NEW YORK (Reuters) - American chef Richard Blais may be best known for using gimmicks and gadgets in his television appearances but in his first cookbook, "Try This At Home!", he shows his cooking can be fun and tasty without being complicated.

The 41-year-old used often used liquid nitrogen and immersion circulators to make dishes on the U.S. cooking competition show "Top Chef All-Stars," which he won more than two years ago.

Blais, a marathon runner and soccer fan, was born in Uniondale, New York and now lives in Atlanta where he owns The Spence and several other restaurants.

The classically trained chef spoke to Reuters about his reputation as a molecular chef, cooking for his family and being a celebrity.

Q: Is there a misconception about your cooking?

A: My food has gotten a rap that it's really overly complicated, scientific, tech-driven. That's not necessarily the case. I cook simple food at home. People could buy the book and cook from it, not just look at the pretty pictures. It's not just about showcasing the food at the restaurant but also the simple food we make every day as well.

Q: How would you describe your cuisine?

A: My food is generally modern American. We take joy in interpreting classic food. The cookbook might take a beef goulash or a roast chicken or pizzas broken down in different ways. We like to take common comfortable American dishes and reinvent them or re-imagine them.

Q: Are there recipes in your book aimed at people who watched you cooking with liquid nitrogen and immersion circulators on television?

A: Those recipes are in the book as well. They are there to take a dish to the next step. We definitely want to put that style and those techniques in the book. We want to educate more people about those techniques and show them how they are applicable for the home cook.

Q: What specific points or techniques do you want readers to learn from your book?

A: Hopefully the book teaches them to cook a little better ... But the main thing is that cooking should be fun. It's an adventure. It's OK to make mistakes. Hopefully it opens up people's minds to have more fun in the kitchen and be more creative.

Q: What do you cook for your family?

A: We roast chickens. We do make a lot of pasta at home. We eat simple food whether it's a bowl of salad or a grilled cheese sandwich. Even though I'm a chef, we eat like most American families do.

Q: Do you find it interesting that you might be better known than some of your mentors like Thomas Keller and Daniel Boulud because of television?

A: It is funny to me, for sure. These are my personal heroes and two of my personal mentors, chefs who are much more experienced, wiser and better. That's one part that's scary and also crazy to me.

Q: What advice do you have for aspiring chefs?

A: Make sure you love cooking and feeding people and keeping them happy. It took me 10 years before I popped up on a television show. It was 10 years of six-day work weeks and 16-hour days, doing some of the lowest level work, peeling potatoes and chopping vegetables. If you are in it just to be on a TV show or just to get some popularity because you cook, it's probably not a right choice you made for your career.

Q: But there might be those who look to you and others and think being on television is a good shortcut to achieve success.

A: Most of us who have been on the show 'Top Chef' have been accomplishing things before we got the call to be on a television show. Keep sending in applications. Go for it. Most of the chefs on my team are constantly sending out applications and answering casting calls for various shows. I recommend it. But make sure you are in the industry because you love to cook. For me, tomorrow if there is no more book and no more TV, I'll still be cooking and that'll make me happy.

Potato chip omelet (serves 4)

12 large eggs

3 tablespoons heavy cream

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper

1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 tablespoon minced fresh chives

6 cups plain kettle-cooked potato chips

2 tablespoons unsalted butter or vegetable oil

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degree Fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, cream, white pepper, parsley, and chives together until combined. Fold in the potato chips until they are completely covered in the egg mixture, but try not to crush the chips too much. Let stand for 10 minutes, until the chips soften slightly.

2. Heat the butter in an over-proof 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat, swirling the pan to coat the bottom completely, until very hot. Carefully pour in the egg mixture and spread it evenly in the pan, then immediately reduce the heat to low. Cook until the eggs are set and the bottom is light golden, about 15 minutes. If the bottom is golden but the eggs are still runny on the top transfer the skillet to the preheated oven and bake until the eggs are completely set, 3 to 4 minutes.

