This weekend I attended the world premiere of The Tony Alva Story presented by Vans at the Newport Beach Film Festival. The screening took place inside Lido Theater, Balboa Peninsula’s one-screen wonder plumped with 1920s decadence and bygone cinematic drama. (The glittering marquee! The thick, red curtain! The wide seats! The Vans-sticker-wrapped stage! The SHOW!) It was a…
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Back when I lived in New York, there was a particular chocolate chip cookie recipe that was asked for at every birthday party and half-birthday party and fake birthday party there ever was. The recipe had been mine alone, as everyone knew, and “Melissa’s Cookies” were perfected over years of burned cookie edges, too-melted chocolate…
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I’ve found there are several distinct signs of happiness: spontaneous smiling, a sudden and unexplained tolerance for traffic on the PCH, and an empty fridge because to be honest, you’re way too happy to bother filling it. Cue a truly happy me when a friend of mine sends me this text at 6 o’clock on a Sunday: “Wine and cheese at…
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Woah. Top 10 Coastal Lifestyle Magazine for 2019? Awesome. It’s one thing to work hard at something — the midnight phone calls, the back-and-forth text messages, the tweaks, the changes, the un-changes — but it’s another to see your hard work validated by someone other than your dad. *JK, I know you guys read this.…
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I am incredibly excited to share the inaugural issue of West Oceanfront Magazine! It’s 80 pages long, and filled with stories about inspiring people, food, wine, travel, entertainment, entrepreneurship and of course, life in Newport Beach. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it and putting it together. (Also, a…
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It’s not every day you can ask one of the most renowned chefs in Napa Valley absolutely anything, but along came this article, and that’s exactly what I got to do. Victor Scargle, a California native, is currently the culinary director at Boisset Collection, France’s third-largest wine group and the biggest wine producer in Burgundy. Though he calls Northern California home,…
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In case you’re wondering, I’m sick. (Yes, I’m sure you woke up this morning and thought, “How is Melissa feeling today?”) Anyway, in the spirit of turning the bad to good, this ickiness at the very least presents the ideal opportunity for today’s “Make Your Market,” in which I will share an amazing soup I…
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Look, I know I’m biased. I just finished this dish not more than fifteen minutes ago. Heck, I’ve still got a small piece of carrot green stuck on my thumb as I type this very word. And these. OK, it’s gone. STILL. The meal—seasoned avocado on sautéed carrot greens and onions with soft-boiled eggs—was delicious.…
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OK folks, let’s try something a little different for this week’s episode of “Make Your Market,” the most exciting farm-to-table, farmers’ market culinary series to ever hit Balboa Peninsula (and beyond). Today I want to talk tea. “But really, Melissa?” You might ask, because you’re used to fun recipes you can eat for dinner that…
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If your morning has gone anything like mine, then you’ve spent it scraping still-dried-up cranberry sauce and mashed potatoes off piles of plates and wine-stained glasses. Why is it that the scrumptiousness of a Thanksgiving meal is directly proportional to the disgustingness of cleaning it up? And also, why does the meal last about 20…
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