Making sushi can be fun and easy

Making sushi at home may seem fussy and complicated, but it need not be. It needs virtually no cooking, is inherently low in fat and nutritious, and can involve the guests in preparation. A temaki zushi(hand-rolled sushi) party is fun and an authentic way to eat sushi at home. When the Japanese are not eating sushi at restaurants or ordering in gorgeous, costly platters of nigiri-zushi(nuggets of vinegared rice topped with slabs of sashimi-raw fish), they serve temaki zushi to friends and family.

Sushi is not raw fish. It is the sweet and vinegary rice that forms the base for raw or cooked fish, vegetables, and a variety of toppings. A dollop of sushi rice is placed atop a rectangle of yaki nori(roasted seaweed). Then one chooses from a kaleidoscope of foods and places them on the rice. The seaweed and rice combination is then rolled, cone-like, and lightly dipped in soy sauce. The crunch of the seaweed, the complimentary sweet and briny flavors, and the eye-watering heat of wasabi (horseradish mustard paste) create a most satisfying combination.

Excellent ingredients are important, as they will be standing on their own merits. There is maguro(raw tuna), tobiko(flying fish eggs), scallops, and flounder. If you don't like raw fish, use smoked salmon, or cooked crabmeat and shrimp. Cucumber strips, radish sprouts, watercress, shiso leaves (a plant in the mint family), avocados, steamed asparagus, sweet shitake mushrooms, and omelet strips provide balance and texture. Cutting things into similar sizes and grouping them on a large platter makes a beautiful presentation. Condiments are soy sauce, wasabi, and gari shoga(vinegared ginger slices).

Raw fish must be bought at reputable places; there are no bargains. Be prepared to pay $15-$20 per pound for tuna. Sliced thin and as part of a large array of food, a half-pound goes a long way. The storage, cutting, and handling of the fish is important. Don't be intimidated; just be vigilant. You do not need to buy the pre-cut and very expensive sashimi slices if you stick to simpler fish choices. A good scrub in soapy hot water of your knives and cutting boards before and after using is crucial.

Rice remains the most important ingredient. There is no substitute for short-grain, Japanese rice. It's ''sticky'' characteristic gives it the distinctive quality necessary in making sushi. Many brands are available, even at local supermarkets. Mamiko Maki of Winchester, who is Japanese, recommends using Tamaki brand and says Nishiki is passable. The Japanese know rice and make very clear distinctions among the brands. Mamiko uses Kagayaki (available in Japanese markets), which she considers ''good quality and reasonably priced.''

The only cooking you have to do is making the rice. A rice cooker is convenient, but a heavy-bottomed pot with a good fitting lid will do. The preparation of short-grain rice is different from that of long-grain rice. Short-grain rice must be washed and soaked before cooking, and the water must be cold when the rice begins to cook. After cooking, a mixture of rice wine vinegar, sugar, and salt is stirred into the steaming rice, coating the grains until shiny. There is a bottled version of this seasoning, and it is good enough, even for the most particular Japanese cooks.

Once considered exotic ingredients, most of the makings of a sushi party now can be found in any supermarket with a reasonable international or Asian section. For the really authentic, however, try an Asian or Japanese specialty market. It will be one-stop shopping (except for maybe the fish), and you are more likely to find the freshest of everything due to the high turnover.

Where to find fresh ingredients for sushi:

The following stores carry fresh fish and other good sushi ingredients.

Fish Sea to You 212 Northern Avenue Fish Pier Boston 617-350-0130

New Deal 622 Cambridge Street Cambridge 617-876-8227 Fresh Pond Seafood 355 Fresh Pond Parkway Cambridge 617-497 - 9821

Japanese Specialty Markets These stores can be pricey but will have everything you are looking for (Some have fish available).

Yoshinoya's 36 Prospect Street (Central Square) Cambridge 617-491-8221

Kotobukiya 1815 Massachusetts Ave. (Porter Square) Cambridge 617-354-6914

Pan Asian

Reliable Market 85 Union Square Somerville 617-623-9620

China Merchandise 120 Cambridge St. Burlington 781-229-6886


Te Maki Sushi Party for 8
Arrange all ingredients on one or two platters


Sushi Rice - makes 7 cups cooked rice
Double to make sure you have enough.
(When preparing Japanese rice add 1 ¼ cups water for each cup of uncooked rice.)

2 ½ cups short grain rice
2 ¾ cup water

Seasonings
5 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
½ teaspoon salt

*You can use prepared sushi - su seasoned vinegar - check the package
for proportions.

Make the rice no more than 2 hours before you plan to use it


1. Place rice in a bowl or pot and wash by stirring and draining three or four times until the water becomes almost clear.
2. Let the rice soak in 2¾ cups rice for 20 minutes. The rice will turn white and plump up the grains.
3. If using a rice cooker start cooking. If using a pot, cook the rice over medium heat until the water starts to boil. Then turn the heat to low and cook for 10 minutes. Turn the heat off and let the rice steam for 10 minutes. The pot should be covered during the entire process. Total time about 30 minutes.
4. Remove the rice to a large bowl and with slashing movements toss and lift the rice. Do not mash and mix it.
5. Combine the seasonings for the rice. Make sure sugar and salt is dissolved.
6. Sprinkle the seasoning mixture onto the rice as you toss the rice, coating all the grains until shiny. With a newspaper or magazine, fan the rice to cool it down as you mix it. It does help to have someone else do this while you are tossing the rice.
7. Place in a shallow serving bowl. Cover the rice with a clean damp dishtowel to keep from drying out. Never refrigerate sushi rice.

