“OK, everybody! We leave for the fair in 15 minutes! Get ready!” I give it a good yell, trying to reach the son watching TV, the dad at the computer, and the daughter … well, wherever she is. Probably upstairs, in her room.

Try this shredded beef casserole made with inexpensive beef chuck for a hearty answer to family style burritos.

A new restaurant offering Asian, American and Italian food has opened in Manassas and is celebrating its grand opening.

Since opening its doors this past November, Pho 234 Vietnamese Noodle Soup and Grilled Restaurant has been impressing diners from Manassas and beyond with its harmonious combinations of Vietnam’s best cuisine.

Inside the home arts buildings at the Prince William County Fair this week, crafters are hard at work demonstrating quilting, knitting and ... animation?

Hold on to your hats because “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition” is coming to the Washington market! Yes, here’s your opportunity to work on a house or a community center during the last week of August. I’m sorry that our own community wasn’t picked but these projects are within easy driving distance.

The Prince William American Red Cross and Buckhall Volunteer Fire Department are hosting a Super CPR Sunday event where people can learn lifesaving Adult CPR in just one afternoon so they can be prepared to save a life.

On Aug. 8, Dorette Irene McDuff Turgeon and Jean-Claude Turgeon celebrated 50 years of marriage.

The text message beeps in at 4:09 p.m., just as I slide into my car and lower the windows to blow out the day’s heat. “On the ground,” my husband alerts me. What?! I yank the minivan into drive and take off.

All Saints Anglican Church member Amanda Bennett was hoping to help out at the Prince William County Animal Shelter as part of her church’s week-long community project called Saints in Action.
The animal shelter needed volunteers to clean up the stalls at the Prince William County Fairgrounds in preparation for the 60th annual county fair.

The 60th annual Prince William County Fair opens today..

Movie lovers received a double blow late last week with the deaths of writer/director/producer John Hughes at age 59 and controversial screenwriter and novelist Budd Schulberg at age 95.

The following is the schedule for the 60th annual Prince William County Fair:

» District 9: A large colony of malnourished, ill-treated refugees arrive suddenly on a nation’s doorstep. They are in need of care and shelter.

On Tuesday, a Louisiana jury found Corey “C-Murder” Miller guilty of 2nd degree murder in the 2002 shooting death of then 16-year-old Steve Thomas.

For the News & messengerWhat to do coming up.

Zucchini is the summer vegetable that keeps on giving. Anyone with a summer garden usually harvests more zucchini than they know what to do with.

In my kitchen, dry lentils get about the same treatment as dry beans.

I’ll never forget my first baby-sitting job. I was 13 years old and it was four days a week for two months over the summer.

For a time, it seemed like eating a meal in China was a little like playing a game of Russian roulette with food.

Please join me in a gigantic cheers to all the volunteers who helped with our Christmas in July event. It was wonderful because of the work of tons of volunteers.

“OK, guys,” I announce to everybody, projecting my voice up past the cube walls. “What should I get for dinner tonight?”

The first day of school can be anxiety-producing: new teachers, new subjects, even new classmates in some cases. Joyce Russell Terrell’s first day at Gar-Field Senior High School in September 1961 was like that — only times a thousand.

On the weekend of Aug. 1, Tom and Peggy Purnell, longtime, almost lifetime, residents of the Occoquan/Woodbridge area, celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary at Virginia Beach.

Julia Child didn't think much of American-style rolling pins, also called bakers' rolling pins.

From the timesaving tools and French techniques she loved to a famously dropped dinner, Julia Child left a lasting impression on a generation of cooks.

When Julia Child first started teaching Americans the fundamentals of French cooking, they tended to use electric beaters for basic blending and mixing.

Hollandaise can be notoriously tricky to make, especially for inexperienced cooks, for whom the sauce can curdle.

Mary Ann Kauchak shares her easy-to-make recipes in her weekly column, “Shortcuts.“

Child extolled the virtues of crepes in both sweet and savory recipes, suggesting them as dessert as well as a fitting wrap for leftovers.