Jimmy Buffett helps open casino

Thu, 24 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Mississippi

The Margaritaville Casino is open. And it's already getting rave reviews.

Pascagoula, Miss., native Jimmy Buffett came home this week to open the Margaritaville Casino & Restaurant in Biloxi. Buffett played for nearly an hour, sharing songs and memories of growing up on the Gulf Coast.

Those who weren't among the 4,000 VIP guests formed an impromptu Parrothead yacht club near the marina and listened from their kayaks and party boats.

Interspersed among "Margaritaville," ''5 O'clock Somewhere" and other favorite songs, he shared memories. Buffett saluted Jake Mladinich, who hired him for his first professional gig at Trader John's in Biloxi, and called out, "Thank you Jake. It worked out."

Spring soup

Hillary Nelson — Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Turn the last of the cold weather crops into something creamy and delicious

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Spring soups

The last of the cold greenhouse crops are coming to maturity just in time to make room for pepper and tomato plants. At my house, this means we're eating lots of brassicas, like purple cauliflower and sprouting broccoli, mustard greens, mizuna, kale and collards. I can't grow any of these outside in spring because our garden is rife with brassica-loving flea beetles. For me, these vitamin-rich vegetables are, of necessity, winter, early spring and fall crops.

One way to curb the bite of sulfurous brassicas is to cook them with potatoes, onions and milk and then puree them to make a creamy soup that's good hot or cold. The method also works well with other spring vegetables, especially asparagus. It even works with past-its-prime-ready-to-bolt spring lettuce.

Three winning barbecue sauces

Wed, 23 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

For some time now, commercial barbecue sauce has been progressing from its Dark Ages, when slow-smoked meats were tortured with bland, sweet, corporate slathers, to a more enlightened era of complex boutique sauces flavored with ingredients from habaneros to peaches. The homemade sauces in our second annual Washington Post barbecue sauce recipe contest reflect that evolution.

We received sauces that contained a pantry full of ingredients: cocoa powder, cider jelly, fresh plums, mangoes, apricots, chipotle peppers, tamarind paste, smoked beer, Asian pear, Mexican chocolate and more.

Such enlightenment - better than the bad old days, to be sure - has its own problems. It was tough sometimes to determine whether something could be considered a barbecue sauce, per se, or a different kind of sauce entirely.

The sauces seem to exemplify a paradoxical trend in contemporary barbecue. On one hand, the craft sauce makers create flavors for niche tastes.

Differences should be discussed before marriage

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Baggage Check

Q: I'm finding that my boyfriend and I have very different values. I had a conservative upbringing, and I'm very "rigid" about a lot of things, according to him - my views about sexual things, drinking, drugs, gender roles, etc.

I respect him and his views, and appreciate how open-minded he is. But I am not that.

He's always joked that he will "loosen me up," but now that we're talking about marriage, I wonder if we will always butt heads.

A: That depends on what butting heads looks like. Is it respectful, patient discussion, or a literal cracking of your skulls together?

Conflicting values don't have to be a bad thing. What counts is how you handle them. Before you consider marriage, you must move from thinking about your different values hypothetically to more practically.

A caffeinated pilgrimage

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Italy

Crossing time, language and cultural barriers to visit coffee's motherland

For the espresso obsessed (like me), visiting Italy is like journeying to Mecca: Caffeine-loving crusaders seek answers by crossing time, language and cultural barriers to visit the drink's motherland. And although it's not a sip from an Islamic holy well, this potent secular beverage does transport devotees to a higher plane - if only until the jitters wear off.

Sacred spots are scattered across Italy: Each major city has its own coffee tradition, and limiting myself to one or two would feel as incomplete as sticking to decaf. As a barbecue fanatic must bounce not only between the Carolinas but also through Missouri, Tennessee and Texas for meaty enlightenment, I won't fulfill my pilgrimage simply by slugging a few espresso shots in Rome.