Seasoned Shitake Mushrooms

6-8 dried shitake mushrooms - soaked in water (reserve the soaking liquid) until soft, rinsed, and sliced into strips.

½ cup mushroom liquid
3 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon mirin (sweet rice wine) you can add another teaspoon of sugar if not available

1. Cook the mushrooms in a saucepan with the mushroom liquid, soy sauce, sugar and mirin until the mushrooms have absorbed all the liquid, about 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. Do not walk away from this pot.


Assorted Fillings

½ pound fresh tuna - sliced ¼ by 2- 3 inch
½ fresh crabmeat
½ pound cooked shrimp sliced down the center
4 ounces tobiko - flying fish eggs or salmon roe
½ pound smoked salmon
½ pound scallops - sliced horizontally in thirds - with lemon juice
2 avocadoes - peeled and cut into 8 long sections
2 English cucumbers (no peeling necessary) seeded and cut into ¼ by 3
inch strips
1 bunch watercress, washed and dried
radish sprouts, rinsed and dried
(2 packages shiso leaves - 8 to a package)
seasoned shitake mushrooms
Steamed asparagus spears, lightly salted

20 sheets nori - roasted seaweed sheets, cut in half
Soy sauce
Gari shoga pickled ginger slices
Wasabi - Japanese horseradish paste - it comes in tubes all prepared in the refrigerator section or as a powder in a small can. If you buy the powder - you will need to mix a few teaspoons of the powder with a little water.

Set a plate, disposable wooden chopsticks, and a small dish for soy sauce and wasabi for each person.

To make a roll:

1. Take a rectangle sheet of nori rough side up, and spread a small amount of rice on the left side of the nori. Flatten rice and spread a little wasabi on the rice.
2. Lay the fillings of your choice on the diagonal. Fold the lower left corner of the seaweed over the filling and continue to roll into a cone.
3. Dip into soy sauce.

Ginger acts as a palate cleanser.

Put a little life in child's lunchbox

By Debra Samuels
GLOBE CORRESPONDENT

DECEMBER 28, 2000 LIFE AT HOME SECTION

Is your child tired of the same old lunchbox fare? Have you had it with one more request for a Fluff sandwich? Are you suspicious that your children might be trading their carrot sticks for corn chips? Are you sure they couldn't care less about any effort on your part?
We lived in Japan when my elder son was a first-grader. It was an education for all of us, not least of all when it came to the preparation and presentation of lunch for a 7-year-old. The Japanese moms made Rembrandts out of rice balls and fruit. Their masterpieces were not only nutritionally balanced, but also made your eyes water: mini. franks cut into the shape of an octopus, hard-boiled eggs cut to look like tulips. With a snip and a slice, the apple wedge became a bunny rabbit. W ith a tuck and a roll, a colorful spiral sandwich emerged. All the food groups were covered. Every child brought a folded cloth napkin and perky pals on the thermos in a handmade drawstring bag.
Needless to say, this did not go unnoticed by my son. It was great being the only American in class, but coming to school with peanut butter and jelly, celery sticks, banana, and juice box in a brown paper bag was demoralizing. To save his face and mine, I bought "100 Ideas on Children's Obento" (portable lunches), just one of dozens of books and over sized how-to magazines in my local bookstore. Dazzling lunches are serious business for Japanese children and for their mothers, who would no more dream of creating an unplanned meal than their children would consider not eating every last morsel.
My son barreled through that book and chose the first of many edible art projects I would make that year: a sandwich in the shape of a little boy's face complete with bologna bangs. Endless minifranks and fruit and vegetable ménageries later, I realized children did notice and did care. And yes, he did eat the whole thing.
Of course, I don't recommend going to these lengths, nor do I subscribe to the concepts of guilt and obligation that underlie this.
(Well, maybe I do, but just a little.)

In Japan, however, there is a down side to all this: competition among the children and among the mothers. Moms are not just feeding their children or impressing them and their pals with their efforts. The teacher and other parents doing their PTA duties notice, too. Tongues cluck, children talk, and the teacher might even make a call home about a child's being embarrassed and teased due to a mother's insufficient effort.
Since 60 percent of Japanese women work I thought perhaps it was only the stay-at-home moms who had the time to do this. Wrong again. For everyone, working or not, there is internal and external pressure across educational and economic lines to make attractive, well-balanced meals with at least the appearance of their being homemade. Sure, plenty of women buy little salads, but before they go into the lunch box they are placed in a foil cup, and those store-bought meatballs are speared with a colorful plastic pick with a flag on top.
Even for someone like me, who loves playing with food and torturing little hot dogs into another species, this is way over the top. I did learn a great deal about the value of planning lunches and making them look appetizing, though. Children were delighted with their meals and ate with gusto.
With just a bit of effort and a few new ideas, you may be pleasantly surprised to find those lunch boxes comming back empty because the contents actually have been eaten, not fed to the trash.

(P.S. My sons never traded their meals when we came back to the States - they sold them!)

Apple Bunny

Cut and core one apple into 6 wedges. Slip a paring knife under the apple peel and slice carefully about two thirds of the way up. Cut a V into the apple skin flap and remove. You now have two ears. Add a splash of lemon juice to a small bowl of water and dip in the apple bunny to help prevent browning.

