The New Year is the perfect time to expand one’s horizons, conquer new heights and learn interesting things. When this can be accomplished in the comfort of your own kitchen, all the better. “Sushi: Taste and Technique,” by Kimiko Barber and Nobu chef Hiroki Takemura (DK Publishing; $20), takes a fascinatingly unromantic look at this…

Joseph Hayes

Back in the sandbox

The path to punk-rock success is pretty clearly marked. Bedroom. Garage. House shows. Community center. All-ages nights. Eventually, you make enough money to release a 7-inch. It gets reviewed in a fanzine and you manage to book a few shows out of town. And then you start all over at house shows … but they’re…

Jason Ferguson

Children at play

As family theater goes, the production of “Christmas Without Presents” at the Civic Theatre in Loch Haven Park, a play based on the classic “Little Women,” was fairly sophisticated. For one thing, the play was unusually self-aware in the sense that the cast of five female characters — Jo, Meg, Amy, Beth and their mother,…

William Dean Hinton

Reaching out

If you promised to help make the world a better, more compassionate place in 2003, you’re in luck. This is the guide that will tell you all you need to know about volunteering in Central Florida. From the AIDS Resource Alliance to WEEKENDS, we’ve listed 84 non-profit agencies that could use your skills, time and/or…

Micky Michalec

Charter school

As we went to press, political hopefuls were lining up like lemmings to be declared official candidates for mayor of the city of Orlando. A Feb. 4 election and a likely Feb. 25 runoff will decide just who will lead this anxious community out of its current period of prolonged malaise and into a golden…

Steve Schneider

From Fox failure to must see

News flash: “Titus” was canceled. As with most situations on Fox, the hullabaloo was slight, bordering on nil, as Christopher Titus and his schticky television revolution were quietly swept under the rug. The comedy that showed dimensional realism didn’t have to involve Ally McBeal’s tongue morphing into a drooling red carpet held a certain charm.…

Billy Manes

Beautiful violence

The East has forever drawn seekers of all kinds. In centuries past, merchants and explorers sailed to the Orient searching for wealth and untapped resources. One explorer, in a manic search for a quicker way to the fabled lands, discovered America instead. More recently, Asia has been the destination of a different sort of seeker,…

Tucker Teutsch

Let us become hip!

From: Franklin, Tim Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 8:12 PM To: All Editorial Subject: Re: New task force To the staff: I realize that staff memos aren’t cool. But the work of our new Young Readers Task Force will be. I’ve asked Elaine to head up this committee. Its mission will be to make recommendations…

David J. Plotkin

The race card

Leave it to Homer Hartage to screw up the most important press conference of his political career. The Orange County commissioner — who just weeks after his November re-election expressed interest in abandoning that seat for the higher-profile mayor’s office — set up shop on the steps of City Hall Monday at 11:30 a.m. The…

Jeffrey C. Billman

Jan 1-7, 2003

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