Brown Sugar

Although a frequent flaw in many of the musical productions presented at the Claridge Hotel & Casino during the last couple of years has been careless casting of the star roles, producer Maynard Sloate found the right man for the job with his latest shore show, Bubbling Brown Sugar. Billy Daniels is not only the right man for this mission, he is perfect. Bubbling Brown Sugar wasn't written with Daniels in mind, but it could have been. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1976, and Daniels stepped into the role of John Sage two years later for a highly successful London production.

The revival of Bubbling Brown Sugar that opened last night at the Walnut Street Theater has the lightly purposeful manner of a show that has done it before and knows exactly how to do it again, maybe a little better. It has been 11 years since audiences at the same theater saw the the first edition of this golden-oldies revue of black pop music. The cast has changed, and the staging has become more sophisticated even if the remnants of the book are still an embarrassment. The great popular success of the musical (two years on Broadway, a year in London)

Even now when its star should shine brightest, winter squash tends to be a victim of culinary abuse. Here it is, available everywhere in prime condition: inexpensive, flavorful, easy to prepare. It's low in calories and high in healthfulness, loaded with fiber and beta-carotene, the Vitamin A precursor that is currently much in the news for its beneficial qualities. But what happens to this monument of nutritional correctness as soon as it hits the kitchen? Butter and brown sugar!

The 75-year-old woman behind the musical Bubbling Brown Sugar looks as though she would be more at home in a church than in the nightclubs of 1920s Harlem glorified in the musical, now at the Walnut Street Theater. But actress Rosetta LeNoire knew the nightlife of Harlem well. As a child, she recalled in a recent interview, "we lived at 137th Street and Seventh Avenue, facing the Renaissance Theater. " She pointed to a picture on the wall of her office at the Manhattan-based AMAS Repertory Theater, which she founded 17 years ago. "My godfather, Uncle Bo - there he is over there - there is no place he wouldn't take me. " No ordinary uncle, Uncle Bo was Bill Robinson, the legendary "Bojangles," perhaps the most famous tap-dancer of the century.

Three years after Joni Mitchell apparently dissed him in the song "Not to Blame," Jackson Browne is extracting his revenge by branding Mitchell "very embittered" for not getting her due as a musical innovator and a "violent" woman who physically attacked him twice. "She's not really well," says Browne in a Dallas Morning News interview. ". . . She has had deep fallings-out with many people in her life. . . . She's not a happy person, and what she said in that song is absolutely, 100 percent wrong.

What do you do when you are hankering for blueberry muffins, but don't have a muffin pan handy? Or maybe you just don't feel like cranking up the oven on a hot summer day. You cook them in a skillet, using the muffin batter as you would pancake batter. Why not just make blueberry pancakes? Though recipes will vary, most pancake and muffin recipes call for equal amounts of flour and eggs. But while pancakes call for more liquid, muffins get more (often way more) sugar, fat, and baking powder.

The way to a woman's heart is through her stomach, as Adam Bonin figured. While wooing writer Jennifer Weiner a decade ago, Bonin decided he would learn to cook, a decision prompted by a trip to the Williams-Sonoma store at the Bellevue, where he picked up The Best Recipe , a volume in the Cook's Illustrated series. "This is a book on cooking written for someone like me," says Bonin, a lawyer. "It explained the science and the technique, and why certain things work. " And besides, cooking "is a form of self-expression.

Dear Polly: Several years ago, we discovered that if you buy day-old bread (especially whole wheat), freeze it and then thaw it, it tastes like fresh- baked. Doing the same to fresh-baked white bread makes it taste almost like cake! - J.M.K. Dear Polly: When cooking cauliflower, add a little milk (about 1 teaspoonful). It helps to keep the cauliflower white. My toilet gets brownish stains because I have hard water. I flush the toilet, then before the water comes back, I use a steel wool soap pad to scrub the stain away.

HERE ARE SOME recipes using Asian pears from Subarashii Kudamono. ASIAN PEAR GINGER CAKE 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 cup sliced, fresh Asian pears (Yoinashi if available) 1 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground ginger 8 tablespoons butter, softened 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup grated fresh Asian pears (AsaJu, if available)

For most people, the Christmas ham conjures images of a clove-studded spiral of pink and smoky-sweet meat. But in our cure-your-own era of nose-to-tail charcuterie, those who have tackled the project of a "fresh" ham - one that's not been cured, cooked, or smoked - know the holiday centerpiece can be something altogether different. Think more of a traditional roast pork writ large, a majestic 20-pound joint of pig with a band of skin wrapped around its shanks - still scored like a crackly pinecone, but with meat inside that's white and savory with juice.

