Peanuts

`Peanuts' -- Howard Community Colleges Student-Alumni Arts will present its version of the musical You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown (based on the Charles M. Schulz comic strip, Peanuts) at 7:30 p.m. Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays, and at 3 p.m. Sundays through Dec. 17 at the college's new black box theater in the Peter and Elizabeth Horowitz Visual and Performing Arts Center. The show is recommended for ages 3 and older. Tickets are $15; $12 for senior citizens and groups; and $10 for students with identification.

In the early 1980s, transit officials in Washington couldn't figure out why traffic on the Beltway would grind to a near halt every day around the exact same time. The usual explanations didn't fit. Then it was discovered that a single driver was to blame. Every day on his drive to work, this commuter would plant himself in the left lane and set his cruise control to 55 mph, the posted speed limit, forcing those behind him to merge right, and you can imagine the effects. To his credit, this driver came forward in a letter to the editor of The Washington Post.

Baltimore-based artist Tom Everhart will be featured in a CBS-TV show to air this winter (date to be announced). The Charles Schulz special, titled "Those Fabulous Funnies: The First 100 Years," will include a segment on Everhart, who paints "Peanuts" contemporary portraits.Everhart's relationship with "Peanuts" creator Schulz began 11 years ago when Everhart was a free-lance artist working for Disney. They hit it off so well that Schulz taught him his techniques and eventually hired Everhart to work on special projects for him. Everhart says the most exciting project he's worked on for Schulz so far was a Time magazine cover.

Ice cream and granola bars are the latest products to be linked to widespread manufacturer recalls of some peanut butters and other nut products that started last month. In the past week, at least five manufacturers have recalled peanut butter flavored ice cream products. In each case, the peanut butter used in the product was supplied either directly or indirectly by Sunland Inc., which has issued a national recall of some of its products because of possible Salmonella contamination.

Bread-and-butter issues as well as peanuts are on the plate of Baltimore City's legislative delegation in Annapolis as the General Assembly convenes tomorrow.Among the peanuts are technical changes in the law that would prohibit the carrying of rifles and shotguns in the city (yes, according to the law, that's legal!) and authorize civilian traffic enforcement officers to issue penalties to violators. Today, it seems, many motorists obey them without quite realizing those officers, despite their uniforms, are about as powerful as scarecrows!

Now here's a poser of a trivia question, prompted by tonight's re-airing of the classic "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (at 8:30, Channel 11): Who was president of the United States when this animated holiday treat first was seen on television?Lyndon Baines Johnson, that's who, for this show premiered Dec. 9, 1965, as the initial animated adaptation of the "Peanuts" comic strip gang. Makes you feel old, right? But did you know the round-headed kid was already pretty old himself by the time he reached the tube?

A Jessup factory has started producing a new kind of whit packaging "peanut" that dissolves in water, can be composted into fertilizer and can even be eaten, though the makers don't recommend them as a dining experience.Art Buckingham, Maryland branch manager for American Excelsior Co., said yesterday that the corn starch-based "Eco-Foam" pellets are an alternative to standard white polystyrene foam "peanuts." The company, based in Arlington, Texas, is one of the nation's biggest producers of plastic packaging materials, he said.

The Midtown Yacht Club is something of a misnomer, because it has nothing to do with yachting and is not a club. It is located in midtown Baltimore, though, so one out of three ain't bad.Having been anchored on East Centre Street for nine years now, this agreeable pub has had plenty of time to gain a loyal following. These regulars know the pub's logo of an upside down sailboat is a smiling reminder that the nautical theme isn't taken very seriously here.They also know that there's a whole lotta crunching going on here -- not just food between the teeth, but discarded peanut shells underfoot.

Charles M. Schulz's "Peanuts" gang was everywhere in the 1960s, as you baby boomers might recall.Charlie Brown, Snoopy, Lucy, Linus, Schroeder and the rest frequently turned up on greeting cards, sweat shirts, commercials, lunch boxes, TV specials and feature films, as well as in books, rock songs, ("Snoopy Versus the Red Baron" by The Royal Guardsmen, remember?) and even a fascinating published dissertation from the University of Chicago School of Divinity entitled "The Gospel According to Peanuts."

Sometimes the members of the Old Otterbein United Methodist Church can't help but talk about divine intervention. Somehow a gleaming new ballpark - Oriole Park at Camden Yards - was plopped down at the end of the street where the church has stood since 1785. Somehow a member named Edith Parthree thought to bring little bags of peanuts to sell at, of all things, a strawberry festival nearly 13 years ago. And when they didn't sell, a few guys from the church somehow thought they could earn a few bucks if they took a shot at the folks streaming by outside on the way to that day's baseball game.

