A limited-time, blush-hued “Clueless” suite at the L’Ermitage Beverly Hills boasts a walk-in closet complete with a Cher-worthy wardrobe curated from Bloomingdale’s by costume designer Mona May, according to the hotel.

A stay in the suite — which features fun details like fuzzy pens, a Polaroid camera and “Clueless”-themed turn-down treats — also comes with a $100 gift card to spend at Bloomingdale’s, a VIP in-store styling appointment, a Dior Beauty makeup session or spa session, and access to a white Jeep Wrangler convertible to cruise around Beverly Hills just like Cher.

From July 12 through Sept. 1, the 750-square-foot suite can be booked starting at $1,995 per night. Guests are given a free membership to Fitted, the official virtual “Clueless” closet app of the movie’s anniversary campaign.

“It’s just bright and happy as Cher would love it,” Mona May told The Hollywood Reporter of the closet she filled with designer pieces. “The moment you walk in there you are transformed into the world of ‘Clueless.’”

While some of the items in the updated wardrobe might not be completely in line with Cher’s aesthetic — Birkenstocks and bucket hats? As if! — other items seem to be direct nods to the film’s classic costuming, including a bright red fringe frock that signals to the Alaïa dress Cher wore during a hold-up in the Valley.

Amy Heckerling’s loose adaptation of Jane Austen’s “Emma” stars Alicia Silverstone as fashionista “virgin who can’t drive” Cher, alongside best friend Dionne (Stacey Dash), ex-stepbrother-turned love interest Josh (Paul Rudd) and new student Tai (Brittany Murphy) finding their footing as teens and young adults.

Speaking to the Daily News in 2020, Heckerling said she was “overwhelmed with how people are always posting different lines” from the beloved film even 25 years later.

“You had to make an appointment with yourself to be by the TV, so it was really special,” recalls Ryfle, an author and co-writer of the Emmy-winning documentary “Miracle on 42nd Street” (and, I’ll note, a friend since our time as young journalists). 

“The Japanese films always appealed to me the most. They were intriguing because they took place in a world that was unfamiliar, a culture that was unfamiliar.”

Godzilla, he says, was especially captivating to a dinosaur-loving kid.

“Of course, when you’re younger, you’re into dinosaurs,” he says. “Godzilla seemed like the greatest dinosaur I’d ever seen, and it did all these crazy things, and I just loved it.”

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But back then, beyond a few fanzines or horror magazines, it wasn’t as easy as it is now to find information about less mainstream interests or connect with like-minded fans. 

“There really wasn’t anything to read about these films in any detail. And I remember as a child asking a bookstore clerk if there were books on Godzilla, and he actually laughed at me and asked why I would ever want to read anything like that,” says Ryfle. “That stuck in my brain.”

Clearly. 

Along with Ed Godziszewski, with whom he co-wrote 2017’s “Ishiro Honda: A Life in Film,” Ryfle is the co-author of the massive new book “Godzilla: The First 70 Years,” a 432-page, nearly 6-pound book filled with stories, interviews, breakout boxes, and more than 900 photos of one of cinema’s most enduring figures. The writing duo will be appearing as part of an overall Godzilla onslaught at this year’s San Diego Comic-Con.

The book, which features introductions by “Halloween” and “The Thing” directing legend John Carpenter and recurring Godzilla actress Megumi Odaka, is the culmination of an effort by the publisher and Toho Studios to mark the anniversary with the ultimate English-language book examining the narrative and visual history of the films, says Ryfle.

“Dating back to 1954, Godzilla has, of course, gone through all of these different iterations and evolutions and changes and its motivation and its personality and the way it’s depicted on screen, and even the techniques that are used to bring it to life,” says Ryfle, who points to the recent box office success and critical respect for 2023’s “Godzilla Minus One.” “I mean, who would have thought 70 years ago that a Godzilla movie made in Japan would win an Academy Award? It would have been impossible, and yet here we are.”

“It’s a real evolution from the time when these movies were sort of misunderstood and just relegated to the scrap heap of low-budget cinema they were assumed to be.”

“Obviously, there are interesting stories to tell about these movies and the people who made them,” he says. “It’s really kind of a celebration of the people and the culture that they come from. The people who made these movies were proud of the work that they did, because they were basically, by and large, handmade films.”

Unlike other schlocky midcentury genre movies, the original Godzilla films reflected Japan’s experience during and after World War II. The films were a response not only to the devastation caused by the U.S. detonating atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but also to the firebombing of Tokyo in which nearly 300 U.S. planes dropped 1665 tons of napalm on the city, creating a firestorm and killing 100,000 people in what the Truman Library Institute called “the most devastating aerial bombardment in history.”

“Godzilla, at its very heart from the very beginning, is a monster rooted in trauma,” says Ryfle. “It’s also really about that collective experience of the war and the struggle and the hardships that people went through – and also the collective experience of the post-war period when the economy was in shambles and there were food shortages and political unrest and unemployment and deprivation of extreme magnitude.” 

