Lasagna

I'm always surprised that Baltimore County has so many chains and doesn't have more nice local restaurants - the kind that seem to pop up every other week in Baltimore City. If this bothers you, too, you'll be happy that Restaurant Sabor is now open in the Lutherville/Timonium area. You may not know the owner and chef by name; but if you eat out a lot, you've probably tasted Rodolfo ("Roddy") Domacasse's good cooking at Brasserie Tatin, Due or Rudys' 2900 (all three now closed); Linwood's; Gertrude's at the BMA; or Donna's.

Guilius Donald D'Ambrogi, a retired state health official, died Jan. 7 of complications from a broken hip at the Broadmead retirement community. The former Towson resident was 93. Soon after earning a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1937, Mr. D'Ambrogi, who was known as Don, began a career of more than 40 years in public health. He initially worked as an inspector with the Baltimore City Health Department, where he helped safeguard the milk program in city schools.

* Item: Prego 2 1/2 -Pound Family Entrees* What you get: 5 servings* Cost: About $6* Preparation time: 31 minutes in microwave, 80 to 85 minutes in conventional oven* Review: These family-size entrees are a lifesaver. If you're too tired to cook or don't have time to prepare something from scratch, you can put these on the table without worrying that you're giving appetites short shrift. We tried the Fettuccine Florentine With Chicken. The spinach and mushrooms were fresh, the chicken was tender and the whole dish tasted homemade.

Item: Delverde Ondine Instant No-Boil Lasagna NoodlesWhat you get: 8 servingsPreparation time: 24 minutes microwave, 25 minutes conventional ovenCost: $6.49Review: Maybe it's me, but there didn't seem to be anything more convenient about these noodles imported from Italy. The first time I tried them -- following the included English directions which call for "warming" the noodles in hot stock before you put the lasagna together -- it took twice as long as it usually does to make this traditional Italian favorite and the result was a watery, soupy mess.

Several years ago, I was challenged to revamp the favorite family recipes of each of the hosts on ABC's "Good Morning America." Working out a delicious low-fat version of a recipe in the test kitchen is one thing, but demonstrating it to the host on live national television is quite another!I have to admit that Spencer Christian's recipe for a classic, homey lasagna really had me puzzled at first. It wasn't because it was so laden with fatty ingredients that I couldn't imagine how to make it healthy, but because it was already pretty lean - at least as lasagnas go. Spencer's recipe used ground turkey rather than beef and part-skim instead of whole-milk ricotta.

It's mom food.It's love.It's abbondanza, or abundance.It's lasagna.This striated extravaganza, Italian in name and American in spirit, is a marvel, architecturally and culinarily. Its eye-popping layers of oozing cheese, ruffled noodles and rich sauce continue to enchant, even with so many trendy Italian menu newcomers that would seem to threaten its eminence."People never tire of lasagna," says Joe Decker, a partner in Chicago-based Lettuce Entertain You Enterprises. "It's a homey way of satisfying yourself with basil, tomato, cheese, pasta -- basic Italian flavors.

Lasagna is like a sandwich: you can put anything between the layers and it's still lasagna. In the United States, lasagna is actually the ultimate Dagwood, always assembled following the "more is better" model.In its home of origin, however, lasagna is a very different animal. While it certainly ranks as one of the richest dishes in the Italian repertoire, it's almost austere compared to its American catch-all counterpart. In Italy, lasagna has more vegetables and lighter sauces -- and less cheese -- making it a much lighter dish.

It's never difficult to locate Brown attackman David Evans.On the field, Evans routinely has two defensemen hawking him. Off the field, he's vigorously needling his teammates to work out with him.In the classroom, Evans is the guy yelling at the end of lecture that there is an important swim meet or hockey game on campus that weekend, trying to rally support for other Brown teams."

ARMY1994 record: 8-7.Coach: Jack Emmer (12th year).Key losses: Rick Aguilar, G; Sean Turner, D; Brian Knapp, M; Tim Keneally, M; Kevin O'Rourke, M.Top returnees: Dan Brostek, Jr., A; Rob Manning, Jr., A; Mike Colon, Sr., M; Chris Auclair, Sr., D; Ryan McCormack, Soph., M; Travis Loving, Jr., G.Top newcomers: Dan Monahan, Fr., A; Greg Tily, Fr., M.Outlook: Army won five of its last seven mainly due to switching goalies. Loving replaced Aguilar in midseason, and directed the Cadets to road wins over Yale and Hofstra while holding opponents to less than nine goals per game.

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. -- As he prepared to face the Virginia team coached by his professional mentor and brother-in-law, Dom Starsia, Brown lacrosse coach Peter Lasagna had one fervent but completely impossible wish."

