Tang

MORE THAN 300 squirmy children squeezed into Swansfield Elementary School's cafeteria last week to listen to the haunting sounds of ancient Chinese stringed instruments.Performing were Pearl Pan and Liang Shan Tang, graduates of the Shanghai Conservatory of Music, who emigrated to the United States in the mid-1980s.Swansfield students Jennifer Wong, Lidang Li, Jessica Tsaoi and Sheldon Xie welcomed the performers in Chinese and English.Pan is a vocalist who also plays the pipa, a four-stringed lute, and the yuan, a guitar.

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.

NEW YORK -- Who said the annual Grammy Awards broadcast only serves up the expected?That certainly wasn't the case last night. In an evening that mixed predictable victories with surprising upsets, Paula Cole bested million-sellers Hanson and Sean "Puffy" Combs in the Best New Artist category, while Shawn Colvin's hit "Sunny Came Home" was named Song and Record of the Year.In an award that echoed many critics' polls, Bob Dylan's "Time Out of Mind" was named Album of the Year. "Everybody worked extra special hard, even the musicians," Dylan joked.

Spice. As a child, I thought that's what cinnamon was. And not just a spice, but spice itself. The exotic culinary treasure that drove conquests, expeditions and even wars. Spice! With my very first bite of cinnamon toast, a visceral, almost overpowering taste -- that ancient, dark, nutty tang -- swept me into fantasy.It was so different from any other flavor I'd experienced that I couldn't imagine another food even belonging in the same category. When my mother was brave enough to finally let me make my own breakfast, I shook the mahogany-brown powder so thick on the bread that the butter couldn't absorb it all. A melty pool of sensuality.

If the Black Eyed Susan were a race horse, it would be a sprinter. It makes one strong move, then fades quickly. The strong move occurs this weekend when the cocktail will be in demand at Pamlico Race Track, during both the running of the Black Eyed Susan Stakes on Friday and the Preakness Stakes on Saturday. Over these two days, about 25,000 servings of the libation, poured into commemorative glasses, will be sold at $8 apiece, track officials say. But as soon as Preakness weekend ends, so does the does the local thirst for the Susan.

Purslane sprouts from sidewalk cracks, invades gardens and earns contempt from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which classifies it as a "noxious weed." It also happens to be a "superfood" high in heart-healthy Omega-3 fatty acids and beta carotene, one tasty enough to spread, like the weed it is, to farmers' markets and fancy restaurants. "We have all this sitting in our front yard, and we can eat it, and it's cheaper than salmon," said Joan Norman, owner of One Straw Farm in White Hall.

Rams Head Live will host a performance by the Wu-Tang Clan on Wednesday. The notorious New York hip-hop group, which had been on a six-year hiatus, is on tour to promote its new album, The 8 Diagrams. Doors open at 7 p.m. The group performs at 9 p.m. Rams Head Live is at 20 Market Place. Tickets are $49.50. Call 410-244-1131 or go to ramsheadlive.com.

There's something about the clean, crisp taste of chutney, the mixture of hot and sweet flavors and the chunky texture that pleases immensely.This lemon-apricot chutney is delicious on broiled lamb chops.Lamb chops with lemon-apricot chutneyMakes 4 servings3 large garlic cloves, smashed2 teaspoons salt or to taste1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepperL 8 (1-inch-thick) loin or rib lamb chops (3 to 4 ounces each)lemon-apricot chutney, at room temperatureHeat broiler and arrange rack 4 to 5 inches from heat source.

It would be easy to say that Wu-Tang Clan has peaked — that its best period is behind it. It's not just that Ol' Dirty Bastard died in 2004, or that members have dabbled with solo projects over the years to varying degrees of success. The group has now been together for nearly 20 years, making it positively prehistoric in hip-hop. Against the members' better wishes, they've become elder statesmen. But despite not having released an album in three years, the group's new tour makes a defiant claim on relevance.

Darlene Grotewold of Larchwood, Iowa, requested a recipe for waffles made with beer. Leslie Calhoun of Irwin, Pa., responded. She wrote: "The request was posted in the Pittsburgh, Pa., Tribune-Review, and my response is from my cookbook called `Cooking With Beer' by Carol Fahy from Dover Publications, published in 1978. It was originally printed by Elm Tree Books in London, England in 1972. "I would recommend this book to anyone interested in beer. It covers everything from hors d'oeuvres to desserts, and since Dover is a reprint publisher it may still be available.