Samantha Bonar

Credit: Pasadena Restaurant Week

Pasadena Issues Cheeseburger Challenge

Perhaps cocky after the city's recent historic Rose Bowl game, Pasadena has issued a challenge for its upcoming Cheeseburger Week (January 15-20): Try them all. Then vote for your favorites in each category (lunch counter, traditional, gourmet, sliders, Kobe, etc.) online. As we posted back in November, Pasadena claims the......
Credit: A. Scattergood

The Year in Food Recalls

It was a bad year for orange fruit (papayas, cantaloupes) and leafy greens (especially romaine). Ground turkey took a big hit (36 million pounds recalled), and raw milk products were pulled from shelves. Here's a look back at 2011 in food recalls, a year of E. coli conundrums, Listeria hysteria......
Make sure you cook your cookies; Credit: Flickr/Wonderlane

Study Suggests Flour the Culprit in Cookie Dough Illnesses

Last week we reported on a new study that implicated raw chocolate chip cookie dough as the cause of a large outbreak of E. coli in 2009. Researchers said it was the first time an outbreak of food poisoning caused by the dangerous Shiga toxin-producing E. coli has been traced......
Shark fin soup; Credit: Flickr/goosmurf

Peninsula Hotels Will No Longer Serve Shark Fin Soup

Following Gov. Jerry Brown's signing in October of an act banning the sale of shark fins in California, the Peninsula Hotel chain has announced they are prohibiting shark fin soup, considered a delicacy in Chinese culture, at all food outlets as of Jan. 1, 2012. In a press release, the......
Apple Jacks ranked as the 8th worst kids cereal; Credit: Flickr/Dalboz17

Study Names 10 Worst Children's Cereals

According to a new study by the Environmental Working Group, some children's cereals contain more sugar than Twinkies and Chips Ahoy! cookies. The worst offender, Kellogg's Honey Smacks, is nearly a whopping 56% sugar by weight. For the top 10 list of the sugariest children's cereals, click here or head......
It looks so harmless.; Credit: Flickr/Dano

Arsenic Hysteria: Now It's Been Found in Rice

First it was apple juice. Now researchers say there is inorganic arsenic in rice, and that it could particularly affect pregnant women, CBS News reports. Arsenic is able to cross the placenta and may harm a developing baby. For the study, researchers measured arsenic levels in the urine of 229......
grilled corvina at Olympic Cheonggukjang; Credit: Anne Fishbein

Study Links Eating Fish to Lower Alzheimer's Risk

Eating at least one serving a week of fish could improve memory function, increase brain volume and stave off Alzheimer's, according to a new study recently presented at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, Health News reports. Note: that's baked or broiled fish, not Filet-O-Fish. While......
The chocolate tea service; Credit: Langham Huntington Hotel

Best Afternoon Tea: The Langham Huntington Hotel

Augustus Gloop would never make it out alive. What makes Pasadena's Langham Huntington Hotel the best choice for afternoon tea can be summed up in one word: chocolate. On Sundays from noon to 5 p.m., the hotel's regular tea service, smashing in itself, is replaced by an all-chocolate afternoon tea......
Credit: Flickr/Ben Garney

Arsenic Levels in Fruit Juice Cause Concern

Thanks a lot, Mott's. Dr. Oz threw down the gauntlet a couple months ago when he commissioned a study that found that 10 of three dozen apple juice samples had a total arsenic level exceeding federal safety standards of 10 parts per billion (ppb). Now a new study from Consumer......