Salad Dressing

In Susan Reimer 's column ("A woman at the Gray Lady's helm," June 20) she bemoans the apparent need to reassure folks that a successful woman can "kick ass and make a great salad dressing" while there seems no related need to assure that successful men still "cut their own grass. " Funny thing is, I see that "reassurance" about women as far, far more than simply a need to show success for a woman doesn't mean having to sacrifice in a way that men do not. I believe most very successful men have lost that balance.

In Susan Reimer 's column ("A woman at the Gray Lady's helm," June 20) she bemoans the apparent need to reassure folks that a successful woman can "kick ass and make a great salad dressing" while there seems no related need to assure that successful men still "cut their own grass. " Funny thing is, I see that "reassurance" about women as far, far more than simply a need to show success for a woman doesn't mean having to sacrifice in a way that men do not. I believe most very successful men have lost that balance.

A Columbia man who slipped on salad dressing and fell at the Giant Food store in Owen Brown last summer is suing the company for $3 million.Mohmoud Fatemi, of the 6200 block of Devon Drive, was walking through the produce section of the Giant in Owen Brown last July 6 when he slipped on dressing that had spilled on the floor, the suit said.Mr. Fatemi's complaint alleges Giant should have known the spilled salad dressing would pose an unsafe and hazardous condition to shoppers. It accuses Giant of being careless, reckless and negligent.

Joan Shaw from Fayetteville, N.C., was trying to find a recipe for making cucumber salad dressing. She was particularly fond of one served at the Baldino's restaurant chain. I was not able to locate the Baldino's recipe, but I did receive a recipe for a creamy cucumber dressing from Jennifer Simms of Santa Rosa, Calif. Simms says she can't recall where she originally got this recipe but that she has been making it for several years and everyone seems to enjoy it. She says it works equally well as a salad dressing or dip and that it is wonderful with raw vegetables.

The first question that people ask me when they find out I spent an hour with Paul Newman over lunch at his New York apartment is: "Are his eyes really that blue?"The answer is: "Yup, as blue as a bottle of Windex."The second question is: "So what was he like?""Well, he wasn't at all nervous about meeting me," I reply.As for me, I was cool as a cucumber in a blizzard. Except when I called him Paul Newton.In addition, he is charming, extremely witty, and most of all, inspiring. His blue eyes light up the most when he talks about Newman's Own Food Company.

Fresh from celebrating her roommate's birthday at a cozy Baltimore restaurant, the 20-year-old Loyola College student retired contentedly for the night. The piquant flavor of Caesar salad lingered as a pleasant memory. She drifted into sleep.With a start, she awoke a few hours later with knife-like stomach pains. Then came a cascading series of symptoms: intense vomiting, diarrhea, muscle pains, and alternating fevers and chills that left her too weak to climb stairs without help.After three days of escalating misery, she checked into the hospital, where doctors found her blood pressure dangerously low and her kidneys verging on failure.

Weichert Realtors, 9339 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City is an official drop-off location for donations to the Maryland Food Bank taking place through Dec. 10. Most needed items are canned meat, peanut butter, pasta, canned or dried fruits, canned soup and vegetables, sauces/salad dressing, evaporated and powdered milk, infant formula, pudding and custard, oatmeal and breakfast cereals, rice, nuts, seeds and canned or dried beans. For more information or a pickup, call 410-465-8300.

Carole Sobel is such a fat-conscious cook that she used to mix tuna with low-fat cottage cheese instead of mayonnaise to make sandwiches.But since Kraft General Foods introduced fat-free mayonnaise and salad dressing, Ms. Sobel has slowly been reintroducing mayo into a recipe repertoire that has been virtually fat-free the last five years.In the world of mayo, Kraft Free is big news. Regular mayonnaise contains virtually the same amount of fat as butter, and light products have generally cut the fat only in half.

What it is -- A new, all-natural salad dressing by Wild Thymes What we like about it --This gluten-free dressing is made of pure fruit and contains less oil than a traditional vinaigrette. It is available in nine flavors, including lemon, tangerine, key lime, mango and passion fruit. What it costs --$5.99 for an 11-ounce bottle Where to buy --Whole Foods markets Per serving (1 tablespoon) --35 calories, 3 grams fat, trace saturated fat, 3 grams carbohydrate, 0 grams protein, trace fiber, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium

Q: Should I pay attention to my wife when she says that we should not order Caesar salads in restaurants?A: The easy answer is to tell you that you should always listen to what your wife says. She may not be right on every occasion, but it is true that Caesar salad dressing, made with raw eggs, has been responsible for many outbreaks of gastrointestinal illness due to contamination of eggs with salmonella bacteria.These bacteria pose no threat when eggs are properly cooked, but salmonella may infect the intestine if you eat foods containing raw or undercooked eggs.

