where in the new
Lindt Concept Store & Cafe.  Noted as a modern version of Willy
Wonka’s chocolate factory in the current Wallpaper, anyone down under in need of a chocolate fix might want to stop
here.  Just think, waffles with white chocolate ice-cream and chocolate sauce.  Feeling better yet?