Bakersfield.com Local Lifestyle

Not all the beers -- just the best ones -- at festival

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:46:11 PDT

Although Budweiser bills itself as the "King of Beers," it's no match for a god. Coming down from the heavens (of Lengthwise Brewery), Zeus Imperial IPA will make its debut Saturday as part of the first-ever Bakersfield Craft Beer Festival. And by now, it may take divine intervention to land a ticket.

The VIP tables are gone and only a few dozen tickets remained as of Tuesday for the unique event, the brainchild of three local businesses known for their support of craft brewing: Imbibe Wine & Spirits Merchant, Eureka! Gourmet Burgers & Craft Beer and Moo Creamery.

Korn on mission to find cure for diabetes

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:07:00 PDT

The members of Grammy-winning hometown heroes Korn will be preparing to head overseas for the European leg of their current concert tour when the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation holds a wine and food event in Bakersfield June 1.

But they will be there in spirit and, better yet, a piece of history that has huge significance to any Korn fan will go home with the highest bidder: the guitar played by Brian Welch at the recent concert marking his return to the band after an absence of eight years.

Omelet cooked in a bag: Not as weird as it sounds

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:30:53 PDT

If the phrase "hobo breakfast" has you thinking of a Chaplin-esque tramp boiling a shoe or drinking a hearty libation, well, you're not completely off. The Italian Heritage Dante Association's Sunday fundraiser will involve boiling food and a cocktail, but it's much tastier than it sounds.

This hobo breakfast will offer a bloody Mary or mimosa as well as a full meal whose main element features a cooking method that's a campout favorite: boiling the eggs.

Powwow: Honoring tradition means not forgetting

Wed, 22 May 2013 17:17:51 PDT

All weekend long, everything associated with native culture will be celebrated: silvery jewelry, storytelling, dancing, art and ... popcorn?

"People don't realize that a lot of the food that we eat is native," said Gene Albitre, coordinator of the 17th annual Standing Bear Powwow.

They're playing our song at Beale Park

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:24:56 PDT

Nothing, save a soft breeze, makes a Bakersfield evening more tolerable than spreading out a picnic blanket under the trees of one of Bakersfield's oldest parks and listening to a band concert of show tunes, movie themes and big-band favorites.

And thanks to local donors, the concerts -- a tradition in the city for decades -- will return to Beale Park in June.

SCOTT COX: This hungry judge ready for seconds

Thu, 23 May 2013 08:36:16 PDT

I am a huge barbecue fan, and I've eaten well more than my share of it at smokehouses all over the country.

But last weekend, during my debut as a certified Kansas City Barbecue judge at Bakersfield's Biggest, Baddest BBQ competition, there was more on the line than just filling my belly. There were prizes and pride on the line, which meant I needed to really taste the food and not just let it rocket down my gullet. Teams came from all over the country and spent a weekend preparing world-class food that I got to take one or two bites of.

East Hills theater to begin showing latest Hollywood blockbusters

Wed, 22 May 2013 14:06:15 PDT

East Bakersfield residents no longer will need to schlep downtown or farther west to see the latest Hollywood releases now that Regency Theatres has converted its East Hills complex to a first-run movie house.

And the theater -- which makes the shift at 10 tonight -- is already off to a "Fast & Furious" start.

HERB BENHAM: How forgiving is St. Christopher?

Tue, 21 May 2013 11:55:29 PDT

I was driving in my car when it rattled one too many times and I said to myself, "That's it." I grabbed it around its metal waist and dumped it in the white plastic bag I'd been given my last time through Cruz Thru Express Car Wash.

"It" was a two-inch-high figure of St. Christopher that I've had in the car for years. "It" wore a crown on its head, was wrapped in a robe and was now tarnished with rust.

HERB BENHAM: If karma is real, Lance McCullah has a lot coming his way

Tue, 21 May 2013 12:05:32 PDT

Thursday nights during football season, Lance McCullah, an assistant varsity coach at Bakersfield High School, takes linebackers and running backs to dinner.

