Today, we start with a discussion about Speaker John Boehner's push for a GOP immigration bill. Then, LA's large Salvadoran community to vote on their home country's national election for the first time. Plus, we visit a Chinatown temple preparing for Lunar New Year celebrations. Also, recipes for Chinese dumplings and for kicked up guacamole in preparation for Super Bowl XLVIII, high-tech handbags, and much more.
Speaker John Boehner pushes for GOP immigration bill
It was a chilly 30 degrees in Cambridge, Maryland yesterday, but the conversation was very heated as Republican leaders took on the issue of immigration at their annual conference on issues.
House Speaker John Boehner is now calling for legal status for 11 million undocumented workers, and possible citizenship for those brought to this country as children. But not all Republicans are behind it.
For more, we're joined now by Congressman Jeff Denham who represents the state's 10th district in Central California.
LA Salvadoran community to vote on national election for first time
On Sunday, El Salvador holds its presidential election.
The country has been facing a weak economy, a dysfunctional government, and out of control criminal gangs. Los Angeles is home to the largest concentration of Salvadorans outside their home country
For the first time ever, they'll be able to participate in the election from abroad.
RELATED: Salvadoran Americans vote in national election by mail for first time
To learn more we turn to KPCC's Immigration and Emerging Communities Reporter Leslie Berestein Rojas.
Friday Flashback: SOTU, income inequality, Waxman and more
It's Friday, which means it's time for another Friday Flashback -- our look at the week in news. Oh what a week it's been. To help us with that we're joined this week by columnist James Rainey of the Los Angeles Times and Nancy Cook of National Journal.
Earlier this week, President Obama delivered his State of the Union address. He hit some pretty big topics, healthcare, education, closing the income gap. What was the takeaway from the speech?
One of the first things he mentioned was the widening income gap, basically saying that while corporate profits are rising, wages aren't. Seems like this is going to be the big topic here in 2014. How will this topic play out in politics in the months to come? How might the two parties try to leverage it to their advantage?
Let's stay with this notion of wealth disparity. yesterday we spoke with Ben White of Politico, who wrote a really interesting piece he titled "Why the Rich are Freaking Out". Some of the one percenters are really worried about the anti-rich rhetoric. Some are saying they're even fearing for their lives. Is this just paranoia or is there something deeper going on here?
While the President didn't mention immigration too much, the speaker of the house John Boehner came out and, maybe because this weekend is the Super Bowl, compared hashing out immigration reform to the gridiron:
We can't leave the topic of the State of the Union without covering the GOP response, or should we say GOP response. Or how John Steward dubbed it, Republican open mike night.
Congressman Henry Waxman from California, one of the most powerful and prolific lawmakers announced he would not seek re-election after his term is up. He was on our show yesterday to confirm and explain his decision.
What's his legacy and just how big of an effect will his departure mean for the Democrats?
A number of California representatives have said they're stepping down, including Buck McKeon, and George Miller. They've both been there a long time. What about Pelosi and some of the other long-serving Californians? Will there be big changes coming for the California delegation?
Super Bowl 48 between the Denver Broncos and the Seattle Seahawks is right around the corner. Some people are referring to it as the Stoner Bowl, Bud Bowl, so named because both states have recently legalized marijuana.
Turns out the name may be more appropriate than some imagined. Outside New Jersey's MetLife Stadium, pro-marijuana activists have put up multiple billboards proclaiming that marijuana is less harmful than alcohol. Could this mean that in a few years we could have a weed commercial on the Super Bowl?
High-tech handbags help you charge your digital devices on the go
If you find yourself away from home or your car charger with a dead phone battery, what can you do? A new line of handbags has the answer.
Loni Edwards of emPOWERED joins us to talk about these high-tech purses and how they work.
'Puppy Bowl' Turns 10: Behind Animal Planet's most adorable hit
On Sunday, some of the nation’s best athletes take to the field during the Super Bowl, and they’re super cute.
Animal Planet’s Puppy Bowl turns 10. What seemed like an adorable joke at first has turned into an enduring tradition at the cable channel. A Martinez talks with executive producer Melinda Toporoff and referee Dan Schachner.
Colonel Meow and the Internet's obsession with cats
UPDATE:
Colonel Meow's owner, Anne Marie Avey, announced his death via Facebook on January 30, 2013. We'll miss you, Colonel!