There are images in the original film that directly correspond to wartime destruction, says Ryfle.“When I’m giving talks about the first Godzilla film, I’ll show stills of Tokyo on fire,” says Ryfle, referring to actual photos taken during wartime bombing raids. “I’ll put up these two pictures side by side … it’s almost like a mirror image.”

As well as exploring the film’s inspirations – such as the original “King Kong,” which had been a huge success upon re-release just a few years before the initial Godzilla film – Ryfle and Godziszewski did interviews and scoured archives for fresh insights – and found things that surprised them despite having decades of experience writing about the films.

“Ed and I’ve been writing together for a number of years and working on a lot of different projects. We actually met 30 years ago at the very first Godzilla convention that they had in Chicago,” says Ryfle, praising his writing partner Godziszewski as “a legend” when it comes to knowing the topic and where to dig up information.

Not only did they discover the audio elements of the iconic Godzilla roar – many of the monster cries were made with different musical instruments, says Ryfle – but they also learned something surprising about the changing face of Godzilla over the years.

“From 1954 to, say, 1975, the suit looks different pretty much in almost every film, and I always thought that that was on purpose. But no, they actually made the suits, at least for about the first 15 years, from the same mold. They just came out differently every time,” says Ryfle, who credits the actor inside the suit, Haruo Nakajima, both for his artistry and his superhuman stamina. “The very first suit was almost unusable. It weighed so much and the interior of it was almost inflexible … the guy tried to walk in it and just tipped over.”

“It was impossible to be inside without suffocating if you were in it for more than a few minutes … it was almost a death sentence to do this stuff,” says Ryfle, adding that Nakajima would sweat out dozens of pounds during filming. “They would have to pour the sweat out of the suit every day, and then dry out the interior for the next day, because it was just a sauna in there. 

Though the “man-in-the-suit” aspect could sometimes be viewed as comical, Ryfle says Nakajima’s work was instrumental in the creature’s evolution and popularity.

“I attribute a large part of the success of those movies to Haruo Nakajima, who played Godzilla for roughly the first 18 years of the first cycle of Godzilla films,” says Ryfle, while also praising the original film’s special effects wizard, director and cast. “He was just a wonderful man who died a couple of years ago. He loved his work, and he’s largely responsible for the personality that starts to come through.”

“He turns Godzilla from a walking nuclear bomb into a character over a period of time,” says Ryfle.

While we discussed a range of topics and there’s much more in the book, Ryfle summed up the project as we were concluding the conversation.

“Someone asked me, like, what was your goal at the start of it?” he says. “We wanted to make the best Godzilla book for the widest possible audience. 

“I’ve always felt from the beginning that [the films] were unfairly maligned and misunderstood, and that maybe I could help, especially after I started meeting the creators and realizing what passion they had for their work,and starting to understand how culturally specific these films are.”

But he also understands another reason for Godzilla’s lasting power.

“On a gut level, no matter what’s going on in the film and how quote-unquote ‘serious’ it is as a movie,” says Ryfle, “people really want to see the spectacle of Godzilla destroying things.”

Along with the Comic-Con appearance, the authors will be appearing at Santa Ana’s Frida Cinema on July 28 for a book signing and screening of “Ghidorah, The Three-Headed Monster!” and at the Japan Center Los Angeles on July 30 for a free talk (registration required) with books for sale from Chevalier’s Books.

The premise is straightforward: With Sheindlin presiding as judge and attorneys Larry Bakman and Dan Mentzer as the attorneys facing off, a real court case is recreated on a television set, moot court-style, and interspersed with dramatic recreations of the crime itself. It’s a ripped-from-the-headlines sensibility.

“While we’re not going to recreate the trials verbatim, all the courts’ ultimate decisions are accurate,” Sheindlin says at the top of each episode. “It will be up to you to decide whether the case was fair and the outcome just.” The show’s tagline: “Real cases. Actual lawyers. Surprising verdicts.”

To assess the series, it’s worth thinking about why the original “Judge Judy” remained popular for so long. The schadenfreude of watching her tear into someone who was refusing to take responsibility was a big factor. But I always liked that the show featured a cross section of Americans whose lives are rarely given much attention on TV. Grievances and interpersonal clashes of the poor and working class were taken just as seriously as anyone else’s. All were equal before the withering gaze of Judge Judy.

The show was shamelessly tacky, which was perhaps some of the appeal as well, which has only gotten more pronounced with her subsequent efforts. Perhaps “Justice on Trial” is an effort to combat some of that, because instead of exploiting yet another interpersonal conflict for ratings, the intention here seems focused on helping laypeople understand why, as Sheindlin says in every intro, “justice doesn’t always end up feeling just.”

