Carrie Meathrell

We're still kind of obsessed with the cooking videos over at imcooked, especially the oddly soothing clips of Thai street vendors cooking their wares: in the video above, check out a fried mussel dish prepared in less than four minutes. The LA Times heads north this week to seek out culinary finds in Ventura and Santa Barbara, respectively: first at new vegan restaurant, Mary's Secret Garden, and then at the Santa Barbara outpost of...

Did you know today is the 226th birthday of El Pueblo de Nuestra Senora La Reina de Los Angeles -- aka L.A.? The old bitch is looking pretty good for her age! Although the city did not incorporate until 1850, September 4th, 1781 is the date that 44 Mexican pobladores set out from San Gabriel with a military escort to settle alongside a great river -- then called the Rio de Porciuncula, later to...

Some fresh AIR would be really great right about now. Har har har!!! I'm such a card. Now, really, how about Air at the Greek this month, courtesy of LAist: head on over to enter our Labor Day Weekend Air Contest. In the category of Thank God It Hasn't Happened to Us Yet: over twenty thousand homes and businesses have lost power this weekend. If you're on the roads tonight, please drive safely, use...

If you're like most Americans, you'll be on your way to a barbecue at some point this weekend. Of course you'll want to do the right thing and help out your host with the menu -- but who wants to slave over a blazing grill in this heat? Here are some super quick and delicious side dishes you can bring along as an offering to the hospitality gods -- that great crowd-pleaser, Potato Salad,...

Could you do the 100 Yard Diet? Oakland blogger YourCityFarmer spent the entire month of July eating only things she grew, raised, and made herself: and that includes meat. New Michael Pollan, In Defense of Food, coming in November! Also, he shares some of his favorite reads with Newsweek. EaterLA is reporting that the kitschy German restaurant Lowenbrou Keller will be closing "when the food runs out" - but the owners plan to reopen...

The San Fernando Valley has possibly one of the most astonishing arrays of Latin American food in the entire country: you can't go a single block down Van Nuys Boulevard without passing any number of taquerias, pupuserias, casas de mariscos, and carnicerias. And it's not just Mexican food, either: one of the best little spots I've eaten at recently is a Honduran restaurant on Burbank in Sherman Oaks: El Katracho. The LA Times called...

KCBS and its KCAL affiliate picked up seven awards at the Los Angeles Emmy Awards last night, with the award for live coverage of an unannounced event going to the team for the Esperanza fire. Let's all share in a joyous chorus of "Hell yeah!!": teen drivers may be barred from using cell phones while driving, under state legislation passed today. And while we're at it, give another whoop of joy for the resignation...

Pink's, shminks. No, honestly. Who wants to stand in that line on a hot summer afternoon just to get a middling dog covered in shitty chili on top of an untreated white flour bun? Not me, dudes and dudettes: but I sure will walk far (twenty minutes tops, depending on footwear and levels of drunkenness) for a Skooby's Hot Dog. I want my bun infused with garlic, my dog compact with flavor and deep-fried...

Just one more reason to start buying your carrots at your farmer's market: NBC11.com and the Los Angeles Times are reporting that The Los Angeles Salad Company is recalling two brands of pre-packaged baby carrots because they might be contaminated with a bacteria called shigella. The symptoms sound like a pants-load of fun: vomiting, diarrhea, bloody poops, etc. Although no cases of sickness have been reported yet in California, the carrots are being sold...

Oh Jonathan, Jonathan, Jonathan Gold! Where will you eat this week? Why, Hacienda Heights, my dear foodies: at Earthen, a wildly popular new Chinese deli in - what else - a strip mall. I'll take an order of potstickers, please. Top Chef Recap: Lordy, lordy, what an upset! The underdog quartet of Howie, Hung, Sara, and Dale captured the win in Restaurant Wars, cleaning up their menu and sporting a new name: Quatre. Tre...