Frozen

I f I could give one bit of advice to the Ravens as they prepare to face the Green Bay Packers on Monday night at Lambeau Field, it would be: Stay close to those heated benches when you're not in the game. I say this because the temperature at game time is expected to be in the low 20s. There's also a good chance of snow. And because this is Lambeau in December, you can pretty much count on hitting the bad-weather trifecta. That's right: The wind should be blowing, too. Look, they don't call it "the Frozen Tundra" because people are slathering on Coppertone and wearing Hawaiian shirts.

Federal health regulators have linked a recent salmonella outbreak in several states, including 11 people infected in Maryland, to yellowfin tuna produced at a California company. Moon Marine USA Corp. of Cupertino, CA. , has voluntarily recalled more than 58,000 pounds of tuna labeled Nakaochi Scrape, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said Friday.  Nakaocho Scrape is tuna backmeat with a ground up appearance that is scraped from the bones of the fish. The product isn't sold to individual consumers, but may have been used to make sushi, sashimi, ceviche and other dishes available at grocery stores and restaurants.

Breakfast just got a whole lot easier at our house. So did lunches, after-school snacks and even desserts. We've rediscovered smoothies, those eminently sippable beverage-foods that in their most basic form require nothing more than ripe fruit, a knife and a working blender. Frozen-fruit-based concoctions are hardly new. The Orange Julius debuted in 1926, although the name smoothie didn't show up for several more decades. These days, the smoothie business is booming, with menus featuring a dazzling variety of smoothies, many carrying a scoop of supplements for an extra nutritional kick.

LAKE PLACID, N.Y — Just before he jumps on his skeleton sled for a wild, head-first ride down an icy, mile-long chute, Bradley Chalupski lowers his helmet visor, revealing a large Star of David. Beneath the helmet is another layer: a yarmulke emblazoned with the logo of the University of Maryland. In two years, Chalupski hopes, he will honor his sport and his Jewish heritage by participating in the Winter Olympics in Russia as the first ever member of Team Israel to race skeleton.

Bettye Steinberg of Baltimore was looking for a recipe for Chocolate Snowballs that she had for more than 50 years and misplaced. This old-fashioned favorite was made using Hershey's cocoa, sugar, water and canned milk that were cooked together and then frozen in ice-cube trays. Marjorie Felt of Baltimore sent in her recipe for the frozen treat, which she says was her mother's specialty. Felt says this recipe "brings back memories of our old neighborhood and is still enjoyed today by new generations."

To meet today's hectic pace, cooks trade mixing-and-measuring time for the speed and simplicity of defrosting.The goal is to squeeze more personal time out of the day, and the battle plan is as simple as Caesar's: We come. We thaw. We conquer.Last year, hundreds of new products were introduced into grocery freezer cases, according to Traci Vasilik of the American Frozen Food Institute. Retail sales of frozen food increased to $11 billion, she said, up from $10.7 billion in 1990 and $10 billion in 1989.

Atlantic Beverage Co. Inc. yesterday announced plans to terminate its frozen beverage division and take a one-time charge of $2.4 million to discontinue the operation.The division generated about 2 percent of Atlantic Beverage's roughly $25 million in annual sales. It could not be determined what effect the closing would have on its Flying Fruit Fantasy fruit shake, which has largely been a money loser since its debut in 1980.William E. O'Leary, Atlantic Beverage's president and chief executive, did not return several telephone calls for comment.

TAMPA, Fla. -- David Cone was no match for El Nino last night as a freakish cold spell forced him to miss a spring-training start. With fans at Legends Field wrapped in blankets, the New York Yankees thought it best to keep Cone insulated from a stiff wind and temperatures in the mid-40s."

THAWING TAKES time. Often I feel like a captive of frozen crystals, waiting for some frozen hunk of protein to gradually abandon its rigid state and be ready to be tossed in the oven or on the grill. As an impatient thawer, I have employed a variety of techniques to hurry the process along. I have become a prier, forcing frozen pieces apart with a knife, to allow air to circulate and do its liberating work. Occasionally, very occasionally, I have planned around the thaw, placing a frozen chicken in the refrigerator early in the morning, so it will be safely defrosted in time for the evening meal.

