Here’s a how-to video on making some takeout favorites —

Adina Steiman visited a Mitsuwa in New Jersey, but there’s one in near Chicago (in Arlington Heights), too.

<a href=”http://polldaddy.com/poll/9465449/”>Kale-Eating Contest</a> Perhaps sensing that conventional food-eating contests (involving hot dogs or other picnic foods) are losing popular support, contest organizers in Buffalo have decided to have a kale-eating contest, billing it as the “world’s healthiest eating championship,” with the slogan, “Kale Yeah!” What do you think?

Over at the New York Times, Sam Sifton has a comprehensive grilling guide, with tips for charcoal or gas grills, and cooking beef, chicken, seafood, vegetables, corn, fruit, pizza, and bread. Inside or out, here are tips for cooking a diner or pub-style burger:

This week on Dining on a Dime, host Lucas Peterson goes to Pilsen, a primarily Mexican neighborhood on the lower west side of Chicago, to visit The Jibarito Stop, a food-truck-turned-restaurant that serves fantastic jibaritos. Using tostones, or fried plantains, in place of bread, the jibarito is crunchy, sweet, and in the running to become…

Across America, there’s a trend toward locally-sourced, fresh ingredients for one’s meals.  For agricultural communities like Whitewater, where many residents have large gardens, or enjoy fresh eggs, that’s not a trend as much as it is a way of life.  But other communities have seen a trend that encourages moving away from frozen meals, for…