Ingredients

You can see major movies that are "carbon neutral," buy any flavor of organic yogurt and even watch as Bob Costas recaps Sunday football by candlelight for NBC. With climate change increasingly at the top of people's minds - it was identified as a major concern for students at a recent round table of university and college presidents - big business is responding. In some cases, the effort is real; in others, it's what Garvin Jabusch, a former portfolio manager for the Sierra Club Stock Fund, calls "green washing."

With the unmistakable aromas of curry, ginger and other spices lingering in the air, Andrea Ulrich followed the lamb stew recipe word-for-word, careful not to miss a step. But she skipped a critical part of the cooking process: tasting the finished product. "It smells good," the 16-year-old junior at Eastern Technical High in Essex said as she stirred the mix of spices, some of which she has never used. "But I can't even try it because I'm allergic to cinnamon." About two dozen juniors from the school's culinary program finished their work yesterday as the official testers of recipes destined to be included in a 250-page cookbook that is to be distributed in the United States and internationally.

What's the point? -- For those interested in trying out new cocktail recipes or learning the history of cocktails, mixology.com is perfect. The site has a recipe database, where you can search for ingredients or cocktails. You can also read articles on drinks, love and sex. What to look for --Check out Drink of the Week when you want to try something new. Recipes include ingredients, directions and even what glass to use to serve the drink.

cookthink.com At this site, users can enter ingredients, dish types, cuisines and moods in a search engine to find a recipe that best fits what they're craving. Each recipe has reference tips and suggestions for accompaniments. Users also can read blogs and an ingredient-focused newsletter called The Root Source.

Can you tell from the labels on cosmetics whether the products contain ingredients that may be harmful? In most cases, no, although a coalition of environmentalists known as the Campaign for Safe Cosmetics (safecosmetics.org) is trying to change this, with some success. In 2005, one of the members of the campaign, the Washington-based Environmental Working Group, issued a report comparing ingredients in 7,500 personal care products against lists of known or suspected chemical health hazards.

General Mills, Kellogg, Toys "R" Us and other big American companies are increasing their scrutiny of thousands of everyday products they receive from Chinese suppliers, as widening recalls of items such as toys and toothpaste force them to focus on potential hazards that were overlooked in the past. These corporations are stepping up their analysis of imported goods that they sell, making more unannounced visits to Chinese factories for inspections and, in one case, pulling merchandise from American shelves at the first hint of a problem.

Move over, pasta. There's a new ingredient for quick-fix, Italian-inspired meals. Now polenta also solves the what's-for-dinner quandary when time is short. Not polenta made from scratch, of course -- that would require laborious stove-top cooking. It's precooked polenta that woos weeknight cooks with "heat-and-serve" convenience.You may have noticed ready-made polenta at the supermarket. In its clear plastic packaging, it resembles a fat, golden sausage -- not exactly something that screams dinner.

For us Italians, food is a serious affair. For us, gastronomy is more a way of life than a way of cooking; food, the eating and the talking of it, is part of the texture of everyday life.Since the remotest of times, Italy has suffered invasions, pillaging and the resulting famines, the harshest of times for the rich and the poor: Under those conditions, food, the idea of food, escalates to become the most important event of the day. By now, food -- the whole pleasurable concept of it -- is in our blood.

I'm not sure what Mongolians have to do with it, but the concept of the Mongolian Grill is a good one. It's an all-you-can-eat buffet where the food is cooked to order, so it hasn't sat around in chafing dishes. And you get to pick exactly what ingredients are being cooked for you. The concept was so successful in Bethesda that the owners opened a second Mongolian Grill in a shopping center in Columbia.The Columbia location has a sort of handsome minimalism to it. Some might call it bare, but it's hard to do much in the way of decor when a great deal of your dining room is filled with buffet bars and salad bars.

Most people on this side of the Atlantic Ocean grew up knowing pumpkins in four main ways: as jack-o'-lanterns at Halloween, as blue-ribbon winners at state fairs, as crack-and-spit seed snacks and as the primary ingredient in Thanksgiving pies.Oh yes, we mustn't forget Cinderella's coach.Every now and then, a daring soul puts pumpkin soup on the table, but unless diners are properly primed, the proffered bowl is met with, at best, polite skepticism.As much fun as it is to carve, grow and show pumpkins, there are myriad other uses for our round orange friends: fritters, waffles, muffins, breads, soups, stews, puddings and casseroles.

