On February 1, 2012, as Black America began celebrating the first day of Black History month, the community lost one of its most familiar icons. Don Cornelius, host and creator of Soul Train, presumedly committed suicide, dying from a gunshot wound.

Raised in Colombia and the Netherlands, Ingrid's fascination with food, cooking and style began as a little girl. She started cooking with her mother, a Cordon Bleu chef, at such a young age that she needed a stool to reach the stove.

With Gina Carano, a virtual unknown butt kicking some of our favorite leading men like Ewan McGregor, Micheal Fassbender and more in the movie Haywire, everyone want to know who is this chick?  Moreover, with a last name such as Carano plus those smoldering dark good looks help people to assume she is Italian.  The Haywire/Mixed Martial Arts star's view on her ethnicity/ background keeps coming up in internet searches as "I am a small percentage Italian." Leave it to the Martial Arts Community to go directly to the source for an answer. 

In 2012 Idris Elba won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made For Televison for his Portrayal Luther, a BBC production.

He has starred in both British and American productions. He grew up in Canning Town, East London. One of his first acting roles was in the soap opera Family Affairs.  He has worked in a variety of TV roles including Ultraviolet and The Inspector Lynley Mysteries.He is known for playing Russell "Stringer" Bell, a Baltimore drug lord and aspiring businessman, in HBO's critically acclaimed show The Wire. Elba is a DJ under the moniker DJ Big Driis/Big Driis the Londoner, and a hip-hop soul recording artist.

Tim Tebow is forever linked to Makati City in the Philippines, one of 17 cities that make up Metro Manila. How is he linked? That's where the former Florida Gator turned Denver Bronco quarterback was born. Tebow's parents, Robert Tebow, a pastor; and Pamela Tebow, who was featured in a Pro-Life commercial with her famous son, were both Baptist's missionaries at the time and the superstar NFL player has never taken up stakes from the area.

Celebrities attending the Golden Globe Awards will be getting a meal that will fit right in with the glitz and glamor of the event. Chef Suki Sugiura will be preparing the meal which will involve foods flown in from all over the world. The three-course meal is being described as a "global food harmony" that includes an entree of braised prime short rib of beef as well as sea bass marinated in miso straight from Sendai, Japan.

We wanted to keep this list fresh so in order to do so we want to give honorable mention to guys our fans couldn’t get enough of last year and apparently this year.. Overwhelming a few guys truly were repeat leaders of the pack such as Brian White(repeat winner), Taylor Lautner, Ryan Reynolds and Harry Shum.  Alas, let’s make some room for the latest recruits to our Men Who Look Good Enough to Eat Awards.  In comparison to last year some rather mature men made the list, some blondes and Latino men.  We love the diversity.

Adam Levine is the every man when it comes to food.  In an interview with Dash, Levine claims to be a "Meat and Potatoes guy" yet  he calls Mozza 2 go, "The greatest invention of all time." Guess what? Mozza 2 is not a steak joint.

The expression diamond in the rough literally means an exceptional person with rough manners: somebody whose rough manners often hide his or her admirable or undeveloped qualities. Despite a rough periods of life including violence and tragedy in her family, the golden haired beauty CharlizeTheron managed relentlessly pursue a career in acting in the United States.  The gifted actress shines brightly in her masterful Oscar winning performance in Monster. 

The Wannabes is a kids and family comedy airing in 92 countries on several networks. Filmed in Detroit, Michigan, the show is the brain-child of writer/producer Doreen Spicer-Dannelly and follows the exploits of fame-seeking teens played by real life stars, Savvy. Spicer-Dannelly, a notable Morgan State University alum, took time out of her busy schedule to share her true Hollywood Story with MCCN editor Catrina Sally.

Oh, Americans love their football and we get a little ones started early.  Playa Vista Sports Park in partnership with the NFL Youth Football Program will start a youth flag football leauge in Los Angeles called the NFL FLAG LA.

The Toronto, Canada born actor/rapper Aubrey Drake Graham's heritage includes a Jewish mother and an African American musician father from Memphis.  He first garnered attention on the extremely popular Canadian teen soap, Degrassi.

Okay, seriously...who hasn't gone to the mall and experienced the hypnotizing fragrance of the buttery fresh Auntie Anne's pretzels? They get you every timedon't they? Well, recently MCCN caught up with Auntie Anne founder, Anne Beiler, at a conference at Sandy Cove Ministries.

Beiler grew up in Lancaster in the Amish and Mennonite culture. She can thank her mother and her allergies for her love of baking. While her seven siblings were out working on the farm, her mother kept her inside because of her allergies. It was there in the kitchen where  her love of baking began. She prefers baking over cooking. We're not surprised!

 

Baked Penne with Eggplant Pasta alla Norma Recipe courtesy of Molto Italiano (ecco 2005)

The success of this dish relies on the quality of the eggplant. Older, larger eggplant tend to hold bigger seed pockets and can be bitter, so look for small- to medium-sized eggplants, of any variety. If you cannot find ricotta salata, try a young pecorino or provolone.