Urban Honking

Driving shotgun this summer on the sleek roads around the Isle of Mann, we took note of the beautiful, deep-purple gobs of what looked like heather that infiltrate that island. From the roads, the mossy underbrush looked like the lovely lavender buds of wild heather that are Scotland’s second most famous grass. (After peet moss, […]

Worshipper or non-believer, you got to respect the holy substances of the high holidays: frankincence, myrrh, and fatty carbohydrates! The latter, which encompasses staples like mash potatoes, stuffing, and even figgy pudding, is far more humble than all that bling that Baby Jesus got delivered. This season, we’ve been obsessing over a new Christmas carb: […]

Sometimes we have a helluva time trying to keep fresh herbs from the ravishes of death. Death by waterlog, or freezer-burn, or simply old age. We profess a tendency to neglect them in the fridge until it’s almost too late. But one of the best ways to keep the reaper at bay, when it comes […]

Before a 63-year-old schoolteacher named Annie Taylor went over Niagara Falls in a barrel, nobody believed it could be done. But the hard-ass opportunist outfitted a barrel with a mattress, reinforced it with some steel and had some friends (can they be called friends if they’re pushing her down Niagara?) pressurize her coffin once she […]

Sauerkraut – which we boys love for its gut health and wild fermentation properties – has fulfilled far more utilitarian purposes. Case in point: We learned recently that Evan’s grandfather grew up with big tubs of kraut aging on the back porch. It was the only salad his big fam could keep during long winters […]

Now that our homemade KniQuil killed the germs, we need something to keep ’em dormant. Enter our own concoction of this infamous hot sauce. And minus the sodium bisulfate! The first time we contemplated making our own cock sauce (you know, Sriracha, “Rooster” sauce, whatever you wanna call it) was a couple years ago. Thanks […]

File this under fashionably late. A few weeks ago, when Peach season was in its final throes, Alex’s habañero plant was blossoming out of control. This left us, and those we love and live with, in a state of simultaneous joy and fear. How would all those orange monsters find their way into daily dishes? […]

If you’ve never heard the infamous, backward, demonic tape loops that supposedly told Charles Manson to “rise up” and catalyze the race war by killing Angelenos, what are you waiting for? It’s a revelation alright! The birth of sampling, creepy subliminal messages in pop, and essentially the first industrial-rock song. But for all its Satanic […]

File this one under ‘old world magic.’ Sauerkraut is nothing short of vegetable wonder tonic. But unlike kombucha, 100-year-old sourdough start, or psychotropic mushrooms, sauerkraut takes just a couple minutes to make and costs literally less than dirt. We never knew, until we jammed a couple batches for the Hot Knives Oktoberfest freak-out. Our healthy, […]

It’s both amazing and bizzarre that in L.A., the land that birthed the burger, one of the most pervasive street foods consists of a simple plastic bag, brimming with fruit. Where else but east of the La Brea dividing line, in all the awesome eastern hoods, can you find dudes on every other corner, hawking […]