Cream

THE RESTAURANTS and merchants of Rittenhouse Row are gathering again on Walnut Street this Saturday, and that means about 50,000 area residents and guests will be joining them for one of Center City's largest street fairs. The Rittenhouse Row Spring Festival will close Walnut from Broad to 19th streets (from noon until 5 p.m.) and feature food, fashion, entertainment and fun for children. It's big. It's crowded. It's fun. And this year there's a lot of new stuff. * Dunkin' Donuts will be giving out free iced coffee on the 1400 block of Walnut.

Makes 4 servings 4 tablespoons butter,    softened 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup poached chicken    or lobster chunks,    small peeled raw    shrimp, cooked    spinach, or a few    slices of black truffle Salt and pepper 4 eggs Ground nutmeg Small handful chopped    chives, tarragon,    parsley, or other    tender herbs 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees....

Buckets of berries and carloads of cats couldn't have lapped up all the cream that was spilled on York Road and Route 202 in Bucks County early yesterday. Police estimated that at least 225 gallons of the slippery liquid leaked from the back of a Lehigh Valley Dairies tractor-trailer as it made its way from Warwick to New Hope and then into New Jersey. The tractor-trailer, which began its trek in Fort Washington, was headed for the Johanna Farms dairy in Flemington, N.J., carrying 1,350 gallons of heavy whipping cream.

Some of the most interesting recipes call for heavy cream. But at 838 calories a cupful, cream is sure to be on every waistline-watcher's forbidden list! What can you substitute that's light in calories but rich in buttery flavor and creamy texture? Low-fat, part-skim fresh ricotta cheese provides the perfect answer. More familiar as an ingredient in Italian main courses such as lasagna, this fresh cheese has a sweet cream flavor rather than a piquant cheesy taste. When you spoon it from the container, its texture is somewhat coarse and grainy, but a wonderful thing happens when you whip ricotta in the food processor or blender.

The 1960s came alive again at Tuesday's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame eighth annual gala in L.A., where Eric Clapton headed the first performance in almost 25 years of inductee Cream while a last-minute flow of bitterness blocked a planned gig by inductee Creedence Clearwater Revival. Along the way, inductee Ruth Brown sang her 1953 hit, "Momma He Treats Your Daughter Mean" with Bonnie Raitt, and Pearl Jam's Eddie Vedder stood in for the late Jim Morrison as he and the three surviving members of the Doors did a three-number set that included "Light My Fire.

Dear Polly: I have a biscuit recipe that calls for heavy cream instead of milk, and no shortening. I love the biscuits, but don't always have cream on hand. What will happen if I make the biscuits with milk instead? - Beryl Dear Beryl: If you simply substitute milk for the heavy cream, the biscuits are likely to be tough and unappetizing. That's because cream provides both liquid and fat. It's a substitute for both milk and shortening in ordinary biscuit recipes. You can still make the biscuits with milk, but you must also add some butter or other fat to compensate for the fat content of the cream, which is what makes the biscuits tender and flaky.

Dear Polly: Could you repeat once more your recipe for whipped cream that holds up for more than a couple of hours? - Barbara Dear Barbara: A little gelatin stabilizes whipped cream so that it holds its shape for at least a day in the refrigerator. This is great for preparing desserts ahead of time. To make the cream, soften one teaspoon unflavored gelatin in 1 tablespoon cold water for five minutes. Heat over low heat or in a microwave oven until the gelatin melts. Add the melted gelatin to 1 cup whipping cream, whisking so the gelatin and cream are well combined.

Dear Polly: Can whipped cream be frozen? - Anne Whipped cream freezes quite successfully. You can freeze it in a plastic container, or try this for easy serving: Drop single-portion dollops of whipped cream onto a foil-covered baking sheet. Freeze, then peel the frozen dollops off the foil and store in a plastic freezer bag. When you want to top individual desserts with whipped cream, simply remove as many frozen dollops as needed, place them on the desserts and let sit for a few minutes to thaw the cream.

Any given Sunday! Three little words that strike fear into the heart of gamblers everywhere. Take last Sunday. Please, take last Sunday! The Cardinals beat the Super Bowl champion Saints; the wretched Raiders beat the Chargers; and the smoke-and-mirror Redskins came from behind to beat the Packers. All of them home underdogs. Is this the week the cream comes to the top? What if there is no cream in the NFL? Too many questions, not enough answers. Let's go with $20 on the Saints minus 5 1/2, the Jets minus 3 1/2, the Colts minus 3 1/2 and the Titans minus 3 1/2. Then $30 on a teaser: Chargers minus 4 1/2, Giants minus 4 1/2, Jets plus 2 1/2, Colts plus 2 1/2 and Titans plus 2 1/2. Risking $40 on a super-teaser: Chargers plus- 1/2, Saints plus 4 1/2, Giants minus 1 1/2, Steelers minus 3 1/2, Jets plus 6 1/2, Colts plus 6 1/2, Titans plus 6 1/2. Last week: wagered $90, lost $90. Bankroll: $620.

