Borscht

Sea to Summit's accordion-like "saucers" look like Frisbees when they're packed up, but unfold to form handy, travel-sized dishes. The X-Bowl and X-Plate have collapsible rubber sides and rigid plastic bottoms that are cut resistant, so you can chop veggies for your backcountry borscht or slice cheese for your campground hors d'oeuvres. The X-Bowl and X-Plate hold 22 and 39 fluid ounces, respectively, and can handle liquid or food ranging from minus-40 to 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Another bonus: They're dishwasher safe.

Serves 6 To make this dish the day before, cook the short ribs; when they are cool, remove the meat from the bones. Refrigerate the meat and chill the broth separately. Cook the beets, refrigerate them, and grate them when they are cold. 2 pounds beef short ribs 2 quarts cold water 1 large onion, sliced 2 allspice berries 4 beets, cooked, peeled, and grated 1/2 green cabbage, shredded 1 ...

MAX KEEBLE’S BIG MOVE (Encore on Comcast) OK, it’s a transparent rip-off of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’’ but it’s genial, slightly naughty fun all the same. Alex D. Linz (above) plays the junior-high anarchist of the title into a resourceful, low-key hero as he seeks revenge on the school bully. (PG; runs through Oct. 29) IF LOOKS COULD KILL (Encore on Comcast) This sloppy spoof of James Bond movies has a few funny moments - intentionally and not. Linda Hunt as arch villain Ilsa Grunt is a gas; Richard Grieco as a student mistaken for a CIA agent is dull.

MAX KEEBLE’S BIG MOVE (Encore on Comcast) OK, it’s a transparent rip-off of “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,’’ but it’s genial, slightly naughty fun all the same. Alex D. Linz (above) plays the junior-high anarchist of the title into a resourceful, low-key hero as he seeks revenge on the school bully. (PG; runs through Oct. 29) IF LOOKS COULD KILL (Encore on Comcast) This sloppy spoof of James Bond movies has a few funny moments - intentionally and not. Linda Hunt as arch villain Ilsa Grunt is a gas; Richard Grieco as a student mistaken for a CIA agent is dull.

Serves 6 To make this dish the day before, cook the short ribs; when they are cool, remove the meat from the bones. Refrigerate the meat and chill the broth separately. Cook the beets, refrigerate them, and grate them when they are cold. 2 pounds beef short ribs 2 quarts cold water 1 large onion, sliced 2 allspice berries 4 beets, cooked, peeled, and grated 1/2 green cabbage, shredded 1 ...

In 2007, it was a pleasant surprise how well Van Halen seemed to jell in concert during a reunion tour with original frontman David Lee Roth. Five years and one shockingly solid new album later - the recently released "A Different Kind of Truth" - it was a surprise that the show Sunday at the TD Garden, while jaw-droppingly good in many respects, didn't quite rise to the ecstatic heights of 2007. (It's possible that the excitement of fans finally receiving something they had long wanted in 2007 heightened the sparkle factor as well.)

Serves 8 Borscht comes in many guises. Even the spelling of this hearty Eastern European soup has variables (borshch is another possibility). The dish is common in Russia, Lithuania, Poland, and Ukraine, writes Alan Davidson in "The Oxford Companion to Food. " He says that if you use a theory followed by botanists - that the origin of a species is the place that has the largest number of variations - you would credit the Ukrainians for coming up with borscht. This Russian version contains meat, marrow bones, beets, and cabbage.

Russian Dolls 10:30 p.m., Lifetime Brighton Beach, here is your "Real Housewives" series. At last, the Russian community of Brooklyn gets a cartoon of its very own. Congratulations. There will be borscht, there will be plastic surgery and bleached hair, there will be techno music and vodka, and there will be Rasputin, a Russian supper club. There will be lots of woman-on-woman conflict. Naturally, Brighton Beach community leaders are attacking the show and its stereotypes, thereby providing lots of free publicity.

DESPICABLE ME *** (HBO on Comcast) An oddity in the 3-D family-animation sweepstakes, but an entertaining one. Steve Carell uses a thick accent that's roughly triangulated by Russia, Germany, and the borscht belt for his vocal role of Gru, a likably misguided supervillain (think Boris Badenov meets Dr. Evil) who wants to steal the moon. The film has enough novelty to keep kiddies diverted and just enough wit to placate the parents. (PG; runs through Sept. 30) TY BURR FATHER OF THE BRIDE **½ (Encore on Comcast)

Fruit desserts and salads are summer standards, but fruit soups can be a real surprise. Sweet but not too much so, these chilled soups also contain savory elements, such as wine or vinegar or shallots as well as salt and pepper. They're great served with brunch, a light summer lunch, or as part of a summer evening meal (either a first course or a palate-refresher midway through). I have two quick hints for enjoying cold soups. First, chilling the serving bowls is a very nice touch.

Sea to Summit's accordion-like "saucers" look like Frisbees when they're packed up, but unfold to form handy, travel-sized dishes. The X-Bowl and X-Plate have collapsible rubber sides and rigid plastic bottoms that are cut resistant, so you can chop veggies for your backcountry borscht or slice cheese for your campground hors d'oeuvres. The X-Bowl and X-Plate hold 22 and 39 fluid ounces, respectively, and can handle liquid or food ranging from minus-40 to 356 degrees Fahrenheit. Another bonus: They're dishwasher safe.

ALBANY, N.Y. — The US Bureau of Indian Affairs yesterday rejected a proposal to build a Native American casino within driving distance of New York City in the storied Catskill mountains. The decision ends the effort by the Stockbridge-Munsee Band of Mohican Indians in Wisconsin to open a casino in the long economically depressed area, once a destination for top celebrities at world-class resorts in what was known as the Borscht Belt. The proposal was made in the waning days of former New York Governor David Paterson’s administration last year as a way to bring jobs to the area and...