Canned Food

Anne Arundel Community College architecture students participate in "Canstruction" at Marley Station in Glen Burnie. Participants across the nation use canned food to construct sculptures, and the food used is then donated to pantries, shelters and soup kitchens.

The deadline for submitting sports copy is 9 a.m. on Mondays. We prefer email (howardcountysports@patuxent.com). We do not accept results by phone. When two Howard County teams play, players from both teams (first and last names) must be mentioned in the write-up. Questions? Call 410-332-6606. Figure Skating Columbia resident, Brenna Doherty, qualified earlier this month in the Junior Pairs at the Eastern Sectional Figure Skating Championships in Hyannis, Mass., for the U.S. Figure Skating Championships to be held Jan. 19-27, 2013.

On Sunday, Sept. 23, A Taste of Heaven will be held at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, noon to 3 p.m., to benefit Carroll County Food Sunday. Several churches will prepare food and bring cookbooks for sale. The price of admission is a nonperishable canned food item for Carroll County Food Sunday. The Ben Reiff Trio will provide music. The event will be held in St. Paul's Fellowship Hall, at 13 Bond St., Westminster. Call Ruth Grey for details, at 410-751-6442.

On Sunday, Sept. 23, A Taste of Heaven will be held at St. Paul's United Church of Christ, noon to 3 p.m., to benefit Carroll County Food Sunday. Several churches will prepare food and bring cookbooks for sale. The price of admission is a nonperishable canned food item for Carroll County Food Sunday. The Ben Reiff Trio will provide music. The event will be held in St. Paul's Fellowship Hall, at 13 Bond St., Westminster. Call Ruth Grey for details, at 410-751-6442.

Chocolates or wine for sweethearts?What's a guy to do on Valentine's Day? According to the American Boxed Chocolate Manufacturers, women prefer chocolate over wine as a gift. But Cyberpulse, a division of Los-Angeles-based Impulse Research, found that women ages 21 to 39 would like to receive a bottle of wine.Fetzer Vineyards probably has the right idea. The winery says you should give your valentine both because chocolate tastes better when sipped with red wine.Chinese New YearSay goodbye to the Year of the Tiger.

An article yesterday about a canned-food drive at Reisterstown Road Plaza to benefit the Maryland Food Bank omitted mention of a radio station that organized the drive -- WERQ-FM, known as "92Q." The station had help from Ryder Truck Rental. The Sun regrets the error. A canned food drive aiming to replenish the severely depleted shelves of Maryland pantries and food banks got off to a good start this weekend, somewhat to the surprise of organizers. "It's not the traditional time of year when people are thinking about the hungry," said Bill Ewing, the Maryland Food Bank's executive director.

As Hurricane Irene approached Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake set up automated phone calls to dispense emergency advice to residents, but the well-intentioned effort was met with annoyance from some who said they were awakened by the calls in the middle of the night. The automated phone calls to several hundred thousand residents Friday afternoon were supposed to stop at 9 p.m. Rawlings-Blake's recorded voice urged constituents to stock up on food, water and emergency supplies in case of prolonged power outages.

Cynthia Brooks, executive director of the Bea Gaddy Family Center in East Baltimore, opened the mailbox Tuesday and found a stack of letters with donations. She said she has not seen so many checks in months, adding that many donors have dropped canned food at the center's doorstep as well. Just a few days ago, Brooks faced the possibility of turning needy people away because the center's supplies were dwindling, its phones were disconnected for lack of payment and donations had dropped significantly.

Like the 40 other people who attended Howard County's second informational meeting on the potential Y2K computer problem in Clarksville last night, the slim, serious woman with the short blond hair waited patiently through seemingly endless official assurances that all is well.Her question was as reasonable as the others: How can any unexpected glitch be fixed quickly if it doesn't appear until that moment when 2000 begins?She seemed satisfied with the answer -- that it likely would be an isolated failure, easily bypassed -- as did others who attended the session in the Ten Oaks Ballroom.

The Elkridge Volunteer Fire Department is sponsoring its Christmas Holiday Food Drive to benefit needy families in the Elkridge area. Donations can be made through Dec. 23 at the fire hall, 6275 Old Washington Road, or given to Santa and Mrs. Claus when they visit neighborhoods Dec. 8-12. Santa and Mrs. Claus will travel through Elkridge neighborhoods on a firetruck to collect canned food and wrapped gifts from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 8 and 9; 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 10; noon to 9 p.m. Dec. 11; and 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Dec. 12, weather permitting.

