BUSINESS
May 17, 2012 | Scott Sturgis
2012 Suzuki Kizashi Sport GTS AWD: And now for something really different. Price: $26,404. Conventional wisdom: They still import Suzukis? Marketer's pitch: Suzuki lets others do their bragging. The website points out that Motor Trend seemed to love it, saying, "From a style standpoint, the Kizashi succeeds inside and out" and it's also "light and flickable around a good hairpin or two. " Reality: Despite positive reviews from big names in the automotive world, I'd have to say different is not always better.
NEWS
May 6, 2012 | Craig LaBan
Provençal rosé is doing the quick fade, at least when it comes to color. Popularity of the refreshing southern French pink, in fact, has never been stronger, with a 62 percent growth in U.S. imports between 2010 and 2011, according to the French customs agency Ubifrance. "It started with the yacht crowd in the Hamptons," one distributor told me, "and spread from there. " The fashion among Provence's modern rosés, however, has been to make them as pale as possible, and the best, like Château D'Esclans, manage to achieve this without sacrificing fullness of flavor.
NEWS
March 29, 2012 | Russ Parsons, LOS ANGELES TIMES
Kale is about as unlikely a food star as you can imagine. It's tough and fibrous. Bite a piece of raw kale and you'll practically end up with splinters between your teeth. Nevertheless, kale has become a green of the moment because, given a little special care, it's not only edible but delicious. You can cook it, of course, the lower and slower the better. But surprisingly, one of the most popular ways to use kale these days is in salads. Though kale leaves have always been found on almost every salad bar, it wasn't for reasons of edibility - it was for decoration, because this was one green so tough it would last forever without wilting.
NEWS
March 29, 2012 | Maureen Fitzgerald, Inquirer Food Editor
Food Network chef Giada De Laurentiis will be signing copies of her new cookbook, Weeknights With Giada, Quick and Simple Recipes to Revamp Dinner (Clarkson Potter), at the Williams Sonoma store in King of Prussia at noon Thursday. (If you miss that appearance, try the Wegmans store in Allentown at 5 p.m. Thursday.) We chatted with her for 12 minutes on the phone - literally all her schedulers would allow. Question: How are your recipes created? Answer: We come up with themes for the shows, and I write recipes based on those.
NEWS
March 23, 2012 | By Sarah Wolfe, Associated Press
Bold, dramatic, and invigorating, tangerine tango is dancing its way into home-decor trends in 2012 with a punch of reddish-orange panache. The hue is a vivacious alternative to last year's honeysuckle, and design experts say it's easy to incorporate. Pillows, bedspreads, and tabletop accessories in this high-impact color can add spice to any room. Or add tangerine appliances and personal electronics for an unexpected pop of color, says Leatrice Eiseman, executive director of the Pantone Institute, the research arm of Pantone Inc. of Carlstadt, N.J., which sets color standards for the home and fashion industries.
ENTERTAINMENT
March 15, 2012
WELCOME to Cheap Buzz, where we eavesdrop as sommelier Marnie Old attempts to teach the joys of wine and fine spirits to Buzz, a guy with no sophistication and not much money. Here's their latest conversation: Buzz: So Marnie, Saturday is St. Patrick's Day. Are you a green-beer gal? I bet you'd look great with a green tongue. Marnie: Very funny, Buzz. I prefer Irish whiskey. It's getting more popular every year, and not just in March. People are discovering it's a milder, softer style of whiskey than scotch or bourbon.
NEWS
March 15, 2012 | By Dan DeLuca, Inquirer Music Critic
AUSTIN, Texas - The 2012 South by Southwest Music Festival officially got under way Wednesday, with day parties all along the Texas state capital's Sixth Street strip and official showcases for up-and-coming and already-arrived bands banging on at more than 100 venues. There are more big names than ever this year in Austin - rap kingpin Jay-Z played a free show downtown on Monday before the festival began but while the SXSW film and interactive conferences, the latter a must-attend for tech and social-media geeks, were peaking.
NEWS
March 1, 2012 | By Ashley Primis, Inquirer Staff Writer
It was a transporting bite. I had recently been to the coast of Spain, where I had devoured (for breakfast, lunch, dinner - basically whenever I could) the best shrimp I had ever tasted. It wasn't the preparation or the sauce, it was the crustacean itself: sweet, soft, creamy, head-on, lobsterlike. Which is why I was incredulous when I tasted those same qualities in my shrimp at Old City's Fork. It turns out the incredible flavor of my Spanish shrimp had nothing to do with Mediterranean waters, and everything to do with freshness.
ENTERTAINMENT
February 9, 2012 | BY BETH D'ADDONO, For the Daily News
THESE DAYS, with all the emphasis on eating fresh and local, it's not unusual for neighbors in and out of the city to take a stab at keeping bees or collecting eggs from their own free-range yard hens. What's next on the DIY frontier? Hint: it's growing in a moist and shady place and pairs well with a nice, round pinot noir. Welcome to the fabulous world of home-cultivated fungi. For mushroom lovers, and there are plenty of them out there, the notion of colonizing an army of shiitakes on a log in the back yard is downright seductive.
NEWS
February 2, 2012 | By J.M. Hirsch, Associated Press
Fermented bean paste? Doesn't exactly scream "party in your mouth. " And yet we happily slurp it in that salty, savory soup doled out every time we sit down for sushi. And that's because miso really is a flavor bomb worth knowing. So let's start there. Miso is a broad term for pastes made from fermented cooked soybeans that are aged, sometimes for years. Miso has origins in China, but is best known for its role in Japanese cooking, where it is used in soups, sauces, marinades, glazes, and dressings.