Octopus Franks

Cut each little frank almost to the top. You now have two pieces attached to the head.
Carefully slice each flap into thirds. Place in boiling water until the legs begin to curl up.
So this marine mollusk has six legs? Who's counting?

Little Known Lunch Fact:

Boston Mayor Thomas M. Menino remembers this about his early school lunches: "In first grade, every day, I took bologna, except Friday, when I took tuna fish."

Pinwheel Sandwich (Makes 4 servings)

4 slices of smoked salmon, turkey or ham
Bean sprouts, red or green pepper strips
4 slices of cheddar cheese or cucumber strips
12 slices of white or whole wheat bread, crusts removed
½ stick butter or margarine softened
¼ c. light mayonnaise(with 1 teaspoon mustard and or tarragon)
4 leaves of loose-leaf lettuce plastic wrap, washed and dried

Place 3 slices of bread in a row leading away from you on top of a sheet of plastic wrap.
Flatten the bread with a rolling pin. Spread with butter or mayo mixture and overlap the slices ¼ inch on the tops and bottoms. Press them together.
Place the lettuce on the two slices of bread closest to you. Place slices of salmon, turkey, or ham on top of the second slice of bread and the cheese on the third slice.
Add the sprouts (or other vegetables) on the salmon.
Lift up the first slice of bread and roll the sandwich forward, away from you.
Enclose the roll in the plastic wrap and chill overnight or for at least 2 hours. Slice into 4 rounds.
Repeat with remaining ingredients.
Make this the night before and slice in the morning.
Also try roast beef with spiced cream cheese, but avoid tuna and egg salads, as the bread will become soggy.

This story ran in the Boston Globe on 12/28/2001.
© Copyright 2001 Globe Newspaper Company.

Hot cereal brings comforting start to the day

WHETHER you call it porridge, gruel, mush, or hot cereal, there is a world of wonderful grains for hot breakfast on a cold New England morning.

Some gag at the thought of hot cereal. Others drool thinking about brown sugar, a pat of butter, and milk melting into a creamy bowl of steaming oats. Carol Halewood of Lexington shudders as she recalls how her mother held Carol's nose and force-fed her oatmeal when the weather dipped below 40 degrees. She won't go near the stuff today.

Carol Bohmer of Cleveland, on the other hand, smiles thinking of her Sunday semolina supper. Growing up in New Zealand, she remembers, ''after a big midday meal, we were given hot cereal for dinner. The best part was the square of chocolate my mum put into our bowls. We watched it melt and made spirals with our spoons.''

A wide variety of hot cereals is on grocery shelves. Quaker Oats are smooth and creamy, while McCann's Irish Oats are crunchy. Wheatena is toasty and textured, while Farina is bland but satisfying. Cream of Rice looks like wallpaper paste, but adding milk, a smidge of butter, and brown sugar is great for a hurting tummy. Wolff's Buckwheat Kasha is often eaten as a side dish and makes an earthy porridge. Remember Marky Maypo who bellowed, ''I want my Maypo!''? This instant, maple-flavored, presweetened combination of oats and rye is deliciously nostalgic.

Grocers put the ''pure'' stuff on the top shelf and place the flavor-enhanced (artificial), presweetened, individually packeted items at eye level. These are adorned with pictures of vanilla beans, cinnamon buns, and apples. One oatmeal brand even contains ''dinosaur eggs.'' A candy egg melts and a candy dinosaur emerges.

With all the hype, you can't be sure just what you are buying. Ingredient lists consist of multiple, multi-syllabic words and sugar in its varied forms (dextrose, sucrose, guar gum). Compare this to the one or two ingredients listed on the packages you can barely reach.

Most of us eat hot cereal with something on top. Adding your own salt, butter, milk, brown sugar, maple syrup, granola, or raisins gives you some control, and you can at least pronounce what you are eating. One teaspoon of brown sugar is 15 calories, raisins add iron, cinnamon a little flavor, and maple syrup about 50 calories per tablespoon. Nutritionists turn to hot cereals when looking for good sources of fiber and iron, especially for women. The cereals are naturally low in cholesterol and fat.

Cooking time is determined by how much the manufacturer has processed the cereal. The larger the oat flake, the longer the cooking time. ''Instant'' means fairly small and very processed and requires 30 to 90 seconds; ''quick cooking'' needs about 3 minutes; and ''old-fashioned'' will take anywhere from 5 to 8 minutes. Grits and Irish oats are in the ''eternity'' category at 20-30 minutes.

John McCann's Irish Oats (available at Trader Joe's and Bread and Circus) are prized by oatmeal aficionados. Their crunch, grainy texture, and nutty flavor attract devotees. The whole-grain groat (inner part of the oat kernel) is not rolled flat, but cut into two or three pieces, leaving little nuggets, which is the reason for the 30-minute cooking time.

McCann's Web site offers shortcuts, though. Soaking oats overnight, chopping the oats in a food processor, toasting them in the oven, and microwaving all save time. Basically, you are doing the processing. The microwave takes about 12 minutes for two bowls, and can leave a big mess if the oatmeal overflows - but the crunch remains.

One suggestion is to put the oats in a crock pot overnight on the low setting (one cup of oats to four cups water) and add raisins and cinnamon. You wake up to a wonderful aroma and a pot of delicious hot oatmeal. The problem is that the crunch disappears. If you like creamy oatmeal, this is a great idea. Make enough for several days and store in individual containers in the fridge. Just add a little milk and reheat for 2-3 minutes in the microwave. However, to enjoy this cereal as it is intended, there is no substitute for standing at the stove, stirring occasionally, and eating right away.

