"beach" news and stories

Finally! Bravo's Top Chef was back on schedule with a new episode this week and now that the show had only nine chefs, there was more individual coverage of each one and we got to see everyone's dishes, which was sometimes a bit of a problem early in the season, especially with the quickfire challenges.

The theme of this week's episode was Raw and Cooked and the underlying theme seemed to be about technology and what chefs could do when there wasn't a lot of it around. For the quickfire challenge, the chefs were taken down to the Redondo Beach Farmer's Market and told that they had to create a mouthwatering, filling dish using entirely raw ingredients. They had a budget of $20 to spend at the marked and were then given 30 minutes in the kitchen to "cook" their food. They were also introduced to the guest judge, Raphael Lunetta, the chef at Jiraffe.

Summer heat may get the craving for ice cream going in some, but to kids, it often means that they'll have a chance to get a frozen novelty from the ice cream man at the park. Frozen novelties are the brightly-colored, not-quite-ice-cream creations that kids love, often studded with rock-hard gumballs. They're more likely to call them ice pops, or something to that effect, than "frozen novelties," though they're usually more interested in whether they'll be able to get their favorite flavor or cartoon character than in the name. Artist Meredith Allen was inspired by summer and ice pops, but instead of eating them, she created a photo series of melting pops. All of the pieces are interesting (you can order prints of them online), but you might be inspired to try to take some shots of your own, too.

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Summer means hot, sunny days and, if you live near the coast, day trips to the beach. You spend the morning prepping food and snacks, toss them into a cooler with lots of ice and hit the road. Most of the beaches out here - the good ones, anyway - don't offer a lot in the way of vendors, so except for the occasional hot dog stand or ice cream truck, you're on your own for beach-friendly sustenance. Fortunately, there are many good choices and here are a few that surfaced in our minds when we started to think about heading out for some fun in the sun (Besides, I had so much fun with the egg puns, that I couldn't resist...).

• Sandwiches - Portable and versatile, you'll be able to find something everyone likes, but keep them in a cooler unless you're sticking to peanut butter and jelly
• Sunchips - Multigrain chips that are less greasy, and more flavorful, than regular chips

The Beach House Cookbook is a compilation of 75 recipes for easy summer dishes that revolve around fresh, seasonal ingredients that are best when you're at the beach in summer. The book covers foods from appetizers and soups through to desserts, which are heavily laden with fresh summer fruits in the form of pie, cobblers and sundaes. Since there is a sea-side aspect to the book, it should be no surprise to hear that it has a lot of seafood, with plenty of recipes for Lobster Rolls, Steamed Mussels, Mini Crabcakes and Grilled Swordfish. For those who aren't big fans of fish, there are also recipes that use other meats, not to mention the fact that vegetables are beautifully featured in most of the dishes. This is the kind of book that you want to keep at your beach house or, if you don't have your own beach house, to turn to when you want to escape to the seaside through food in your own home kitchen.

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