Variety

Asian Court could be the Chinese restaurant we've all been looking for. There's something for everyone at this unpretentious Ellicott City restaurant. If you're seeking well-prepared classic Cantonese and Hunan dishes made with fresh ingredients and careful attention, you'll be consistently rewarded at Asian Court And if you're on the hunt for the kind of cuisine we like to call authentic, you'll find plenty at Asian Court to challenge you. In fact, Asian Court helpfully lists these offerings, in English, in a menu section called "Authentic Cuisine.

There's the 15-foot orange tree with its menacing 11/2-inch-long thorns, a bushy affair that sprouted from small seeds like those most of us just spit out. Nearby is a kiwi plant, its aggressive tendrils snaking vertically up a nearby tree. And then there's the ramrod-straight, 100-foot-tall sequoia that appears happily unaware that its natural home is in California. Welcome to the Ellicott City property of Donald Dunn, where the uncommon is commonplace and unusual species thrive in blissful ignorance of the fact that they're spectacular misfits beating long odds.

Julie Minch has 60 daffodils cooling their petals in her refrigerator — and her fingers crossed. Wouldn't you know it? The Maryland Daffodil Society, the oldest in the nation, is the host of the national show and convention next weekend, and a strangely warm winter means the flower's season has come and nearly gone. "It is a little scary," said Minch of Baltimore and the convention chair. "But the Mid-Atlantic is such a perfect place to grow daffodils — and we have them coming in from other pockets of the country — so we are still hoping to get 2,000 blooms.

Ravens coach John Harbaugh met the media this morning at the owners meetings in Palm Beach, Fla. I'll have a story up later today, but here are several of his comments: On bringing in competition for kicker Billy Cundiff: “Yeah, we'll probably bring the best group of players to camp that we can. If we can get a kicker that is capable of competing with Billy, we'll do it. Do you have to draft a guy? Is there a free agent? Is there a guy that will be on the street. That's kind of hard to determine.

Always-interesting Ravens safety Ed Reed touched on a variety of topics during a nearly 12-minute interview session with the media yesterday. Here are some of his thoughts on a variety of topics: On the team's three road losses to teams with combined records of 13-20: "That ain't got nothing to do with this week. Those games are behind us. We learned from those games the day after we played them. We played Tennessee, we made corrections on that Monday, and [the same] for Jacksonville and Seattle.

No LaMarr Woodley. No James Farrior. No James Harrison. Problem. Defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau, whose bag is full of tricks and treats, may have to pull many of them out this week. The meeting room for Steelers linebackers could move to a Red Cross tent. Such is the state of their injuries that coach Mike Tomlin talked Tuesday about the possibility of playing all kinds of different defenses Sunday to compensate. It's not a good time to be losing your best linebackers when the Baltimore Ravens come to Heinz Field for a rematch and perhaps the showdown that ultimately will determine the AFC North Division champion.

While rookie wide receiver Torrey Smith dominated most of the headlines with his five-catch, 152-yard, three-touchdown performance against the St. Louis Rams Sunday, a pair of his classmates also got their first taste of regular-season action. LaQuan Williams caught one pass for seven yards and filled in for the injured David Reed on kick returns, returning two kickoffs for a total of 60 yards. “I got one,” said Williams, an undrafted free agent from the University of Maryland who was targeted three times by quarterback Joe Flacco.

Animal Kingdom, the thoroughbred that won this year's Kentucky Derby, got a police escort to Pimlico for the Preakness. Wounded war veterans got escorts to Orioles games. Former Secretary of State Colin L. Powell got an escort to the Grand Prix. Police escorted the bus carrying Ravens players to M&T Bank Stadium and gave the same courtesy to the Pittsburgh Steelers. Police also got NFL commissioner Roger Goodell to Sunday's game on time, though two motorcycle officers crashed in Essex - an incident that drew attention to the practice and raised questions about whether the commissioner received special treatment.

If the Ravens' Chuck Pagano has proven anything heading into Thursday's preseason game against the Washington Redskins, it's that he's an unpredictable defensive coordinator. Only a few weeks ago Pagano cautioned fans not to read too much into the defense because he was going to play "vanilla" schemes to avoid showing too much in the preseason. He then unleashed safety blitzes at Philadelphia, and brought the nickel backs as well as linebackers against Kansas City. So, why did he decide to change the plan?

A broad swath of workers in the Baltimore region — including those landing jobs in the sector doing the most hiring these days — do not earn enough to afford a home or even to rent a two-bedroom apartment on their salaries alone. That's the conclusion of a study released today by the Center for Housing Policy. The Washington-based nonprofit reports each year on whether workers in common occupations that typically require no more than a bachelor's degree can find housing that doesn't take up a huge chunk of their income.