3. To serve, invert a large flat plate over the pan and flip the pan and the plate to invert the omelet onto the plate. Let stand for at least 5 minutes before cutting into wedges and serving.

(Reporting by Richard Leong; Editing by Patricia Reaney and Eric Walsh)

"There is a growing sense of urgency about what's going on in the environment," Todd Clear, dean of Rutgers University's School of Criminal Justice, said here at a symposium Tuesday (May 14) on wildlife crime.

A variety of new research projects highlighted during the conference show that poaching and crimes against wildlife do follow patterns seen in other areas of criminology, knowledge that could be used to prevent these misdeeds. Famed Rutgers criminologist Ronald Clarke called on biologists and criminologists to work together to fight poaching and other issues where illegal acts are committed against nature.

As with other crimes, poaching often takes place in certain hotspots where conditions are optimal. Rhinos and elephants, for example, are often shot near watering holes where they predictably return to drink and the poaching of elephants and rhinos is at an all-time high in many areas. Poaching has already pushed , for example. []

Andrew Lemieux, a scientist at the Netherlands Institute for the Study of Crime and Law Enforcement, has outfitted rangers in Uganda's Queen Elizabeth National Park with GPS-enabled cameras that allow them to cheaply document signs of crimes like poaching, setting animal snares or harvesting of firewood. The project, which began earlier this year, will help rangers know where to go to best prevent these illicit activities, he said during his presentation.

'Hot products'

Animals like parrots are also desirable to poachers in the same way certain "hot products" like cellphones and jewels are desirable to thieves. These products can be described by the acronym "CRAVED," which stands for concealable, removable, available, valuable, enjoyable and disposable, Clarke said. Most parrots poached from the , for example, meet these criteria, and are opportunistically plucked from the forest by villagers looking for supplemental income, said Stephen Pires, a Florida International University researcher.

The same goes for fish, which are illegally caught more often when they are CRAVED. Fish found in multiple recipes, a measure of enjoyableness, are nine times more likely to be caught illegally than those less often found in cookbooks, said Gohar Petrossian, a researcher at William Paterson University in New Jersey. There are also 10 ports around the world that account for a large percentage of , she said. In the same way the most crimes occur near a perpetrator's home, the illegal fishing tended to take place near these ports, Petrossian said.

Poverty also plays a large role, said Kenyan scientist andat the conference. In many cases poachers are opportunistic, poaching to supplement their incomes, or merely survive. Throwing money at the problem, like hiring rangers, doesn't necessarily help, Leakey said. Some rangers in East Africa make about $500 per month. If you've got 10 elephant tusks, though, you could make a cool $10,000. It's easy to see how rangers could be bought off, especially if poaching seems like the only viable way to feed one's family, said Leaky, who is the son of famed paleontologist and fossil hunters Louis and Mary Leakey, and himself a paleoanthropologist.

"If you haven't got enough money to see your kid through the next semester of school, and if you can be offered several years worth of income by turning a blind eye who wouldn't?" Leakey said. "Hell, I would if my family were at stake."

Too often Westerners ignore the underlying poverty and assume the people committing these crimes have completely different values, Leakey said. "I think we need to change the idea that if you went to Cambridge or Rutgers, you have a different value set."

Taking aim at poaching

Besides dealing with poverty, Leakey offered two options to fight poaching. First, he advocated building more fences around large reserves a suggestion that was met with some resistance by at least one ecologist at the conference, who questioned Leakey after his talk about the fence's ability to stop elephants. Leakey noted that electrified fences were quite capable of stopping the large animals. In places where they've been installed, he added, sheep herders have come to rely on fences to protect their flock from predators inside the parks meaning they can help both people and animals, he said.

Fenced reserves have helped South Africa prevent more poaching than many of its neighbors, Leakey added (athough even in ). While this takes funding, he said, the problem is not lack of money per se, but a lack of political will.