She’s trying to explain how the law works. Sure. Fine. Great. But the context in which the show is premiering makes this a surreal project, where legal rights and principles we were once told were sacrosanct are being eroded. It’s hard to take anything Sheindlin says seriously, considering the real-world backdrop we’re currently living through.

A disclaimer runs at the beginning of each episode: “Although some details have been altered, the outcomes are very real.” What details have been altered, and why? No information is forthcoming. Some of the cases are more interesting than others. The most fascinating, from the late 1980s, involves an abusive father who is also a diplomat from Zimbabwe who claims he can’t be prosecuted because he has diplomatic immunity. Sheindlin actually ruled on the case before it was appealed to a higher court.

The man is accused of beating his 9-year-old son and the details are gruesome; the boy says he was tied up by the arms and whipped, sometimes with a belt or electrical cord. His mother and sister were allegedly forced to watch. When he collapsed at school, child protective services removed him from the home. The father is seeking his son’s return.

According to international law, Shiendlin says, “high-level diplomats are not subject to the laws of the foreign country where they serve. So they cannot be prosecuted for the crimes they commit. But what about the rights of a child from Zimbabwe living in America and being abused by his father?” The reasons why diplomats have immunity are explained and they make sense, but Sheindlin’s researchers either could not or didn’t bother to follow up and see if they could find out what fate ultimately befell the boy in the years since the case was decided.

Another case involves a traffic stop that led to the discovery of a dead body. The issue at hand concerns evidence that is considered “fruit of the poisoned tree” (a conflict beloved by “Law & Order” writers for decades). Another case centers on a lawsuit that argues hate speech is not protected under free speech. These are all good debates. In theory. But ultimately, this feels like such a hacky exercise. In one dramatic recreation, someone drinking wine gets so upset, their hand contracts into a fist, crushing the glass they’re holding. I’ve never seen this happen in real life, but more to the point, it’s silly.

The courtroom set and lighting are similar enough to that of the other shows Sheindlin produces that it’s likely they’re just being repurposed for this series. The judges from “Hot Bench” are the appellate court. The overall vibe is: Sure, we’re doing this on a budget in an artificial setting — with extras in the gallery as audience — but viewers are meant to take this seriously. The aesthetics, however, are that of a grimier show.

“Justice on Trial” — 2 stars (out of 4)

Where to watch: Amazon

Nina Metz is a Tribune critic.

PITTSBURGH — Summer is a time when many of us eat at least some of our meals outdoors, which means looking for bright and delicious dishes that hold up to the rigors of car travel.

Those trips can come in the form of rolling out to a cookout or neighborhood get-together, but warm and sunny weather and kids being home from school also inspires impromptu picnics and trips to the pool, too — or maybe the beach or mountains, if you’re lucky.

No one can blame you for if you’d rather silence a growling stomach with something quick from Sheetz’s MTO menu while — say — passing through Breezewood on your way to Washington, D.C. It’s easy-in, and easy-out and still relatively affordable.

But here’s a pitch from someone who spends hours (and hours) on the road each month making weekend trips to Northern Virginia: homemade eats are almost always cheaper and healthier than ones you get from a fast food or fast-casual restaurant.

Packing a picnic basket or cooler with scratch salads, sandwiches and desserts that you can reach for whenever you get the munchies on route is also quicker for those of us who like to get where they’re going in the shortest amount of time possible.

I used to shake my head at my mother whenever she would limit my dad to just an ice cream cone for lunch or dinner when they traveled. But now that I’m a weekend road warrior myself, I think she might have been on to something.

Then again, I love to eat (a lot) as much as I like to save time and money. So planning a simple menu that can go with me wherever I decide to journey this summer might be a better idea.

The five recipes that follow make good on that plan in that all are easy to make in a short amount of time, with even limited culinary skills. And, importantly, they travel well.

Each is easy to pack and portion, relatively mess-free to eat with your hands or a plastic fork and can withstand a few hours tucked into a cooler, refrigerated bag or wicker picnic basket.

For sandwich lovers, we’ve got a meat- and veggie-packed Italian pressed sandwich that’s as fun to make as it is to eat. After assembling them, you wrap the sandwiches in plastic, place something heavy on top to flatten the bread (I used foil-wrapped bricks, but a cast-iron skillet also works) and then place them in the fridge so the flavors can melt into one another.

The result is a sandwich that’s not only more compact and portable, but one you can make well ahead and then just grab on the go.

Because people are eating more plant-based foods, we also have three vegetarian recipes that can easily be scooped while on a beach towel or in back seat of the family car. There’s a crunchy broccoli salad that’s tossed in a tangy vinaigrette instead of a more traditional mayo-based dressing; a cheesy and vegetable-forward pasta salad; and a creamy, five-ingredient hummus that brings it home with citrus.

And because no one ever said no to a homemade cookie, we also are including a recipe for cinnamon-and-sugar dusted snickerdoodles.

