Michael Fiorelli’s pizza could be categorized as a cross between New York and Neapolitan, based on his dough hydration levels, and the temperature of his oven.
“If you showed a pizzaiolo what I was doing, they would say it’s all wrong,” says Fiorelli. “Wrong flour, wrong temp. But we do it that way because we like the way it tastes.”
Fiorelli and business parter Liz Gutierrez opened a pizzeria out of a teensy Beverly Grove storefront in early November. Before that, they were making pizzas with a mobile oven at Cook’s Garden in Venice. Fiorelli’s crust has the structure of a New York pizza, with just enough crunch, and an interior with the supple softness of a traditional Neapolitan. He brushes the crust with extra virgin olive oil and sprinkles on sea salt just before the pizza goes into the oven, ensuring that each slice is well seasoned through the last bite. Crushed Bianco DiNapoli tomatoes and sea salt constitute his red sauce, for a base that’s flavorful but not overly acidic. He covers the tomatoes in leaves of Brussels sprouts and hot cherry peppers on one pie, or there’s the classic pepperoni or supreme. The Bianco deserves special praise, with a symphony of four cheeses, roasted garlic, fingerling potatoes, fresh lemon and guandilla peppers. Bite the tip of a pepper, drizzle the juice on a slice and enjoy.
Travel expert Simon Calder has shared his favourite winter destinations for UK pensioners, and one town has been described as a “slice of heaven” by visitors
Andrea Blazquez Lifestyle Editor and Steffan Rhys Deputy Content Hub Director
11:31, 13 Nov 2025
Cascais is easily reached by train from Lisbon.(Image: Getty)
Travel expert Simon Calder has named Cascais, just outside Lisbon in Portugal, as one of his top winter destinations. The coastal town is not only affordable during the colder months, but also boasts an average temperature of 18C in November and direct flights from UK airports to nearby Lisbon.
Cascais is a dream for those who love to explore on foot, making it an ideal holiday spot for pensioners. Travel blogger Caroline, from Packthesuitcases, described the town as “is a nice walkable size, you don’t need to worry about taxis and buses unless you’re venturing further afield to things like Cabo da Roca – everything in the town itself is easily reached on foot”.
Caroline also highlighted the ease of reaching Cascais by train from Lisbon, noting that “The train takes about 40 minutes from Cais do Sodré, and it’s an enjoyable journey along the coast.”
On his travel podcast, Simon Calder praised the beautiful town as one of his “favourite Portuguese locations”. He said: “Cascais is the port planted elegantly on the shoreline west of the capital, Lisbon, on what’s known as the Portuguese Riviera. It was settled in turn by Romans, Visigoths and Moors, and today the centre of Cascais is an intriguing combination of sun-worn houses, cafés, shops and smart hotels.”
He also pointed out that there are “excellent beaches within easy reach of Cascais”, adding another reason to consider this charming Portuguese town for your next getaway, reports the Express.
One visitor took to Tripadvisor to describe the town as “a little slice of heaven”. The tourist gushed: “Cascais is amazing, beautiful coastline, stunning, immaculate beaches and a really charming town. The people are lovely and the food is out of this world!”
Simon also suggested Cassis, in the south of France, as another pedestrian-friendly destination, ideal for a winter getaway.
California’s famous chronicler Carey McWilliams once wrote that some see “this highly improbable state” as more illusion than reality. Perhaps that explains its residents’ perpetual efforts to shake things up and break away — either from the national government or each other.
Since 1849, more than 200 efforts have imagined a political do-over to the idea of California as a single, sprawling American state. Every attempt has failed.
“All major social and political movements in this country take time and inevitably have to overcome failures and setbacks before they are ultimately successful,” Louis Marinelli, the latest provocateur with secessionist dreams, told The Times in an email.
What may be most striking is that anyone would assume there’s a shared state identity, when Californians more often have tried to go their separate ways.
State lawmakers sent their first breakup plan to Congress in 1859, but it was squashed by the onset of the Civil War. The equally unlucky, but colorful, Yreka Rebellion of 1941 saw a handful of Northern California counties join grumpy southern Oregonians to propose a new state called “Jefferson.” They threw a big party in Siskiyou County’s biggest town, Yreka, on Dec. 4, 1941.
Three days later, after the infamous attack on Pearl Harbor, secession fever subsided.
(Anthony Russo / For The Times )
As the song says, breaking up is hard to do. There was a 1965 failed legislative effort to create the nation’s 51st state with a dividing line at the Tehachapi Mountains that span Los Angeles and Kern counties, revisited and dismissed in 1978. And then, the early 1990s plan for an advisory ballot measure to gauge voter interest in splitting California into three states.
“I can’t guarantee a perfect world, but I know that divided, more homogeneous Californias will be better than the gridlocks we have now,” Stan Statham, then a Republican state assemblyman, said in a 1993 Times story. Alas, his proposal died in the state Senate.
A 2009 plan would’ve carved California into separate coastal and inland U.S. states, presumably one favored by Democrats and one by Republicans. The idea was recycled in 2011 by state Sen. Jeff Stone (R-Temecula) while he was a Riverside County supervisor.
Few efforts garnered as much attention, or derision, as the 2014 campaign by Silicon Valley entrepreneur Tim Draper to create six states out of California, with names like “Silicon Valley” and “West California.”
No secession effort has answered the practical questions — how to negotiate water rights, divvy up the existing state’s assets, pay for border security, just for starters. Still, it often sparks valuable public policy discussions.
How sustainable is it when the Bay Area’s per capita income is more than double that in the Central Valley? Why is poverty pocketed in a handful of regions? Does California, home to much of America’s recent job growth, get what it deserves from the federal government?
Those concerns may trigger bouts of secessionist fever, but few would dispute that they’re also a good start on a to-do list for California’s state and national leaders as 2017 comes into view.