This feast can come out of your kitchen

A lot of people are convinced they cannot cook. Bad experiences, low motivation, little time, no understanding of cooking terms - these are just a few of their reasons. Each has a remedy.

FayRuth Fisher, 25, a graduate of Hampshire College now working as a legislative and political coordinator for Massachusetts AFL-CIO, is a smart young woman who says she has a hard time following recipes. ''I get all motivated by looking at the pictures and the finished product, then somewhere halfway into the recipe I decide something is taking too long,'' she says. ''I get resentful and eliminate a step or two.''This clearly was the source of her problem when she made a cake that called for stiff egg whites. Not knowing what stiff egg whites looked like or why they had to be stiff (makes the cake rise), she got frustrated and beat them only a little and added them to the cake batter. The result was a very flat cake and gales of laughter from her mom and friend who then took a picture of the cake for posterity. Fisher was convinced that ''cooking was not my thing.''

Debbie Louis, 49, a mother of two and vice president of e-business operations at Centra Software, likes to cook but has very little time during the week. Still, she feels it's important for the family to sit together and have a ''nice nutritious meal.'' She knew others at her company felt the same, so she asked caterer Bob Yacavonis of Sensational Foods of Watertown (617-924-6703) if employees could order full-course meals that he would deliver to the office each week. Her company provided refrigerator space.''I'm a two-bag-per-week customer,'' says Louis. ''That's five meals for a family of four.'' She says it costs about $100 a week, and is worth it.

Louis found her solution, but most people who think they can't cook just need a bit of confidence, a few simple, no-fail recipes, a little motivation, and maybe even cooking classes. Wendy Greenberg, mother of two, avowed non-cook, and object of derision from her family for most of her culinary efforts, found salvation through cooking lessons, a gift from a friend. With glee and pride in her voice, she recently announced she had made pizza, dough and all, from scratch: ''My husband came home to the smells of food cooking and thought he was in the wrong house.''

With Thanksgiving - and all its expectations for a glorious multi-course meal - imminent, there is alarm among those who find this too daunting a task. No meal could be simpler, however, precisely because the menu is mostly set. Herewith, a complete Thanksgiving dinner in which no dish has more than two main ingredients (simple spices, water, and butter do not count as extra ingredients).

After setting some rules (no prepared food allowed in the main meal), we set about creating a great dinner with all the trimmings and no stress. Instead of a whole turkey, we chose a fresh turkey breast. (Sorry, dark-meat lovers.) A vegetable duo of baby carrots and sugar snap peas is, indeed, a snap, and stuffing with cranberry sauce even made the cut. As for garnishes, a sprig of fresh parsley does wonders.

With the main meal complete, we stretched the rule for dessert and made it an assembly project: four things combined and very do-able. There is no weeklong preparation timetable. The only thing you need to do in advance is go shopping. This meal can be done in just a few hours on Thanksgiving Day. The smell of food cooking and the accompanying kudos will be very satisfying.

Basic cooking and baking courses are offered at many adult education programs through local high schools. The Boston Center for Adult Education (617-267-4430) offers Basic Cooking Principles in three sessions and also has single-session workshops on topics such as vegetarian Thanksgiving, Thanksgiving side dishes, Thanksgiving leftovers, and holiday baking.


Roast Turkey Breast with V-8 Gravy

One 5-pound turkey breast
2-3 cups V-8 juice salt, pepper, and paprika

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Rinse turkey breast under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels.
3. Place turkey breast in a roasting pan, breast side up. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, and paprika, and rub into skin.
4. Mix 2 cups V-8 juice with 1 cup water, and pour over and around the turkey breast. 5. Follow cooking directions on turkey package. Spoon the pan juices over the turkey every 15 minutes. Add more V-8 and water as needed to maintain at least an inch of juice in the pan.

A 5-pound breast takes about 2 hours. A meat thermometer placed in the thickest part of the breast and not touching the bone should reach 185 degrees. If you do not have a thermometer, pierce the breast with a knife. If the juice runs clear, the turkey is ready. Slice and serve.


Pepperidge Farm Stuffing with Whole Cranberry Sauce

This stuffing is prepared outside the turkey. Just before serving, pour pan juices from turkey over the stuffing.

1 pound package herbed seasoned stuffing
1 cup whole berry cranberry sauce, thinned with 1/4 cup warm water.

1. Prepare stuffing according to package.
2. Add the cranberry sauce and toss together. If the stuffing seems dry, add a little water, 1 tablespoon at a time.


Baked Sweet Potatoes with Maple Syrup

4 whole sweet potatoes
maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
1. Wash and dry sweet potatoes. Rub the skin with a little vegetable oil. Pierce with knife in several places.
2.Place potatoes in a pan, and bake for approximately 1 hour. They are done when a knife slips easily into the center. (Put the potatoes into the oven while cooking the turkey in its last hour.)
3. Split the potatoes lengthwise and drizzle on maple syrup. Mash with fork to incorporate the syrup. Finish with a little more syrup.