The chewy cookies might not scream “summer” in the same way as the chocolate soft serve on a cake cone my dad had to make do with on car trips, especially when it’s so hot outside. But they’re just as sweet, a lot less messy, and if you pace yourself to just one at a time, will last a little longer.

Some tips for flawless food transportation:

—If you’re transporting food that needs to stay cold, consider pre-chilling your cooler by filling it with an ice bath (and then draining it) before packing.

—Because coolers work best when they’re full, choose one that’s just large enough to hold your food, plus a little ice on top.

—Avoid leaks! Use sturdy containers with tight-fitting lids.

—Square and rectangle containers take up less space in a cooler or picnic basket.

—To minimize opening the cooler (and keeping food cold), pack your food in the order you will be eating it — sandwiches on the bottom, snacks on top.

—Divide food into individual portions before packing to make snacking and eating easier on the go.

—Don’t forget napkins, plastic tableware, serving spoons, a bag for trash and hand sanitizer.

Pressed Italian Sandwiches

PG tested

Who doesn’t love a big ol’ sandwich?

These filling sammies are layered with a hearty mix of Italian meats, roasted red peppers, pesto, arugula and fresh mozzarella and then pressed under a weight (I used foil-wrapped bricks) until they are flat. A homemade olive tapenade adds a fresh, briny flavor.

Easily doubled to feed a crowd, these sandwiches are best made with a loaf or mini ciabatta, but any long and wide, crusty white bread will work, too. I used salami, prosciutto and soppressata, but you can easily individualize them with mortadella, ham, coppa or any other favorite meat.

1 loaf ciabatta or other long/wide crusty white bread, cut in half lengthwise with a serrated knife

4 tablespoons pesto, homemade or jarred

4 tablespoons olive tapenade, homemade or jarred

4 ounces salami, thinly sliced

4 ounces prosciutto, thinly sliced

4 ounces spicy soppressata

8 ounces mozzarella, sliced

1/2 cup roasted red peppers from a jar, drained well and chopped

1/2 cup pepperoncini rings, drained well

2 large handfuls arugula

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

Spread one side with the split ciabatta with pesto and the other with the olive tapenade.

Layer the three meats down the length of one half of ciabatta. Top the meats evenly with the roasted red peppers and pepperoncini.

Add mozzarella cheese in an even layer and season lightly with salt. Place arugula in a bowl, drizzle with the olive oil and balsamic, and season with a pinch more salt.

Place dressed arugula on top of cheese, and place the other half of ciabatta on top and press down firmly.

Wrap the loaf tightly in plastic and place on a sheet pan. Put another sheet pan upside down on top and weight it with something heavy, like a cast-iron skillet. (I used bricks wrapped in aluminum foil.)

Let the sandwich sit to press and chill overnight in the fridge. Slice crosswise into 6 even pieces and serve. To take on a picnic, wrap each sandwich in parchment, and tie with a pie of twine.

Serves 6.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Easy Pasta Salad

PG tested

Nothing is easier to throw together quickly (and cheaply) than a big bowl of pasta salad. Since it’s summer, this iteration is dressed up with fresh veggies that are easy to find at any market in July — cherry tomatoes, cucumbers, greens and Italian garden herbs. The fact that even picky kids will eat pasta salad — especially when it includes mozzarella — makes it even more of a winner.

If you want to pack the dish with a little extra protein, stir in a can of chickpeas (rinsed).

For pasta

3 cups uncooked tubed or curly pasta

Extra virgin olive oil

2 large handfuls of cherry tomatoes

2 Persian cucumbers

2 cups arugula or baby spinach

1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn

1/2 cup minced fresh parsley

1/2 cup chopped fresh mint leaves

4 ounces fresh mozzarella, torn into bite-sized pieces

1 ounce Parmigiano-Reggiano, grated

1/4 cup toasted pine nuts, optional

For dressing

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus more for drizzling

3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 small clove garlic, minced

Pinch of dried oregano

Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water. When al dente, drain and toss with a little olive oil so it doesn’t stick together. Set aside to cool while you prepare vegetables.

Slice cherry tomatoes in half and cucumbers into half moons. Add to bowl with arugula or spinach, basil, parsley and mint.

Whisk together dressing ingredients in a small bowl or jar. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Add pasta to the bowl with the veggies, add mozzarella balls and Parmigiano-Reggiano, drizzle on the dressing and toss well to combine.

Serves 6.

— Gretchen McKay, Post-Gazette

Lemon Hummus with Homemade Pita

PG tested

I never ate hummus growing up — tahini was still considered kind of exotic in the 1970s and early ’80s — but boy, do my grandkids love the thick, chickpea-based Mediterranean dip. Even 18-month-old Theo gobbles it with gusto, sometimes just with a spoon.

Hummus can be flavored with a lot of spices and add-ins, including garlic, olives and red pepper, but the spread really sings when it is brightened with citrus.

