A with Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar co-owner John Simmons

Firefly Tapas Kitchen & Bar had to close its Paradise Road doors in April because of an outbreak of salmonella. The outbreak, which public-health officials traced to contaminated chorizo, sickened nearly 300 people from 27 states and forced changes in how the company ran its kitchen. It hired a dedicated food-safety expert, signed up chefs and managers for food-handling certification classes and added a program to monitor food safety at potential contamination points. The goal? To become an "industry leader" in food safety, co-owner John Simmons said.Simmons has spent the past seven months winning back regulars and attracting new customers. A month after it closed, Firefly opened a new Paradise Road location down the street, a deal that had been in the works before the salmonella outbreak.

The incident didn't affect its Sahara Avenue location. As business ticks back up, Simmons talks about recapturing customers' trust, his next business move and how he unwinds from stress.What's the biggest thing you've done to get your customers back?It's been more of a process. I liken it to a brush fire. When it flames, there's not a lot you can really do about it. You have to wait for it to burn out. All of the negative information and misinformation out there — there was not a lot you could do about it. Now, we've turned to getting the word out about who we are. We're a great company, a homegrown company.

We started it from the ground up 10 years ago, and we have built it into a company that hired over 200 people. We're not some guy from out of town who's mining the Strip for tourist dollars and shipping profits back to New York. We live here, we're good people, we started a business and a bad thing happened.How's business? Are people returning?Every month, business has increased. The great thing is, most people never stopped coming. We have such a great fan base, and so many people have been to our restaurant so many times. Not a lot of businesses would still be around. It's a testament to the strength of our reputation and the people who work for us that we were able to survive such an awful occurrence. We also see a lot of new faces, so it's good.

Highlights at Westcity Kitchen: snazzy starters, juicy chicken

Of course, sardines are on the menu, which tilts Mediterranean yet still seems thoroughly American.Those little fish — two grilled beauties with a salad of shaved fennel and arugula and a salty, fiery relish of coarsely chopped capers and Calabrian chilies —The past few years have been, to put it lightly make a great shareable starter. So do warm olives sharp kalamatas and rich Castelvetranos baked with cherry tomatoes, mustard seed and garlic, served with crostini. Squid stuffed with sweet sausage, paired with pickled fennel and sweetly piquant Peppadew aioli, pleased as well.Consider kicking off the evening with one of Freeman's creative house cocktails. An absinthe wash lent a bracing anise note to the rye-based Westcity Whiskey Cocktail. The "Baked Apple Manhattan," served up with a cinnamon swizzle stick, combines spice-infused bourbon with cardamaro and Calvados in a comforting concoction just right for the rainy season.

With your drink, snack on fried chickpeas sprinkled with sumac and lime, or nibble long, skinny truffle-scented fries dusted with pecorino. Better yet, order both.The menu is a collection of good ideas executed with varying success. Salads are an example. Whole leaves of baby romaine with smoked walnuts, poached fig and ricotta salata needed more lubrication to help bind the red-wine gastrique to the lettuce. Spinach salad, with roasted beets, pistachios, goat cheese and mustard vinaigrette, was much better integrated.Pan-roasted chicken was delightful. The mostly boneless half bird was moist, tender and aggressively seasoned with salt and pepper. If the acorn squash risotto on the side wasn't quite risotto, it was satisfying nonetheless.

The terrific burger is fashioned from a half pound of well-seared, incredibly juicy American Kobe beef. Stacked with arugula, smoked Gouda and lots of house-made sweet-and-sour pickles, it comes on a Grand Central potato bun thickly smeared with garlic aioli. I only wish the bun had been toasted.The burger rightly attends those aforementioned fries, but I asked to substitute a side of oven-roasted seasonal vegetables. I received a colorful array of fingerling potatoes, beets and turnips, all just tender and nicely caramelized but needing salt and pepper, which are on every table in a set of tiny, adorable square bowls.

The past few years have been, to put it lightly

"This is the beginning of the holiday season; we hope things will pick up, but compared to last year, we're scared," because business is slow, Yilmaz said.Hickory Farms has been a holiday mainstay at the mall for many years, and the company has been meeting its sales goals, said Taylor Gigeous, a cashier."People have been telling me they're waiting until the first week in December before they start buying," Gigeous said. "That's when it gets super busy, and I love it."Individual shops usually hire extra staff, but the mall doesn't hire extra security or maintenance folks for the holidays, according to said Heather Ernst, marketing director at FSK Mall, where Santa arrived Friday.There are many charitable programs over the holidays, including in the stores. At Kmart, customers can participate in Share Our Strength's No Kid Hungry program, where shoppers can donate toys from a "Fab 15" list of toys to children in need.

The past few years have been, to put it lightly, tumultuous. Uprisings against dictatorship, financial crises, and discontent with old ways of governing have given people plenty of reasons to take to the streets. But it turns out the world's protesters have more in common than indignation and a desire for change. They also share a surprisingly widespread weapon of choice: pots and pans. In just this past year, protesters across the globe have taken to the streets to pound kitchenware with wooden spoons in a show of civic solidarity.

