Maki

HUNT VALLEY SZECHUAN RESTAURANT 9 Schilling Road, Hunt Valley. Hours: 11:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sundays to Thursdays, 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. Fridays and Saturdays. Free delivery during certain hours to limited areas. Call 527-1818 or 527-1819.If you like a little variety in your Asian food, you should try this northern Baltimore County restaurant. Chinese and Japanese cuisine is served daily for lunch or dinner in an attractive dining room, or you may order from the carryout menu. There are dozens of chicken, pork, beef, lamb and seafood dishes, plus a low-fat, low-sodium menu offering items cooked without oil or MSG.I visited the restaurant recently with every intention of ordering my favorites, shrimp lo mein, ($4.45 or $6.95 for a larger serving)

This happened the other night, about 5:50 p.m. I'm waiting on the light at Northern Parkway and North Charles Street, all windows of the DadVan open. Next to me, there's a guy in a uniform shirt of some kind - like maybe Jiffy Lube - with the windows of his sedan open, and he's groovin' on some old-school R&B. I like this. It hits me just right, and I start groovin' on the music, too. The guy in the car catches me groovin' on his tunes, and he says, "You like that?" And I say, "Yeah, I like that.

When Joy Hyman started playing basketball in the sixth grade, she was the only girl in the Hampstead Hill program.The boys took it easy on her -- but only at first."

Poly's baseball team entered last week as the area's sixth-ranked team, averaging over 12 hits per game.That was before the Engineers' bats took a two-game sabbatical, leading to losses against Prince George's County's highly touted Riverdale Baptist -- an earlier winner over No. 4 McDonogh -- and No. 13 Patterson.But in yesterday's 13-2, Baltimore City championship victory over City 3A league champ Southern (15-3) at Patterson, the 10th-ranked Engineers (14-6) regained their hard-hitting form.

If you're looking to watch a lopsided boys soccer game this fall, you may want to try attending a matchup outside of Baltimore County.While a blowout might happen in the Baltimore County league, the chances of one have been greatly reduced by the realignment of teams into three divisions -- Division I being the strongest and Division III the weakest.Each year, two teams from each division will move up and two teams will move down to maintain the parity and to give other teams an opportunity to play better competition.

Yesterday was a day of celebration for coach Derek Maki and Patterson.Ryan Pratt scored midway through the second half and goalie Patrick Krivosh made a big stop with 90 seconds left to give co-No. 15 Patterson a 1-0 victory over visiting Perry Hall in the Class 4A North Region final.The victory, the 100th of Maki's 14-year career at Patterson, gave the Clippers their first-ever soccer region title. Patterson advances to the state semifinal.Patterson (15-1) dominated play in the first half.

Guillermo Pineda scored three goals, and teammates Damian Krzezminski and Pedro Davila scored the others, as No. 15 Patterson held off a spirited challenge at Poly to win its fourth straight boys Baltimore City soccer championship, 5-1.Pineda, an All-City and All-County striker with a school-record 104 career goals, netted two goals with his left foot and one with his right -- the latter being a direct kick for a 2-0 lead.The Clippers (13-1), winners of nine straight, beat Poly (8-3) by a combined 12-0 in two regular-season games but led 1-0 at halftime yesterday.

Wilde Lake Village Center sports a new restaurant, Tokyo Cafe, which is still celebrating its grand opening. It opened April 30. Although its name implies a focus solely on Japanese cuisine, Tokyo Cafe also offers Thai dishes. "Those who don't eat Japanese food can have another choice," said Bryan Dan, co-owner of the restaurant. "We have heard from customers that some eat sushi, some don't. But likewise, some like Thai dishes, some don't." According to Dan, the secret of Thai dishes is the combination of "good color, good aroma and taste."

With his team having lost to Patterson by nine goals in the regular season, Southern's first-year coach, Paul Llufrio, was determined to show that his Bulldogs were worthy of the rematch in yesterday's city championship game.Southern, the winner of Division II, lost again, 4-0, but not before its stubborn defense earned the respect of Derek Maki and his Division I-champion Clippers (10-3).The Bulldogs (8-2) "bottled up the midfield with about five bodies," said Patterson assistant Rick Ardinger.

I've recently started to go bowling. Does it have any significant health benefits, and can I count it toward my weekly exercise quota? While it won't whip you into shape like a kickboxing class might, bowling does have its fitness perks. "It becomes a greater [health] benefit if you are bowling alone and aren't sitting for long periods of time," says Bob Maki, a spokesman for USA Bowling Coaching. Like anything else, you get out of it what you put in. So, rather than chugging a beer for every strike, treat it like exercise.