Kelsey McConnell

Long Beach Opera mounts works even avid opera fans probably haven't seen, and often in locations no one else would peg as an opera venue.

Soup is straightforward in theory. It's complexity lies in the execution... in how you build flavors and the first flavor layer can come from a mirepoix. Unlike "soup," "mirepoix" is fun to say and it's the colors of the Irish flag, which makes me like...

Boy oh boy oh boy. I did some seriously excellent eating this Christmas.

They taste good and they look cute. In fact, they taste so good and look so cute, I kind of want them all for myself. But, as my grandmother always said, "the best gift is the one you're tempted to keep."

Maybe I am a bit of a hippie, a bit of a foodie and a bit of a yuppie. But in a lot of ways, I'm still just that kid hungry to taste what this city has to offer.

You think you really know a person and then, one December day, you find out they have never had a peanut butter cookie.

I want to share how important the market is to me. And I'm just one person, one story. The LA Times says 10,000 people a week go to the Hollywood Farmers Market. That is 10,000 stories. 10,000 people with their own market memories.

It occurred to me that you could eat turkey and mashed potatoes and gravy with a group of people you weren't born into and celebrate friends just like you celebrate family. And so, Friend Thanksgiving was born.

There was one last page I had dog-eared, Fall Fruit Focaccia. Not only do I like alliteration, I also like focaccia and I still had apples from my apple picking trip.

I cut across several lanes of traffic to pull into a grocery store when the drizzle falling on my windshield reminded me about the existence of hot chocolate.