Pizza, sushi, cheeseburgers, it doesn't matter. What does is that players -- some of whom may not know how to order from a menu or behave in public -- dress in their blue jerseys, ditch their cellphones and mind their manners.

RICHARD SHIELL: A good rule of plum: Pick them while you can

Sat, 18 May 2013 12:45:21 PDT

Plum season is nigh, as indicated by the bushels of nearly ripe fruit that fell to the sidewalks after the Cinco de Mayo wind storm. Although purple-leaved plums are supposedly non-fruiting, they do so most generously all over town. The fruit are the same color as the foliage, making them easy to miss until they fall. With the prices of food nowadays, and the number of needy people, such waste is doubly unfortunate.

The solution is picking the plums. The fruit -- cherry plums from northeastern Europe and the Ukraine -- are rather small and tart, the size of pingpong balls. They ripen soon after picking, and become quite soft. Eating them right off the tree, with just a rinse in water to remove dust, they are quite good. The seeds are hardly bigger than a cherry pit.

NICK STROBEL: Competitions, studies prepare us for the future

Fri, 17 May 2013 16:51:45 PDT

Mentioned in my last column, the National Student Solar Spectrograph Competition wrapped up Friday in Bozeman, Mo. Whether or not any of the three teams from Bakersfield College win the competition is besides the point. My hope is that the BC students will make connections with other student scientists and engineers from around the country and learn what they need to improve upon as well as their own strengths.

After the competition, I'm headed to the University of Dayton for a couple of short courses on energy sustainability and climate change. Studying other planets atmospheres and climates helps us better understand how our own planet's climate system works and what can change a planet's climate including solar brightening, changes in reflectivity (clouds, ice, etc.), changes in the amount of greenhouse gases (water vapor, carbon dioxide, methane, etc.), and changes in the tilt of the axis and shape of the orbit.

The Dish: Famous Dave's beefs up its menu; BJ's goes low-cal

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:28:37 PDT

Famous Dave's has a new menu and recently had a P.I.G. (Pretty Important Guest) Club tasting on a Tuesday evening to offer samples to their email group fans. Being a pig myself, I had to go. The new items include the return of the brisket burger, which we wrote about in the past when it was a temporary menu item. There are now five different brisket burgers with the ground beef blended with pieces of the restaurant's Texas beef brisket. Devil's Spit ($12.99) returns, made with pepper jack cheese and jalapeno bacon, but we sampled two other new versions: smoked cheddar ($11.99) and Jacked-N-Stacked ($12.99).

I've always been a sucker for smoked cheddar, with its oily, concentrated flavor and density, and this adds a lot to the smoky patty, but the Jacked-N-Stacked with crispy onion rings and jack cheese is a more satisfying choice. (A cheeseburger made with a regular patty also is available, as are two other new brisket burgers that weren't sampled.)

Going on a SoCal safari

Fri, 17 May 2013 12:39:06 PDT

The trumpeting of elephants just a few yards away seemed to shake the canvas sides of our tent. Soon thereafter, other big scary animals that I couldn't identify joined the chorus as night shrouded our camp during a recent safari. Any thoughts of getting up in the night to search for a bathroom were quickly wiped from my mind.

About a decade ago, my husband and I parted with about $10,000 to pay for the once-in-a-lifetime trip to South Africa, which included several days in Krueger National Park and a camera safari out into the bush to see amazing animals.

HERB BENHAM: Nothing, not even the budget, can take down a wrestler

Fri, 17 May 2013 07:02:19 PDT

Recently I attended "An Evening with Stephen Neal," a fundraiser at the Stockdale Country Club.

It wasn't a fundraiser for Neal, the legendary Cal State wrestler, four-time all-American, and former right guard with the New England Patriots. Neal has plenty of money, or should.

The best Q you can chew all year long this weekend

Thu, 16 May 2013 13:15:13 PDT

If you're ready for ribs and all the Q sanctioned by the Kansas City Barbecue Society, then head on out to the Kern County Fairgrounds for Bakersfield's Biggest Baddest BBQ.

This year you'll certainly have a lot of savory meat to choose from with more than 60 teams contending for the grand champion title in a record turnout of competitors for the fifth annual event.