For a car trip or picnic, serve with crackers, pretzels, pita chips or apple slices. If you’re really ambitious, pair the dip with wedges of homemade pita bread.

For hummus

1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1/3 cup smooth tahini

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste

1 garlic clove

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

5 tablespoons water, or as needed to blend

Paprika, red pepper flakes, and/or fresh parsley, for garnish, optional

For pita

3/4 cup warm water

1 package active dry yeast, 2 1/4 teaspoons

1 teaspoon plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided

3 3/4 cups bread flour, plus more for dusting

1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt

3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for the bowl

3/4 cup whole-milk Greek yogurt

Prepare hummus: In a high-speed blender, place chickpeas, tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and salt.

Use the blender baton to blend until very smooth, adding water as needed to reach your desired consistency.

Refrigerate until ready to serve,

Make pita: In a medium bowl, combine water, yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let the mixture sit until it’s foamy on top, about 5 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour, salt and remaining tablespoon of sugar.

Add the yeast mixture, oil and yogurt, and mix to combine. Knead the dough, either in the stand mixer on medium speed or by hand on a clean work surface, adding more flour if needed, until it’s soft and slightly sticky, 7-10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover with a towel or plastic wrap, and let rise until it’s doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 500 degrees and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide it into 12 equal balls. Cover and let rise an additional 20 minutes.

Roll the balls out into circles that are 1/4 – to 1/2 -inch thick. Place onto the baking sheets an inch apart, then bake, one sheet at a time, until they’re puffy and lightly browned on top.

Bake about 8 minutes, rotating the pan after the 5-minute mark if one side of the sheet is puffing up more than the other. Transfer pitas to a wire rack to cool.

— loveandlemons.com

Broccoli, Cheese and Apple Salad

PG tested

Broccoli salad is crisp, refreshing and full of flavor. This no-cook, crunchy version is gluten- and nut-free, and if you’re avoiding dairy, the cheese is optional.

Tossed in a tangy vinaigrette instead of a calorie-laden mayonnaise-based dressing, this is a salad you won’t feel guilty eating. Chopped apple and dried cherries add a touch of sweetness.

For salad

1 pound broccoli florets (from 1 1/2 pounds broccoli stalks), thinly sliced and then roughly chopped

1/2 cup finely chopped red onion

1/2 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese, optional

1/3 cup dried cranberries or dried tart cherries, chopped

1 tart apple, peeled, seeded and chopped

For dressing

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard

1 tablespoon honey

1 medium clove garlic, pressed or minced

1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

To a large bowl, add chopped broccoli, onion, cheese, cranberries and apples. Set aside.

In a 1-cup liquid measuring cup or small bowl, combine the dressing ingredients (olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey, garlic and salt). Whisk until the mixture is well blended.

Pour the dressing over the salad and stir until all of the broccoli is lightly coated. I highly recommend letting the salad marinate for at least 20 minutes, or even overnight in the refrigerator.

Divide the salad into individual bowls and serve. Leftovers will keep well for 3-4 days in the fridge, covered.

Serves 8.

— adapted from cookiesandkate.com

Brown Sugar Snickerdoodles

PG tested

A cookie that travels well is one that won’t melt, stacks up neatly in a container and won’t make a mess when you’re eating it. For me, that’s a snickerdoodle with its signature crystalline coat of cinnamon-sugar.

This easy recipe is made with a mix of brown and white sugar, and is heavy on the cinnamon in the topping.

The cookies will spread as they bake, so be sure to place the dough balls 3 inches apart on a parchment paper-covered cookie sheet. I refrigerated the dough for about an hour before baking (it’s soft) and used a cookie scoop for even portioning. I also doubled the recipe because, why not?

If you like a crisper cookie (snickerdoodles are typically chewy in the middle, with crisp edges) let them linger a few minutes longer in the oven.

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/3 cup light brown sugar

1/3 cup white granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1 large egg

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

For the cinnamon-sugar mixture

1/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

In the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat the butter until it’s soft, smooth and light.

Scrape down the bowl, add the sugars to the beaten butter, and mix until they are fully incorporated and lighter in color.

Beat in salt followed by the egg. Mix until the batter looks uniform.

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cornstarch and baking soda. In three additions, beat this slowly into the butter-egg mixture until you see a few dry streaks remaining. Switch to a stiff spatula and gently mix the cookie dough until no more dry flour remains.

Thoroughly whisk together the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Form balls of dough with a medium-sized cookie scoop or a tablespoon measure and plop them in cinnamon-sugar, swirling to coat.

On a parchment-lined cookie sheet, place the dough balls 3 inches apart. Flatten the dough slightly (to about 1/2 – to 3/4 -inch thick) using the bottom of a glass, and sprinkle a little more cinnamon sugar over the flattened surface.

Put into the preheated oven. Bake for 7 minutes, rotate the pan, and bake for another 5-7 minutes (12-14 minutes total), until the edges of the cookies look golden and the tops are crackled but still pale.

