Ginger Ale

Being sick is no fun anymore.There's no one to bring you bubbly ginger ale with a bendy-straw. Remember the sound of a freshly cracked bendy-straw? The straw contorted itself so the healing waters of the ginger ale entered your lips at a most sympathetic angle.Those were the days when Campbell's Soup meant something, darn it. Saltines were at your beck and call. And the Kleenex! Enough to wallpaper the house! Plus, you got to miss blocks of school days.Your ailment was household news. Loved ones tiptoed into your room to receive updates on your condition.

Every picnic is extra fun with a special drink. American Girl's "Celebrate" party book includes some fun recipes. Here's one that the Yak liked to help celebrate the Fourth.Michigan Fizz1 or 2 cans frozen cherry juice concentrateGinger ale (as many bottles as you'll need to serve)1 jar maraschino cherriesoranges or kiwi fruit, slicedPut 3 tablespoons frozen cherry juice concentrate into a tall glass. Don't add water! Add 1 cup ginger ale. Decorate with a slice of orange or kiwi, a colorful straw and cherry.

Not even a driving rain could dampen the spirits of the Baltimoreans who lined the streets of the city 69 years ago this week to catch a glimpse of "Lucky Lindy," the daring aviator whose solo flight in a Ryan monoplane electrified the world and made him one of the most adored celebrities of the Roaring Twenties.The 25-year-old Charles A. Lindbergh, who flew across the Atlantic in 33 1/2 hours in the Spirit of St. Louis, created a frenzy wherever he went, and his 22-hour visit to Baltimore was no exception.

Safeway Inc. has signed a letter of intent with the Rouse Co. to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store at Columbia's aging Harper's Choice Village Center and to nearly double the size of its store in the Long Reach Village Center.The new and expanded stores could open by late 1997.The plans -- announced at Rouse's annual shareholders meeting in Columbia yesterday -- came as welcome news to both communities, particularly at the Harper's Choice center, which in December lost Valu Food, its previous supermarket anchor.

It happens to the best-laid plans -- and often on New Year's Eve.The sitter you booked two months ago can't make it at the last minute. No matter what the excuse, the result is the same: You'll greet 1994 at home with the kids instead of out on the town.The question is, how to turn the disappointment into a memorable evening?Patrick and Deborah O'Toole have a singular solution to New Year's Eve at home with the kids (Katie Rose, 4, and Patrick, 2)."We call friends in the same situation, tell them to load up the kids and sleeping bags, and have a potluck house party," Mrs. O'Toole says.

A FEW weeks ago, burglars broke into my friend Leigh Anne' Bolton Hill apartment while she was at work. The thieves made off with most of her appliances, stereo equipment and computer hardware, and after discovering the theft and alerting the police -- who made a list of the stolen items and promptly told her to kiss them goodbye -- Leigh Anne called me."The CD-player-boombox-microwave-TV-VCR all gone," she practically screamed into my ear."Where?" I asked feebly."I don't know!" she hollered.

This holiday season party planners may find themselves in a quandary. For many, money and time are tight, so elaborate dinner parties aren't an option.Cocktail parties and open houses make sense as flexible and relatively inexpensive alternates.But do they? People are drinking less; and if they aren't, many hosts and hostesses feel they ought not to encourage excessive alcohol consumption. On New Year's Eve especially, they have second thoughts about giving a party with an open bar.So what are your choices if you do decide to have a cocktail party but don't want the emphasis to be on heavy drinking?

TV's "Dallas" might be long gone and the famed Ewing ranc might have seen better times, but a drink called Southfork slinger is alive and well, and packing all the punch of a . . . peach?J. R. probably wouldn't have touched it, but others who are concerned about drunken driving hope holiday revelers will. Here are some recipes for alcohol-free concoctions.Exotic pursuitMakes 16 servings.1 (12-ounce) can frozen white grape juice concentrate1 (12-ounce) can frozen limeade concentrate1 (8-ounce)

When you exercise for more than an hour in hot summer weather, it's natural to feel tired and weak; you are low on fluid and calories. But to perk up, it isn't necessary to eat or drink something "special." You can replenish what you've lost by eating or drinking anything.Years ago, studies showed that 2.5 percent was the highest concentration of sugar you could put in an exercise drink and still absorb it rapidly enough to have it make a difference when exercising. This 2.5 percent ratio poses a problem because drinks taste best when they are comprised of 10 percent sugar.

LISTENING TO Judge Clarence Thomas talk so movingly about the old-fashioned values he learned from his hard-working grandfather, I thought back to my childhood and my grandfather and some of the things he taught me.I couldn't have been more than 5 or 6 years old when he swiveled on his bar stool and said: "Listen to me. Never trust a Russian."Because of my youth, I didn't know what a Russian was. So I asked him.He said: "A Russian is no good."I asked him why a Russian was no good.He said: "Never mind.