The Artful Gourmet Bistro 9433 Common Brook Road, Owings Mills, 410-356-0363. Open 11 a.m.-9:30 p.m. Monday-Thursday, 11 a.m.-10:30 p.m. Friday, noon-10:30 p.m. Saturday, 4 p.m.-9 p.m. Sunday. The "build" of a good sandwich is an art. You start with the proper foundation of bread then adroitly layer ingredients, creating an item that is pleasing to both the eye and the palate. The Remington from the carryout section of the Artful Gourmet in Owings Mills is a prime example of sandwich art. This bistro, tucked in a corner of the Brookside Commons shops, has an extensive carryout menu and a counter at the rear of the restaurant to accommodate customers who grab their food and go. The sandwiches and entrees are named in honor of artists.

Don't be tempted by restaurant meals or take-out at dinner time. With a little strategy, you can spend less money cooking for yourself. First, plan your meals and snacks. Buy groceries in one trip to minimize impulse purchases. Use supermarket circulars for inspiration rather than gourmet cooking magazines calling for expensive ingredients. Web sites such as allrecipes.com let you search for recipes with the ingredients you have or what is on sale. Don't have a lot of cash or appliances?

The fumes that waft from top-selling air fresheners and laundry products contain dozens of chemicals, including several classified as toxic or hazardous, says a University of Washington study published yesterday. None of the chemicals was listed on product labels, nor does the federal government require companies to disclose ingredients in fragrances, said study author Anne Steinemann. "I was surprised by both the number and the potential toxicity of the chemicals that were found," said Steinemann, a professor of civil and environmental engineering and public affairs.

You can see major movies that are "carbon neutral," buy any flavor of organic yogurt and even watch as Bob Costas recaps Sunday football by candlelight for NBC. With climate change increasingly at the top of people's minds - it was identified as a major concern for students at a recent round table of university and college presidents - big business is responding. In some cases, the effort is real; in others, it's what Garvin Jabusch, a former portfolio manager for the Sierra Club Stock Fund, calls "green washing."

Ruth Rhymaun is a good cook. The busy Bel Air wife and mother of two knows the terms, she has the knife skills, and she routinely turns out pasta, soup, burgers and Shepherd's Pie for dinner. Problem is, it's become too routine. She uses the same 10 ingredients over and over as the base for many meals, and knows her husband Martin, 4-year-old Willow and 3-year-old Lucas would like to try some new foods. So Rhymaun volunteered for The Sun's Make Over My Meal series. She wanted some new ingredients that would be easy to keep in the house and spin into new meals.

You can see major movies that are "carbon neutral," buy any flavor of organic yogurt and even watch as Bob Costas recaps Sunday football by candlelight for NBC. With climate change increasingly at the top of people's minds - it was identified as a major concern for students at a recent round table of university and college presidents - big business is responding. In some cases, the effort is real; in others, it's what Garvin Jabusch, a former portfolio manager for the Sierra Club Stock Fund, calls "green washing."

Elmer Klavens, a pharmacist in Baltimore from 1931 until his retirement in May at the age of 95, died of heart failure Friday at his home in the Ranchleigh neighborhood of Baltimore County. He was able to keep working three decades beyond the normal retirement age because he loved what he did and enjoyed helping people, said a son, Stuart Klavens Clay of Pikesville. Mr. Klavens died about five months after he filled his last prescription at the Chestnut Pharmacy in Hampden. "I encouraged him to keep working because it kept his energy level up," Mr. Clay said.

Maybe the last time you used that cream on your face, ate that power bar or fed your dog that food from China, you thought about the unnatural stuff inside and wondered if you were doing yourself any good. Here are some new items that were on display at the 2007 Natural Products Expo East in Baltimore recently that are made from ingredients you probably can pronounce: 1. Yummy Earth Organic Lollipops Price: $2.50-$2.80 for a bag of 15 lollipops Where to get it: Amazon.com or YummyEarth.

The smell of garlic doesn't so much tickle your nose when you walk into Zella's as march on over and give you a big bear hug. Most of the entrees in this nifty little pizza-and-calzone joint start with the basic Italian comfort-food ingredients of tomato sauce, cheese and dough, but then they're loaded with intensely flavorful ingredients such as caramelized onions, feta cheese, prosciutto and, of course, garlic. -- Poor:]

cookthink.com At this site, users can enter ingredients, dish types, cuisines and moods in a search engine to find a recipe that best fits what they're craving. Each recipe has reference tips and suggestions for accompaniments. Users also can read blogs and an ingredient-focused newsletter called The Root Source.