There is an Irish proverb that states, “A man loves his sweetheart the most; his wife the best; but his mother the longest.” This may be so. Mothers teach us lessons by what they say and do. They are very important people. Sons need them and their influence lasts a long, long time. It is the mother not the father who socializes... Read more →

Intent on saving money while eating out, I’m always looking for bargains. So when I heard that Josiah Citrin of Melisse was operating the kitchen at a new hot restaurant, and that we could get the same great cooking at half the price of Melisse, I naturally rushed over to Caché to enjoy those benefits. When I couldn’t find... Read more →

Q: My 14-year-old son recently shared some disturbing information with me. He gets bullied at his junior high school. He is a very brainy kid with few friends. He mentioned he has talked to several “authorities,” yet the only response he receives is that the school has a “zero tolerance policy against it” and the... Read more →

DOWNTOWN — Any publicity is supposedly a good thing, but in the case of Winchester Cheese Co., good publicity turned out to be harmful. Earlier this month, Glenn Lingle, a Santa Monica software engineer and fan of Winchester Cheese found his family’s favorite cheese vendor to be missing from its usual place at the Main Street... Read more →

Summer vacations can be extremely challenging not only for children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), but their parents as well. While it is nice to take a break from the day-to-day activities, it is important to maintain structure and consistency in an effort to maintain the skills children have developed. The relationships children with... Read more →

DOWNTOWN — Despite working in preservation most of her adult life, Santa Monica Conservancy and Landmarks Commission member Ruthann Lehrer said she didn’t have plans of protecting historic structures early on in life. She just “fell into it.” Now, she certainly doesn’t shy away from labels — her license... Read more →

Last weekend I attended the casting call in Austin, Texas for season six of the “Next Food Network Star.” This is the sixth time I have applied for the show but the first time I have ever attended a casting call. I had high hopes that this casting call would teach me something about the application process. I was hoping I would... Read more →

In this new series published by Bethany House, Beverly Lewis once again takes us into the world of the Amish people. This is set in the present. In her previous book “Forbidden” in the “The Courtship of Nellie Fisher” series (reviewed in this paper July 25, 2008) we got a glimpse of Amish life. We get another glimpse... Read more →

“Married and Worried” wrote, “I have a question about a matter that my married friends and I have been talking about ever since it happened. Steve McNair. How can a ‘nice guy’ like this have ever ended up in this position? It doesn’t make sense. It is scary to us. Can you shed some light?” Because I... Read more →

When my kids found out my grandmother was Polish they stopped telling Polish jokes. And my dad loved Polish food. So it was with some nostalgia that I went to the Warszawa restaurant the other day, for the first time in about 25 years. Yes, it’s been there that long, so that says something for it. We were greeted by a lovely young... Read more →