In honor of high fever, muscle aches, sore throats, coughs and even a touch of nausea, last week's Top 10 Tuesday at baltimoresun.com/diningatlarge featured my 10 favorite foods (and drink) to have when you have the flu: 1 Orange juice/ginger ale. This isn't an either/or. It's orange juice mixed with ginger ale half and half over ice because for some reason at the time you need orange juice most, it tastes worst. The ginger ale cuts the acidity and is bubbly, which adds interest at a time when not much is interesting, including whether you live or die. 2 Chicken noodle soup from Eddie's at Roland Park.

Welcome to Carrie Nation. The Department of Natural Resources announced last week a new alcohol policy at state parks that will, in effect, ban drinking unless you stay in top-of-the-line lodging or buy a $35 "special events" permit. Talk about pay to play. Nation, the 1900s temperance movement leader who attacked bars with a hatchet, would call it a step in the right direction. Day-use areas and beaches will go on the wagon March 31. Campgrounds - except for full-service cabins - will be dry starting next season.

THIS WEEK marks the 70th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, so to celebrate I recently mixed up a batch of speakeasy cocktails. The recipes for concoctions called Horse's Neck, Flu Cocktail and Rock and Rye came from Manhattan Oases, a book originally published in 1932 that was written and illustrated by Al Hirschfeld, the noted theatrical caricaturist who died in January at the age of 99. As a young man about town, Hirschfeld toured dozens of...

When families and friends gather for springtime celebrations, a festive punch is always welcome. Passover and Easter don't traditionally call for punch, of course. In fact, other than the Seder wine and perhaps champagne for the adults at Easter egg hunts, these occasions aren't widely associated with any particular beverage. But that just means there is plenty of room to tailor one to your own liking - and that's the beauty of a good punch. Nona Nielson-Parker of Glasz Cafe in Lake Falls Village just north of Mount Washington says there isn't much call for special beverages this time of year.

Graduations, showers, luncheons and more - a good punch recipe can always come in handy. Punch is one of those generic beverages that safely lend themselves to creativity. Just put good sips together and, although it's theoretically possible to go badly wrong, it's pretty hard to concoct something utterly undrinkable. Pleasant punch recipes abound, especially in the nooks and crannies of your mother's or grandmother's recipe collection and in the yellowed pages of old community cookbooks.

I THOUGHT I had missed the last call, but then I got a second chance and tapped into the good stuff. It happened last Wednesday night at the fifth annual Maryland Craft Beer Dinner at Sisson's in South Baltimore. In December, I missed a chance to taste a limited supply of Fuel, a small-batch winter beer made at Capital City Brewing in Harborplace. Then, last week, I got another opportunity to taste it. This time I cashed in. What a beer! Fuel is the espresso of brews, a dark, smooth stout, the sweet malt notes of which perfectly match with the acid flavors of Sumatra coffee.

Every picnic is extra fun with a special drink. American Girl's "Celebrate" party book includes some fun recipes. Here's one that the Yak liked to help celebrate the Fourth.Michigan Fizz1 or 2 cans frozen cherry juice concentrateGinger ale (as many bottles as you'll need to serve)1 jar maraschino cherriesoranges or kiwi fruit, slicedPut 3 tablespoons frozen cherry juice concentrate into a tall glass. Don't add water! Add 1 cup ginger ale. Decorate with a slice of orange or kiwi, a colorful straw and cherry.

Being sick is no fun anymore.There's no one to bring you bubbly ginger ale with a bendy-straw. Remember the sound of a freshly cracked bendy-straw? The straw contorted itself so the healing waters of the ginger ale entered your lips at a most sympathetic angle.Those were the days when Campbell's Soup meant something, darn it. Saltines were at your beck and call. And the Kleenex! Enough to wallpaper the house! Plus, you got to miss blocks of school days.Your ailment was household news. Loved ones tiptoed into your room to receive updates on your condition.

Not even a driving rain could dampen the spirits of the Baltimoreans who lined the streets of the city 69 years ago this week to catch a glimpse of "Lucky Lindy," the daring aviator whose solo flight in a Ryan monoplane electrified the world and made him one of the most adored celebrities of the Roaring Twenties.The 25-year-old Charles A. Lindbergh, who flew across the Atlantic in 33 1/2 hours in the Spirit of St. Louis, created a frenzy wherever he went, and his 22-hour visit to Baltimore was no exception.

Safeway Inc. has signed a letter of intent with the Rouse Co. to open a 55,000-square-foot grocery store at Columbia's aging Harper's Choice Village Center and to nearly double the size of its store in the Long Reach Village Center.The new and expanded stores could open by late 1997.The plans -- announced at Rouse's annual shareholders meeting in Columbia yesterday -- came as welcome news to both communities, particularly at the Harper's Choice center, which in December lost Valu Food, its previous supermarket anchor.