Welcome back Top Cheffers! I missed you all last week, but I was too busy baking pumpkin whoopie pies for Thanksgiving to recap "Top Chef: Texas. " But two things happened last week that you need to know. Firstly, everyone's favorite couple, Chris Jones and Richie, was forced apart when Richie was sent home after the chili challenge. And secondly, my whoopie pies were delicious. “Top Chef: Desserts," here I come! This week's episode was a doozy, so rev up your engines because we are going on a road trip to Dallas.

As Hurricane Irene approached Baltimore, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake set up automated phone calls to dispense emergency advice to residents, but the well-intentioned effort was met with annoyance from some who said they were awakened by the calls in the middle of the night. The automated phone calls to several hundred thousand residents Friday afternoon were supposed to stop at 9 p.m. Rawlings-Blake's recorded voice urged constituents to stock up on food, water and emergency supplies in case of prolonged power outages.

Here is some more information from officials at the state Department of Health and Mental Hygiene for before and after the hurricane. --On carbon monoxide: This is generated by gas-powered appliances such as generators and charcoal and gas grills. It's invisible, odorless, tasteless and highly poisonous. Signs of trouble include fatigue, weakness, chest pains for those with heart disease, shortness of breath, nausea, vomiting, headaches, confusion, impaired vision and loss of consciousness.

As I write this, Thanksgiving is only hours away, and I still have no idea what I am serving. There will be a turkey, of course. And potatoes and vegetables and stuffing and gravy. But exactly what form these basic elements will take is still under discussion with my daughter, who believes she was cruelly separated at birth from Ina Garten. I call it "Thanksgiving in the time of the Food Network: All bets are off. " These cooking shows — which are to college students what soap operas were to us when we were in school — have produced a generation of confident young cooks who don't think you have to have years of practice under your belt before you prepare your first truffle.

Cynthia Brooks, executive director of the Bea Gaddy Family Center in East Baltimore, opened the mailbox Tuesday and found a stack of letters with donations. She said she has not seen so many checks in months, adding that many donors have dropped canned food at the center's doorstep as well. Just a few days ago, Brooks faced the possibility of turning needy people away because the center's supplies were dwindling, its phones were disconnected for lack of payment and donations had dropped significantly.

Lawmakers in Annapolis are being asked to ban products containing two chemicals that have triggered serious concerns about toxicity. On Tuesday afternoon, the House Health and Government Operations Committee aired HB33, which would ban the sale, manufacture or distribution of children's toys or child-care articles such as baby bottles made with bisphenol-A, or BPA. The bill, sponsored by Del. Jim Hubbard, a Prince George's County Democrat, would...

JOANNE ROWE WILL BE getting a military-style haircut, thanks to the fund-raising efforts of youths in the New Windsor Cluster Group who fasted for 30 hours to help raise money and food for World Vision. "Last year, Ron Arthur, a youth counselor in our church, agreed to shave his head if the kids raised a certain amount of money," said Brenda Sebastian, a member of Uniontown United Methodist Church, one of two Northwest churches that formed the youth cluster. "This year Joanne said she would get a military-style haircut if they raised their goal of $2,200," Sebastian said.

Doubling last year's participation, more than 80 Maryland companies are running food drives or giving money to support the 1997 Bags of Plenty food drive for the needy in Maryland."

About 25 third-graders at Woodmont Academy in Cooksville eagerly raced to get their weight of choice at the beginning of class and immediately began their 10-lap warm-up run inside the school's gym. The students ran around the gym - many pumping their arms with the added resistance to increase the level of difficulty for their workout. At first glance, a passer-by might not realize that the weights the students were using were canned goods brought by them to eventually be donated to the needy.

Sometime between parting with $80 for dubious pantry staples, discovering the scent of baking cat food to be something less than potpourri and nursing a blister earned trying to carve pounds of kibble into kitten-sized morsels, it sunk in: I'm a buyer, not a maker, of pet food. And that's not even counting the kitty's disparaging review of my labors on his behalf. Yet after a number of dogs and cats died last year from contaminated commercial pet food, more animal owners are consulting cookbooks, scouring the Internet for tips, investing in odd ingredients and devoting hours of free time, all to serve their furry companions homemade casseroles, soups and stews.