The pots-and-pans protest tactic was first employed decades ago by dissidents in Chile. They were demonstrating against then-President Salvador Allende's economic policies, which had yielded shortages in essential products and hyperinflation. In what they dubbed "the march of the empty pans," Chileans banged on pots empty of the food that government policies had, it was said, failed to provide. Later, Pinochet's opposition used the same tactic so protesters could voice their dissent from the relative safety of their own homes. That was important, since Pinochet's security service did not exactly tolerate dissent.

Tim Smith, Mr. Tim's Country Kitchen

After successful heart bypass surgery on June 11, Smith opened Mr. Tim's Country Kitchen in La Vernia on Sept. 15.Mr. Tim's' famous home-cooked meals had returned to South Texas.When not serving and cooking huge portions of chicken-fried steak, liver and onions or homemade cinnamon rolls big enough to feed a Third World country, Smith found time to talk about his restaurant-owner-to-retirement-back-to-restaurant-owner transformation.What I made in a month here, I made in three months at the South San Antonio restaurant. I was like, "Wow. I didn't expect that at all." It caught me off guard.As soon as I put up my "now open" sign in the morning, I filled up within an hour. And I stayed that way until a week ago. You couldn't get into this place.

My biggest problem was my employees saying I was too busy. I had employees walk out. They were saying they weren't used to working this much. Our waitresses were making a fortune; they still are.Can you pinpoint why you've had such success with your restaurant?You've got to have something people can afford —Kitchenware by Ole Jensen for Room Copenhagen and still make money, of course. And people still want home cooking — they want the vegetables.I tried to change my menu in La Vernia and go with just potatoes — french fries and baked potatoes — because I wanted to make it easier. They threw a fit. I just figured people in the country, that's all they wanted to eat. Wow, was I wrong. They want those vegetables, those fresh vegetables. Three days was all it took to get a variety of fresh vegetables back on the menu.

Describe the whole heart-surgery ordeal and how quickly you returned to your normal routine.When I had the heart attack in April, I knew it was time to give up the restaurant business. Business-wise I was fine; I was doing very well. But when I had the heart attack, I knew it was time to walk away. I didn't want to die; I wasn't ready to die. That's what I was afraid of.After the surgery, doctors said you're fine but told me it would take a year to get back to normal. I couldn't walk fast, couldn't lift anything big. ... But now I feel better than I have in years.

Kitchenware by Ole Jensen for Room Copenhagen

Emphasizing overall excellence, gia honors both specialty and multiple-location retailers for superior innovation and creativity in housewares merchandising. This international competition will include participants from the United States and countries throughout the world. Again for 2013-2014, The Gourmet Retailer will sponsor the U.S. gia winner in the independent kitchenware retailer category for the International Housewares Association's award program. Anything Oprah can do, the Kardashians can or will try to do better, including throwing a yard sale for charity.North West's mom and her relatives had everything from kitchenware and photo frames, to art pieces and children's scooters up for grabs. Kardashian was so happy about doing charity work that she tweeted about it.

According to the New York Daily News and the tweet below by Kim herself, the Kardashian clan took to a parking lot in Woodland Hills, Ca. on Sunday to sell off unwanted wares -- from kitchenware and picture frames to large art pieces and children's toys -- with proceeds benefiting No Kid Hungry and Greater Los Angeles Fisher House Foundation. There was no word Monday on how much the sale brought in.The Kardashians' charitable act follows a day of yard sale revelry by Oprah Winfrey on November 2, which raked in some $600,000 for her leadership school in South Africa.Check out photos from the Kardashians' family day which was also captured by their reality show camera's, of course over at the Daily Mail.

Have something to say? Check out HuffPost Home on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and Instagram.Kim Kardashian went makeup free and fell at a charity yard sale in Woodland Hills, Calif. recently. The "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" star and Kanye West's fiance, 33, joined her mother, Kris Jenner's and the rest of her famous family at the outdoor event.According to New York Daily News, the Kardashians clan sold a lot of their family items while taping for their hit E! reality TV show on Sunday."We are having a yard sale today for charity!" tweeted Kardashian before the event, which benefitted the No Kid Hungry, and the Greater Los Angeles Fisher House Foundations.

Boulder's Relief Exchange provides needed assistance for flood victims

Farmer, a Jamestown resident whose home was torn into pieces by the floods, said the Exchange helped her slowly rebuild after losing all her belongings."The experience of losing everything you have surrounded yourself with over the course of time is very disorienting," Farmer said. "You're sleeping in a different bed in someone else's home or a hotel, wearing the few clothes that you were given at the Red Cross center after getting off the helicopter, visiting the Disaster Assistance Center and talking to all the "alphabet soup" of agencies that were there to help, eating box lunches and pizza..."It's just totally overwhelming,Michael Anthony's 8 Kitchen Essentials and to be able to come into the Relief Exchange and just select a few things I needed and know that I could come back when I was ready for more was so very helpful."