EARLIER:
Facebook loves to boast about how it has 1.11 billion monthly active users, but notice that they don't specify just how many of those users are human.
An estimated 100 million Facebook profiles are those belonging to brands, products and perhaps most beloved of all, people's pets. Social media has turned pets, especially cats, into some of the biggest sensations online.
One popular Internet cat personality is Colonel Meow, who currently boasts more than 166,000 Facebook fans and counting. He and his owner Anne Marie Avey live right here in Southern California.
Avey says she was strolling through her local Petco, waiting for her dog to be groomed, when she happened to catch a gray fur ball in the adoptable cats section. She was drawn to Colonel Meow (before he was named Colonel Meow) and after watching him clawing and meowing at her through the glass, she decided she had to have him.
"I adopted him as an impulse purchase," said Avey. "I saw him and immediately wanted to pick him up and squeeze him."
That was back in October 2011. By August 2012, Avey had created a Facebook page for him as a joke to share with her friends, never thinking it would end up as popular as it has:
Avey describes Meow's mixed-breed looks as a monkey mixed with an Ewok mixed with anything with a beard. His unique expressions, often depicting a kind of frown, have captured the attention of hundreds of thousands of people. Though Avey's captions help.
"I'm a writer, and I always just thought it'd be really fun to create this little voice where 'if pets could talk, what would they really say?'" said Avey. "His pictures give off such a mean look. I'll wake up in the morning, stretch and look around, and Colonel's staring at me crazily and I'm scared. I'm like 'Don't look at me like that!' And he doesn't mean anything by it, but it's terrifying when you first wake up in the morning and he's staring down at you. And I just thought he should be a drinker and someone who swears. He's the Don Draper of the cat world."
What's Behind The Internet's Obsession with Cats?
Yes they're cute and engage in hilarious antics, but why have cats — as opposed to dogs or other pets — become so popular on the Internet?
Avey thinks it's because dogs are more public animals who we see out on walks, at the park, and hanging out with people at our friends' houses. Cats can be less social and you never see them out with their owners in public.
"When you have a dog, people can go out and share their dog with the world. You have to take him out every day to use the restroom, they have dog parks where people as a community can get together and they swap stories, and there's not that for a cat," said Avey. "Even when people come over to your house, most cats…will run and hide and stay under the bed. With social media and with the Internet, people are able to post their cat's true personality when they're not scared. I think there's a lot of closeted cat lovers out there, and it's now become kind of hipster to like cats. It's cool to be cat."
Colonel Meow, along with other Internet cat sensations like Lil Bub, are featured in a recent documentary called "Lil Bub & Friends," which debuted at the Tribeca Film Festival:
Correction: An earlier version of this story had a caption misidentifying "Take Two" host Alex Cohen.
Chinese New Year: Chinatown temple ushers in Year of the Horse
Today marks the first day of Chinese New Year – the Year of the Horse. That means big celebrations throughout California’s Chinese communities and communities who have strong ties to China.
One of the biggest here in L.A. will be at the Thien Hau Temple in Chinatown. There people have been preparing for weeks – for the dances, food, lanterns, fireworks and music – that is part of the festivities. But the temple is also at an interesting point in its life, with a new, younger generation stepping up to continue the traditions.
Vincent Fang is one of those from that younger generation. His family comes from an area in the Southern tip of Vietnam known as Camao. He joins the show to talk about how his family is celebrating.
Today's lunch service, 11:00-1:30pm.
Chua Thien Hau Temple
750-756 N. Yale Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
More info from the Chinese Business Improvement District:
The celebration continues through the weekend, Feb. 1st and 2nd with the 115th Annual Golden Dragon Parade and Chinese New Year Festival. Cheer on the spectacular floats, decked-out cars, dancers and bands as they parade down the heart of Chinatown with Grand Marshal Mayor Eric Garcetti.
The Chinese New Year Festival gets underway following the parade with cultural performances, children's activities and hands-on cultural workshops. Taste a bite of Chinatown with traditional Chinese cuisine offered at many Chinatown restaurants, or street food and non-traditional dishes offered by some of LA's hottest gourmet food trucks. There will also be a Craft Beer Garden curated by Eagle Rock Brewery featuring local breweries.