Sugar Snap Peas and Baby Carrots

1 small bag peeled baby carrots
1 pound sugar snap peas (frozen are fine)
salt and pepper 1 tablespoon butter

1. Bring 4 cups of salted water to a boil in a large pot.
2. Add peas and cook them for one minute. (No need to defrost if frozen.) Remove peas with a slotted spoon.
3. Bring water back to boil and add carrots. Cook until just soft, about 4 minutes. Drain.
4. Combine peas and carrots in a dish with 1 tablespoon butter. Season with salt and pepper. Serve


Pumpkin Ice Cream Parfait

Pumpkin Ice cream is sold at Toscanini's in Cambridge (617-354-9350), Lizzies Ice Cream Parlor in Waltham (781-893-6677), and Shaws Farm (a working farm), 195 New Boston Road, Dracut (978-957-0031). Wilson Farms in Lexington (781-862-3900) also carries the Shaws Farm pumpkin ice cream.

Pumpkin ice cream
Soft lady fingers (3 per person) found in supermarket bakery sections
Marshmallow Fluff
Granola or chopped pecans

1. Split all lady fingers. Line individual cups, small bowls, or wine glasses with six lady finger halves placed vertically around the cup and overlapping on the bottom.
2. Spread 1 tablespoon of Fluff on top of the lady fingers at the bottom of the cup.
3. Place a large scoop of pumpkin ice cream on top of the Fluff.

Sprinkle granola or chopped pecans on top.

Navigating the nutrition info highway

Looking for some good food jokes? Try the KidZone page at asfsa.org, sponsored by the American School Food Service Association. Need a lesson plan and ''ready to print'' activity sheets on the food pyramid and good food choices? Visit nutritionexplorations.org, the site of the National Dairy Council. Looking for ways to reduce the fat in your favorite fettuccine Alfredo recipe? Click on cyberdiet.com and go to ''recipe recreations.'' Not only will you get a recipe, but you'll find a ''before'' and ''after'' calorie and nutrient analysis as well.

An enormous amount of nutrition information is on the Web, but it can be hard to find. The Center on Nutrition Communications at the Tufts School of Nutrition Science and Policy provides a way to navigate it all. It's called Nutrition Navigator, at navigator.tufts.edu, a ''rating guide to nutrition Web sites.'' Ask dieticians for their favorite Web site and most point to this as the very first place to visit. Tufts nutritionists review and rate Web sites for accuracy, depth of information, and usability, among other categories. Each Web site that is reviewed on the 25-point scale (25 being the best) gets an overall rating and information on target audience, sponsor, and commentary.

Hundreds of sites are reviewed under headings including Family, Special Dietary Needs, Hot Topics, and Women. It is not overwhelming. Each site mentioned has a short summary, then a single page with the site's Web address, rating, and more about the content. Still interested? Click and you're there.

Most sites have a variety of options once you get there. Parents looking for recipes for children are also likely to find activities they can do online with their children, such as game show-style quizzes, puzzles, and nutrition information.

Many nutrition sites are sponsored or co-sponsored by commercial firms or business associations. For instance, healthychoices.org, aimed at teachers and day-care providers, is sponsored by the Growers of Washington State Apples and Tree Top, a fruit processing company. The site promotes healthy eating throughout the food pyramid and has lessons and coloring sheets to download for preschoolers, though all the recipes use some form of apple.

Even the Tufts Navigator site is sponsored by Kraft Foods. Some groups' agendas are more obvious than others. The Vegetarian Resource Group, vrg.org, rated a 24 (among the best) by Tufts, has as one of its titles ''Afraid of Mad Cow Disease?'' It directs you toward alternatives to meat products, such as veggie burgers. The site has informative articles, tips on feeding a vegetarian child, and loads of recipes.

The National Dairy Council Web site, nutritionexplorations.org (rated 22, among the best), originally was designed to support the many Dairy Council programs that are already in the schools. For teachers, lesson plans and activities are ready to download. The site also includes information for food service professionals and parents, a Nutrition Bookshelf, and a colorful place called the familyfoodzone.com with a funky interactive refrigerator, games, and recipes. The primary message is about the importance of calcium in one's diet through dairy products but as part of a well-balanced diet from the five food groups.

Cyberdiet.com, with a high rating of 24, promotes health and fitness, and features articles, on-line diet support, and a variety of topics. Colorful, easy to follow, reasonable advice and a free weight assessment tool make this site user-friendly.

All these sites have links galore to other sites. You can spend time going from one place to another and end up in Ireland, at the Healthy Food magazine sponsored by the Department of Health in Dublin: indigo.ie/~indicom/crunch.htm. The recipes might be in grams and the Irish spell yoghurt with an ''h,'' but the information is useful.

The site dole5aday.com, with a rating of 21, has activities and tips for parents to encourage children to eat more fruits and vegetables.

''Hey Mikey, what did the banana do when it heard the ice scream? It split!'' There's plenty more where that came from at asfsa.org/kidzone/jokes.asp.


Black Bean and Mango Salsa
(Adapted from nutritionforkids.com)

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (7 ounces) yellow corn
1 medium mango, peeled and diced
1/2 red pepper, seeded and diced
1/4 cup Spanish onion, finely diced
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
2 tablespoons olive oil.

1. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and chill. Serve with baked tortilla chips.

To make a burrito: Place 1/2 cup of black bean salsa on a tortilla. Sprinkle on some grated Monterey Jack cheese, fold the burrito in half, and grill in frying pan for 2 minutes on each side.


