Blog Posts by Richárde

Shachi Mehra, executive chef of Tamarind of London, an Indian restaurant in Newport Beach - an area more familiar as MTV's Laguna Beach spinoff location - once held the same moniker as a friendly purple dinosaur.Chef Shachi Mehra

"Some of my closest friends call me Barney because I had purple hair in high school," she says.

Nowadays, her trademark is her food.

"When I prep for a new menu item, I am inspired by many things, for example, something I ate, a new ingredient, my travels, or something I read about or saw. I want to draw from all parts of India. By taking the traditions and classic dishes of Indian and mixing them with the main stream of India, Tamarind of London is not designed like a typical Indian restaurant."

"I am obsessed with chilies, especially green ones, dried and fresh. I love to experiment with them and add them to unexpected things, like Tamarind's chocolate cake, which has 2 types of chilies. The most recent one I discovered is the Fish Pepper-it's an heirloom pepper

Richárde extends a hand of OPI cracked polishI never used cracked nail polish before. In fact, I have not been making the rounds at any nail parlours period for a very long time. I cannot stand how my nail polish chips right when I walk out of the door the minute I begin typing on my keyboard. I was coerced and tried black cracked nail polish with a white base color yesterday. To my surprise, this looks like it will be a better investment for me. The cracking effect is meant to look like modern art, therefore when it really begins cracking, I can add any color I want over the chips and make it look good again. Like ombré hair, this is meant to look undone. A+.




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The men of Brooklyn based Mr. Dream describe the band as "big, dumb rock songs," "emotional landscapes" and "riff storms." Nick Sylvester, the drummer, jokes, "People think I'm physically much taller in live performances than on the record." They named the band Mr. Dream, Nick jokes again, because "we wanted to confuse fans of The Dream."Indie Band Mr. Dream

The friends met each other at a Jay Reatard concert. Matt Morello, the bass player, describes the connection as "I knew Nick and Nick knew Adam, meaning it's Nick's fault if anything goes wrong. We all wanted to play loud rock music."

But they are not telling the whole story. Their album, Trash Hit, was talked about on MTV Hive and in Rolling Stone, The Village Voice, Pitchfork and other big name music Bibles. They toured with Sleigh Bells and CSS and played at Webster Hall and the Paradise Rock Club. Who would have expected it in their childhood days when Sylvester played trumpet, Morello studied piano and voice and Adam played the trombone?

"Tennis is so conservative. There's the gentleman's club. This and that. The stigma that tennis has. I don't really wear anything. I wear high socks. That's the only reason I get that much publicity for what I have worn. It's colorful stuff, but I've had a few people talk to me in the lockers like, 'Bethanie, you're getting boring!' It's for me. Some people hate it. Some people love it," Bethanie Mattek-Sands says.Bethanie Mattek-Sands

Tennis fans refer to her as the tennis world's Lady Gaga. "I kind of got deemed the nickname. A lot of the stuff I wear on court isn't that crazy in the entertainment world."

It's hard to believe but people might have never heard of Mattek-Sands. "I started playing tennis when I was 5. Right around that time when I had to move to Florida, when I was 12, I had to make the decision which sport I wanted to play. I had done really well in tennis as a junior," Mattek-Sands remembers, talking about how she might have wound up training for martial arts, gymnastics or basketball.

Brian Balthazar loves cooking, traveling, designing and music. A friend of Charo, he also loves dogs and Diet Coke. However, for people who know him from television like The Today Show (USA), MSNBC, VH1, CBS and his spot on "Fashion Week" coverage, he is a comedian, television presenter and the creator of PopGoestheWeek.com appearing to talk celebrity gossip…and not a hair model, just the way he likes it.Brian Balthazar

"While I'll admit sometimes the comic in me really wants to take a jab at a celebrity whose being ridiculous, I try really, really hard to be nice. I don't always succeed! I mean, Charlie Sheen, come on. I can't resist a few comments about him now and then! I go back to my mindset that the site is 'just between us friends!' What's a little juicy conversation between millions of friends?" he says.

"I am really fascinated by how something can become a phenomenon online. Whether it's a video of Maru the cat or Susan Boyle, it's really amazing that something can start out as a random

"A lot of people don't know that I love to ride my bike in my off time," says Julian Serrano, Executive Chef at Picasso, a restaurant within Las Vegas' famous Bellagio Hotel.Chef Julian Serrano

Just as Lance Armstrong never aimed to be like other cyclists in his methods and training, Serrano, the leisurely rider and "cyclist" in the kitchen explains, "I try not to worry about what other restaurants are doing. I buy the best produce and ingredients I can find and we do the best that we can to create a fun and memorable experience for our guests. I would have to say my favorite dishes are my Huevos Estrellados, Stuffed Piquillo Peppers, Avocado Cannelloni with Salmon and Raspberry and Tuna Skewers."

"My restaurant has a good energy and it's very welcoming with open spaces. And tapas promote conversation, which helps keep the good energy. The food we serve here is all Spanish influence with several traditional and new tapas. My guests should definitely order the sangria or the Serrano cocktail. Both are

"Our lead guitar player grew up on a bus with something like 30 cats. Our bass player was the whitest man in the highlands of Kenya for a summer. Our rhythm guitarist has driven truck from one end if this country to the other. Our drummer has a baby and I once thought I was gonna play college football until I fell off a cliff on my mountain bike," says Twon, lead singer of the rock band Hoodless.Hoodless

"We don't like describing our sound in musical terms, or comparing ourselves to others. That's for the critics and our fans to do for themselves," Twon says. "As a group, we've become more efficient with our riffs and melodies. Our sound has become more streamlined, so the power of the sound goes right from the ears to the soul."

The band has opened for the Red Hot Chili Peppers and had its "Don't Waste Your Time" video play on HBO, but Twon says they play directly for fans, not the industry. "What makes us feel special is when fans find meaning in the music that we didn't even know was

Singer/Songwriter Danni RosnerSinger/songwriter Danni Rosner says there is a lot people don't know about her. "I grew up in Tokyo, Japan. I hosted a music video TV show on national channel MHz Worldview for three years in Washington, DC. I love to travel and I can speak Italian. I can beatbox, and I really enjoy going hiking and running. I'm a nut for health food; and if I don't have oatmeal every morning, I get really cranky."

Everything she does now is influenced by the past: her love of other artists and her parents' music. "Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are truly inspirational. Grace is like a modern day Tina Turner, and I channeled their power when I sang at Amateur Night at the Apollo in 2009 (and won!) with a rendition of 'Chain of Fools' by Aretha Franklin. It's my dream to tour with them! I also love Jamie Cullum, Gavin DeGraw, Adele, Missy Higgins, Nathaniel Rateliff and Bon Iver," she says.

"I remember singing along and improvising melodies sitting next to my dad, while he played a Fender Rhodes