food and nutrition

Lisa Smith will tell you that the key to maintaining a viable restaurant is working hard and being creative. After shadowing her for most of a day, this reporter can attest that those elements are in place.
The owner of Big Fatty's Catering Kitchen Restaurant in Knoxville, Tenn., works seven days a week, and she begins each day with a 5-mile walk.

The arrival of review copies of cookbooks always gives me a little thrill, but ripping open a thick envelope to find "A Homemade Life" was like opening a long-anticipated birthday present.

When first lady Michelle Obama took shovel to dirt last month to break ground on a White House vegetable garden, she may not have realized she was moving a mountain. That's likely how it felt to a group of people who for years have been vocal champions of quality food and sustainable agriculture.

When Pittsburgh diners receive poor service, they often complain to the restaurant. And many also share their complaints with me.
Over the past 16 months or so, I've received several hundred e-mails and phone calls voicing complaints about service, enough to get a good sense of the things diners most wish servers would stop (or start) doing.

The sugar we use in baking, and to sweeten our tea, comes from sugar cane or sugar beets. But there's more than white granulated sugar on the store shelves these days.
Here's what we found on one aisle in one grocery store:
1. Cubes. One lump or two? Sugar cubes are made from damp granulated sugar pressed into molds and dried.

My family's reaction was strong, if mixed, to my efforts to make traditional buckwheat pancakes.
One recipe I used called for pure buckwheat flour, yeast, molasses, a bit of salt and buttermilk.

Butter, salt, cream.
These are the things that make dining out so much more pleasurable than eating in (that, and not having to do the dishes), right? The promise of romantic candlelight, solicitous service and a big pile of saturated fat have kept plenty of us coming back to our favorite restaurants for years.

Here are some recipes to consider making for Passover, the eight-day Jewish festival marking the ancient Hebrews' deliverance from slavery in Egypt. This year, Passover begins at sundown on April 8 and continues until sundown on April 16.

ROASTED GARLIC ASPARAGUS

(Tested by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette)

WHO: Judy Speed, Brenda Jones, Arlene Celli and Carol Lynn, all of Clearwater, Fla., all 60- or 70-something.
WHAT: Four Chicks' Chicken Salad

These days, you can't count on your 401(k), your pension or even your paycheck. But how about your favorite recipe? There is no shortage of contests out there where you can translate your favorite dish into a windfall. Prizes range from cookware and trips to $1 million for the Pillsbury Bake-Off.