Pen in hand, you watched hopefully as your favorite television chefs prepared pieces of culinary heaven. Maybe your attempts at catching glimpses of The Naked Chef’s “little chef” preoccupied you. Maybe you were intimidated by Martha Stewart’s perfumed menace. Whatever the reason, the dish you prepared looks more like something…

Aretha Franklin, the Beatles, Frank Sinatra — all were discovered at karaoke joints. Okay, that’s a blatant lie. But stumble upon any karaoke night and you will see dozens of people who think they are Aretha Franklin, Paul McCartney, or Frank Sinatra. Discreetly laughing at these folks is half the…

Who could forget Esther Williams? Apparently just about everyone. Whether spinning languidly through underwater hoops like a well-trained porpoise, kissing men suspended awkwardly in the depths of a pool, or scissoring her long legs, Williams made “bathing movies” what they are today: an amazing but vague memory. For some reason,…

Your parents warned you about girls like these. Remember how your mother always fantasized about you settling down with a Jewish girl — Yentl in a nightgown? These gals are no Yentl. With a mix of comedy, cabaret, and burlesque, Nice Jewish Girls Gone Bad will simultaneously give your mother…

Mixing spirituality with music is a delicate thing. The peak of success for bands that attempt the feat is usually thousands of weeping, arm-waving teenagers swaying to a ballad about crucifixion. This picture is bleak for music lovers wishing for more depth in lyrics. Honestly, this picture is bleak for…

As you commute home and watch — for the fourth time — the skirt-sporting homeless man relieve himself along the Julia Tuttle Causeway, you might decide you are in dire need of some culture. For the 15th year, the Coral Gables Cultural Affairs Council has leaped to the rescue with…

Oscar Wilde once said, “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars.” In keeping with those words, the Miami Science Museum is giving you a chance to forget you are wading amid dead rats and discarded bags of Fritos. On the first Friday…

The martini has seen better days. Years ago, when men wore hats, afternoon martinis signaled glamour and success. Nowadays a lunchtime martini drinker seems more silly than suave, conjuring those cocktail napkins that feature witticisms such as “Tee many martoonis!” But Badrutt’s Place wishes to erase this image from the…

A layman might guess mother-of-toilet-seat inlay is a nasty communicable disease. It’s not. Rather it’s just one of the many products at the Newport Guitar Festival guaranteed to drive collectors crazy. Prewar, hand-carved archtops; scalloped bracing; Vendetto; Epiphone: These are buzzwords to guitar freaks. Mention them to someone planning to…

Vigilante justice. Man versus the ocean. It’s a tale as old as Moby Dick. The saga continues this weekend, when South Florida fishermen take to the seas during the Miami Billfish Tournament. Behold in wonder as men in baseball caps catch predatory fish larger than their grandmothers and pose triumphantly…