Raisins

I was alarmed to see the news that fen-phen diet pills cause heart problems. The reports mention women only.I am a 47-year-old man and I have been on fen-phen for six months. It has helped me lose almost 20 pounds and I am reluctant to stop. On the other hand, I don't want to damage my heart. Are men susceptible to this problem?We wish we knew. This information from the Mayo Clinic is so new that it hasn't yet been published in the medical literature. It will appear in the New England Journal of Medicine in a few weeks.

Before they could administer the Maryland School Performance Assessment Program tests last week, Baltimore County educators had to go to the grocery store. To buy raisins and paper towels.Not for snack time, but for an experiment in which some of the county's 7,000 fifth-graders watched the raisins as they reacted to different solutions.The raisins were part of this year's statewide tests, and a particularly "boring" part, according to some young test-takers. But the tests, raisins and all, have become a rite of spring in Maryland schools and a reason for angst the rest of the year.

My friends are flying in for the holidays, and I'm planning a yummy yuletide feast that should please the whole flock.Here is the bill of fare:Appetizer3' Pine cones smeared in peanut butterEntree6* Bacon fat with boiled rice and raisinsDessert# Stale cookie crumbsBeverageWaterRight now you're thinking: This meal is for the birds. You bet. It's a Christmas treat they'll never forget.It's the least I can do for my feathered friends.The birds and I have a pact. I feed them in winter so they'll hang around in spring and summer eating garden insects like grubs, slugs and grasshoppers.

For the lunch bunch In the dog days of summer, it's too hot to cook. So don't linger over the stove. Here's a lunch idea, Antipasto Salad With California Raisins, from the California Raisin Marketing Board: Whisk together 1 tablespoon spicy brown mustard; 3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice; 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil; 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar; kosher or sea salt and freshly ground pepper to taste; 2 teaspoons of chopped oregano and...

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. -- Colleen Chapin calls herself a food detective. You didn't know there's a problem with missing food? There is. Somewhere in the Midwest, a housewife misses Bre'r Rabbit Molasses. A father in California dreams of eating Frankenberry cereal one more time. And a baby boomer in New England wistfully recalls the long-lost Sky Bar. These reunions are now possible with the click of a mouse. Chapin has tracked down these products and more. Her Web site, www.hometownfavorites.

Searching for relief from arthritis pain, some folks will try anything.Eating gin-soaked raisins, for instance."I've had patients tell me they've tried this, but there's no science behind it and they find it doesn't work," says Dr. Cody Wasner, a rheumatologist and medical adviser for the Arthritis Foundation. "There's a prevailing attitude that arthritis is simple and you can treat it with folk remedies, like you're treating a corn. But arthritis isn't simple."The gin-raisin theory has been around at least since 1994, when commentator Paul Harvey reported it on his syndicated radio program and in his newspaper column.

"We expect the Frugies to do with fresh fruit and vegetables what the California Raisins did for dried fruit."That's Mort Drucker's fondest hope. The veteran artist of Mad magazine fame says that his latest invention, pronounced "froo-jees" -- a nickname based on the words fruits and veggies -- is something he has wanted to do for more than 10 years.The brood, dreamed up by Mitchell Erick, a writer now with Walt Disney World in Lake Buena Vista, Fla., includes Adam Apple, Auntie Broccoli and Tina Tomato, "whose only uncertainty in life is whether she's a fruit or a vegetable," according to advance notices.

Robert L. Connelly of Baltimore wrote that when he was a kid his grandmother raised him and "She made the best Raisin Cake in the world. It was so thick, you had to scrape the batter off the spoon as you put it in the cake pan. I've tried all kinds of cakes, but they never could compare. Maybe you can come up with a recipe." Patricia Gick of Fulton wrote, "This recipe is for Robert L. Connelly. My mother made this cake for my father frequently. It was his favorite, and he requested it often.

I have an elderly dog suffering from painful arthritis in the knee and hip. Can I use the gin-soaked golden raisins with her safely? How many? She's been X-rayed, so I know it's arthritis. She hobbles around painfully. I'm already giving her a nutraceutical that has liquid glucosamine and chondroitin. Any advice on how to help her is greatly appreciated. Do NOT give your dog raisins, gin-soaked or otherwise! Although humans may benefit from this remedy, veterinarians have found that raisins and grapes are dangerous for dogs and may cause kidney problems.

Leslie Jarzombek and her mother from Santa Rosa, Calif., were looking for a recipe for a sour-cream-raisin pie like the one they had at a small restaurant in southwest Idaho. The sour-cream part was rich and creamy with dark raisins throughout the filling. They thought that the pie was not baked. Ann Alien of Columbus, Miss., sent in a recipe for a no-bake raisin-sour cream pie. In Alien's recipe the filling is prepared in a double boiler and poured into a prebaked pie shell, then chilled and topped with sour cream, graham-cracker crumbs and lemon rind.