While the Relief Exchange receives donations daily and has helped over 2,000 individuals so far, Lynn Fetterman, director of the 4Mile Store and manager of volunteer efforts with the Exchange, said they are just beginning to scratch the surface of helping those affected, still needing more volunteers and donations."We're starting with really basic needs as people try to start over," Fetterman said. "It may seem like it's just stuff if you haven't been affected, but the trauma of being uprooted from your home, your community, your livelihood. It's so hard. Anything helps."Farmer, who now volunteers with the Exchange, said it's the volunteer grassroots structure, the unique and welcoming setup and the sense of community that really sets the Relief Exchange apart from other flood relief organizations.

"There is just a little sign-in sheet when you come in the door, and then you are allowed to take anything and everything you need," said Farmer. "Nobody shepherds you through or gives you a quota like they do at some of the other relief agencies. People come in and shop for overwhelmed friends and stay or come back to help out.""It has been an amazing place to connect with people, both members of the Jamestown community and strangers from Boulder, Lyons, and Longmont, who all have different flood stories and experiences," Farmer said."But we're all in the same boat as far as needing to rebuild our lives. Sure, stuff is only stuff, but community is the lifeblood of my little town."

Michael Anthony's 8 Kitchen Essentials

Common symptoms of foodborne illnesses caused by pathogens, such as salmonella and listeria, include nausea, vomiting, abdominal cramps and diarrhea. Serious cases can lead to hospitalization and major complications, such as kidney failure and miscarriages, depending on the culprit.Annually, about 1 in 6 Americans get sick; 128,000 are hospitalized; and 3,000 die of foodborne diseases, according to the CDC.University of Kentucky meat scientist Gregg Rentfrow said people should take practical steps to keep themselves safe, such as thoroughly washing fruits and vegetables before eating them, thoroughly cooking meats, and cleaning up drippings from chicken and other meats."Just use common sense," said Rentfrow, an associate extension professor and meat specialist in the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment. "If you handle everything like you know it's contaminated, you'll be OK."

Rentfrow said the NSF's findings weren't surprising, though "it is kind of concerning when folks don't realize that they need to clean out your vegetable container and your meat container and stuff like that, especially if you're thawing out meat inside that meat container, and the purge gets onto the actual refrigerator itself."Twenty-one percent of U.S. outbreaks of foodborne illness with a known single setting resulted from food consumed in a private home, compared with 48 percent that stemmed from food eaten in a restaurant or deli, according to CDC stats for 2009-10.

At home, it's important to pay attention to manufacturers' instructions for cleaning products that come in contact with food and to get on a regular cleaning schedule, Yakas said.Tools, such as blenders, can openers, rubber spatulas and food-storage containers, should be cleaned "after every use," Yakas said."It's not big, but it performs," says chef Michael Anthony of the galley-sized kitchen in his Midtown Manhattan apartment as he digs through drawers, praising everything from a bag of wild rice to slabs of marbled Allan Benton ham. His energy comes as no surprise: In the past two years, he's rebounded from open-heart surgery by landing a James Beard award for Best Chef in New York City and publishing his first book, The Gramercy Tavern Cookbook.

7 Awesome Add-Ons For Kitchen Cabinets

The measure is one of 14 suggested in the report, which if all implemented by 2030 could slow warming in the Arctic by more than a full degree by 2050, according to the authors. Halving open-field and forest burning could also have a dual effect and decrease deaths to air pollution by 190,000 annually, according to the findings."Human activity causes almost all open-field and forest fires, either intentionally or by accident," according to the study.How much should a complete kitchen remodel cost? "Effective no-burn alternatives exist for most agricultural sector use of fire, and results in this report indicate that up to 90 percent reductions may be possible in some regions."Methane is often emitted during during the fossil fuel mining process, especially for coal, according to the study, which recommends capturing the gas to use it, for instance, as energy source.

I remember when having a microwave or an electric can opener mounted under your wall cabinets was considered state of the art. Now you can attach your smart phone and tablet, and even hide the necessary outlets out of sight. Curious what today's cabinet additions can do for you? Check out a few of the latest and most useful offerings in cabinet-mounted gadgets and accessories to see what will work in your kitchen.Even if you're a minimalist who prefers to keep the area under your wall cabinets clear, consider installing some lighting. Undercabinet lights provides crucial illumination for food prep and, if dimmable, work well as a nightlight once the kitchen is closed for the evening. My current preference for undercabinet lighting is low-profile LED light-emitting diode strip lights.

LED lighting technology is continually advancing, so check with your local lighting retailer or electrical contractor to see what is the best option for your kitchen. Prices vary depending on size and quality, but you can currently get 12-inch strips starting around $20.You've spent time and money selecting and installing the perfect backsplash tile, so don't mar the beautiful surface with outlets. An undercabinet outlet strip gives you a plethora of plugs — and always one right where you need it — without a line of receptacles all across your lovely backsplash. If, however, you tend to keep your countertop appliances plugged in, you may not enjoy seeing the cords dangle down from underneath your cabinets.