Mama Lu's Dumpling House works overtime to meet Lunar New Year demand
It's the start of lunar New Year today and in Asian homes all over the world people gather together and eat to celebrate the coming year with family, friends and a table full of food. Dumplings are a staple of the celebratory table. Reporter Sasa Woodruff stopped by a popular dumpling restaurant in Monterey Park to see what might be served up.
At Mama Lu’s Dumpling House, servers whisk plates of steamed and fried dumplings out to customers in the dining room. Demand is high, so owner Vivian Lu and her staff are making dumplings in overdrive.
The Lunar New Year is one of the busiest times for Lu and her restaurants. They start cranking up production at least a month beforehand. But this kitchen is way too hot and humid to make the dumpling dough. That's made in a cooler, drier room off-site
Employee Jesus Albarran oversees the dough-making and he’s ready to meet dumpling demand.
"We know already that the holidays are coming in, so we prepare ourselves by making more than the other days," he said.
Albarran grew in Monterey Park, and learned to make dumplings here two years ago. The dough for most dumplings is simple: water, flour and salt. And, Lu says, a lot of rest.
When the dough is ready, it’s rolled into a long thin rope and then cut into small, bite-sized pieces. Albarran rolls those pieces out into little flat circles to make the dumpling wrappers.
He says it’s a little like making food with his family from Mexico .
"It reminds me a lot of homemade tortillas that we cook at home," he said.
The dumpling wrappers are filled with meat or vegetables and then edges are pinched together, creating a half moon shape. All that’s left to do is to cook them in a steamer.
Customers can get dumplings fresh out of the pot in the restaurant or they can buy a bag of frozen ones to cook at home. But maybe you want to make them yourself. Lu doesn’t have an exact recipe her dumplings, instead she does it by feel, look and taste. She also says to make sure to take your time.
"Every step, you need to give enough time, like use the flour, add the water, use machine to make it, you need to make the flour very smooth, very smooth," she said.
If you want to liven up your celebration, you can stuff a coin into one dumpling – like the coin cooked into a Mardi Gras cake. Whoever gets the dumpling with the coin is believed to have good luck in the next year.
But the most important thing is to share with friends and family. Judging by sales at Mama Lu’s, dumplings will be on everyone's plate.
Recipe:
Pork and Napa Cabbage Water Dumplings
Filling:
2 cups lightly packed finely chopped napa cabbage, cut from whole leaves (about 7 ounces)
1/2 teaspoon plus scant 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon finely minced fresh ginger
1/4 cup chopped Chinese chives or scallions (white and green parts)
2/3 pound ground pork, fattier kind preferred, coarsely chopped to loosen
1/8 teaspoon ground white pepper
1/4 cup Chicken Stock (page 222) or water
11/2 tablespoons light (regular) soy sauce
1 tablespoon Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon canola oil
11/2 tablespoons sesame oil
1 pound Basic Dumpling Dough (page 22)
2/3 cup Tangy Soy Dipping Sauce (page 215)
1. To make the filling, put the cabbage in a bowl and toss with the 1/2 teaspoon salt. Set aside for about 15 minutes to draw excess moisture from the cabbage. Drain in a mesh strainer (the cabbage could fall through the large holes of a colander), flush with water, and drain again. To remove more moisture, squeeze the cabbage in your hands over the sink, or put on a cotton kitchen towel (not terry cloth) and wring out the moisture over the sink. You should have about 1/2 cup firmly packed cabbage.
2. Transfer the cabbage to a bowl and add the ginger, Chinese chives, and pork. Use a fork or spatula to stir and lightly mash the ingredients so that they start coming together.
3. In a small bowl, stir together the remaining scant 1/2 teaspoon salt, the white pepper, chicken stock, soy sauce, rice wine, canola oil, and sesame oil. Pour these seasonings over the pork and cabbage mixture, then stir and fold the ingredients together. Once the pork has broken up, briskly stir to blend the ingredients into a cohesive, thick mixture. There should not be any visible large chunks of pork. To develop the flavors, cover and set aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. You should have about 2 cups of fi ling. (The filling can be prepared 1 day ahead and refrigerated. Bring it to room temperature before assembling the dumplings.)