It always seems wrong for the head doctor in our country to be called "the surgeon general. " The present surgeon general isn't even a general in real life. Dr. C. Everett Koop has fooled many of his critics who didn't want him put in the job by being a surprisingly good and active surgeon general. It is Koop, more than any other person, who has pushed the country to stop smoking. This week Dr. Koop says that a lot of Americans are eating themselves into the grave with bad nutritional habits.

Makes 16 4-inch pancakes, 4-6 servings 1 cup sour cream 3 large eggs, separated 2 tablespoons melted    butter 7 tablespoons cake    flour 1 tablespoon sugar 1/2 teaspoon baking    soda 1/2 teaspoon salt Vegetable oil 1. Whisk the sour cream and egg yolks together in a medium mixing bowl. Whisk in the melted butter. Put the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt into a sieve and sift it into the sour cream mixture. Lightly whisk until just mixed (a few lumps won't hurt anything)

Makes 4 servings 4 tablespoons butter,    softened 3/4 cup heavy cream 1/2 cup poached chicken    or lobster chunks,    small peeled raw    shrimp, cooked    spinach, or a few    slices of black truffle Salt and pepper 4 eggs Ground nutmeg Small handful chopped    chives, tarragon,    parsley, or other    tender herbs 1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees....

MOST PEOPLE think of ice cream as a treat, something to be enjoyed once in a while. But Cedar Park resident Morgan Andrews readily admits that he indulges a bit more often. "I limit myself to once a day," Andrews reasoned. The culprit is Little Baby's Ice Cream, the handmade premium ice-cream company, which opened a new location on Catharine Street near 49th less than two weeks ago. The company features an assortment of wild and daring flavors - including pizza and chocolate teriyaki - but also offers vegan and nondairy options.

MARRIAGE is hard work. Those of us who are living it understand that. Those who aren't? Well, they're sort of like my 11-year-old daughter, Eve, whose idea of married bliss is played out on reality shows where the wedding is not the beginning, but the end. Unfortunately, no matter how many times David Tutera hosts "My Fair Wedding," and no matter how many women "Say Yes to the Dress," marriage isn't a fashion show. It's bigger than that. Marriage is what happens after you've maxed out your credit cards to get other people drunk at your reception, and you realize that the wedding gifts from your friends and relatives won't cover the bill.

Makes 4 servings 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 1 teaspoon caraway seeds 1 teaspoon mustard seeds Four 4-ounce portions    wild    king salmon,    skin-on 2 cups rendered chicken    fat (schmaltz),       melted For horseradish sour cream: 1 cup sour cream 2 tablespoons       prepared    horseradish Juice of 1/2 lemon Salt and pepper Chopped dill 1. Combine salt, pepper, caraway, and mustard.

John Reece hasn't figured out a way to deliver his latest ice cream creations directly through the Internet, so he relies on Facebook to give his customers a taste. "Beautiful day here in the Philly area," Reece wrote this fall on the page he has created for his Exton and West Chester shops. "Time to enjoy some Scooped Ice Cream. Our new flavors in stock: Pistachio, Mocha Toffee, Pumpkin Pie. " Through the computer screen, Reece has the ability to make customers feel as if they're enjoying a free waffle cone on the front stoop of Scooped, his homemade ice cream, gelato and sorbet business - even before they've left the house.

BANANA bread. Gumbo. Hot browns. Shellfish. Rice. Citrus. No, this isn't a rundown of a culinarily gifted fraternity's refrigerator contents. It's just a few of the ingredients and dishes that have inspired intra-staff cooking duels at Sbraga, where chef-sanctioned battles keep the minds as sharp as the knives. Kevin Sbraga, who opened at Broad and Pine in late 2011, knows about creating on the fly. He won season seven of Bravo's "Top Chef" by adapting to every bizarre challenge thrown his way, from developing a plate inspired by the phrase "bring home the bacon" to crafting a dish that could be eaten by astronauts in zero gravity (seriously)

Company description: "Smooth and creamy mint-flavored shake topped with whipped cream and a cherry. " Chain: McDonald's. Location: 942 Market St. Calories: 530 (in a 12-ounce serving), 11 grams protein, 15 grams fat, 86 grams carbs, 160 milligrams sodium. Order time: About a minute. Price: $2.37, including tax. Review: Three times we stood in line at the McDonald's in the Gallery, and three times we were told that the Shamrock Shake was unavailable because the machine they use to make it was broken.

Cod with Corn, Crab, Pineapple Salad . . . 3 Alice Waters' Minestrone Soup . . . 4 Health Loaf . . . 2 Sausage and Tomato Baked Eggs . . . 2 Salmon Terrine with Dill, Cream . . . 2

FOLLOWING in the creamy tradition of the "SNL" "Schweddy Balls," Stephen Colbert's "AmeriCone Dream" and Jimmy Fallon's "Late Night Snack," Ben & Jerry's will commemorate the end of "30 Rock" with a new ice-cream flavor, rumored to be tied to Tina Fey's character, Liz Lemon. Maybe "Liz Lemon Meringue"? Or might they go in another direction with: "Kenneth's Possum Crunch"? "Tracy Leches"? "Jack and the Vanilla Bean Stalk"? "Chocolate-Peanut Butter Toofer"? The flavor will be in Ben & Jerry's ice-cream shops next month and available in still-16-ounce pints soon thereafter.