Taste

Do you think of cooking as an art or a necessity? Whatever your reason for pulling out the pans, we want to hear about it. Answer our third annual reader survey that appeared in the Taste section on March 16 or go online to www.baltimoresun. com/tastesurvey. Please respond by tomorrow. We will print the results later this spring.

I want to thank the Arbutus Times and Catonsville Times and the communities they serve for the items that folks continue to drop off here at the station. Because of the constant and gracious donations, a total of 202 boxes were mailed overseas in the last two weeks. This is the largest amount of material sent overseas to this date. To put it in perspective, the last shipment was 167 boxes. We can never thank you and your readers enough. We hope the items continue to come in. If not for this area, the program would not endure in such a successful way. We count upon ongoing support.

NEW ORLEANS -- When the Super Bowl shows up here, stuff happens. It might have something to do with the vibe. How many cities do you know where at noontime on a weekday, someone is paid to stand outside a bar in the middle of the street and hold up a large advertising sign that says: "HUGE ... BEERS"? How many cities do you know where another person is holding up another sign outside another establishment: "WASH THE GIRL OF YOUR CHOICE"? I can only think of one. It's the city where I saw both of those things Monday.

Today you'll find a redesigned Taste section with new features joining old favorites. Among the changes you'll see are a new weekly feature called Burning Questions, which answers your questions about cooking, Sloane Brown's Table Talk column giving a behind-the-scenes look at the latest restaurant news and In Season, which offers advice on how to select and use the produce in your grocery store. In addition, you'll find expanded Takeout and Bookmark columns. In the coming weeks, look for Rob Kasper's new beverage column and a test kitchen feature that will evaluate kitchen gadgets.

Halloween doesn't scare Melanie Brzozowski into a fit of random decorating. She treats the holiday with the approach she takes to other seasonal events. Two weeks ago, Brzozowski switched out the blue seascape decor from the warmer summer months in favor of a little black magic perfect for October's spooky vibe. "It's not so much about the gore. It's embracing a great holiday," said Brzozowski, the event design consultant for Chef's Expressions. "I am like a mad scientist with my Halloween entertaining: I add a cup of funky, a spoonful of elegance and a pinch of sparkle — always have to have sparkle — to get the proper balance with my decor, events and menus.

Next week, look for a completely redesigned Taste section with new features joining old favorites. Among the changes you'll find are a weekly ask-the-chef column, monthly cooking lessons, expanded wine coverage and advice on what to do with seasonal produce in the stores. The new section will also give readers the opportunity to share some of their favorite cooking tips. So if you know of a culinary short-cut, a new use for a familiar gadget or the secret to a great dish, we'd like to hear about it. Write to Liz Atwood, food editor, The Sun, 501 N. Calvert St., Baltimore, MD 21278, or e-mail food@baltsun.

He was such an unlikely impresario, that hunched Nixonian figure with the charisma of an undertaker and no discernible showbiz talent of his own. How odd that Ed Sullivan stood at the very center of American pop culture for 23 years. How odder still that so many of us still miss him more than two decades after he went off the air, still wish we could tune in to CBS Sundays at 8 and hear his awkward promise of a "rilly big shew."The thing was, Ed Sullivan often delivered just that, as John Leonard reminds us in an excerpt from his new book in American Heritage magazine.

ENJOYING THE fruits of Carroll County's finest restaurants could also help support those suffering the effects of sexual abuse or assault. Rape Crisis Intervention Service of Carroll County -- an organization providing counseling, support and other services to victims of rape and sexual abuse -- is sponsoring its first "Taste of Carroll County" from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday at Wilhelm Ltd. Caterers, Route 140 in Westminster. The event, two years in the planning, will feature about 25 local restaurants preparing their famous and favorite dishes.

LET ME BEGIN by saying that I bow to no man in my reverence for Oreos, which are the finest cookies ever made and which rank up there with the cotton gin, the light bulb and polio vaccine in terms of their impact on this country.For the record, I've been happily eating Oreos since the Cuban Missile Crisis.And, as a long-time fan, I've naturally perfected the essential technique for maximum enjoyment: dunk Oreo in milk, break in half, scrape the creamy white filling off with teeth, eat chocolate cookie, dunk other cookie (optional)

Youngsters (above) converged on the East Columbia branch of the Howard County Library Wednesday to record their ice cream preferences. Twenty kids taste-tested six brands of vanilla ice cream and recorded their impressions. Haagen-Dazs took first place, fol lowed by Turkey Hill. After thoroughly coating her bowl of ice cream with candy sprinkles, a smiling Kel ley Meehan, 10 (left), hands over the sweets to a fel low confection researcher.