Cool on the baking sheet and eat as soon as possible. Snickerdoodles will keep in an airtight container, at room temperature for 3 days.

Makes 12 cookies.

— simplyrecipes.com

©2025 PG Publishing Co. Visit at post-gazette.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Paris Baguette — best-known for its assortment of sweet and savory buns, mochi donuts and flaky croissants, as well as intricately frosted cakes — has installed signage at its upcoming 520 Snowshill St. location, “confirming that the new café is getting closer to opening,” wrote the Frederick City Media Facebook account in a Thursday post. The bakery chain boasts locations across Baltimore County and beyond, including in Owings Mills, Towson, Germantown and Rockville.

According to the post, Paris Baguette aims to reach 1,000 locations by 2030, with more than 180 locations up and running as of this year. The bakery also has a notable international presence, with locations across Asia and Europe.

“Exact opening date for the Frederick location is still unknown at this time,” Frederick City Media wrote on Facebook. “We’ll continue to share updates as they’re announced.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jane Godiner at jgodiner@baltsun.com or on Instagram as @JaneCraves.

The fine dining, southern eatery won in the Outstanding Wine and Other Beverages Program category, and Wolf took to the stage with the restaurant’s wine director, Lindsay Willey, where the chef expressed gratitude for the recognition, Willey and the rest of her staff.

Wolf talked with The Baltimore Sun on Friday about her journey to the win, as well as the impact on Charleston in the weeks following.

Editor’s note: Questions and answers have been edited for brevity and clarity.

What about Lowcountry food first hooked you?

Growing up in North Carolina when I was little — and my parents are both from York, Pennsylvania — my mother was still doing Pennsylvania Dutch cooking. The lady across the street was from an old North Carolina family, and when we were over at their place, Mrs. Thrower would make pound cake. I just remember the first time I ate Carolina pound cake, and, wow, it was just the best dessert I’d ever had in my life.

I think my exposure to southern cooking started when I was little, but as I ended up moving to our new home in Charleston, that was when I really started to learn about Lowcountry cooking — working in restaurants and also working with local people and eating at their house and having their mom’s cooking.

Truly, southern food is food of the home. At that time, no one was doing fancy with fine dining and southern cooking. If they were, it was really much more French than anything — but they weren’t doing down-home southern cooking.

What made you want to bring that style of cooking to Baltimore?

I started it at Georgia Brown’s [restaurant] as the executive chef in Washington, D.C. The people that owned that, I had been working for their company at one of their Italian concepts. I had actually quit because I wanted to go back into fine dining, but then the VP of the company said that they were going to open a fine dining southern restaurant. I thought, “Well, this was meant to be.”

I obviously stayed with the company, and I opened the restaurant for them. Tony Foreman was the opening general manager, and that’s where I met him. A year and a half later, we were married. Tony grew up in Baltimore, and I was familiar with the city. I didn’t know I was making a lifetime decision when I said, “Sure, let’s move to Baltimore and try and open a restaurant,” And 30 years later, here I am.

I was very interested in continuing that food because it is very old, and there’s so many different cultures that affect it, from Native American and West African, particularly the people from Sierra Leone, to Western European, particularly the French, Huguenots and the English. Those influences are so important, and it’s a lot of cultures to begin to understand, so that was one of the reasons why I love Lowcountry food.

How do you inject all that history and culture into the food at Charleston?

I try to walk in the pathways of all of those southern cooks. I really try to do things as authentically as possible. One of the things that helps with doing that is that when I first started working in Charleston [South Carolina] at 19, the general manager was Glenn Roberts, who was part of bringing back Carolina Gold rice and the old heirloom variety corn that was produced in the Charleston area.

We don’t have a lot of history from the time the country became the United States of America, but we have tremendous Native American history and Indigenous peoples’ history. Grits were not a part of that, but it’s that use of corn that is so indicative of the Indigenous peoples’ culture and cooking.

I do a lot of research — I have the Carolina housewife cookbook, I have the old housewife cookbooks that are from the 1800s, I have the first African American woman’s cookbook, and I have many other Geechee and Gullah cookbooks. I found every book and public document I could possibly read about it.

Why is that research important to you?

I think it’s one of the most important cuisines in our country. I believe that the African influence is extremely important to preserve, as well as the Native American influence. Anything I could do as a chef to be a part of that, that’s super important to me. It comes back to the fact that there are French influences because I just love French cooking, you know, I was taught the basics at the Culinary Institute of America. I just love the food, and it’s not really that dissimilar to what I was raised on.

What is it like to work with Willey?

She’s just really good at what she does. I love working with her. She’s also funny. She’s a very smart person, and I love, appreciate and respect her work ethic. She’s just a really good taster, and that’s not something that comes naturally for people.