By making it harder to enter and exit reserves, fences increase both the risks and difficulties involved in poaching, both widely accepted tenets of crime prevention, Clarke said.

The second tool to fight poaching is awareness. One of the main reasons thatand rhinos has shot up in the past few years is due to growing demand in China for ivory and medicinal products (although rhino horns are made of the same material in finger nails and have no curative properties, they are desired for their supposed healing powers in traditional Chinese medicine). But Leakey said that most of these consumers buying , or visiting traditional pharmacies have no idea these animals are dying out. []

Increasing awareness would likely reduce demand for these products. As with other illegal activities, reduced rewards mean reduced crime, Clarke said.

In 1989, when Leakey headed the Kenya Wildlife Service, he came up with the idea to burn 12 tons ofto bring public attention to poaching, which in the late '80s had flared up. The ploy worked, cutting the value of ivory by a factor of 30 and almost single-handedly suppressing elephant poaching for nearly two decades, Clarke said.

Perhaps it's time to do something similar, he said. But as to what exactly that might be, Leakey didn't have any concrete suggestions.

"We need to get youngsters in the conservation world to think outside the box," he said. "Thinking inside the box isn't working... continuing to talk, talk, talk nothing gets done."

Emailor follow him onor. Follow us ,or. Article originally on LiveScience.com.

The contractor in charge of the four-story building that collapsedkilling six people and injuring 14onto a thrift store in Philadelphia on Wednesday had a permit to tear down the building. He also has a criminal record.

, Griffin Campbell, the 49-year-old owner of Griffin Campbell Construction, pleaded guilty to theft and insurance fraud in 2009. He also had filed for bankruptcy protection in March "and owes thousands in unpaid city business taxes as well as state and federal taxes."

Additionally, , Campbell was acquitted of aggravated assault charges in 2007; in 2005, he was charged "with dealing crack cocaine near a playground." But those charges "were dismissed after prosecutors misplaced evidence."

Meanwhile, the owner of the building, Richard Basciano, is a former boxer once dubbed the "" by the New York Daily News for his string of Times Square peep-show parlors and adult night clubs.

[Related: ]

When former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, whom Basciano called his "nemesis," pushed to clean up Times Square, Basciano "stepped up" his smut-peddling in Philly, , focusing on a seedy stretch of real estate in Center City as well as a row of buildings once owned by "notorious blight meister and slumlord Sam Rappaport."

But in December, Bascianohe was "fed up with the adult business" and wanted to clean up his act, "particularly on two blocks at the western end of Market Street," where his building collapsed on Wednesday.

Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter said the city and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration are investigating the building collapse. On Thursday, Nutter said a "wide-ranging" investigation was already under way.

"Our heartfelt thoughts and prayers go out to the people affected by this tragic event," Basciano's company, STB Investments, said in a statement on Thursday. "Please know that we are committed to working with the City of Philadelphia and other authorities to determine what happened yesterday."

The larger 1.7 mile-wide rock named Asteroid 1998 QE2 will be the closest to Earth on Friday at 4:59 p.m. EDT. Don't worry, though. It will still be 3.6 million miles away. NASA scientist Paul Chodas (Ch'OH'duhs) said it's one of the larger asteroids to swing by Earth and is the size of the space rock that wiped out the dinosaurs.

The smaller rock was discovered Wednesday night by astronomers using radar to look at QE2. The moon asteroid is about 2,000 feet wide. That's about average for such near-Earth objects.

Suarez, who came on for the second half in place of Diego Forlan, scored with a diagonal shot into the bottom corner in the 49th minute after evading defender Eliaquim Mangala to take a pass from Maxi Pereira.

The striker did not start with Uruguay using the match as a warm-up for a critical World Cup qualifier in Venezuela on Tuesday that Suarez will miss through suspension.

Uruguay had the better of the opening exchanges with striker Edinson Cavani dangerous in front of Steve Mandanda's goal.