Raisin Buddy Banana Muffins
(Reprinted with permission from dole5aday.com)

2 ripe, medium bananas
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup raisins

1. Lightly grease muffin tins. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Mash bananas until smooth. Add eggs and oil.
3. In a separate bowl, combine flour, cocoa, sugar, baking soda, salt, and baking powder. Add banana mixture and stir until moistened. Stir in raisins.
4. To make mini muffins, spoon 1 tablespoon of batter into each mini-muffin pan cup. Bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool muffins before popping out. For regular muffins, spoon 1/3 cup batter into 10 or 12 prepared muffin cups. Bake for 20-25 minutes.


Hot Legs
(Adapted from the Munch'n Crunch @ Lunch site indigo.ie/~indicom/hotleg.htm)

Serves 6

8 carrots, peeled and sliced into strips
12 chicken drumsticks
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 large onion, sliced thin
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 can (16 ounces) chopped tomatoes and juice
2 heaping teaspoons cornstarch
1/2 cup water
1 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons ketchup
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

1. In a 9-by-13-inch casserole, spread the carrots along the bottom.
2. Wash and dry drumsticks and sprinkle on salt, pepper, and garlic powder. In a frying pan, brown the drumsticks in the oil for 3 minutes each side. Place them on top of the carrots.
3. In the same frying pan, saute the onions. Mix the cornstarch and water. Add the chopped tomatoes and cornstarch mixture to the onions. Heat until bubbly. Add the chili powder and ketchup. Mix well until thickened.
4. Pour the sauce over the drumsticks. Cover with foil and bake 30 minutes.
5. Remove the foil and cook another 10 minutes.
6. If you wish, serve with a dollop of plain yogurt over each serving. Rice makes a good accompaniment.

The Wooden Bowls

I was on my hands and knees, plucking pot after broken-handled pot from beneath my Nana's cabinets cluttered with kitchenware accumulated after the death of each of her four sisters. "Who needs to spend money on new pots with all these?" I imagined her saying.

Imagined indeed. My grandmother, Beatrice Bloom, had died just days before, at age 94, and I was helping my mother clean out her apartment in Miami Beach. The mound of pots grew while thoughts and images of the formidable, widowed Cohen sisters: Aunts Rose, Ruth, Francis and Lilly, came alive. Rose, the undisputed matriarch and best cook, Ruth the best baker, intrepid Lilly (who at 84 showed up, alone at our Tokyo apartment), and Francis and Beatrice-- working girls until well into their late 70's.

And then, like a miner hitting a vein of gold, I found what I knew had to be there somewhere-- two shallow, elliptical wooden bowls nestled together. Pulling them from the darkness of the cabinet, in tears, I brought them close to my nose and breathed deeply, smelling more than half a century of Friday night and holiday dinners. Nothing triggers memories like aromas. There I was, in February 2001 on the floor of a kitchen in Miami, transported decades back to the New York City apartment my grandmother and her sisters Rose and Francis shared.

Frazzled from a Friday night ride on the Long Island Expressway, we step off the elevator into the hallway of Beatrice's apartment building, and are met by the distinctive smells of Eastern European Jewish cooking. We could have picked any floor in that building or any other in the neighborhood where Jewish women were preparing dinner, and would have felt right at home.

Chopchopchopchopchop-- the rhythmic sound of metal blade hitting wooden bowl at rat-a-tat speed. The smell, oh the smell. Onions being fried in chicken schmaltz (chicken fat) permeated the hallways and infused my soul. What treats lay behind the door of Apartment 7B! Roast Chicken, Chicken Soup with Matzoh Balls, sweet noodle pudding…

Upon entering the apartment, there would be a flurry of hugs and commands. My two brothers, and father were set upon. If a male attempted to follow his nose across the culinary 38th Parallel of Aunt Rosie's kitchen, they were chided and shooed "Out, out, out!" I alone was allowed into the kitchen where a flushed Aunt Rose held the double-bladed chopper above the wooden bowl and exclaimed "Debala (little Debbie in Yiddish) how about a little taste?" She filled a spoonful of chopped liver scraped from the bowl and into my mouth. (Even at age 10, I loved this stuff!) Before I could answer, Rosie would say "more salt," and toss crystals of kosher salt into the bowl, in perfect unmeasured proportion.

But the single magic ingredient (or lethal weapon, as we now know) was chicken schmaltz. A jelly-glass full of the weeks of rendered chicken fat-- resembling strata of sedimentary rock-- sat inside the refrigerator door. A dollop was always added to the chopped chicken livers, fried onions and hardboiled egg mixture. It was guaranteed to take you to Jewish Nirvana and probably was responsible for more than a few triple by-pass operations.

A basket of fresh challah is on the center of the table set with a beautiful linen cloth, the good china and silver. Finally we are all seated. My Nana and Aunt Francis serve the first course. Happy and chatting, we spread the chopped liver onto the challah.

Aunt Francis reaches for the salt-- big mistake. "What are you doing?" demands Rose. "It needs salt," Francis explains. "No it doesn't" retorts Rosie as she reaches into Aunt Francis's plate with her fork, confirming her pronouncement. Then an exchange of "no it doesn't, mind your own business, what do you know" ensues. The girls, even as octogenarians, never agreed on much. I always wondered why the salt and pepper shakers were out on the table, as they were purely for decoration.

Herring, gefilte fish, and walnuts were chopped for a variety of dishes in those wooden bowls. My great-grandmother, who came to this country from Poland, observed kosher rules. She used different bowls for different foods. As time passed, however, the next generation dropped this custom, replacing it with a good washing instead.

