Happy Eater

Folks have strong feelings about grocery store express lines. They have been "sharing" these feelings with me since I wrote a recent column telling how, when faced with a 30-minute backup at the only other open checkout line, I attempted to go through a 10-items-or-less line toting 13 items. The checker wouldn't ring me up. I stormed out of the store.Basically there are two camps on the express-line issue. One camp believes I was absolutely wrong. Rules are rules, they say. They add that violators like me should be reprimanded for slowing down the line.

There is nothing like receiving a letter. Sometimes the letter writer sets me straight, or angers me, or makes me laugh.But a letter always gets my blood up. The only drawback to receiving a letter is the accompanying obligation to send one back. I am not a faithful correspondent, as friends and family who have not received a written note from me for years, can attest.The other day in a cleaning binge, I found a Christmas card I started writing in December and a 3-year-old letter from a former colleague that I have been meaning to answer.

What this town needs is a good snow. It will shake us out of our monochrome winter rut. Snowfall adds bright white color and excitement. People start clearing out grocery stores of bread and milk at a pace that makes the Muscovites tremble. Fenders get dented. Gloves get lost.As it is, with this rainfall I have to be content with a pink salad, a pink borscht, and plain ol' kitchen tables.It is time, in short, to answer the mail.There is a pink freeze in your futureFrom: Emma J. Siple, BaltimoreRe: Column mentioning fondness for cranberries.

It is time to bring the "Doonesbury" technique to this column.Lately the comic strip has been advocating reader participation.First with tongue in cheek, a "Doonesbury" character urged Americans to become "Just Like the Prez" and become tax residents of Texas, a state without a personal income tax. About 25,000 readers have filled out a mock form, printed in the comic strip, asking for the same income tax break as Texas resident George Bush.Then, shortly after Gennifer Flowers said she was paid by a tabloid to tell the story of her alleged affair with Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton, "Doonesbury" printed another gag form.

March is a strange month. It is part winter, part spring, part ale, part lager. One weekend you are outside eating lunch, basking in the sunshine. A few days later you are forced back indoors. You huddle around a heater, spooning down bowls of steaming chili as snow pelts the storm door.It is a difficult time of year to get your eating rhythm. Instead of making a seasonal statement, I stick to old habits.I continue to cook my vegetables. When the dogwoods bloom, I'll consider crudites. I barbecue whenever the wind permits.

Like many people, at the end of the year I try to get a new perspective on what is in front of me. I try to get to the bottom of things.In other words, at the end of the year, I clean my desk.It is not so much a cleaning as it is a consolidation. Instead of many stacks of paper I now have one or two stacks.One stack contains papers with information on projects that I am really going to accomplish next year. Like not lose my weekly appointment calendar.I lost the one for 1990 about a month ago. Somehow my life went on. But I am going to get another one for the New Year.

It has been said that man does not live by bread alone. Maybe. But if you add a dab of butter or drop of olive oil to the equation, then not only are you living, you are lapping up the good life.After years of being a boring bread town, Baltimore has recently been blessed with an influx of new, well-made loafs. The best -- or at least my favorites -- are made by Stone Mill and Marvelous Market bakeries.My favorite Stone Mill breads are the couronne, the focaccia and the brioche. From Marvelous Market I like the loaves of olive and the rustic.

All chili recipes are to be viewed with a mixture of reverence and suspicion. Reverence for the process of making mere meat take on extraordinary flavors, and suspicion of whether the ingredients listed are actually those the chili maker used.Bill Buchanan's version of Flameout Gonzales Chili1/2 pound fresh suet (or 2 to 3 tablespoons oil)6 pounds chuck or bottom round, chili grind2 pounds pork loin (or substitute 1 pound veal shanks or game bird breasts)2 large onions, finely diced6 cloves garlic, crushed2 green peppers plus 1 medium red pepper, quartered2 cans beef bouillon2 28-ounce cans tomato sauce1 28-ounce can tomatoes, chopped coarsely in blender12 tablespoons chili powder5 tablespoons ground cumin or 1 tablespoon paprika or 1 tablespoon sage4 tablespoons of flour (masa flour, which may be found in the ethnic sections of most supermarkets, is preferred.

What is the best month to chow down in Maryland? I have spent too much time thinking about this question. Lately, for example, while folks with bigger brains have been busy analyzing the nation's economy or deciphering our relationship with Russia, I have been worrying about what is happening with the local peach crop. I am happy to report the peach crop will linger into September. The likelihood of having peach juice running down my chin next month is just one reason I concluded September was our best eating month.

Today Rob Kasper begins a new column about the food, drink and folks of Maryland. The column, "Rob Kasper's Maryland," will appear every week in the Sun Magazine. His award-winning "Happy Eater" column, which he began writing for The Sun in 1983, will continue to run in the Wednesday food section.