Ginger

Even if they end up being a villain, we always have love for Baltimore folks on reality shows. So far on "The Real World: St. Thomas," Dundalk native Trey Weatherholtz, 23, is far from a villain. He reminds us of that popular guy in high school who also happened to be really nice to all the cliques. So we felt (slightly) bad for asking him these semi-inappropriate questions. You're from Dundalk. What's the grandest showcase of Dundalkian pride we should expect from you this season?

Towson is more than a college town. Towson Tavern gets that. The restaurant opened on New Year's Eve 2011 on York Road, near the Towson Circle. The area is well-known for bars and pubs, but Towson Tavern stands out from the pack: Instead of catering to college students, it's geared toward adults. At Towson Tavern, that maturity manifests in an interesting selection of cocktails, a sophisticated menu and sharp service. Executive Chef Tyson Spangler was at The Capital Grille prior to running the kitchen at Towson Tavern; General Manager Michael Velleggia was part of the Capital Grille team, as well.

Is there a vegetable subtler than the cucumber? Well, maybe cauliflower, but when used in a way that maximizes its grassy flavor, the cucumber can prove to be a great buy at your local farmers' market. From May until November, the cuke is used mainly as a topper on salads and as a member of the always bland crudites platter. It dreams of one day becoming a fancy sandwich served with tea. What it might never have imagined is becoming a bright and thirst-quenching drink for hot summer days.

Nick Markakis, Adam Jones and the other Orioles get four months off between baseball seasons. Joe Flacco, Ray Rice and the world champion Ravens have five months to go before training camp begins. Big-time athletes, after all, need a chance to rest their bodies and minds after the rigors of a long campaign. Then there are the white-clad competitors at Ginger Cove. "We don't want an off-season. We like to keep our skills sharp," says Bill Krause, the 91-year-old Imperial Wicket, or captain, of the croquet club at the retirement community in Annapolis.

On December 5, 2005, THELMA "GINGER" VIRGINIA THERESA DENNIS (nee Goetzinger); beloved wife of Michael Anthony Dennis; devoted mother of Michael Sean Dennis and Carrie Ann, Christopher Michael Dennis and Jennifer Louise, Gia Dennis and Sara Nicole Dennis. Dear sister of Cindy Darago and loving grandmother of Cara Nichole, Michael Russell and Maddie Lou. Friends may call at the CVACH/ROSEDALE FUNERAL HOME, 1211 Chesaco Ave., on Wednesday and Thursday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday 11 A.M., Our Lady of Fatima Church.

Jessie L.V. Ahlfeldt of Annapolis wrote requesting a recipe for Ginger- Pear Jam, which she says she had many years ago. The recipe that tester Laura Reiley chose came from Beth Edelstein of Timonium. Ginger-Pear Jam Makes 7 pints 2 quarts chopped, peeled pears, about 10 pears 1/2 cup water 6 cups granulated sugar 1/4 cup grated fresh ginger or more to taste Combine pears and water in a flat-bottomed kettle; cover and simmer 10 minutes. Add sugar and ginger. Cook over low heat, stirring occasionally until sugar dissolves.

The clean, hot flavor of fresh ginger warms and refreshes like no other seasoning ingredient. An essential flavor of Chinese cooking, ginger is of inestimable importance to Asian dishes. Fresh ginger resembles a thick, knobby root with pale brown skin and moist gold flesh. The fresh root -- really an underground stem called a rhizome -- is nothing like dried, ground ginger; the latter is no substitute for fresh ginger. Whether ginger should be sliced, minced or grated depends on the dish.

If I were a betting man, I'd wager that ginger will be to the 1990s what goat cheese was to the '70s and sun-dried tomatoes were to the '80s -- the food that so grabs our jaded palates it starts to show up everywhere, from atop pizzas to inside muffins.Compared with the others, however, ginger is a long shot, being neither dear nor rare. In its raw state, it's ugly, a knobby, tawny root that looks as if it suffers a vitamin deficiency.On the other hand, ginger has a few things going for it. Versatility, for one; it comes in several forms -- fresh, ground, preserved, crystallized -- and lends itself to numerous applications.

So much for typecasting. Days before her Baltimore appearance, you call the actress who played flighty Ginger on Gilligan's Island and while you don't expect her to be preening before the hypnotized skipper, she still could throw you a wink, a nod, a saucy turn of phrase. "I'm just looking at the Iranian president answering questions. Oh, it's heavy duty. Man, I really wanted to see this," says Tina Louise on the phone from her New York apartment. If you go Tina Louise will be reading her children's book, When I Grow Up, at the Baltimore Book Festival today at 1 p.m. at the Storytelling Tent in the west park of Mount Vernon Place.

This oriental-inspired dish provides lots of flavor and very little fat and calories. This dish is excellent served over rice. Two-thirds cup white rice, for example Minute Rice, cooked without butter would add an additional 120 calories per serving.WHAT YOU NEED 1 1/4 pounds boneless chicken breasts, skinned, all visible fat removed6 ounces snow peas1 tablespoon cornstarch1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper1 tablespoon low sodium soy sauce2 tablespoons vegetable oil2 cloves garlic, minced1/2 teaspoon minced fresh gingerHOW TO MAKE ITRinse chicken and pat dry. Slice into thin strips.

