Kale

When a bag of kale showed up on the doorstep, courtesy of our neighbors departing on an unexpected trip, it raised the age-old question: What to do? What to do? Somehow Asian flavors came to mind, a departure in our house where almost everything has a Mediterranean influence. With ginger root and a few other flavorings, this dish quickly came together. Pork chops were in the fridge, so they became the protein - but chicken would be a delicious substitute. Joe Gray writes for the Chicago Tribune, which provided the recipe and analysis.

The strawberries and citrus fruit that Joe Bartenfelder is unloading at the Waverly farmers' market this bitter cold Saturday morning come from far away. But his deep-green, tightly curled kale is from right here in Maryland. "It's still our kale," said Bartenfelder, who operates farms in Fullerton, in Baltimore County, and Preston, on the Eastern Shore, where this batch of kale was grown. "Which is unusual, since it is February." Even for kale, a cold-weather crop for which Maryland's climate is perfect, harvests past Thanksgiving Day are noteworthy.

Kale is well-known in Maryland as a key ingredient in a St. Mary's County stuffed ham. "At Thanksgiving, our first priority, even over the turkey, is the stuffed ham," said Ray Raley of Ridge, at the southern tip of St. Mary's County. "It is our history. And it is always on the menu at the church dinner. "But outside of us, it is probably nonexistent. Stuffed ham ends at about Waldorf," he said. The ham itself is a hard-to-find cut of fresh pork called sweet pickled corned ham. If you don't have a butcher who can get one for you, Raley recommends buying a fresh ham and having it boned.

On January 2, 2005, REBECCA M. "BECKY" (nee Schline) of Parkville; beloved wife of Nathan A. Kale and loving daughter of Evelyn I. Schline (nee Tillery) and the late William H. " BILL" Schline; devoted mother of Nathan Scott Kale and Lindsey S. Daniels; loving grandmother of Katelyn Kale. The family will receive friends at the family owned and operated MCCULLY-POLYNIAK FUNERAL HOME, P.A., 237 E. Patapsco Ave. (Brooklyn) on Thursday, from 10 to 11 AM at which time services will be held. Interment Cedar Hill Cemetery.

In much of the country the weather has become perfect for planting ornamental or flowering kale and cabbage. Considered among the best of all the wonderful cool-season plants, flowering kale and cabbage produce foliage in brilliant, colorful shades of lavender, green, purple, pink and white. They last from October or November through April, bringing the winter garden alive. These plants are native to the Mediterranean and are indeed related to broccoli, cauliflower, collards and another terrific ornamental stock.

I love grilled onions on hamburgers and steaks, but whenever I cook them on the grill, the rings separate and often fall through the grates. This may sound like a silly question, but is there a way to keep onions from falling apart while they are grilling? Silly question? Absolutely not! Onions around the world are trained to escape when put on a grill, and the most common escape measure is to squeeze through the grates and onto the coals. Now I know that doesn't sound like a smart escape, but we're talking about onions here -- which aren't nearly as smart as celery.

On March 17, 2003, ROBERT A. VOELKEL. Devoted husband of the late Ann Voelkel; loving father of Audrey V. Banks and her husband Robert, Robert W. Voelkel and his wife Dorothy and the late Beatrice Kale; cherished grandfather of Karen Gibbons, Pamela Fleece, Brendan and Alyssa Banks and Ryan Voelkel; great-grandfather of Elizabeth and Emily Gibbons and Joseph Fleece; beloved brother of Vera Bayne. Funeral from the George J. Gonce Funeral Home, P.A., 4001 Ritchie Highway, on Thursday at 12 noon.

Virginia fishery managers voted yesterday to expand an existing sanctuary for blue crabs, placing a 900-square-mile swath of the Chesapeake Bay off limits to all crabbing from June 1 to Sept. 15. A spokesman for the Virginia Marine Resources Commission said the enlarged sanctuary, which goes into effect Saturday, will allow 70 percent of all the bay's adult female crabs to live long enough to reproduce. It will also match Maryland fishery managers' decision to speed up their state's share of agreed-upon cutbacks in the two states' blue-crab harvests.

Some meat eaters tend to think of vegetarians as undernourished lettuce munchers who subsist - basically - on plate garnish. But to Robin Robertson, author of The Vegetarian Meat & Potatoes Cookbook (Harvard Common Press, $16.95), that's just baloney. Her book, which sets out to make converts of carnivores, is based on the theory that there's no reason to sacrifice substance or flavor just because you give up beef (pork and chicken, too, for that matter). And while a quick read of her hearty (and healthful)

Gay H. McCormick of Westminster wrote that she was seeking a recipe for Potato-Kale Soup. "It was once available from a company called Walnut Acres Organic Farm in Penns Creek, Pa., which has now gone out of business. Ingredients such as kale, potatoes, onions and more were listed on the can. I would greatly appreciate a recipe." Nancy Gabriel of Eldersberg responded with a recipe and a note: "I have used so many recipes over the years that were cut from newspapers - I'm glad to submit one."