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BY JACQUELINE CUTLER A year and a half ago, Ron Ben-Israel was known mainly among some New Yorkers for his delicious cakes decorated with exquisite sugar flowers. He had a great business on the top floor of an old building in SoHo, taught class at the French Culinary Institute and made occasional guest appearances on TV. Then the Food Network put him in ���Sweet Genius,��� in which pastry chefs must create fab desserts out of unusual ingredients. Now the former modern dancer from Israel is stopped on the street and asked for his autograph. ���It seems like forever,��� he says. ���It has only been 13 months.��� ���It became such a part of my life, but it is relatively new,��� Ben-Israel says. ���I did not know much about TV except going on to make cakes or sugar techniques. ���Being in the forefront, the public can love me and hate me but cannot ignore me now,��� he continues. Ben-Israel is the sole arbiter of who wins, but he collaborates with the show���s producers on challenges. In the Thursday, Jan. 3, episode, ���Electrifying Genius,��� the chefs must make a dessert related to the electric guitar; the main ingredient is fruit cereal. In the second challenge, they have to use a strawberry drink and a yellow pepper. That anyone can create anything but stomachaches with such ingredients is a marvel. ���In every show there are some people I like,��� Ben-Israel says. ���I actually ask them for recipes, so there is always something. It is never only one component, and the cake and the frosting and the filling and the shape. I take notes, and sometimes I end up having two great people, and I have to decide which one will get the title, and it is hard. I want to give it to both. And sometimes, I want to send everybody home, and they really upset me ��� not coming up with anything exciting.��� Web links On Monday, ���Dick Clark���s New Year���s Rockin��� Eve With Ryan Seacrest��� rings in 2013. Connect with the show on Facebook at www.facebook.com/NewYearsRockinEve Don���t Miss Monday���s Food Page You���ll find Great Recipes and Food Advertisements only in Ron Ben-Israel Ben-Israel sheds Ben-Israel sheds anonymity for a life anonymity for a life of ���Sweet Genius��� of ���Sweet Genius��� What are you currently reading? ���I have been reading a cookbook by two friends of mine from Brooklyn ��� ���The Mile End Cookbook: Redefining Jewish Comfort Food From Hash to Hamantaschen��� by Noah and Rae Bernamoff.��� What did you have for dinner last night? ���After Thanksgiving ��� I was a guest ��� I took home the two carcasses of two giant turkeys. I made a turkey soup. I made many variations, mushroom and barley, cauliflower and ginger, one with rutabagas, parsnip, turnip. ... Last night was the root vegetables.��� What is your next project? ���Expanding the empire. I need more space. I am planning to do a move in the coming year and hopefully expand and playing with the idea of doing retail cake.��� When and where was the last vacation you took and why? ���I went to Israel to visit my family and to eat good food. It is very fresh. My next trip this Friday is to Toronto, Canada, teaching two master classes.��� On Tuesday, New Year���s Day, several networks air the 124th Tournament of Roses Parade. Learn about this year���s edition at www.tournamentofroses.com/TheRoseParade. aspx Jessica Lange has gone stark raving mad Tuesday, PBS��� ���Great Performances��� explores entertainment history with ���Broadway Musicals: A Jewish Legacy.��� Learn about the film at www.broadwaydocumentary.com/ Scripps Howard Start the new year with ���Doomsday Volcanoes,��� Wednesday on PBS��� ���NOVA.��� Click on www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/earth/ doomsday-volcanoes.html U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) has asked MTV to yank ���Buckwild,��� set in his state and slated to premiere Thursday. While you can, check it out at www.mtv.com/shows/buckwild/series.jhtml Shorty Rossi and the Shortywood gang are back in a new season of Animal Planet���s ���Pit Boss,��� starting Saturday. Get ready at animal.discovery.com/tv-shows/pit-boss 574-533-2151 Place Your Employment Ad Today! goshennews.com / Over 3,500 resumes are posted on monster.com in The Goshen News readership areas. 574-533-2151 ext. 398 8 Nobody Knows Our Hometown Better! The Goshen News ��� Viewer���s Choice ��� Dec. 31, 2012-Jan. 5, 2013 It���s not as if she hasn���t danced on the edge of insanity before, most notably in the film ���Frances��� and the Tennessee Williams drama ���A Streetcar Named Desire.��� But these days the 63-year-old actress is fully embracing her inner maniac, a move that���s paid off with two Emmy wins, first for the sweetly delusional Big Edie in HBO���s ���Grey Gardens��� and then as master manipulator Constance in the first season of FX���s ���American Horror Story.��� She���s back for more ���Horror,��� this time as a sadistic, misguided nun who becomes a patient in the asylum she runs. It���s all part of the Oscar-winning actress��� continuing desire to find characters struggling with both mental capabilities and loneliness. ���It���s a potent combination to play,��� Lange said during a break from shooting the TV series. ���There���s nothing that appeals to me more than playing madness, and that I do know how to dip into.��� In the past, aging actresses such as Bette Davis and Joan Crawford made the transition from glamorous star to off-the-rails monster, but their attempts often veered into camp. Lange, on the other hand, is doing some of the finest, most delicate work of her career, bringing to life damaged characters whom you feel sympathy for, even as they���re stealing neighbors��� babies or delivering electroshock treatment to innocent reporters. ���Obviously your days as a leading lady are limited. You have that one little window of time from your mid-20s to your mid-40s,��� she said. ���I supposed you could define the parts that come your way afterwards as characters and you become a character actor. But I always felt from the beginning that I was a character actress. I mean, I never played just the girlfriend or the wife, except for maybe ���Tootsie,��� but that was so well written it didn���t really fall into that category.���

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