Unlike the rather tired and off-handed assessment of the LA food scene that the SF Chronicle tossed off about six months back, the New York Times has been showing how it's done: their recent piece on "36 Hours in Hollywood" and last week's survey of Sunset Junction. Okay, yes, some of their picks are probably geared to the curious tourist rather than the traveler interested in a more gritty L.A. experience -- Teddy's nightclub......

A piece written while inebriating oneself with absinthe. Read on as Elise test-tastes these fabulous absinthes...with interesting results! For many years people have believed that wormwood, or specifically the chemical thujone, found in wormwood, drove people mad. Because of this popular misconception, absinthe has been banned in the United States since 1912. Popular during the 19th century, absinthe inspired famous works by poets and painters alike. Absinthe has seen a recent resurgence in popularity and......

Happy first weekend of September - and happy Labor Day weekend, too, for our American cities! Let's take a look at what's been happening around the Ist-a-verse. The deaths of two firefighters shook Bostonist this week. Boston's firefighters bent over backwards all week long - first, they fought flames pouring from the Boston Tea Party museum, and then a restaurant fire killed two and injured many more. Their efforts make everything else - like Tom......

Giants 6, Dodgers 4 - He's not looking like A-Rod, but Barry Bonds is starting to look like, well, Barry Bonds. A little trimmer than the past couple years and a lot faster on the basepath, he's also plunking four-baggers out of the park as if he was just 40 years old. His three run shot in the first put the Giants ahead early. Los Angeles tied the game, but fell short in their comeback......

The New York Daily News is reporting that big fat hulking Frisco Gyro Barry Bonds tested positive for amphetamines last season. The paper goes on to say that when Bonds was told of this he blamed it on teammate Mark Sweeney from whom he claimed to have swiped some "substances". Bonds was not punished for his transgression, but instead was referred to treatment and counseling. While amphetamines are considered performance-enhancing drugs, they are treated differently......