I used to think making yogurt was reserved for those who doused themselves in patchouli, wore Birkenstocks year-round and ate a lot of tempeh. That is, until I began the search for the American equivalent of the yogurt I used to eat in Japan — creamy, not too thick and only mildly tangy — and felt like Goldilocks in the grocery store: this one too runny, this one too sour, none of them just right. →

I know it’s impolite, but eating and reading go hand and hand for me. No matter how many times my mom squawked “No reading at the dinner table!” when I was a kid, I just couldn’t kick the habit, which I’m pretty sure is lifelong. That’s why I was so glad to hear that Stories, the new bookstore in Echo Park, has a cafe serving sandwiches, pastries and coffee right next to their shelves of new and used books. →

A couple weeks ago my dad and stepmom came into town, craving seafood and a little adventurous eating. I knew exactly where to take them — Ondal 2, a Korean restaurant specializing in seafood hotpots, bubbling soups cooked right at the table.

One thing is certain: you will not leave Ondal 2 hungry. →

It happens to the best of us. Stomach grumbling, tired, rushed, you ignore everything you know about processed snack foods and duck into the nearest convenience store in search of something, anything, to fill you up. But what if you didn’t have to trade your food morals for a bag of chips? Thanks to Locali, a new “conscious convenience” market in Franklin Village, you don’t have to. →

I ride a scooter to work. I replace burned-out light bulbs with CFLs. I shop for local produce at the farmers’ market. In short, I try to do everything a responsible urban dweller should do to reduce her greenhouse gas emissions. Except that I eat meat. →

Rosia uses her bare hands to flip the blue corn tortillas toasting on the grill in front of her. She looks up when a passing man shouts out a friendly tease and says to him in Spanish, “I know where you live!” then smiles at us sweetly. She plates three quesadillas: papas y chorizo, hongos (mushroom) and flor de calabaza (squash blossom). →

After weeks of relentlessly warm and sunny days, it’s easy to forget we’re supposed to be in the midst of winter here in LA. But take a look around your street — maybe even your backyard — for undeniable proof: citrus fruit, heavy on the trees, the ultimate winter treat.

Did you ever read the Little House on the Prairie books when you were a kid? →

Some things just go well together: Chocolate & Peanut butter. Pastrami & Rye. And then there’s Wine & Hot dogs.  Now if it seems incredulous that the latter is worthy of occupying the same category, I recommend you come out for one of Silverlake Wine’s Thursday Night Flights.  Once you sidle up to the bar for a flight of wine and finish it off with a gourmet dog from Let’s Be Frank truck parked in front of the wine store, you will see for yourself.  Made with 100% grass-fed beef, Let’s Be Frank dogs are hormone-, nitrate- and filler-free, so you need not worry about blindly chowing down on snouts or tails. →

Lunch boxes: they’re cute, portable and full of food. What’s not to like? For over five years I used a metal Sanrio lunch box for all my food-toting needs and when I lived in Japan I used small bento boxes →