Sage

  Onion and sage focaccia Total time: 1½ hours, plus cooling time Serves: Makes 1 focaccia; each focaccia yields 8 slices Our recipes, your kitchen: If you try any of chef Nancy Silverton's recipes for the L.A. Times Test Kitchen, please share your photos of the finished dish so we can showcase them on our food blog and occasionally in print. Upload your photos here. 1 risen focaccia dough 2 ounces low-moisture mozzarella cheese, cut into generous ½-inch cubes 1/2 large cubed Spanish onion, from a whole onion halved lengthwise and cut into 1-inch cubes (each cube will have several layers of onion)

The teacher and the student still are in the classroom this late in the season, the lessons of how best to play this game of basketball being taught. Whether it's during a game or at practice or riding the team bus or flying on the Clippers' chartered jet, sage veteran Chauncey Billups has bestowed his wisdom upon young DeAndre Jordan . Jordan, 24, and Billups, 36, have developed a bond that has benefited the center and the Clippers. "I look at him a lot," Jordan said. "No disrespect to our coaches, but I'm looking at him and he's like, 'Get over there' if I mess up. He'll tell you. He doesn't care if you get mad at him. But at the end of the day, I know he's telling me the right thing.

Total time: 40 minutes Servings: 4 Note: Adapted from Alain Passard's "The Art of Cooking With Vegetables" 1/4 cup salted butter Leaves from 4 sprigs fresh sage 3 cloves of garlic, lightly smashed and peeled 2 pounds fingerling potatoes Fleur de sel or salt of your choice 1. Put the butter in a small heat-proof casserole or Dutch oven — preferably made of enameled cast iron — and set it...

MAMMOTH LAKES, Calif. - Howard Sheckter was a painfully shy 10-year-old when he found his calling in a Glendora hailstorm. As lightning and thunder crackled all around him, he looked up and felt chunks of ice bounce off his cheeks. The experience ignited an obsession. FOR THE RECORD: An earlier version of this article misspelled Sheckter's name as Schecter. "My mother's telephone bills were huge because I was calling the weather service 10 times a day," said Sheckter, now 62. "One day, my mother called the operator and asked, 'What number is this?

Planting and care tips Planting: Start now and start small. One-gallon sages planted now in advance of winter rains should be given a hole four times the width and two to three times the depth of the nursery container. Before planting, soak the hole three or four times and allow the water to infiltrate. Loosen any bound roots, then use existing soil (not garden center planting soil) to fill around the seedling. Ensure that the root crown is not buried. Watering: Deep water at a trickle for five minutes once a week for a month, then allow the rains to take over.

With items ranging from a private master class with tap dancer Gregory Hines to boxing gloves signed by Sugar Ray Leonard, $110,000 in bids were gaveled-down at an auction for Sage--a child-care center in South-Central Los Angeles. About 175 guests gathered at Christie's auction house in Beverly Hills for the "Afternoon of Giving" benefit featuring a champagne reception, hors d'oeuvres and live auction.

A savory take on bread pudding, this hearty dish is studded with chanterelle mushrooms. Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses add a wonderful richness, with fresh thyme and sage to round out the harmony. The dish, a perfect side or main dish, comes together in about an hour. For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery here . Food Editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less. ALSO: Apples 101...

Many gardens go without sage in California, but at the cost of soul. Sage is to the West what lavender is to France. Sage -- or, in botanical terms, salvia -- has it all: Its pungent aromas contain the signature scent of the Western chaparral. The silvers, grays and greens of its foliage anchor the local Craftsman color wheel, and the long-running show of flowers comes in a spectrum of white to pink to mauve to scarlet to purple to indigo to sky blue. Many sages have long had medicinal and culinary applications, but for modern Californians, they're a balm to the eyes.

Regarding "Greater Sage Grouse" [Field Guide; Feb. 1]: While [I was] hunting for sage grouse this fall, a Department of Fish and Game biologist told me that the hunting program in California has little or no impact on the populations. The current season is two days; permits are limited and dependent on the population counts. Steve Jones Glendora

Autumn sage ("Seductive Scent of the West," Sept. 9) sounds like it's a wonderful plant to have if you live in Arizona, Texas or Mexico, where the plant is native. Why not focus on the many amazing native sages, such as Salvia pachyphylla (rose sage) with its amazing purple- and rose-colored blooms, the sweet scent of Salvia spathacea (hummingbird sage) or Salvia clevelandii (Cleveland sage), with its beautiful purple blooms and fragrance? Most natives are easy to grow and anything but finicky.