4. In the meantime, make 16 wrappers from half of the dough. Aim for 31/4-inch-diameter wrappers (see page 24).
5. Before assembling the dumplings, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (If you plan to refrigerate the dumplings for several hours, or freeze them, lightly dust the paper with flour to avoid sticking.) For each dumpling, hold a wrapper in a slightly cupped hand. Scoop up about 1 tablespoon of filling with a bamboo dumpling spatula, dinner knife, or fork and position it slightly off -center toward the upper half of the wrapper, pressing and shaping it into a flat mound and keeping about 1/2 to 3/4 inch of wrapper clear on all sides. Then fold, pleat, and press to enclose the filling and create half-moons, pea pods, big hugs, or pleated crescents (see pages 26 to 29). Place the finished dumpling on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat with the other wrappers, assembling the dumplings and spacing them a good 1/2 inch apart on the baking sheet. Keeping the finished dumplings covered with a dry kitchen towel, form and fill the wrappers from the remaining dough.
6. Once all the dumplings are assembled, they can be covered with plastic wrap and refrigerated for several hours; they can be cooked straight from the refrigerator. (For longer storage, freeze them on the baking sheet until hard (about 1 hour), transfer them to a zip-top freezer bag, pressing out excess air before sealing, and keep them frozen for up to 1 month; partially thaw, using your finger to smooth over any cracks that may have formed during freezing, before cooking.)
7. To cook the dumplings, half-fill a large pot with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Add half the dumplings, gently dropping each one into the water. Nudge the dumplings apart with a wooden spoon to keep them from sticking together and/or to the bottom of the pot. Return the water to a simmer and then lower the heat to maintain the simmer and gently cook: a hard boil can make a dumpling burst. Cook the dumplings for about 8 minutes, or until they float to the surface, look glossy, and are puffed up and a tad translucent. Use a slotted spoon or skimmer to scoop up the dumplings from the pot, a few at a time, pausing the spoon’s motion over the pot to allow excess water to drip back down before putting the dumplings on a serving plate. Cover the plate with a large inverted bowl to keep the dumplings warm.
Return the water to a boil and cook the remaining dumplings. When done, return the first batch to the hot water to reheat for a minute or two. There is no need to reboil.
8. Serve the hot dumplings immediately, placing the serving plate in the middle of the table for people to reach to or pass along. Serve the soy dipping sauce either in a communal bowl with a spoon for people to help themselves or divided up among individual rice bowls or large dipping sauce dishes. To eat, pick up a dumpling with chopsticks (you can stab it if you like) and dip or roll it in the dipping sauce. Getting an assist from a soupspoon or the rice bowl, deliver the dumpling to your mouth with the chopsticks. If there are juices inside, they’ll spill out into the spoon or bowl when you bite into the dumpling.
Reprinted with permission from Asian Dumplings: Mastering Gyoza, Spring Rolls, Samosas, and More by Andrea Nguyen, copyright © 2009. Published by Ten Speed Press, a division of Random House, Inc.
SoCal malls hope to cash in on Chinese New Year
Last year was the Year of the Snake, and this is the Year of the Horse, the seventh designation in the 12-year Chinese calendar cycle. Like every other holiday, some companies and shopping malls are trying to cash in on the Lunar New Year.
Tiffany Hsu, reporter for the Los Angeles Times, joins the show with more.
World Cup 2014: Where to watch the South Korea vs. US game on Saturday
This weekend, the U.S. national men’s soccer team plays South Korea at the StubHub Center in Carson. Kickoff is set for 2 p.m. PDT, and the match will be broadcast live on ESPN2, WatchESPN, ESPN Deportes Radio and UniMas. Fans can get live match updates via Twitter
.
The match is a friendly, but a lot is at stake for the U.S. team, which has high hopes in this summer’s World Cup in Brazil.
This week, the U.S. named its latest 22-player roster and returned back from a two-week trip to Brazil, part of the team’s preparation for the World Cup. Their first round of games are in what's considered "the pool of death" with Germany, Ghana and Portugal.
Many eyes are also on South Korea’s team, which is hoping to repeat its dramatic run all the way to the semifinals in the 2002 World Cup, which South Korea co-hosted.