I'm always surprised that Baltimore County has so many chains and doesn't have more nice local restaurants - the kind that seem to pop up every other week in Baltimore City. If this bothers you, too, you'll be happy that Restaurant Sabor is now open in the Lutherville/Timonium area. You may not know the owner and chef by name; but if you eat out a lot, you've probably tasted Rodolfo ("Roddy") Domacasse's good cooking at Brasserie Tatin, Due or Rudys' 2900 (all three now closed); Linwood's; Gertrude's at the BMA; or Donna's.

John McCain's choice for a running mate, Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, may have been a cold shock to some pundits, but her state has long been a hot tourist destination. Alaska's rustic beauty, from Mount McKinley to the Inside Passage, attracts adventurers, nature lovers, sports enthusiasts and more. The state offers glaciers, fjords, lakes, mountains, parks, Native American culture and wildlife, to name just a few of the tourist draws. Here are five things to do in and around Anchorage: 1 Visit Wasilla : Governor Palin's hometown - and the place where she served as mayor - is about a 45-minute drive from Anchorage.

A simple dish of spinach lasagna sent Daniela Useli on a journey many home cooks dream of - from preparing meals just for family and friends to planning a weekly menu that bears her name at a popular restaurant. Thanks to a friend who raved about her delicately balanced lasagna to the owner of Sotto Sopra in Mount Vernon, Useli now headlines a weekly four-course menu there of foods from her roots on the island of Sardinia, called Dinner With Daniela. "Italians expect a certain flavor from their lasagna," said Alberto Conti, manager of the Community Missions office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, who introduced Useli to Riccardo Bosio, the owner of Sotto Sopra, after sampling her vegetable dish.

Nearly everyone has a warm spot in his heart for the classic Italian restaurant -- the big, casual neighborhood place that serves giant bowls of garlicky shrimp scampi and generous slabs of lasagna. Put that restaurant on a main street near a courthouse, and you almost can't go wrong, especially if your spacious dining room is next to a nice-looking bar and you hire unusually nice and helpful people to wait tables. Poor:]

Guilius Donald D'Ambrogi, a retired state health official, died Jan. 7 of complications from a broken hip at the Broadmead retirement community. The former Towson resident was 93. Soon after earning a master's degree in chemistry from the University of Maryland School of Medicine in 1937, Mr. D'Ambrogi, who was known as Don, began a career of more than 40 years in public health. He initially worked as an inspector with the Baltimore City Health Department, where he helped safeguard the milk program in city schools.

Cooking Chop the leaves of chard and add them to the usual suspects, including pasta, omelets or lasagna. The tender greens can be prepared like spinach, while the crisp stalks should be chopped, steamed and cooked like asparagus.

Casey's didn't set my taste buds on fire, but it did warm my heart. This is a true Baltimore restaurant, run by a brother and sister and the brother's wife. The menu brims with homey favorites like meatloaf, lasagna and Irish stew, and the atmosphere is completely free of arrogance or irony. Poor:]

Good lasagna is easy to make, and bad is easier still. Great lasagna, that's something else altogether and best left to someone who has studied the craft for decades under an expert from the Old Country. We're talking about a mama who knows lasagna, because her nonna taught it to her mama, who taught it to her. "I always watched my mother," confirms Joann Simonetti, one such pasta pro who lives in Chicago Heights. "I used to watch her and help her." Simonetti's lasagna is unbelievable, a beef-and-ricotta version that is simultaneously light and indulgent, with support from the tomato puree that her son Ron preserves from his garden.

Mondo Bondo Bistro Germano's Trattoria 300 S. High St., Baltimore -- 410-752-4515 Hours --11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., 4:30 p.m.-10 p.m. Mondays-Thursdays; 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m., 4:30 p.m.-11 p.m. Fridays; 11:30 a.m.-11 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays Restaurant's estimate: --15 minutes Ready in: --17 minutes Though more expensive than the rest, an order of lasagna from Germano's Trattoria, $13.49, arrived with bread and salad. There wasn't enough sauce, but the noodles and cheese were tasty. Know of a good carryout place?

Giving Thanks Thanksgiving Recipes and History, From Pilgrims to Pumpkin Pie Kathleen Curtin, Sandra L. Oliver and Plimoth Plantation Clarkson Potter / 2005 / $22.50 If you're looking for a cookbook that both takes you back to the roots of Thanksgiving and gives you fresh variations on the classic meal, Giving Thanks is for you. Food historian Kathleen Curtin and writer Sandra L. Oliver draw on the resources of Plimoth Plantation, a living-history museum...