Ginger Kincaid Glenelg It took 34 years of coaching for Kincaid to raise a championship trophy at Glenelg. But once she got that first one, there has been no stopping her. Kincaid coached the Gladiators to a third straight Class 2A state championship and a 17-1 record this season. They finished 18-1 and 19-1 during the past two championship seasons, respectively. This season, Kincaid had one of her best coaching performances, finding a way to absorb the losses of two-time All-Metro Player of the Year Alyssa Parker (114 goals, 108 assists in her career)

Even if they end up being a villain, we always have love for Baltimore folks on reality shows. So far on "The Real World: St. Thomas," Dundalk native Trey Weatherholtz, 23, is far from a villain. He reminds us of that popular guy in high school who also happened to be really nice to all the cliques. So we felt (slightly) bad for asking him these semi-inappropriate questions. You're from Dundalk. What's the grandest showcase of Dundalkian pride we should expect from you this season?

Is there a vegetable subtler than the cucumber? Well, maybe cauliflower, but when used in a way that maximizes its grassy flavor, the cucumber can prove to be a great buy at your local farmers' market. From May until November, the cuke is used mainly as a topper on salads and as a member of the always bland crudites platter. It dreams of one day becoming a fancy sandwich served with tea. What it might never have imagined is becoming a bright and thirst-quenching drink for hot summer days.

South Baltimore's own "Speakeasy that sells pizza," Hersh's Pizza and Drinks, with its gray motifs and urbane styling, features some seriously sophisticated cocktails, courtesy of bartender Jamaal Green. The selection of libations rotates on a regular basis, keeping the flavors interesting and fresh. One such addition to the list: the Ginger Smash. The Ginger Smash, "a very seasonal rustic drink," as Green describes it, is a hard cocktail loaded with tartness thanks in part to muddled kumquats and an ounce of Clement Creole Shrubb, an aged rum drink flavored with orange bitters.

Heartier dishes are called for as we ease into the chilly season. Ergo, we tend to plan side dishes, as well as meat preparations, designed to warm the family cockles. Root vegetables come to mind. But leafy vegetables can play a big part in menu planning too. Where in summer we purchase heads and heads of lettuce to use in all manner of cooling salads, in fall and winter, we tend to use other "heads" to create heartier fare. We're speaking specifically of cabbage. Did you know that there are at least five different kinds of cabbage?

The Paula Deen-Anthony Bourdain feud spilled over into this week. Deen talked about it on the Today show. Eater National has a recap and update . A reader reminded me of the comments about Deen that Bourdain made during his May 2010 appearance at Baltimore's Hippodrome theater. The then-recent purchase of the Travel Channel by Scripps Howard had put Bourdain in the Food Network family. Bourdain told the Baltimore audience, "So, I'm their boy now... If Guy Fieri needs a bikini waxing, they're calling me. Or Paula Dean needs a erotic rubdown...

Now that my son is in day care, I am constantly getting his colds and coughs. What can you recommend for easing the symptoms? I am not big on drugstore remedies. Readers of this column are enthusiastic about ginger. Here are just a few anecdotes: "I must testify what a wonderful hot drink one can make from grating about 1 inch of fresh ginger, putting it in a little wrap of cheesecloth or in one of those mesh spoons used for tea leaves and letting it steep in a mug of hot water. It is fantastic for combating colds ... a refreshing and spicy tonic."

Talk about leading a spicy life and getting around: Ginger does it all.Making the scene from main dish to dessert, from Singapore to Seattle, ginger is always hot stuff.Hardly high fashion in the looks department, ginger is a knobby, brown root, or more accurately, a rhizome. You can buy it that way, or as a ground spice, or even in a candied or crystallized form.But if ginger's appearance is plain, its personality is not. Add ginger's spicy-hot flavor to a dish, and your taste buds will sit up and take notice.

Anita Charles of Greensboro, N.C., was looking for a marinade recipe for flank steak that contained orange juice, garlic and possibly soy sauce. Donald Van Ostrand from Sykesville sent in a recipe that he first used on tuna but that he says works equally well for grilled flank steak, pork tenderloin or chicken. Now that grilling season has arrived, this seemed like a recipe worth trying. I tested his marinade on a 2-pound piece of flank steak, since that was what Anita Charles was looking for, and it gave the meat a wonderful flavor.

Study: Ginger capsules ease chemotherapy nausea Ginger, long used as a folk remedy for soothing stomach aches, helped tame one of the most dreaded side effects of cancer treatment - nausea from chemotherapy, the first large study to test the herb for this has found. People who started taking ginger capsules several days before a chemo infusion had fewer and less-severe bouts of nausea afterward than others who were given dummy capsules, the federally funded study found. "We were slightly beside ourselves" to see how much it helped, said study leader Julie Ryan of the University of Rochester in New York.