"series" news and stories

I was born in Hollywood and living in Los Angeles until I was nine years old. The Dodgers were the first major league baseball team I ever saw and I remained devoted to them until I moved to Philadelphia in 2002. Over the last six years, in the face of the ferocious loyalty that Philadelphians demonstrate towards their sports teams, my allegiance to the Dodgers has slipped. I'm now watching this series between the Phillies and the Dodgers, hoping with all my might that the Phils pull it out tonight and win a fourth game tonight.

This cake was baked by Isgro Bakery in South Philadelphia (the bakery has been there since 1904) and the picture was taken by Scott.

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Only one week into season two of Bravo's Top Chef and things are already getting a lot more interesting, primarily because we are getting to know the players a little bit better. The honeymoon seemed to wear off quickly, as at the start of the show everyone agreed that they really felt like they were in a competition now that someone had been asked to pack their knives and go.

This week, things started off as usual with a quickfire challenge, though this one required a 4:30 am wakeup call. All the chefs headed off to the Los Angeles fish market where they were given $100 to pick out fish for sushi. Once they returned to the kitchen, they were given 30 minutes to prepare a dish for the guest judge, Chef Hiroshi Shima, an expert in the field.

Rappers in the kitchen? This unlikely combination is about to hit television. Celebrity Cooking Showdown is a 5-night culinary contest between celebrities of varying degrees of success, like Tom Arnold and Gabrielle Reese. The semi-homemade Food Network celebrity, Sandra Lee, will host the show when it airs in April 2006, on NBC.

Feeling outdone by his rapper friend, Coolio, is working on his own cooking/variety show. In what is certain to be either the best or, depending on how you choose to look at it, the worst cooking show of all time, Coolio says " 'This won't be your average cooking show - it'll be Coolio with food. I'll be cooking, talking, rapping, dancing and singing.' There will be a four-piece band, a DJ, and strippers - all in the kitchen." That's right: strippers. Of course, Coolio says that he's a good cook, specializing in enchiladas, spaghetti and egg rolls, and though self-taught, it is entirely possible that he has a few genuine tips to share with the television audience.

But I'm not holding my breath.

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Last week, our Cooking Live series focused on a savory stew. This week, I'm turning over to the sweet side with a classic breakfast favorite: coffee cake. If you're not familiar with coffee cake, it gets its name because it is designed to be served with coffee or tea, as part of a mid-morning or mid-afternoon meal, not for dessert. This coffee cake is a Martha Stewart Living recipe that is brimming with streusel. In fact, it has more streusel than batter, though the batter expands to a respectable amount once the cake has baked.

The recipe that inspired this "episode" is Cardamom Streusel Coffee Cake, which won me over with its delicious appearance. It also gives me a good opportunity to take my own Martha Challenge, and see if I have better luck with her (and her publication's) recipes than some others have. I guarantee that a few liberties will be taken with this recipe, so stay tuned for the ingredients and my version of the recipe later in the week, with a full series of posts detailing the method, mixing, baking and eating of the cake on Friday.