My mother, Rona Greenberg, has her own wooden bowl, and when I got married, part of my 'dowry' was a new wooden bowl and chopper. Customs changed over time as we assimilated into American culture. My great-grandmother's Shabbos (Sabbath) dinner with candles and prayers, turned into a regular Friday night gathering of cousins in my mother's generation, before it became dinner at Nana's when I was a kid. And now what is it? Pizza and a video after a long week of work and busy schedules.

Yes, I do use my wooden bowl, sometimes even for making chopped liver. To be honest, though, I more often hit the pulse button on the Cuisinart. But, against my better judgment, I do skim the fat off the top of the chicken soup and add it to the batter for making matzoh balls-- you get a much lighter ball and not a bomb that sinks to the bottom of the pot. However, I also crush sesame and fennel seeds and mash tofu in this same wooden bowl. Sorry girls.

With my Nana's tchotchkes ("stuff" comes closest in English) and those two bowls as carry-ons, I returned to Boston from Miami. I was richer than when I left. Fighting my sentimental instincts, knowledge about bacteria forced me to put the bowls into the dishwasher. Today they are on my kitchen counter, filled with fruit and memories.

Gut Yuntuf (Yiddish for Happy Holidays) Nana and Aunties. For this year's Rosh Hashanah dinner I will use your bowls to make chopped liver, and add an extra spoonful of shmaltz with a dash of tears. No one had better reach for the salt.


Aunt Rosie's Chopped Liver (serves 8 as an appetizer)

There are as many methods for making chopped liver, as there are Jewish mothers.
My paternal grandmother, Bess, used mayonnaise as her secret ingredient, to no end of disdain from the Cohen girls.

1 pound fresh chicken livers
2 large onions
2 hardboiled eggs
2-3 tablespoons vegetable oil or chicken shmaltz(fat)
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

1. Clean and separate chicken livers. Place chicken livers in a baking dish and broil for 2 minutes. (My mother in law boils them for about 3 minutes).
2. Chop onions and sauté in a frying pan with the oil(chicken shmaltz) for 15 minutes until they are very soft and brown. If you dare, fry them in rendered chicken fat.
3. Add the chicken livers and sauté an additional 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

To mix by hand in a chopping bowl:

1. Finely chop hard-boiled eggs and set aside.
2. Vigorously chop the onion and liver mixture until well blended and spreadable. Add the eggs and mix with a spoon. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

To mix by food processor:

1. Put eggs in processor bowl and with 's'blade hit the pulse button 3-4 times. Remove to a separate bowl.
2. Add the chicken livers and onions to processor bowl and hit the pulse button about 7-8 times. Add to the egg mixture and mix well.
Season with salt and pepper.
If the mixture is a little dry, you can add a little oil, chicken shmaltz or mayonnaise.

To serve individually:

On a small plate, place a mound of about 3 tablespoons on a lettuce leaf garnished with tomato wedges. Serve with Challah, matzoh, or crackers like Tam Tams(Manishewitz Brand)


Grandma Rita's Mock Chopped Liver (Vegetarian)

This is my mother-in-law Rita Schwartz's delicious and lower fat alternative to the real thing. "You know we all have to watch it these days, says Grandma Rita."

1 8 ounce can green beans
1 8 ounce can green peas
15 Tam Tam crackers
2 large onions, chopped
3 hard boiled eggs
1 tablespoon low fat mayonnaise
1 cup chopped walnuts
salt and pepper to taste
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

1. In a frying pan, sauté onions for 15 minutes until soft and browned.
2. Put the onions alone in the food processor and pulse 3-4 times and remove.
3. Place walnuts and Tam Tam crackers in the food processor bowl and pulse until just broken up.
Add the vegetables, hard boiled eggs and process until smooth.
4. Finally add the onions to this mixture and pulse another 3 times.
5. Scrape into a mixing bowl. Add mayonnaise, salt and pepper to taste.
Chill for at least 2 hours.


Rosie's Herring Salad (serves 12)

This is like a pate and is delicious with crackers

2 jars pickled herring filets (not in cream sauce) with onions
2 apples peeled and grated
¾ cup walnuts
2 hard boiled eggs
1-2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
¼ cup sour cream(you can omit this)

1. Drain herring filets and reserve the liquid.
2. Chop herring and onions finely in a bowl or pulse about 6 times in a food processor.
3. Place in a bowl and add the grated apple, ½ cup of chopped walnuts, hardboiled egg, lemon juice, sugar and a few teaspoons of the pickling liquid.
4. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Serve with crackers on a platter. Garnish with the remaining walnuts.


Rosie's Waldorf Salad (serves 4 as a first course)

Old fashioned and simple to make, this salad is quite refreshing. It also makes a great dessert.

2 Red Delicious Apples
2 Golden Delicous or Granny Smith Apples
2 tablespoons each, mayonnaise and sour cream
3 stalks celery, diced
1 cup green grapes halved
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
lemon juice and sugar to taste

1. Wash, cut and core apples. Do not peel. Cut into bite-size pieces. Place in a bowl and sprinkle with lemon juice.
2. Add diced celery, grape halves and walnuts
3. Mix sour cream and mayo together. Fold into salad. Chill for 2 hours.
4. Serve in individual glass compote cup. Sprinkle on chopped walnuts as a garnish.