Chef Shawn McClain will soon open his first pizzeria inside Las Vegas' Aria resort , a property at which he has run the popular, upscale Sage restaurant since CityCenter's opening three years ago. The eatery, called FIVE50, is to open this spring. The name comes from what's considered to be the ideal temperature for baking pizzas, 550 degrees. “I would say it's 50% pizza and 50% bar,” McClain told me. “We wanted to capture the soul of an East Coast, New York pizzeria and combine it with a fresh, edgy, soulful bar.” McClain said he has spent the last several months researching what makes a great pizza.

A savory take on bread pudding, this hearty dish is studded with chanterelle mushrooms. Gruyere and Emmentaler cheeses add a wonderful richness, with fresh thyme and sage to round out the harmony. The dish, a perfect side or main dish, comes together in about an hour. For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery here . Food Editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less. ALSO: Apples 101...

Melted cheese on crisp bread -- is it any wonder grilled cheese sandwiches are one of our favorite comfort foods? For a slight twist on the classic, wedge some grated fontina cheese between slices of country white bread, the simple sandwich brushed with fresh sage-infused olive oil before grilling. The smooth, slightly-nutty cheese pairs well with fragrant herb, making for a sandwich that is perfect for dinner, or any time of the day. For more quick-fix dinner ideas, check out our video recipe gallery . Food Editor Russ Parsons and Test Kitchen manager Noelle Carter show you how to fix a dozen dishes in an hour or less.

Sage Stallone, eldest son of Sylvester Stallone, died of natural causes -- heart disease, specifically -- the Los Angeles County coroner's office said Thursday. The actor-writer-producer died of coronary artery disease, with the coroner mentioning the 36-year-old's history of heavy smoking, L.A. Now reported. Family members reportedly said he'd cut back before his death. Toxicology tests came back "negative except for a sub-therapeutic level of hydrocodone," or Vicodin, the coroner said.

Sylvester Stallone asked for privacy in July after his son Sage died, but with "The Expendables 2" about to open, the action star is back in the spotlight and saying a few words. His 36-year-old son's passing was "tough," Stallone said Tuesday on " Good Morning America ," where he appeared with his "Expendables" costars. "It's very, very tough. " Still, life goes on. "If you have good friends and your family support, it's just something that  - it's a horrible situation - but time hopefully will heal and you try to get through it," he said.

The investigation into the death of Sage Stallone, eldest son of actor Sylvester Stallone, has headed in a pharmaceutical direction, with authorities looking into the source of large bottles of prescription medication found empty at the scene. Sage Stallone was found dead in his Studio City home on Friday. Though it was still unclear if prescription drugs played a part in the actor-writer-producer's unexpected death, the amount of empty bottles found was enough to merit investigation, law enforcement sources told L.A. Now . An autopsy was conducted over the weekend, with results still out pending toxicology tests.

The greater sage grouse, a symbol of the West's dwindling sagebrush landscapes, should be protected under the Endangered Species Act but won't be for at least another year, Interior Department officials announced Friday. Instead, the department issued a "warranted but precluded" designation for the bird, meaning that it meets scientific criteria for protection but that other species are a higher priority. Its status will be reviewed annually. Listing the grouse as endangered or threatened could have frozen oil and gas projects across Western states, and probably would have ended greater sage grouse hunting, permitted by several states.

Sage Stallone had major dental surgery two weeks before he was found dead at home, according to his mother, who said she warned her son against having five teeth pulled on the same day. “I told him not to do that. I've heard about people dying having multiple procedures done to your mouth. Do not have more than one tooth [pulled],” Sasha Czack told the New York Post on Monday. Czack suggested to the Post that it was possible her son was taking painkillers following surgery.

Sylvester Stallone wants to silence the “the speculation and questionable reporting” around Sage Stallone's death. "The Expendables"  actor's 36-year-old son was found dead at home Friday afternoon, and an autopsy was conducted over the weekend. "When a parent loses a child there is no greater pain,” Sly told TMZ in a statement. "Therefore I am imploring people to respect my talented son's memory and feel compassion for his loving mother, Sasha. " Authorities told  The Times that foul play was not suspected in the death of Sage, who made his film debut at 14 opposite his father playing  Rocky Balboa Jr. in "Rocky V.” PHOTOS: Notable deaths of 2012 "This agonizing loss will be felt for the rest of our lives," Sylvester Stallone continued in the statement.