France, whose tour also includes a match against 2014 World Cup hosts Brazil on Sunday, then took control of the ball and Uruguay goalkeeper Fernando Muslera was forced to make several saves.

Play was evenly balanced in the second half but Uruguay coach Oscar Tabarez will be concerned that his most effective forward is unavailable when he most needs him.

Uruguay need a victory in Venezuela to try and climb into one of the South American qualifying berths.

They are sixth in the nine-nation group with 13 points from 11 matches, two points below Chile and Venezuela.

The top four teams at the end of the qualifiers in October will go through to the Brazil finals. The fifth-placed team, at present Venezuela, will enter a playoff against an Asian qualifier in November for another berth. (Reporting by Felipe Llambias; writing by Rex Gowar in Buenos Aires, editing by Ed Osmond)

At the same time, Attorney General Eric Holder held a fourth round of meetings with news organizations on possible improvements to procedures that currently allow the department to secretly gather phone records of news organizations without prior notification.

The discussions were ordered last week by President Barack Obama, who gave Holder until July 12 to recommend the improvements.

The Justice Department subpoenaed some of the AP's phone records in a criminal probe seeking to identify the sources of information for a May 2012 AP story that disclosed details about a foiled bomb plot in Yemen.

So it marked a milestone for "LACHSA" and arts education when the school's new $31 million facility was unveiled today at a grand opening ceremony.

"LACHSA's new building is more than a beautiful learning environment. It serves as a beacon of hope for the future of arts education in our public schools," said Arturo Delgado, superintendent of the Los Angeles County Office of Educations, which operates the school in partnership with Cal State L.A.

The three-level facility features 21 classrooms and black box theatre on 1.24 acres of land on the university campus. For the first time in nearly 30 years, LACHSA is able to hold academic classes in one building and has access to its own rehearsal and performance space.

"It has been more than two years since we broke ground on the new Los Angeles County High School for the Arts, and the wait has been well worth it," said Cal State L.A. President James M. Rosser. "Now some of the region's and beyond most talented young artists have a state-of-the-art facility that is esthetically beautiful and provides its talented and dedicated faculty and staff a variety of tools to engage and enable students' full potential."

Elected and education officials joined with hundreds of students, families, alumni, school personnel and stakeholders for the afternoon grand opening ceremony held as part of the annual "LACHSALive" all-day festival of performances and exhibitions.

Funding for the school's construction came from a $31.8 million "financial hardship" grant to the Office of Education through the California School Facilities Program from Propositions 47, 55 and 1D. The final cost of the project was $31 million. Construction began in February 2011. The Office contracted with HMC Architects of Ontario and construction management firm Bernards of San Fernando for the project.

The black box theatre was equipped through a $1.25 million grant from state's Career Technical Education Program and a generous matching gift from the Leonetti-O'Connell Family Foundation through the Arts High Foundation. Named "Caroline's LOFT" (Leonetti-O'Connell Family Theatre) in honor of LACHSA co-founder Caroline Ahmanson, the space provides for rehearsals and performances as well as technical training in the cinematic arts and stagecraft.

An $875,000 grant from Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael Antonovich (Dist. 5), also a LACHSA co-founder, is funding construction of an amphitheatre scheduled for completion in the Fall of 2014.

The award-winning LACHSA combines college-preparatory academic instruction with conservatory-style training in the visual and performing arts. The school serves 600 diverse students from across Los Angeles County who are selected through a competitive process of juried auditions or portfolio review. Learn more at: .

A photo of new building can be downloaded at: . Video of the day's events can be found on our FTP site at:by 5:00 pm PST (username: mediauser; password: media2013).

SOURCE Los Angeles County Office of Education

When a 62-year-old financial advisor bought a two-bedroomco-op recently, he showed up at the closing with a check for the full $970,000 purchase price. No mortgage? The money I had in cash was sitting getting 0% interest, explains the man, who asked not to be named. It made absolutely no sense to borrow.