Kravitz leaps into shoes with both feet

Sun, 20 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Toms collection features his vibe

If it's got his name on it, Lenny Kravitz says he has been involved in it 100 percent, so when you see his stamp on the new collection of Toms shoes, know the Bahamas beach-meets-modern architecture influence is genuine.

"If I'm in, I'm in it all the way," Kravitz said.

The singer got involved in designing the shoes with Toms founder Blake Mycoskie at the urging of his daughter, Zoe. She was wearing Toms casual slip-ons all the time. She also explained the brand's larger mission of donating a pair of shoes to someone in need for every pair sold.

Once they met about two years ago, Kravitz said, he and Mycoskie hit it off. They'd like to do together one of the Toms' "shoe drops," possibly in Brazil or the Bahamas this summer, squeezing it in between the second leg of Kravitz's world tour that will take him through Europe and Africa. He also has two movie projects going, including the second installment of The Hunger Games.

'Beauty' of a season

Sarah M. Earle — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Concord

Cap Center unveils slate of shows for all ages

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Beauty and the Beast

If you're looking for a reason to skip town for a day or three, well, don't go to the Capitol Center for the Arts' Open House and Season Preview next week. With three Broadway musicals, a Grammy-winning band, several innovative productions, a new family series and plenty of old favorites in the Cap Center's lineup for the coming year, you're just going to have to look elsewhere for excuses to head to Boston or New York.

"We're really excited to have a really diverse mix this year, and some great shows," said Owen DeFrancesco, marketing manager for the venue, which is entering its 17th season.

Serious about jazz

Melanie Plenda — Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Concord

18-year-old talent celebrates with recital

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Michael Sink

It was probably inevitable. After all, Michael Sink's dad Tim plays saxophone, brother Steve plays guitar, brother Chris plays piano, and Grandpa played too. By the time he was 3 years old, Sink had found the family piano.

"I'm not sure if it spoke to me early on," Sink said of jazz, which is his forte. "I think if I'd been listening to pop music or classical music growing up, I would have liked that more."

But what was played in the house was jazz, and that's what Sink's dad and brother would play, and eventually Sink too.

According to the Concord Community Music school, the 18-year-old is one of the youngest pianists ever chosen for the Scholarship Jazz Ensemble, made up of the top-tier musicians in the area, and has been part of that group for the last five years. He has participated in other Music School jazz ensembles since he was 9 years old and has been a member of Jazz All State.

Bill Murray stirs up excitement in Cannes

Thu, 17 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

It's rare for veterans of the Cannes Film Festival to be genuinely excited about a star sighting - famous movie actors being as common as preternaturally well-behaved tiny dogs on the city's famed Croisette, where most of the festival's hurly-burly takes place.

But it's always special when Bill Murray shows up - probably because he says yes so rarely to the myriad filmmakers who approach him for their movies. He was in Cannes yesterday for the world premiere of Moonrise Kingdom, a precocious coming-of-age love story that launched the festival and marked Murray's sixth collaboration with Wes Anderson.

"It's an honor to be asked back," Murray said of Anderson's continued use of his services. He was speaking at a packed news conference after a morning screening of the film, which received warm if not rapturous applause.

Better than balsamic

Wed, 16 May 2012 04:00:00 +0000

Red wine vinegar offers a more acidic zing

I am thoroughly sick of balsamic vinegar. I'm tired of its raisiny taste, which is too often saccharine and cloying. And of its syrupy density, not to mention its distinct aroma. I am fed up with chefs who have insisted on using it to dress salads, marinate poultry, glaze meat and "enliven" grilled vegetables, fruit, cheese and God knows what else.

I am so over balsamic vinegar that I have pushed my bottles to the back of my pantry. In their place: red wine vinegar. That old, acidic staple we used to sprinkle on iceberg when that was the only lettuce around.

Yes, I know that red wine vinegar and balsamic vinegar aren't interchangeable. Yet I find that I can do just as much with red wine vinegar and enjoy it more. Red wine vinegar is more acidic than balsamic, which, for someone looking for a clean flavor zing, is a good thing.

Besides, if it's good enough for French cooks, for whom red wine vinegar is a basic, it's good enough for me.