Two additional nut butter products have been added to a list of Trader Joe's products consumers should not eat because they have been linked to a Salmonella outbreak. The Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene advised consumers Friday not to consume or purchase Trader Joe's brand Valencia Creamy Salted Peanut Butter made with sea salt, manufactured by Sunland Inc. Monday Sunland also  voluntarily recalled Trader Joe's Valencia Peanut Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds, Crunchy and Salted and Trader Joe's Almond Butter with Roasted Flaxseeds, Crunchy & Salted.  The outbreak has sickened 29 people in 18 states, including a child in Maryland who was not hospitalized and has recovered.

Van Gogh Vodka is introducing what it's calling one of their most innovative and unexpected flavors to date: PB&J. The press release from Van Gogh was spread thick with all kinds of tasty trivia about the beloved sandwich. It says that peanut butter was invented by a doctor in St. Louis for his toothless patients. Van Gogh's PB&J has a primarily peanut fragrance complemented by the aroma of fresh raspberries. But, the profiles reverse on the tongue. Raspberry dominates the flavor, not peanut butter.

Take me out to the ball game, Take me out with the crowd. Buy me some peanuts and cracker jack, I don't care if I never get back. Peanuts are an iconic part of the baseball experience. But if you have allergies -- like so many people do -- all those shells and bits can make a trip to the ballpark uncomfortable, if not downright dangerous. So the Orioles this year will again join some other major league ballparks in creating peanut-free zones. For certain games, Oriole Park at Camden Yards will set aside a "peanut allergy suite.

Nicole Pace told the school nurse that her daughter was deathly allergic to peanuts and had her 5-year-old's allergist provide Hillcrest Elementary School in Frederick with a pre-measured dose of medicine, just in case. But a cafeteria worker - unaware of the danger peanuts posed to the girl, Liana - gave her a peanut butter sandwich. "The child immediately began experiencing an anaphylactic reaction; her airway and eyelids began to swell, and she became lethargic and confused," according to court records.

The Susquehanna Symphony Orchestra presents its popular holiday concert Saturday, Dec. 3. This year, it's "Holiday Melodies and Peanuts" - the Charles Schulz kind. The concert begins at 7:30 p.m. at Bel Air High School, 100 Heighe St. in Bel Air. Tickets, $20 for adults, $15 for seniors and $10 for students, are available at Preston's and Music Land in Bel Air or at the door. Or visit http://www.ssorchestra.org and click on Ticket Leap. According to SSO founder and director Sheldon Bair, the concert will contain many surprises.

Thomas Klein from Pasadena was looking for a recipe he had a while back but has misplaced for peanut butter potato salad. As he recalls, it was made much like regular potato salad but with the addition of peanut butter. Sally Lippincott from New Market sent in a recipe she had for peanut butter potato salad that her aunt gave her some years ago. She says she makes it frequently, particularly in the summertime for cookouts, and she always gets requests for the recipe. Her recipe says to peel the potatoes, but I when I tested it, I used new red potatoes and left the skin on. This saved a little time and added some nice color and texture.

For nearly a half-century, the world of "Peanuts" hasn't changed much: Charlie Brown's kites are forever eaten by trees; Lucy always yanks the football away at the last second; and Snoopy never stops cursing the Red Baron. Sadly, in the real world, nothing lasts forever. No one, either. Saturday evening, as about 2,600 newspapers worldwide were preparing to publish his final original comic strip, "Peanuts" creator Charles M. Schulz died in his sleep of a heart attack at his Santa Rosa, Calif.

Mr. Max Nolan Powers has such a perfectly dignified way of telling this story -- and, it's my suspicion, of conducting himself generally -- that one soon forgets the man is talking about hawking peanuts."

Pat Braun from Mount Pleasant, Wis., said she was at an Amish settlement a few years back and had a soft peanut brittle. She said it tasted just like peanut brittle but was not as hard. She said she has tried several times to duplicate it with no success. Ardice Holbrook of Manchester sent in a recipe she came across on the Internet from CDKitchen (www.cdkitchen.com) that she thought Braun might want to try. I tested the recipe and found it was fairly easy to make, provided you have a working candy thermometer and don't mind a bit of a mess in your kitchen.