How to Render Chicken Fat
(Adapted From the New Jewish Cookbook - Hebrew Publishing 1947)

Cut skin from any kind of fowl and remove fat.
Heat fat in a frying pan until it melts. Reserve in a jar.

For a special treat (I'm not kidding) the skin of the chicken and chopped onions would be fried in the chicken fat until crispy. Then drained on paper towels.
This is called Grieben. My mother says she and her brother would wait like little birds at the stove while my Nana made this. It rivals the skin on a roasted turkey.

Crabber keeps fishing in family

DEER ISLE, MAINE - Kelly Pratt, ninth generation Islander, has deep roots
in this part of the Maine coast. Legend has it her great-great-grandfather,
Julius Heanssler, found his way to a cove here in the late 1800s in a row boat and
never left. For generations, fishing has been the family's livelihood, and Pratt, 36,
keeps that tradition alive. She helped on her dad's lobster boat, has her own
crab-picking business, and is married to a lobsterman.

Tucked inside the inlets and coves of Sunshine Road under the dramatic light of
early evening, Pratt prepares to pick and package a crate of Peeky Toe crabs
(approximately 100 pounds, or more than 200 crabs) for sale to local markets and
beyond. She's had her own business for two years, and before that she picked for
10 years with her aunt and uncle.

This scene is not as common as it used to be in these parts. In the yard behind her
home is her newly built ''crab kitchen,'' where all the action takes place. Its
screened-in porch houses two huge pots that cook and cool the crabs. Inside the
kitchen, the crabs are split apart, refrigerated, picked, and packaged. This whole
operation once took place outside in her Uncle Dick's yard and garage, until Maine
issued new regulations on cottage industries.

These regulations ended some home businesses. Small home kitchen operations,
where women picked crabmeat to make pocket money, are all but gone in the
Deer Isle-Stonington area, down from about 400 to 40. Pratt hopes this season's
profits will pay for the expenses she incurred to stay in business.

Survivors like Pratt make the adjustment. Her screened-in porch ''is to protect
from airborne bacteria,'' she explains. In the double sink, she dilutes bleach to soak
and clean her utensils, and has thermometers to check the crab for doneness.

Minette Billings, manager of the North Atlantic Seafood Co., laments the
diminished supply of pickers, but buys only from state-approved operations.

''These girls are really good and their stuff is the best,'' she says. ''I sell it as fast as
they can pick.''

Life at the home of a crab picker means everyone is involved. In the kitchen, the
atmosphere is relaxed but busy. Country music plays on the radio, and sons
Jeremy, 12, and Andy, 11, are hanging around playing with a Game Boy and
helping make a big sign for the roadside that says, ''Kelly Pratt's Fresh Picked
Crabmeat.'' Everyone takes turns helping bait the traps that husband Jonathan sets
in the waters off Eastside Cove in Jericho Bay.

Jeremy explains the process of crab picking, with machine-gun speed. The crabs
are caught in the same traps as the lobsters and then crated. The crabs are taken
from the crate (not a favorite job, as the crabs pinch), placed in a huge basket, and
hung from a rope and winch system. Pratt swings the basketful of live crabs over
the vat and lowers it into about 30 gallons of boiling water. The crabs then cook for
40 minutes, or until they reach an internal temperature of 180 degrees. When they
are done, Pratt raises the basket of steaming crabs, and plunges them into cold
water.

The crabs are then pulled apart and separated into baskets of bodies, claws, and
legs. The bodies are picked while still warm with a small tool that looks like a seam
ripper. Pratt cracks the legs and claws with a tack hammer, and the meat is
scooped out. There are about 10 crabs to a pound of meat, and on a good day,
she will pick 20 pounds; nearly all are spoken for before her husband's boat docks.

Pratt says picking can be a ''lonely occupation,'' but often the women will help each
other. Tonight, Molly MacDonald, a friend and fellow picker with her own
business, comes by. MacDonald swiftly pulls a crab from the bubbling water. The
thermometer is inserted into its body and reads 160 degrees. Back in it goes until it
reaches 180. Once it does, the pace of activity increases to a speed only achieved
by the experienced and admired by the uninitiated. Hot crabs spill onto the counter
for McDonald and Pratt to break, tear, and toss. A task that looks as if it would
take hours is completed in about 30 minutes.

Jonathan Pratt comes in to test his haul, and cracks the claw of a crab with the butt
of his knife. Deftly, the tip of the blade slips the warm meat from the shell and he
holds out an offering. The briny sweet taste is simple and pure.

''Doesn't get any better than that, does it?'' says the tanned lobsterman. With hands
and shells and crab flying, but never missing a beat, his wife and McDonald chat,
and to the amusement of all, over the radio comes the song ''Take This Job and
Shove It.''

April through September is picking season, and Pratt picks about three times a
week.

She also has a catering business specializing in shore dinners (lobster, clams, and corn), and she cooks at a campground. In fall and winter, she sews colorful quilts
for sale during the summer.

After three hours, more than 200 crabs are boiled, soaked, cracked, and sorted.
Bodies are picked, and shreds of white and red-flecked crabmeat fall into a
growing mound. Pratt is only half done, though. The remaining claws and legs are
refrigerated for picking tomorrow. It's 10:30 p.m., but before she can turn out the
lights, puddles of crab juice need mopping, counters need wiping.

When asked if she has time for a hot bath before bed, Pratt, flushed from the heat
and activity, says, ''Now wouldn't that be nice.''