I was lucky that I grew up eating in great restaurants from the time I was a child and that family was in the food business. I’m meant to do what I do, and I believe that while [Willey] was pursuing a marketing degree and all these things that she was pursuing, and then ended up working for us as a waiter, and then ended up becoming this wine person, that was what she was meant to do. She has a natural instinct, along with the fact that she’s worked hard.

How has it felt to receive all the James Beard nominations and now to finally be recognized with the award?

Honestly, the first time I was nominated, we didn’t even know because it was so long ago, and it came into some obscure email address. The first time I was a finalist, the awards ceremony was at the Essex Hotel ballroom, and that’s how far it’s come. We were just at the Lyric Opera House [for the most recent awards], and it’s a black-tie event, but we used to sit in rowed banquet chairs.

Honestly, after being so excited about it so many times and then not winning, I go there with a pit in my stomach, certain that I’m not going to win. I support the industry wholeheartedly, but I’ll just be honest — I’ve been so disappointed every time. I mean, you hope you’ll win, and then you hear someone else’s name.

But I looked at Lindsay three minutes before they were going to announce it, and I said, “We should just have a plan.”

[For the speech,] three things that were most important to me, and one of them I didn’t do, which was to thank the James Beard Foundation. But I also wanted to thank the people who work for me and thank the immigrants in our country because we would be nothing in the restaurant business without immigration and immigrants. What’s going on in our country is so unbelievably upsetting to me, and I wanted to use my voice. It was a very heartfelt moment for me, and it meant a lot. It meant everything to me to be up there and to be chosen by my peers.

Now that you’re back in Baltimore, what has the atmosphere at Charleston been like?

We’ve been very, very busy. I’m very, very thankful for the energy that’s extremely high in the dining room. Baltimore folks are so supportive and so happy, and it’s overwhelming. They feel good, I feel good, and it’s just a happy thing.

Will there be any changes to the wine program?

We have a huge cellar, and we will continue to improve it. Lindsay will probably make me buy even more top-tier wines. One of the hardest things for a restaurant is the depth of age, and that’s another goal of mine and a bit more of a challenge.

Have you noticed your customer base change at all?

I feel like it has. We’re getting a lot of wine people in; we’re getting more chefs in. I felt like there’s been a change, frankly, immediately. At tables, I’m talking a lot about wine, and I’m talking a lot about high-end food. There is very vibrant conversation about both at the table right now, which is very cool for me because there’s not much more I’d like to talk about.

Have a news tip? Contact Jane Godiner at jgodiner@baltsun.com or on Instagram as @JaneCraves.

General Daily Insight for July 28, 2025

We’re filling our cups and pouring into others. With loving Venus working to assist sore Chiron at 12:55 pm EDT, grudges can melt away, equilibrium can return, and compassionate people can enter our lives. The precise Moon then joins with exciting Mars, encouraging us to give back with passion and instinctual know-how. Finally, the Moon struggles against balanced Venus, making it difficult to accept shifting circumstances. Just because healing might be unfamiliar to us doesn’t mean we should reject it. Let’s let balance blossom.

General Daily Insight for July 27, 2025

Creativity and an open mind will nourish today’s seeds of positivity. There’s only one aspect for today — the determined Moon working hand-in-hand for a sextile with optimistic Jupiter at 12:57 pm EDT. The Moon is in practical Virgo, leading us to think realistically as we make the world around us a better place, while Jupiter is in Cancer, bringing opportunities to improve our homes, our family lives, and our emotional health. The more that we stay grounded, the deeper our roots can grow.

A group of more than 20 Harford County fairgoers, organized by age and gender, spent the afternoon in the fairgrounds pavilion at Bel Air’s 608 N. Tollgate Road devouring miniature fruit pies and juicy local watermelon. The prizes? “Bragging rights, a ribbon and free food,” said Amy O’Neil, co-chair of the Harford County Farm Fair Board of Directors, in between emceeing the events.

“Watermelon-eating contests and pie-eating contests are part of American culture,” said O’Neil, who, inspired by her July 4th childhood memories, brought the watermelon-eating contest to the fair more than 20 years ago. “We have adults competing now that I’ve watched compete since elementary school.”

Rebecca Borkowski, clad in a watermelon-eating contest T-shirt that she designed herself, has entered the competition every year for more than 20 years — and, now, her two daughters, clad in matching shirts, join her.

“Way back when, we were at the fair and I ran out of water. I thought it would be a good idea to enter the contest and share the watermelon with my [then] two-year-old daughter,” Borkowski said about the genesis point of her family’s annual showing. “After that, it just turned into every year.”

Reigning champions returned this year, including 31-year-old pie-eating contest alum Kyle Kurceba, who crushed last year’s miniature apple pie in 48 seconds. This year, at the end of the minute, his pie tin was the only one left completely empty.

“I feel full, both in my heart and in my stomach,” Kurceba said after his victory. “It was good pie, and a good contest.”