* Item: Croissant Pockets * What you get: 2 sandwiches * Cost: About $2.75 * Preparation time: 2 1/2 minutes in microwave, 20 to 25 minutes in toaster or conventional oven * Review: Croissant Pockets has upgraded the crust of its quick-to-make frozen sandwiches with fine results. The new crust is flakier and offers a more buttery flavor -- just like a real croissant. The sandwich fillings remain as popular as ever. The Turkey and Ham With Swiss blended perfectly inside the tender crust.

If you wanted to use your late husband's frozen sperm to have a baby, you would need his written permission under legislation that appears poised for approval in the Maryland General Assembly. The House and Senate have both passed bills that would make it illegal to use a dead person's preserved genetic material to reproduce without the notarized, written agreement of the donor. The legislation seeks to bring clarity to an area of the law that has been murky since the first test-tube babies were conceived.

An Annapolis correspondent wrote in concerned about Hell Point Seafood. She got the news that Bob Kinkead's restaurant may be closed from the Eye On Annapolis website. John Frenaye says that Hell Point Seafood appears to have closed after Sunday night 's dinner service but he has been unable so far to have the news confirmed from the restaurant's management. The closing may be temporary, the article says. The restaurant's website wasn't functioning on Wednesday morning, although it was down last time I checked on Feb. 8. An outgoing message on Hell Point's phone has information about winter hours, which were said to be Thursday through Saturday dinner and Friday through Sunday lunch service.

We are moving into a new home and purchased a number of plants for landscaping. Our landscaper recommended that we postpone putting any of the plants in the ground. He says that planting them now will not be beneficial because the ground will not provide the nutrients they will need. Instead, we still have them in their pots with mulch all around them. Is this a good solution, or would we be better off going ahead and planting them now? Many plants will not survive if soil temperatures around their roots dip too far below freezing.

An article in the Jan. 13, 1912, edition of The Argus reported on the lonely death of an elderly resident. Hezekiah Boyce , a former negro minister, about 80 years old, was found frozen to death in his shanty on Powers Lane, about two miles northwest of Catonsville, Monday afternoon by Patrolman Stevens , of the county force. Boyce, who lived by himself, had been missing for several days and neighbors notified police. Patrolman Stevens went to the shanty, forced the door and found the aged negro laying on the floor between the bed and the old stove and covered with a few old blankets.

Click here to print out your coupon for Buy One Get One Frappe, Smoothie, or Frozen Lemonade. Enjoy!

Strawberry and Lemon visited Baltimore last week, spreading the word about McDonald's Frozen Strawberry Lemonade, due to hit stores later this summer. Anyone who Tweeted pictures of themselves with Strawberry and Lemon will receive a card to redeem for a free Frozen Strawberry Lemonade. Ahhh, I though the photos were cute.  

* Item: Cooley's SmoothyPak* What you get: 4 (16-ounce) smoothies* Cost: About $2.60* Preparation time: A minute or so in blender* Review: These SmoothyPaks of frozen fruit are ingen-ious. They're healthy, easy to use and they capitalize on kids' love of smoothies -- those fruit shakes you see teen-agers slurping at the mall. We tried the Strawberry-Mango-Pineapple and the Raspberry-Peach-Papaya flavors. Add a banana, a cup each of milk and juice, along with some yogurt, and you've got a nutritious and tasty snack.

Class sizes would rise in Baltimore County next school year under Superintendent Joe A. Hairston's budget proposal, which includes a freeze on filling about 200 vacant teaching positions, even as the system experiences a surge in enrollment. Hairston, who presented his plan to the school board Wednesday night, is also proposing a 5 percent decrease in central office and individual school budgets that would require principals to cut back on purchasing supplies and equipment. Hairston's $1.2 billion operating budget for the fiscal year beginning in July would increase over last year by $6.5 million, or 0.5 percent.

Last winter's huge snowstorms are a misty memory for Howard County highway workers like Joe Upman, despite the seemingly endless workdays he and 200 co-workers spent clearing roads, but they're getting ready for another season now and having fun doing it. On an appropriately chilly, cloudy Tuesday at the Howard County Fairgrounds in West Friendship, about 70 snowplow and construction equipment drivers showed up to compete in the county's 23rd...