Homemade

Pink juices flow from ripe peach slices hiding under a puffy biscuit topping.Glazed fresh strawberry halves sit atop a high, light cheesecake that sits atop a crust of chocolate wafers.No dessert cart could present a prettier picture. And, as easy as they are on the eyes, they're even easier to make. But the best part is that they're low-fat.Not so long ago, the words "low-fat" "no-fat" and "fat-free" gave a powerful signal that a dessert -- commercial or homemade -- would probably taste . . . well, yucky.

DANDELION wine is some trouble to make, requiring several quarts of the yellow blossoms that become more difficult to find with the passing of each ChemLawn spring, followed by a lot of boiling, simmering, straining and waiting. The actual drinking does not take place until six months after you seal the wine in a cask. It all sounds quaint. But who in this high-speed, instant-oatmeal world has time for such an old-timey thing? We barely have time for nouveau things. We barely have time to watch Emeril cook.

Always, there were those lovely old country estates and gracious manor taverns with roaring fireplaces, but in the old days fine dining was associated with the city. Not so anymore. Now, there are more compelling reasons than ever for diners to cross county lines for a good meal. The 50 best county restaurants in Howard County, Anne Arundel County and Baltimore County is a mix of the old and the new, destinations for special occasions and joints for Monday night suppers, the chef-driven and crowd-pleasing.

Viola Brown from La Pointe, Ind., was looking for a good and easy recipe for making tomato basil soup. She said she is 82 years old and has a hard time finding things she still likes to eat. It's not surprising that she would be in search of a recipe for homemade tomato soup, as it's a classic comfort food no matter what the season. Jenny Garcia from Santa Rosa, Calif., shared a recipe that she and her husband came up with that she said was inspired by a similar recipe in the Barefoot Contessa Cookbook.

It was never a matter of memorizing dead spots on the parquet or the way the lip of the south rim bent ever so slightly. The lighting? Nothing out of the ordinary, Andrew Toney reports. In fact, said the former Philadelphia 76ers guard, the only thing special about the creaky court on 150 Causeway Street was that it served as the stage for his most famous role: the Boston Strangler."My first step out of the locker room, I was in range," Toney says. "It was easy. I have no explanation for it. It was just easy for me to score at Boston Garden."

Ten years ago, when I was traveling in the Ozark Mountains, I bought a whirligig at a craft shop by the side of the road in Arkansas. It was the figure of a bluebird that paddled like a swimmer in the wind and rattled like the dickens in our garden until its wings gave out during its second or third blustery winter (no doubt to the relief of the neighbors).Now the bluebird is perched quietly on a rafter in the garage, and I'm looking for a suitable replacement. The possibilities, it turns out, are endless.

My first thought when I found a garlic scapes dip recipe, which ran in the New York Times several years ago, was this: I bet this dip would be great with homemade pita chips. My second thought was this: Making homemade pita chips means cleaning my big baking sheets, which is not one of my favorite tasks, so maybe I can find some pita chips at Wegmans. Garlic scapes, in case you don't know, as I didn't before I owned some, are the green, curly shoots of a garlic plant. They taste like garlic, but not as intensely as a garlic bulb.

"Serial Mom," the John Waters film that opened last week, brings to three the number of made-in-Baltimore films showing here simultaneously. The other two, "Guarding Tess" and "Major League II," however, aren't quite the genuine article. Indeed, "Major League II" features Oriole Park at Camden Yards disguised as a stadium in Cleveland, for heaven's sake! By contrast, "Serial Mom" was filmed in Towson, which appears as Towson in the movie. And with the exception of a few actors, it is a thoroughly Baltimore production.

Wedding date: May 4, 2013 Her story: Ashley Valis, 31, grew up in Baltimore. She is the assistant chief of staff for Gov. Martin O'Malley. Her mother, Beth Russell, is a director of marketing and sales, and her father, Jim Valis, is a sales director. His story: Jim Gillis, 31, grew up in Baltimore. He is an assistant state's attorney for Baltimore County. His mother, Kay Gillis, is retired, and his father, Dr. David Gillis, is deceased. Their story: Ashley and Jim met in July 2006 at an event for then-Mayor O'Malley's campaign for governor.

Maybe because it's not on Little Italy's main street, La Tavola always tends to get overlooked. It shouldn't be, though, and I know people who swear by it. It is an easy restaurant to get to know, with a straightforward menu and a notably accommodating staff, the kind of empathetic servers who anticipate your concerns and questions. The food is carefully prepared and simply presented, without flamboyance or artiness. La Tavola's strongest suit is its lineup of pasta dishes, a few of which can compete for top ranking in or out of the neighborhood.