"THEY SAY we are all a paycheck away from being homeless, and I had that week when the paycheck didn't come," said February's Top Cook, Andrew Rothstein. That was seven years ago, when he lost his job and his home. Through his own research, Rothstein, 63, found a small house in Sicklerville, N.J., where he now enjoys his kitchen and finds cooking is a way not only to get away from problems, but also to help solve them. "I find you can save a lot of money by price comparison and using coupons," he said.

Makes 4 servings 2 tablespoons unsalted    butter, plus more    for greasing the    ramekins 2 medium cooking    apples, peeled,             cored, and diced 1 teaspoon pure vanilla    extract 2 teaspoons freshly    squeezed lemon    juice 3 tablespoons light    brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon ground ...

For most people, the Christmas ham conjures images of a clove-studded spiral of pink and smoky-sweet meat. But in our cure-your-own era of nose-to-tail charcuterie, those who have tackled the project of a "fresh" ham - one that's not been cured, cooked, or smoked - know the holiday centerpiece can be something altogether different. Think more of a traditional roast pork writ large, a majestic 20-pound joint of pig with a band of skin wrapped around its shanks - still scored like a crackly pinecone, but with meat inside that's white and savory with juice.

HERE ARE SOME recipes using Asian pears from Subarashii Kudamono. ASIAN PEAR GINGER CAKE 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 cup sliced, fresh Asian pears (Yoinashi if available) 1 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves 1 teaspoon ground ginger 8 tablespoons butter, softened 3/4 cup sugar 2 eggs 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/2 cup milk 1/2 cup grated fresh Asian pears (AsaJu, if available)

THEY SAY that good cooks are born one of two of ways: They either had a great role model growing up or they learned out of self-defense. Chris Jelepis of South Philly is one of the former. "My mom was a wonderful traditional cook," Jelepis said. "She came from a Polish background, but when she married my dad she became the best Polish-Greek cook. " Jelepis now cooks for his wife, 8-month-old son, and 3-year-old daughter, a super-picky eater. Cooking is a family affair in their kitchen.

What do you do when you are hankering for blueberry muffins, but don't have a muffin pan handy? Or maybe you just don't feel like cranking up the oven on a hot summer day. You cook them in a skillet, using the muffin batter as you would pancake batter. Why not just make blueberry pancakes? Though recipes will vary, most pancake and muffin recipes call for equal amounts of flour and eggs. But while pancakes call for more liquid, muffins get more (often way more) sugar, fat, and baking powder.

Children and teens get too much added sugar in their diets, according to a report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly one in every six calories they eat and drink comes from some type of added sugar. That isn't exactly surprising, but the statistics underscore the magnitude of the problem. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey of U.S. children and teens ages 2 to 19 found that: Boys consumed an average of 361 calories' worth of added sugar a day. For girls, the daily average was 282. Though the total amount of added sugar in the diet was higher for boys than for girls, the proportion of total calories from added sugar was similar - 16.3 percent for boys and 15.5 percent for girls.

An excerpt from the blog "My Daughter's Kitchen. " So the plan for my daughter's Super Bowl viewing party was the white chili featured last week. But here is the joy of roommates and male friends: There is no such thing as making something in advance. And no such thing as leftovers. The chili was consumed within minutes - housed was actually the verb my daughter used - the night it was made. Thus the need for another game-day recipe, something easy that would feed a group.

Phil Schmidt used to buy his penny candy at the local Hunt's Kaiser Store in Collegeville. Decades later, he owns it, but it's Phamous Phil's BBQ & Grille now. Pay particular attention to the Sloppy Phil sandwich ($7.99), a variation of the sloppy Joe that blends chopped pieces of his ribs (from Leidy's in Harleysville), onion, green pepper, brown sugar, and seasonings on a sturdy kaiser roll from Norristown's Corropolese Bakery. And to the Western Beef sandwiches ($7.99)

The way to a woman's heart is through her stomach, as Adam Bonin figured. While wooing writer Jennifer Weiner a decade ago, Bonin decided he would learn to cook, a decision prompted by a trip to the Williams-Sonoma store at the Bellevue, where he picked up The Best Recipe , a volume in the Cook's Illustrated series. "This is a book on cooking written for someone like me," says Bonin, a lawyer. "It explained the science and the technique, and why certain things work. " And besides, cooking "is a form of self-expression.