Kurceba’s win, however, didn’t go uncontested. The champion went for an unconventional strategy, first flipping over the pie to shake it loose from the metal tin before going to town. Forest Hill fairgoer Taj Weir, who won third place in the competition, had some objections.

“I’ve got to say, it seemed like he had a little more left. I think they need to get some scales involved here,” Weir said after the contest. “That was some newfangled technology, the flipping. That’s no fun. That should be illegal.”

Other eaters, like 17-year-old C. Milton Wright High School student Koryne Leilich, who competed in the pie-eating contest’s adult division and took home fourth place, were happy to participate for the first time — and to reap the benefits of competitive eating.

“I can kill a pie,” she said. “I like food, and free food is fantastic…. Free pie? I’ll take it.”

Other competitors, like watermelon-eating contest entrant and previous champion Jason Guarino, came to the fair with a more aggressive strategy — especially after not winning last year.

“This year, I’ve been practicing,” he said, with “ice cold watermelon.” He later added, “I cut my water off at 11 o’clock. I haven’t eaten or drank anything since [then], so I’m extremely thirsty.”

Not only did Guarino secure the first-place win in the men’s division, but he was shortly after awarded the championship ribbon after his speedy performance in the final, all-divisions competition.

“We went with big bites … and at the end, I just wanted to get down to that rind,” he said in a post-contest interview, as ruby-colored juice trickled down from the competition table. “That was a good quench.”

Have a news tip? Contact Jane Godiner at jgodiner@baltsun.com or on Instagram as @JaneCraves.

As artificial intelligence technology becomes part of daily life, adolescents are turning to chatbots for advice, guidance and conversation. The appeal is clear: Chatbots are patient, never judgmental, supportive and always available.

That worries experts who say the booming AI industry is largely unregulated and that many parents have no idea about how their kids are using AI tools or the extent of personal information they are sharing with chatbots.

New research shows more than 70% of American teenagers have used AI companions and more than half converse with them regularly. The study by Common Sense Media focused on “AI companions,” like Character. AI, Nomi and Replika, which it defines as “digital friends or characters you can text or talk with whenever you want,” versus AI assistants or tools like ChatGPT, though it notes they can be used the same way.

It’s important that parents understand the technology. Experts suggest some things parents can do to help protect their kids:

— Start a conversation, without judgment, says Michael Robb, head researcher at Common Sense Media. Approach your teen with curiosity and basic questions: “Have you heard of AI companions?” “Do you use apps that talk to you like a friend?” Listen and understand what appeals to your teen before being dismissive or saying you’re worried about it.

— Help teens recognize that AI companions are programmed to be agreeable and validating. Explain that’s not how real relationships work and that real friends with their own points of view can help navigate difficult situations in ways that AI companions cannot.

“One of the things that’s really concerning is not only what’s happening on screen but how much time it’s taking kids away from relationships in real life,” says Mitch Prinstein, chief of psychology at the American Psychological Association. “We need to teach kids that this is a form of entertainment. It’s not real, and it’s really important they distinguish it from reality and should not have it replace relationships in your actual life.”

The APA recently put out a health advisory on AI and adolescent well-being, and tips for parents.

— Parents should watch for signs of unhealthy attachments.

“If your teen is preferring AI interactions over real relationships or spending hours talking to AI companions, or showing that they are becoming emotionally distressed when separated from them — those are patterns that suggest AI companions might be replacing rather than complementing human connection,” Robb says.

— Parents can set rules about AI use, just like they do for screen time and social media. Have discussions about when and how AI tools can and cannot be used. Many AI companions are designed for adult use and can mimic romantic, intimate and role-playing scenarios.

While AI companions may feel supportive, children should understand the tools are not equipped to handle a real crisis or provide genuine mental health support. If kids are struggling with depression, anxiety, loneliness, an eating disorder or other mental health challenges, they need human support — whether it is family, friends or a mental health professional.

— Get informed. The more parents know about AI, the better. “I don’t think people quite get what AI can do, how many teens are using it and why it’s starting to get a little scary,” says Prinstein, one of many experts calling for regulations to ensure safety guardrails for children. “A lot of us throw our hands up and say, ‘I don’t know what this is!’ This sounds crazy!’ Unfortunately, that tells kids if you have a problem with this, don’t come to me because I am going to diminish it and belittle it.”

Older teenagers have advice, too, for parents and kids. Banning AI tools is not a solution because the technology is becoming ubiquitous, says Ganesh Nair, 18.

“Trying not to use AI is like trying to not use social media today. It is too ingrained in everything we do,” says Nair, who is trying to step back from using AI companions after seeing them affect real-life friendships in his high school. “The best way you can try to regulate it is to embrace being challenged.”

“Anything that is difficult, AI can make easy. But that is a problem,” says Nair. “Actively seek out challenges, whether academic or personal. If you fall for the idea that easier is better, then you are the most vulnerable to being absorbed into this newly artificial world.”

The Associated Press’ education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at AP.org.