Raisins

At age 51 I feel like I am too young to have arthritis, but I definitely have some joint pain. When I type at the computer my thumb and little fingers hurt. When I play too much tennis my knees ache. My stomach is way too sensitive to take aspirin, ibuprofen or other arthritis pills. I'd like to try the raisins soaked in gin that I've read about in your column. How well do they work? Gin-soaked raisins have not been tested scientifically, but some people report success. The recipe is simple: Pour gin over golden raisins just until the raisins are submerged.

While visiting good friends who have a cottage on Cape Cod, I noticed the ease with which they served breakfasts each day. Our first early-morning meal took place on a small backyard deck, where we found a table set with casual blue and white linens and blue-and-white striped dishes. A large, shallow bowl was mounded with an array of sliced fruit, a rich, dark loaf cake rested on a platter, whipped cream cheese piled into a ramekin was at its side and a Thermos-style coffee pot was filled with steaming brew.

Director Barbara Marder, chairwoman of the Performing Arts Department at Anne Arundel Community College, has gathered a first-rate cast for Moonlight Troupers' production of Lorraine Hansberry's powerful drama A Raisin in the Sun at Pascal Center for Performing Arts. Groundbreaking when it opened on Broadway in 1959, Hansberry's classic American play traces the journey of five black family members as they pursue the American dream. Only 29 when Raisin made its debut on Broadway, Hansberry enjoyed a brilliant career that was cut short six years later, in 1965, when she died of cancer.

On Sept. 11, Linda Powell was in her Manhattan apartment on the Upper West Side. Her father, the secretary of state, was in Lima having breakfast with the president of Peru. Colin Powell was handed a note. Linda Powell turned on her television. Their country, they both learned, was under attack. Plans changed. The secretary of state was back on center stage, and Linda Powell's life took a dramatic turn as well. Powell, a veteran stage actress, had committed to a London production of August Wilson's play, Jitney.

Center Stage's forceful production of A Raisin in the Sun makes it easy to see where the character of Walter Lee Younger -- a chauffeur who yearns to become a businessman -- gets his determination and stubbornness. Actor Keith Glover leaves no doubt that proud, headstrong Walter is his mother's son. And emphasizing that shared trait is crucial to the success of director Marion McClinton's interpretation. One of the late playwright Lorraine Hansberry's frustrations with Raisin was that it lacks a clear-cut protagonist, but divides its focus between Walter and his mother, Lena.

No doubt about it. As Lena Younger, the matriarch in Lorraine Hansberry's A Raisin in the Sun, Trezana Beverley is not going to be another mama on the couch. That's one reason director Marion McClinton cast the Tony Award-winning, Baltimore-born actress in Center Stage's production, which begins performances Thursday. "You're not going to see Mama, you're going to see Lena. That's about the best way of putting it," says McClinton. "Mama has become a stereotypical character that crosses many other black plays.

Shirley VanBibber of Smithton, Pa., is seeking a lost recipe. "It was called Frost Bites and it had oats, orange juice, orange rind and raisins. The cookies were dunked in melted white baking chocolate. You are my last hope." Her response came from Martha Ward of Glen Burnie, who noted the Sun Maid Raisin recipe that she sent is like those that come in the coupon sections in the newspaper. Frost bites Makes about 3 dozen 3 tablespoons orange juice or orange-flavored liqueur 3/4 cup raisins 1/2 cup (stick)

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.

There, next to the Pringles. Just across the aisle from the breakfast bars. Illuminated by fluorescent tubes. Under the speaker oozing music without a beat. Trail mix. That's right, trail mix, in precisely measured, comes-in-eight-flavors, sanitized-for-your-protection, hermetically sealed pouches, adorned with tasteful corporate logos. Corporate consumables go woodsy. Breaking out of his shell, that dapper nut with the monocle, Mr. Peanut, has gone from the bridge table to the great outdoors with his own brand of trail mix. It's just perfect for those times when you're trapped on the Beltway in your gas-guzzling Terrain Masher sport utility vehicle and you can't call on your cell phone to get sushi delivered.

A classic Broadway musical and plays by William Shakespeare, Noel Coward and Lorraine Hansberry will highlight the 2001-2002 Center Stage season. The musical, "The Pajama Game," will be only the second major Broadway musical produced by Center Stage in its 38-year history. (The first was "She Loves Me" in 1985.) The 1954 show about a strike at a pajama factory will be staged by artistic director Irene Lewis, who described it as a "quintessential musical." "It's sheer fun. It has a little bit of anchoring with the love story and with the union, but for the most part, it's light," Lewis said.