Edna Jonkoniec from Clinton, Maine, was looking for a recipe for making meatloaf that was rolled jelly-roll style. She said the roll also contained potatoes, cheese and other ingredients. She lost the recipe in a move some years ago and wanted to be able to make it again for her family. Carol Owen from Havre de Grace sent in a recipe she had that sounded very much like what Jonkoniec was in search of. It is fairly easy to make as long as you allow time for the loaf to chill before attempting to slice it. When I tested it, I used store-bought mashed potatoes, which was a big time-saver.

I was out in the alley digging through the lunar landscape of snow, when I accidentally hit the button on my cell phone and rang my brother-in-law in Arizona. I was up to my keister in cold, as I heard that the temperature in Phoenix was headed toward 80 degrees. Ouch! I switched the conversation to citrus. In keeping with family tradition, the Arizonans had shipped us boxes of oranges and grapefruit. It is payback for the crabs we Marylanders feed them in the summer. Our snowbound household had already polished off the oranges.

Weichert Realtors, 9339 Baltimore National Pike in Ellicott City, is an official drop-off location for donations to the Maryland Food Bank through Dec. 10. Most-needed items are canned meat, peanut butter, pasta, canned or dried fruits, canned soup and vegetables, sauces/salad dressing, evaporated and powdered milk, infant formula, pudding and custard, oatmeal and breakfast cereals, rice, nuts, seeds, and canned or dried beans. For more information or a pickup, call 410-465-8300.

Susan Robin of Nottingham, Md., wrote in to say that many years ago, the makers of Hidden Valley ranch dressing published a recipe for a macaroni salad. She clipped it out of a publication but she no longer can locate the recipe. Matthew Fogner of Salisbury, N.C., sent in a recipe he had for a macaroni salad made using the dressing. Macaroni salad is a traditional summer picnic food, and this one has a nice, creamy texture with just the right seasoning, thanks to that little packet of dressing.

What it is -- A new, all-natural salad dressing by Wild Thymes What we like about it --This gluten-free dressing is made of pure fruit and contains less oil than a traditional vinaigrette. It is available in nine flavors, including lemon, tangerine, key lime, mango and passion fruit. What it costs --$5.99 for an 11-ounce bottle Where to buy --Whole Foods markets Per serving (1 tablespoon) --35 calories, 3 grams fat, trace saturated fat, 3 grams carbohydrate, 0 grams protein, trace fiber, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 4 milligrams sodium

I always get too much or too little dressing on my salad. How can I get a light coating? Should I buy that spray-on salad dressing? I never advocate buying prepared salad dressings - but I always enjoy listing their ingredients. Here, for the record, in descending order, is what's in Wish-Bone Salad Spritzers Italian Vinaigrette Dressing: high-fructose corn syrup, white-wine vinegar, soybean oil, salt, onion juice, xanthan gum, caramel color, natural flavors and annatto extract. Compare this to the ingredients for homemade vinaigrette: extra-virgin olive oil, good wine vinegar or lemon juice, salt.

Ostrich meat for good sportsHere's a first: a sports- nutrition food made of ostrich. Ostrim meat stick is a high-protein, low-fat, low-sugar snack that looks something like beef jerky. The taste isn't bad, either. Ostrim even has an Olympic gold medalist for a spokesman, wrestler Kurt Angle (above).There's only one catch. If your kids are like my kid, after they find out what's in it, they'll never touch it.Ostrim is available locally at GNC stores.The Fine Grind, a gourmet coffee and tea shop, has just opened at 101 S. Main St. in Bel Air. You can get 30 or so coffees by the pound, plus teas, imported candies and pastries.

MORE THAN MEMORial Day, or even the last day of school, my mother's first potato salad signaled the official start of summer. A family favorite, it went with just about everything. Barbecue ribs, fried chicken, hot dogs, hamburgers -- anything that can be cooked on a grill or served on a bed of lettuce. But what potato salad means to me may be very different than what it means to you. There is no single recipe for potato salad. It varies from region to region, family to family, and even among members of the same family.