"When you go back to the group stages of that tournament in 2002, that was when Korea beat Poland 2-0 in the first game of the World Cup. That was their first World Cup win since 1956, so initially getting one win at the World Cup was the goal," said Steve Han, reporter with KoreAm Journal, on Take Two. "Anything more than that was the bonus. So when they beat Spain that was just unbelievable."
The entire country was elated by that run in 2002, but can the team hit their stride this time around? The game on Saturday is just for fun, and won't decide any team rankings. But Los Angeles has the largest Korean community outside of Korea, so it's going to be a big game nonetheless.
"For Korean Americans in L.A. it's not often that you host a team that represents Korea, and World Cup is obviously the biggest sporting events in Korea," said Han. "So it's kind of a community event for the Korean people, it's something that's going to bring the community together."
Where To Watch The Game in Koreatown:
While most sports bars in the city will be airing the game, Koreatown is an especially good spot to watch this match. Here are a list of places that will be airing the game:
Toe Bang (3465 W 6th St, Ste 110 Los Angeles, CA 90020)
Café Nandarang (3815 W 6th St. Los Angeles, CA 90020)
The Novel Café (3760 Wilshire Blvd. Los Angeles, CA 90010)
Café Bleu, (3470 W 6th St. Los Angeles, CA 90020)
Biergarten, (206 N Western Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90004)
Hite Kwang Jang, (3839 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010)
OB Bear,( 3002 W 7th St., Los Angeles, CA 90005)
The Koreatown Galleria, (3250 W Olympic Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90006)
Super Bowl 2014: Kick up your guacamole game with this recipe
As game day approaches, there's one thing most looking forward to: The food
If you're looking to change up your guacamole recipe, you're in luck. We called up Chef Robert Santibañez, a spokesperson for Avocados from Mexico and chef at Fonda Comida Mexicana in Manhattan, for some ideas.
Blue Cheese Guacamole
Makes about 2 1/2 Cups
Preparation Time: 20 minutes
- 2 tablespoons finely chopped white onion
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh jalapeño or serrano chile, including seeds, or more to taste
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt, or 1/2 teaspoon fine salt
- 1/4 cup chopped cilantro, divided
- 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lime juice, or more to taste
- 1 large or 2 small ripe Mexican Hass avocados, halved and pitted
- 1/4 cup coarsely chopped smoked almonds, divided
- 3 tablespoons crumbled blue cheese, divided
MASH the onion, chile, salt (the coarseness of kosher salt will help you make the paste), and half of the cilantro to a paste in a molcajete or mortar. You can also mince and mash the ingredients together on a cutting board with a large knife or a fork, and then transfer the paste to a bowl. Stir in the lime juice.
SCORE the flesh in the avocado halves in a crosshatch pattern (not through the skin) with a knife and then scoop it with a spoon into the mortar or bowl. Add the rest of the cilantro and most of the almonds and blue cheese, toss well, and mash coarsely with a pestle or fork. Season to taste with additional lime juice and salt.
GARNISH with the rest of the almonds and blue cheese. Serve it with corn tortillas. This guacamole is best served right away.
Recipe by Truly Mexican (Wiley 2011)
The art and science of pizza boxes
For some Super Bowl fans, there is no way you are spending any time in the kitchen. You want to be on the couch the whole day, so why not order a pizza?
Dominos alone expects to sell 11 million slices on game day. Chances are most folks probably won't care one bit about the box it came in, but not Scott Wiener of New York.
He holds the Guinness World Record for the largest collection of pizza boxes, and he's the author of the book, "Viva La Pizza! The Art of the Pizza Box." He joins the show to explain why we should be paying more attention to those flat, cardboard boxes.
Why are tiny, exfoliating microbeads so bad for US waterways?
Your face wash or body soap may contain microbeads — tiny balls of plastic designed to help exfoliate your body. These microbeads are clogging up waterways like the LA River, acting as a sponge and vehicle for dangerous chemicals as they go.
Scientist Marcus Eriksen joins the show to explain about how these tiny beads are polluting waterways.
The Atavist: Life after working at Hawaii's Kalaupapa leper colony
When she graduated from college, Brooke Jarvis took a rather unusual job.
She worked as a garbage lady of sorts at a leper colony on a remote peninsula of the Hawaiian island of Molokai. Brooke wrote about the experience for the Atavist. She joins the show to tell us a bit about the experience.