Butter

That first day in the first grade turned bad when my Hopalong Cassidy Thermos bottle sprang a leak and the butter went rancid on my chicken sandwich.It was the Tuesday after Labor Day 1956. My sister Ellen and I, dressed in unworn, scratchy school uniforms, were each off to school. The first son and the first daughter, we were what my mother called her Irish twins, born 10 months and 28 days apart.As if that day didn't bring enough apprehension, the neighbors on each side of the family house on Guilford Avenue assembled bright and early.

An easy way to fight fat is to fake out your taste buds with products that mimic butter.Several companies make butter-flavor sprinkles. Butter Buds Mix a powder that, when mixed with water, makes a fat-free approximation of melted butter. Molly McButter's latest offering, a garlic-butter sprinkle, joins its butter, sour cream and cheese flavor sprinkles.Vegetable coating sprays also come in flavors now, and savvy fat-fighters have discovered new ways to use them.Molly McButter, for example, suggests this faux version of garlic bread: Spray warm toast with vegetable spray and top with garlic-butter sprinkles.

To fully appreciate boutique butters, you have to feel that margarine is an abomination of nature. You have to abhor the concept of light butter. And as for low-fat pastries - well, life wouldn't be worth living if you had to eat those, would it? Maybe you've noticed these new, richer butters on your supermarket shelves. You can recognize them by labels like "European-style" and "extra creamy," by the fancy packaging (often foil) and, most of all, by their price tag. They typically cost twice as much as ordinary butters.

We all thought we were being so good to reduce our fat intake by switching from butter to margarine. Now a March 1993 study published in the British medical journal, Lancet, indicates that women who eat more than 4 teaspoons of margarine a day are at an increased risk of heart disease.What's a woman to do? To find out, I met with Dr. Ben Caballero, director of the division of Nutrition at the Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health and asked him to answer our questions.*Q. Did we do the wrong thing by switching from butter to margarine?

This supper was inspired by a wonderful meal at Passionfish restaurant in Pacific Grove, Calif., where the chef paired scallops with a butter-rum sauce. Here, in lieu of the more complex ingredients of that dish, a small amount of mint adds flavor while cutting some of the sweetness. Renee Enna writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe analysis. Butter-rum scallops Serves 4 -- Total time: 12 minutes 2 tablespoons butter (divided use) 1 pound bay scallops, thawed if frozen, patted dry 2 tablespoons rum 2 teaspoons honey 1/4 teaspoon salt or to taste freshly ground pepper 1 bag (6 ounces)

Have you ever eaten hot corn on the cob straight, with no butter or salt?You might like it."If it's good, fresh corn, it's wonderful," says author Elizabeth Rozin. "You don't need anything on it."Sweet and simple, corn on the cob epitomizes all that is good about the summer table.It's cheap and available, and easy to cook. One ear per person makes a fine side dish. Or, a stack can make a meal.But all too often, corn on the cob gets short shrift. It's cooked too much, then slathered thoughtlessly with butter or margarine, as if this will atone for too many minutes in hot water.

A super cake and a supreme cauliflower are tasty additions to lunch or dinner.Toni Radomski of Cockeysville requested a "Kandy Kake." She wrote that her husband threw out her recipe for "a wonderful cake topped with peanut butter and melted Hershey bars on top."Rave reviews about this cake came with responses which included titles such as Kandy or Tandy Kake or Tandy Takes.Tracy Beavan of Eldersburg called her treats Tandy Takes. She said preparation time was 30 minutes and baking time 20 minutes.

The law that governs the kitchen of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral of the Annunciation is direct: No culinary prima donnas allowed. It's a place were flying fingers and fast feet win out. How else could all those aluminum trays of cookies and delicacies be mass-produced for this weekend's Greek festival and bazaar, the annual event where the insiders know that the signature dishes vanish early? It begins at 11 a.m. today. "I want everything here to taste like you're in Greece, facing the Aegean with mountains at your back," said head confectioner Alice Ioannou, who then issued a three-word imperative to her pastry-makers: "Butter.

The Renaissance Festival has been entertaining Maryland residents for 14 years, providing a peek at the England of King Henry VIII.It started in Columbia and relocated several years ago to Crownsville, off Route 178.This was my first experience as a festival-goer. Every year I hear rave reviews about the festival, but naturally, I had one question: How's the food?I would not have been surprised at outrageous prices, small portions or inferior quality.But it was not so.My daughter Ronee and I liked everything we tried.

One of the simplest but, I think, most delicious ways to complete a nicely grilled or broiled piece of fish, meat or vegetable is to use a flavored butter. These butters can be made entirely ahead of time and can be kept in the freezer for months, although once you know that they are there and start using them, they won't last that long. It's actually quite an old technique that the French have used for a long time. You'll find them referred to in recipes as compound butters, and they are used liberally in the dishes of those great butter-producing regions of Normandy and Brittany.