Carrie Meathrell

You know what I hate? Birthday cake. I've hated it for years. In fact, I really don't remember a time that I DID enjoy birthday cake, or any kind of layered cake with that icky sugar icing and stupid tasteless sugar sprinkles. Problem is, I don't really like pie either. Or pastries, or muffins, or chocolate-anything (maybe a bite of dark chocolate every now and then). When I get ice cream, I usually get...

Did any of you catch Bobby Flay's Throwdown the other night? It's the show where he goes to different cities across the world and challenges some legendary food purveyor that his version of whatever traditional city food they're making will win a blind taste test. Usually, he loses, cause I mean COME ON: can anybody really make a cheese steak better than a Philly native? What about fish n' chips from some grotty bar...

Some mornings, you wake up in a wandering mood: after a strong cup of coffee and a survey of the weather, we decided to peek beyond the veil of the early morning haze and venture southeast. We forsook the freeways for the more scenic route of Sunset Boulevard, through Hollywood east to Western, then south, south, south beyond the 10, through K-town and past endless strip-mall Iglesias de Dios and pupuserias. Wonderful! As we...

So I heard it first tonight via the hot lips of G4TV's Olivia: the new Guitar Hero III (slated to be released on all "next generation" platforms - that means the Wii, the PS3, and the XBox 360), will include songs by Weezer, Muse, Heart, Tenacious D, The Rolling Stones, and The Smashing Pumpkins. Joystiq confirmed the dirty details, and we will get to RAWK on songs like "Barracuda," "Cherub Rock" and even Living...

Sexy Pasta. Can I make a confession? I've kinda got a soft spot for Rachael Ray's recipes. Not the woman herself - while I don't detest her enough to join a hate club or anything, I don't find her particularly witty or interesting or original. Now, Tony Bourdain - THAT'S my idea of a chef-slash-television-personality! And the fact that he'd probably cut me for calling him a television personality makes me love him even...

See that ridiculous excuse for a bedroom pictured above? The unmade bed, the stacks of books, the unorganized electronic devices and extension cords that are just BEGGING to be tripped over? The obsolete XBOX? The mismatched furniture? The cheap plastic bedside chest of drawers that I've had since my dorm years? Hey, you wanna live there? No, seriously, it's great. I swear. Fully furnished. You can keep ALL my Ikea furniture. Yup, that's my...

Okay, listen up world: I'm moving to Hollywood. That's right. I'm living the dream. I'm packing up my bags and my books and my pots and my pans, my clothes and my dishes and my ridiculous second-hand overstuffed lounge chairs, and I'm moving. Ten miles away. Somewhere different, somewhere special, somewhere - cheaper than Santa Monica. I mean, let's face it: despite the rosy promise of rent control, the price of Santa Monica apartments...

We've been a little bit crazy about tacos lately here at LAist, even venturing to the far reaches of Culver City and San Pedro to find the city's best. But what with gas prices skyrocketing and food prices doing much the same thing, sometimes even a quick trip down to Pedro can really be a bigger budget-hassle than it's worth. Lucky for you, the intrepid foodies of your favorite city blog have been conducting...

Cashew-Cilantro Pesto over Ravioli, Roasted Asparagus, & Mushrooms Okay, okay, so we didn't mean to piss off the vegans, but somewhere in between dead babies and an ontological inquiry into the humble mollusk, we lost sight of what's really important: good, fresh, locally grown food. In an attempt to put our money where our (hungry) mouth is, we visited the Farmer's Market at Santa Monica's 3rd Street Promenade this weekend. We were delighted to...