Barbecue

Center for Spiritual Living La Crescenta Sixth annual Cowboy Church The Center for Spiritual Living presents its sixth annual Cowboy Church featuring Cody Bryant and the Riders of the Purple Sage at 10 a.m. July 5. The concert will be followed by a Western barbecue. This year, the Center welcomes Father Ted Ley of St. Ann’s parish in Los Angeles, who will be participating in the service. Donation for the barbecue is $20 for adults, $12.50 for kids 6 to 12, and $7.50 for kids under 5. For more information and to make reservations, call (818)

“What you focus on expands.” — Buddha   At the Crescenta Valley Chamber we are focusing on the 4th annual Hometown Country Fair and it is expanding into such a great weekend of family fun entertainment. It is being held Friday, April 24 and Saturday, April 25 at Crescenta Valley Park on the corner of Dunsmore and Honolulu avenues. Friday evening includes carnival rides for the whole family, entertainment, an old fashioned family barbecue and refreshments, including beer and wine for those over 21 years of age. The carnival rides start right after school at 3 p.m. and at 4 p.m. the barbecue starts cooking up hamburgers and hot dogs for a family dinner filled with entertainment, live bands and fun until 9:30 p.m. On Saturday, the fun starts back up at 10 a.m. with a full day of entertainment provided by dance troops, singers, bands, martial arts, pets parades and much more.

Author speaks about her book Tony Johnston, author of “Any Small Goodness,” will be speaking about her book at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Glendale Central Library Auditorium, at 222 E. Harvard St. Copies of the book for the author to sign will be available for purchase at the event. For more information, call (818) 548-2042.   Church holding fall festival Saturday The Church for the Nations will host a Community Fall Festival from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the church’s new location at 1015 N. Central Ave. There will be live music, face painting and a moon bounce along with a barbecue lunch.

Crescenta Valley High School parents went from classroom to classroom during back-to-school night activities on Sept. 18, learning what lies ahead for their students this school year. Before meeting teachers, many enjoyed a barbecue sponsored by Prom Plus, the parent organization that sponsors an after-prom event at the YMCA. For the first time, Prom Plus has joined the Kiwanis Incredible Duck Splash fundraiser. Participants can adopt a rubber duck that will ‘race’ for prizes.

Without a doubt, barbecue is the national comfort food of the United States. Whether you are grilling hamburgers and hot dogs over a backyard charcoal grill or smoking baby backs in a smoker the size of an RV, barbecued meat, poultry, fish and vegetables are an American staple that dominates, especially during those hot summer months. Kansas City, Texas and North and South Carolina each claims to be the barbecue capital of the U.S. When you talk about barbecue, every place has its own distinct ideas and flavors, including Downtown Burbank.

The menu for the day was chicken, green salad, crudités, cookies, Kool-Aid Popsicles and iced tea. The cooks were 11- and 12-year-olds taking a summer enrichment class at Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta about barbecue cooking and chili. Since June, the boys and girls have been learning about food preparation, safe food-handling techniques, cuts of meat, the history of barbecue cooking and, of course, how to cook. The class — under the guidance of teacher Lynn McGinnis — meets four times a week for six weeks during the summer.

The Glendale News-Press visited Rosemont Middle School in La Crescenta and asked students in a cooking and barbecuing summer enrichment class: “What’s your favorite dish that you’ve made this summer and why?”   “I enjoyed making the Caesar salad because a lot of interesting things went into it, and it was my own recipe.” WILLIAM VOSE, 12         “When we made the hamburger because I got to grill on the barbecue for the first time ever in my life.

BURBANK — The Burbank Democratic Club held its third annual picnic Saturday at Johnny Carson Park as its members talked politics and received updates from the region’s elected officials. The event, co-sponsored by the Democratic Clubs in Glendale and the northeast San Fernando Valley, featured talks from Rep. Adam Schiff, state Sen. Jack Scott, Assemblyman Paul Krekorian and gave members the opportunity to talk about the June 3 primary. “Were here to get out the vote,” Burbank Democratic Club President Janet Reynolds said.

CITY HALL — A citywide push to force Glendale’s once numerous open-air grills indoors claimed its final and longtime delinquent restaurant Wednesday after the Planning Commission voted to uphold the illegality of its outdoor barbecue. Karoun Restaurant lost its appeal to the zoning administrator’s decision in July to deny a variance that would have allowed the south Glendale restaurant and banquet hall to maintain the outdoor barbecue grill, despite arguments from its representatives that city officials had told them years ago that the operation was legal.