There were other benefits as well to buying for cash, he says. He figures he got a liquidity discount for being able to close quicklythe asking price had been $1.05 million. And he avoided the hassles and paperwork that come with getting a mortgage these days. At the closing, he gloats, they spent more time making photocopies than anything, so we sat discussing Broadway plays.

Similar closing scenes are playing out across the country these daysminus the theater chitchat. Rates for 30-year fixed mortgages are hovering at 4%, and 15-year fixed loans can be had for 3.5% or less, the lowest in more than 50 years. Yet theestimates that roughly 30% of U.S. home buyers are now making their purchases 100% in cash, compared with 15% in 2008.

Some cash buyers are foreigners, who have never easily qualified for U.S. mortgages. Some are very-high-net-worth folks who have long favored cash for their multimillion-dollar trophy mansion purchases. The increase in cash buying comes mainly from two other groups: real estate investors, who nowadays rarely qualify for mortgages at all, and older buyers (like thefinancial advisor) who could qualify for mortgages but dont want to.

In foreclosure-plagued Florida, where prices in some areas are down 55% from the peak, investors and snowbirds bearing cash dominate the market. Charlie Brasington is chief executive of , which since 2008 has been using cash from private investors to buy distressed Tampa- and Palm Beach-area condo buildings from banks. Hoffman fixes the properties up and then sells the units to end users. Brasington reports two-thirds of the roughly 300 units Hoffman has sold so far have gone for cash, as have all eight of the $1 million-plus penthouses it has moved.

These people probably have $5 million or more, so to take 10% of it out and buy a quality home in Florida and know that youve got your stake in the sand, that may be a good investment, Brasington says. Your cash is not making money in a CD, thats for sure, and in the stock market theres volatility. In real estate, sure, you may have some downward trend still, but theres not that volatility anymore.

A sales pitch? Sure. But recent cash buyers make similar points, and signs abound that Florida prices may have bottomed. If youre considering a cash purchase, here are some pointers.

Cash buyers often get a discount

Until recently Id say sellers didnt care that the buyer was coming in all cash or financed, they just wanted the highest number. Now the game has changed, says Tracie Hamersley, a senior vice president at Citi Habitats, a New York City-based realty firm. While banks are lending again, it is much more onerous, and there are many hoops to jump through. So someone who can close in cash can in most cases qualify for somewhat of a price discount based on that sureness of a sale.

That cash-is-king phenomenon is being reported by Realtors across the country. Its like all of a sudden having this four-star gold status, says Karen Bergin of Coldwell Banker Advantage in Overland Park, Kans., who has represented three baby boomer cash buyers so far this year. One of her clients, a couple selling their western Kansas farm to relocate to thearea, even managed to secure an extended closing period while they awaited a buyer for their farm.

Closing costs are lower with cash

Cash buyers can also save on closing costs. You dont have to fork over money to pay a bank attorney for the mortgage. This is an expense that can run $750 and up (although it can be wise to retain your own lawyer). You dont have to put real estate taxes in escrow up front nor pay the estimated $300 to $600 for a mortgage application plus additional thousands in loan origination fees and assorted junk charges. And you arent required to cough up $400 to $600 for an appraisal, which mortgage lenders insist upon, or, in a growing number of cases, multiple appraisals. (The multiple appraisal requirement is popping up in foreclosure-riddled areas where nondistressed homes have few sales to be compared against.)

Should you get an appraisal anyway? Most Realtors still strongly recommend one, in addition to a home inspection, to ensure you arent overpaying or buying hidden structural problems. But if its clear youve negotiated a good price, an appraisal may not be an imperative.

Another expense that will drop: title insurance, which offers protection against problems with the chain of ownership and preexisting claims like unpaid property taxes or liens placed by stiffed contractors. On a $600,000 house with a 20% down payment, title charges, which include researching local land records, can easily top $2,000. But roughly one-third of that is for coverage that protects only lenders (which, of course, they mandate you get and pay for). Cash-only buyers dont have lenders, so theres an immediate savings right there. Indeed, as a cash buyer, its up to you whether you want title insurance at all. Realtors say its a prudent add-on.

