Vanilla

Before he bought Big Vanilla Athletic Club - and long before he sought to double the Arnold business' size - owner Larry Ray was a pin jockey there, repositioning the pins that hold weights on the exercise machines, creating training programs for members and running the front desk. That was in the late 1970s, shortly after the fitness center and tennis club opened off Ritchie Highway. Now Ray runs the place, with plans for a $4 million, 46,000-square-foot expansion that he hopes will transform Big Vanilla from a popular Annapolis-area health club into a community center of sorts.

A New York company that makes vanilla rugelach sold in Maryland stores is recalling the product because it contains undeclared eggs, which may cause a life-threatening illness if consumed by anyone with an allergy or severe sensitivity to eggs. Bloch's Best Inc., doing business as Laromme of Monsey, N.Y., is pulling its Laromme brand vanilla rugelach because the 14-oz. round containers do not list eggs among the ingredients. The product was distributed in stores in Massachusetts, Maryland and New Jersey, according to the release posted on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration website.

An investment in expensive vanilla beans soured profits at McCormick & Co. Inc. for the second quarter in a row, executives said yesterday. Profit fell 5.4 percent to $36 million, or 26 cents per share, in the three months that ended Feb. 28, compared with $38.1 million, or 27 cents per share, in the fiscal first quarter last year. A consensus of analysts surveyed by Thompson Financial had forecast earnings per share of 29 cents. Sales rose 5 percent to $603.6 million, from $572.4 million in the quarter last year.

This blend of malbec, syrah and the little-known red wine grape bonarda has yielded a smooth, ready-to-drink but complex and full-bodied wine with a lot of character. It offers rich blackberry fruit with notes of herbs, Asian spices, vanilla and a touch of pine. It's a great value in this price range. From: Mendoza, Argentina Price: $11 Serve with: Grilled meat, pasta in red sauce

Turn some baby-food prunes into a delicious prune cake. Gloria Hube of Riviera Beach asked for a recipe, and chef Gilles Syglowski chose the one sent in by Sandy Nank of McHenry, Ill., who wrote that Prune Cake had been her family's favorite for years. But he preferred the icing for this cake that was sent in by Karen Stephen of Owensboro, Ky.Nank's Prune Cake2 cups flour1 1/2 cups sugar1 cup Wesson oil4 eggs1/2 cup buttermilk1 teaspoon baking soda1 teaspoon salt1 teaspoon cinnamon1 teaspoon allspice1 teaspoon nutmeg1 teaspoon vanilla1 jar junior baby-food prunes1 cup pecans, choppedPut flour, sugar, oil, eggs, buttermilk, soda, salt, cinnamon, allspice and nutmeg in a bowl and mix well.

From: Central Coast, Calif. Price: $15 Serve with: Salmon, poultry This well-made chardonnay is widely distributed, fairly priced and avoids all the pitfalls California chardonnay so often falls into. It's crisp, clean and has good, bracing acidity - a sign of its cool-climate origins. There's a touch of vanilla from the oak, but it isn't over the top. It offers bold, assertive fruit with hints of pear, baked apple, lemon and spices. Chardonnay is far from my favorite white varietal, but sometimes you come cross one that hits just the right note.

Ice cream bars messy but marvelous Item: Nestle Tandem ice cream bars What you get: 4 bars Cost: About $3.75 Preparation time: Serve right out of freezer Review: For some people, especially children, ice cream never goes out of season. Nestle's newest frozen treats can definitely be enjoyed no matter what the weather. The Tandem bars are, as the name suggests, two flavors in one. We tried the vanilla-chip sandwiches -- one part chocolate chip ice cream between two chocolate wafers, the other vanilla ice cream coated with Nestle chocolate and cookie bits.

THIS YUMMY DESSERT is an invention of Hershey Foods Corp. It combines cherries, chocolate and almonds for maximum flavor.Cherry Vanilla Brownies1/2 cup chopped maraschino cherries, well drained1/3 cup butter, softened3/4 cup sugar2 eggs2 tablespoons light corn syrup1 tablespoon kirsch liqueur2/3 cup all-purpose flour1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa1/4 teaspoon baking powder1/3 cup chopped slivered almonds1 cup vanilla-milk-flavored chipsVanilla drizzle, recipe followsHeat...

Souverain continues to offer consistently fine value with this rare example of a moderately priced California chardonnay with character. It beautifully integrates flavors of apple, spices and vanilla with toasty oak that doesn't get out of hand.

My friend posted a link to this recipe for a skillet cookie the other day, and I could not stop thinking about it. I'd never even heard of such a thing, but today I just had to try it. The blog Sophistimom posted this originally, and I love the post. She recommends using high-quality ingredients because: "You wouldn't want to use crappy flour, or crappy margarine or fake vanilla. That would lessen the flavor, lessen the experience, and still make you fat. " Ha! And point taken.