Summer Nights at the Bowl

By Andrew Hunter

Five years ago we celebrated our first Fourth of July in L.A. at the Hollywood Bowl and it quickly became our patriotic tradition. Every year we go to the iconic amphitheater, nestled in the beautiful Hollywood Hills, for the concert and fireworks. That fateful first year, as the crowd sang along to I Love L.A. with Randy Newman, we realized Los Angeles was going to be our home for years to come.

One of the fun things about The Bowl is you sit in boxes with tables and chairs, and are free to bring in picnic food, wine and any myriad of treats you can manage. This year, in the spirit of Yankee Doodle, the boys made Snickerdoodle Shortcake…fresh summer strawberries piled on Snickerdoodle cookies and topped with sweet whipped cream.

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Celebrate the Fourth with Corn

By Lori Powell

Too hot to cook…so don’t! Take it outside along with the rest of your Fourth of July BBQ dishes.

Now is the time to use the best produce the season has to offer and in this case, it’s corn, which is a bit early this year. It is the perfect pick of the crop right now.

Since my house is surrounded by fields of corn it only seems appropriate to celebrate the Fourth with some of the earth’s golden bounty.

Take the corn outside and give it a brief spin on the grill along with a poblano pepper and a good set of long tongs. This salad takes only minutes to prepare. My real goal is to give the corn a slight smoky flavor to complement its inherent sweetness and accent it with the slight heat of the poblano.

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Breakfast for Dinner: Short Stacks

By Katie Barreira

Who says pancakes are only to be eaten before noon? Whip up a fluffy stack for dinner with this classic flapjack recipe and step-by-step tips for making the perfect pancake.

5 Ways to Get Your Perfect Pancake:

My mom always separates the egg yolks and whites, adding the yolks to the liquid ingredients, then whipping and folding in the whites just before cooking; her pancakes are always light and airy.

My favorite way to cook pancakes is on an electric griddle. The steady, even temperature makes for fluffy, golden flapjacks and the large surface area means fewer batches.

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Happy Fourth!

By Sandy Hu

The Fourth of July falling midweek this year is a bit inconvenient since we can’t hook it easily to the weekend. If you have people over to celebrate, there’s no free day in advance to prepare, nor a day afterwards to recover.

But I’m glad we, as a country, haven’t tried to turn this sacrosanct holiday into a three-day weekend for our own convenience, as we have other holidays like Memorial Day. I believe we should honor the day for its meaning; not for our barbecues. Memorial Day to me will always be May 30 and a holiday in remembrance of our war dead; not the last Monday in May and the kickoff to summer.

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How to Peel and Devein Shrimp

By David Hu

Shrimp is one of the fastest cooking proteins – and while it often comes shelled and deveined, sometimes you have to do it yourself. If you’ve never done it before, don’t fret, it’s very simple. And besides, you’ll have a tastier dish because shrimp that has been pre-peeled and deveined loses some of its flavor by the time you get it home and cook it.

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