Fresh

Just one thing!" Perla Meyers exclaims. "If I can teach people just one thing, it is this: Food must be fresh!"Freshness is an absolute passion for Ms. Meyers, an internationally known chef, cookbook author and cooking teacher. It is a gospel she has been preaching since she wrote "The Seasonal Kitchen," a book that won best cookbook of the year, among other awards, when it was published in 1973. And it is a message she continues to emphasize in her most recent book, "Art of Seasonal Cooking" (Simon & Schuster, 1992, $27.50)

Bonnie Sorak can't wait to sample a romanesco this summer. The Ellicott City resident and her family are vegans and eat only plant products, but she just recently heard of the pale-green vegetable that's a cross between broccoli and cauliflower. As tantalizing as the prospect of tasting the unusual cruciferous vegetable is the satisfaction of knowing it will be just one of an array of farm products that will be delivered to her at peak freshness all season long. Sorak's family and 84 other area households have contracted to try a symbiotic concept called "community supported agriculture," in what organizers believe is the first-ever arrangement between a county farm and a trio of school PTAs.

I GET KIND of giddy when I spot new houses rising in locales of old Baltimore where nobody wanted to live - or admit they lived - for so many years. It was a wise individual who once said, cities can't be saved; they can only be inhabited. Just when you think this long gray winter will not quit comes the signal to boost the spirits. I was along Caroline Street this week, deep in the ancient city, when I spotted the beginnings of a new row of homes going up near Thames. When I say going up, all that's evident is a set of sewer pipes popping from the ground.

LIFE DOESN'T GIVE you many opportunities for redemption, but baking does. When baking, my mantra is if at first you don't succeed, get fresh yeast and give it another shot. That is what I did recently. Sure enough, the second time around, a batch of Sheboygan Hard Rolls emerged from the oven, crisp on the outside, fluffy on the inside, a perfect companion for bratwurst. The bratwurst made me do it: drove me to spend several hours mixing the dough, punching it down, forming it into rounds, and then baking the ovals in a steamy 450-degree oven and spritzing them with water as they cooled.

Eating at Fresh Fresh Seafood is an unusual experience. The restaurant, on York Road in Towson, is small, and the food is slow to arrive, but everything is made from scratch by owners Darlene and Ricky Parker. As Darlene explains, "We just can't let food go out any old way." It has to be just right. Darlene greets you at the door and escorts you to one of several small tables already decked out with plastic utensils and foam cups. You can bring your own wine or beer, and she'll provide extra foam cups for them.

CAMDEN, N.J. -- Campbell Soup Co., the world's largest soup maker, agreed yesterday to sell its Fresh Start Bakeries Inc. unit for an undisclosed price, completing its plan to focus on businesses with the highest growth potential.Campbell will sell 14 of Fresh Start's 15 bakeries to a joint venture of Berkshire Partners, a Boston investment company, and Fresh Start's management.The remaining bakery, in Kansas City, Kan., will be bought by a joint venture of Best Harvest LLC and the new Fresh Start venture.

WASHINGTON - Anyone trying to add more fruits and vegetables to their diet might have just gotten an unlikely assist from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Based on a little-noticed change to obscure federal rules, the USDA now defines frozen french fries as "fresh vegetables." As bizarre as it might sound, a federal judge in Texas last week endorsed the USDA's decision in a court case, saying the term "fresh vegetables" was ambiguous. The USDA quietly changed the regulations last year at the behest of the french fry industry, which has spent the past five decades pushing for a revision to the Perishable Agricultural Commodities Act. The revision was made at a time when the reputation of french fries has been under siege.

In this space yesterday, we said Josh Lewin had done one game of televised baseball before getting named to Fox's broadcast team. In fact, he has done more than 70 games on television. However, he had only one tape of his work to present to Fox officials.Sorry about the error.To borrow a baseball metaphor, Josh Lewin's ascent from WBAL (1090 AM) talk show host and fill-in Orioles radio announcer to one of Fox's play-by-play voices is on the order of the unknown kid who gets a call-up from the minors and belts a game-winning homer in the pennant-clinching game.

With the investigation into an outbreak of E. coli linked to fresh spinach, folks are looking for other dark, leafy greens to fill out their plates. Here's a quick guide to spinach substitutes: Arugula: Its tender leaves resemble spinach, but pack a peppery taste that can range from barely there to bracing. Chard: The dark-green leaves of this member of the beet family can stand in for spinach. The darker the leaves and redder the stalks, the stronger the flavor, says Sharon Tyler Herbst in The New Food Lover's Companion.

ASHBURN, Va. -- Brandon Lloyd came to the Washington Redskins from the San Francisco 49ers last spring with a reputation for being an enigma on and off the field. Was he the athletic receiver who could make spectacular plays look routine, or the kind of player who disappeared against tight defenses, particularly against teams playing a cover-2? Cowboys@Redskins Tomorrow, 1 p.m., Ch. 5, 1430 AM Line: Cowboys by 3