Yogurt

This fondue dinner became my family's favorite special-occasion menu because it's festive, delicious, extravagant and the easiest dinner party you'll ever throw. At times in my life, it has been used as a celebration feast with kids, the menu for a get-together with my sister, a romantic meal with expensive Champagne and an indulgent (and low-carb) dinner alone "because I'm worth it." Beef Fondue With Three Spicy Sauces Serves 2 -- Total time: 35 minutes HORSERADISH SAUCE: 1/2 cup plain yogurt 3 tablespoons prepared horseradish juice of 1/2 lime 2 green onions, chopped 1/2 teaspoon salt freshly ground pepper to taste CHILI CREAM SAUCE: 1/2 cup sour cream 1 tablespoon hot chile paste HOT MUSTARD SAUCE: 1/2 cup plain yogurt 3 teaspoons dry mustard 1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill BEEF: 2 to 3 cups peanut or canola oil 1/2 pound beef tenderloin, cut into 1-inch pieces For each sauce, combine the ingredients in a serving bowl.

Sixteen-year-old Serena Fasano, a junior at Glenelg High School, has been awarded a patent for a protein that she discovered - one that may someday help fight one of the world's deadliest diseases. "It's phenomenal," said Kendall Morton, the science team leader at Glenelg. "I'm very happy for her." Fasano will get to name the protein, she said, but she is not allowed to call it Serena, or to name it after her friends, as some have half-seriously requested. Instead, it will need a scientific name indicating it is a probiotic - a good protein.

ROZALANG, AFGHANISTAN -- It doesn't take much to make a difference in this primitive village: a sewing machine, a carpet loom, some seeds, a little fertilizer, improvement of a narrow donkey path so a vehicle can travel on it. In Rozalang, nestled on a hillside in the foothills of the Sefid Kuh mountain range, where the snow-capped mountains loom over the river valleys like impregnable walls, they can make the difference between survival and failure....

Is it an accident that near the Convention Center one can order a buttery filet mignon as easily as hailing a cab? Hardly. Conventions - vacations with expense accounts - are all about decadent entrees, bottomless drinks and saying "pass the eclairs." Unless, of course, the convention consists of 800 experts in cancer prevention, people who have dedicated their careers to sapping the fun from Alfredo sauce and french fries as they solemnly extol the virtues of cabbage, broccoli and other puritan edibles.

I take six Tylenol Arthritis Pain pills every day. They contain 650 mg each of acetaminophen. I read recently that acetaminophen can increase blood pressure. Should I worry? You are taking the maximum allowable daily dose of acetaminophen (3,900 mg daily). Recent research has shown that rou tine use of as little as 500 mg of this pain reliever daily may elevate the risk of developing high blood pressure for some women. The Nurses' Health Study has been following thousands of women for decades.

ORGA N I C O P T I O N S All organic food is not created equal. A new book, A Field Guide to Buying Organic by Luddene Perry and Dan Schultz (Bantam, 2005, $14), which is due out next week, answers questions about when you should buy organic and when you should skip it. Among the tips the authors give: Look for the U.S. Department of Agriculture organic seal on all fruit and vegetables. Avoid organic cold cereal products made with evaporated cane juice. Seek out organic oils that are high in omega-3 fatty acids and packed in opaque bottles; avoid solventextracted oils.

I would like to point out a side effect of allergy medications that contain pseudoephedrine for nasal decongestion. Taking Claritin D left me completely unable to fall asleep. I was literally up all night with a racing heartbeat. I was so sleep-deprived that I couldn't work. I finally read the warning about nervousness, dizziness or sleeplessness. I called my doctor, who said I should switch to plain Claritin (without a decongestant). On this drug, I sleep like a baby. I urge anyone with insomnia to check all medications for pseudoephedrine.

Anne Byrn, the woman who told us it is perfectly acceptable to bake using a cake mix, has a new book that extends that lesson to the latest baking fad - cupcakes. Cupcakes! From the Cake Mix Doctor (Workman Publishing Co., 2005, $13.95) contains 135 recipes for cupcakes and muffins, plus tips for how to decorate and display the little creations. Byrn points out that cupcakes have become oh so chic, selling in upscale boutiques in New York and Los Angeles for $5 apiece. Yet cupcakes are still the staple of school bake sales and children's birthday parties, and they are still one of the easiest desserts to make, especially with the help of cake mixes.

OF ALL THE PIG parts that are cookable, the loin gives me the most trouble. It is too skinny. I like my pig big, flavorful and fatty. Gimme a pork shoulder or a rack of real spareribs. You rub some spices on these marbled hunks, you sweat 'em over a low fire and the results are worth waiting for. Yet modern pigs and their loins, cuts that come from the upper middle sections of their bodies, are exceptionally lean. As with so many skinny creatures, once you get beyond their svelteness, there is not much excitement.