Getting a mortgage is not guaranteed

No matter how good your credit, if you havent gotten a mortgage in a while, you could be in for a shock. Even if your finances pass muster, the lender will likely pull the funding if the required home appraisal doesnt reach the price youve agreed to pay. Thats the biggest issue hampering home sales this year, says Jed Smith, a managing director at the National Association of Realtors, which tracks sales data. (Some Realtors gripe that gun-shy appraisers are low-balling property values.)

The mortgage approval process also takes longer these daysan average of 45 days, up from 30 in 2008, according to online mortgage supermarket LendingTree.

Heres another factor to be aware of. The maximum size for conforming government-backed loansthose carrying the lowest rates with a traditional 20% down paymentwas reduced in October. In highest-cost jurisdictions, such as New York City, Bergen County, N.J. and , the maximum is now $625,500, down from $729,750. Most everywhere else the maximum is now $417,000, down from $443,750. Those taking larger nonconforming loans generally must pay a 0.5% higher rate, put 30% down and meet even tougher credit standards.

On the other hand, if you are a cash buyer, all these mortgage difficulties are to your benefit, since they could wipe out other potential bidders who do need a loan. (If youre paying cash, make a bid that doesnt have a mortgage contingencyand stress that point to the seller.)

Youre giving up a tax breaknow

Interest on up to $1.1 million in mortgage principal originally used to buy, build or improve a first (and second) home is currently tax-deductible. But if you later borrow against your equity for anything other than home improvements (say, for college tuition) your deduction is far more limited. In that case, interest on only the first $100,000 of home-equity borrowing is deductible, and even that isnt allowed when youre calculating whether you owe more under the dreaded alternative minimum tax. (You might be stuck in the AMT if you pay high state and local taxes and earn between $200,000 and $500,000.)

Keep in mind that this is all under current law. Theres been lots of talk inabout a tax reform that might lower tax rates while curbing tax breaks, including the mortgage interest deduction.

Even without a mortgage you get two other tax breaks from owning a primary residence. First, when you sell, the initial $500,000 in capital gains profit per couple ($250,000 for a single) isnt taxed. Second, youre getting a tax-free economic return on your investment in the form of free rent for all your years of residency.

Cheap money is relative

With rates so low, why not take out a mortgage and use your spare cash to invest? Thats an attractive option, but only if you believe your aftertax return on that investment will be greater than your aftertax cost for the mortgage, says James Maule, a VillanovaSchool professor who specializes in taxes. He explains, It depends on where you think your cash will make the most money or be the safest investment.

Finally, dont let the mortgage question obscure the bigger issue. Since you can always rent, is buying a house in the market youre looking at a good investment? That depends on whether prices have bottomed (or are close to bottom) and how high local rents are.

Remember that New York financial advisor who paid cash for his co-op? Heres a little insight into how this longtime renter decided the time was finally right to buy.

He figures the apartment he bought would rent for $5,000 a month or $60,000 a year, a 6% yield on his $970,000 investment. But he pays the co-op corporation $2,540 a month, or $30,480 a year, in maintenance charges to cover things like building operating expenses, property taxes and debt service on the buildings own borrowings. If he itemizes he gets to deduct his share of those tax and interest bills. So he reckons hes still getting a 3% yield on his $970,000 investment, compared with the 2% that U.S. Treasury bonds are paying.

That assumes no appreciation of the apartmentand he does expect some. After fallingfrom their 2008 peak, Manhattan co-op prices have been showing signs of a revival. Moreover, rents there are rising fast, up 7% in the year through October, .

All in all, a sound use of money hed otherwise have sitting in cash. Not that he intends to rent out the apartment, mind you. He and his wife plan to enjoy their new home, particularly the five walk-in closets, a coveted amenity in the cramped quarters of Manhattan.