Ice

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.

2 cups sugar ? cup cocoa powder 3 tablespoons instant coffee granules 1 cup water Shaved chocolate, to garnish 1. In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, cocoa powder, instant coffee and water. Whisk until the sugar and instant coffee dissolve. Remove from the heat and strain the mixture through a fine mesh strainer. Allow to cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to use. 2. To use with shaved ice, stir the syrup then drizzle a bit over a cone or bowl of ice, then garnish with shaved chocolate.

The exotic dancer said she fell for a man named Ice, and now she's in the cooler charged as an accomplice in a murder that Ice allegedly committed. Ice has given the cops the slip. Wanda Alamo, 19, of Penn Street near Harrison, Frankford, told Homicide Detective Walter Hoffner that Ice (she doesn't know his real name) persuaded her to lure Vincente A. "Tony" Peralda, 26, of 15th Street near Wingohocking, to her apartment on Dec. 29, so he could rob him. Assistant District Attorney Arlene Fisk said that, when Peralda arrived, Ice bound and gagged him and stole the victim's money.

Jim Colembeski and his daugher Rebecca, 12, join up for some partner skating yesterday at the Blue Cross River Rink at Penn's Landing, during an outing for students at St. Peter's School on Lombard Street.

Gliding through their routine, above, Tracey Walker (left), 18, of Bethlehem, Pa., and Kelly Bowersox, 18, of Harrisburg, try out for parts in Walt Disney's Magic Kingdom on Ice, which is now appearing at the Spectrum. Open auditions were held yesterday before performance director Tami Martin, but none of the five who tried out were selected. At right, Colleen Moyer, 19, of Lansdale, gets a card and an invitation to try again next year from Martin.

Princess-for-the-day Brooklyn Ludwig, 9, of Fishtown, looked dazzling in sparkling silver eye shadow and powder-blue-swirled cheeks. She and her prince charming - father George Ludwig - glided around the ice at the "Royal Celebration" opening weekend at Blue Cross River Rink at Penn's Landing. Daughters and fathers were in abundance, taking advantage of the many princess perks. Little girls made tiaras and had their faces painted and dusted with glitter as they waited for the Zamboni machine to smooth the ice. The "Royal Celebration" theme included visits from skaters costumed as Disney princesses, including Ariel and Snow White.

Imagine the pressure of working at "Walt Disney's World on Ice. " Each year, you have to conceive and produce blockbuster family entertainment that meets ever-rising public expectations. This season, Disney comes through with a beautiful version of "Beauty and the Beast. " It features the original voices from the motion picture, including Angela Lansbury, Robbie Benson and Jerry Orbach, as well as marvelous skating and costumes. Mickey Mouse, Minnie, Goofy and friends appear at the beginning of the show to set the scene.

There is magic enough in Walt Disney's latest skating extravaganza for even the most savvy of youngsters. The special effects in Walt Disney's World on Ice - Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, which will start a two-week run at the Spectrum on Monday, are sophisticated; the props and costumes, bigger than life. And even though the skaters get disappointingly little show-off time, there are flashes of Olympic quality. Yet after all these years - after the Grimms' fairy tale of the gentle princess and the Disney animated classic that sprang from it, after technological advances that leave little to the imagination - the basic story of Snow White still captivates us. As Minnie Mouse says at the end of this latest production, "Oh, Mickey, that's such a romantic story.

Question: When is home-ice advantage a disadvantage? Answer: When the circus is in town, it's early June, and you're playing the New Jersey Devils. Let's explain. The combination of hot, humid weather and the weight of elephants and assorted other circus animals trampling over a protective sheeting that covered the rink, made the Spectrum ice squishy and bouncy Saturday night, and promises to leave it in like or worse condition for tonight's Game 2 of the Eastern Conference final series.

The prosecutor said the drug called "ice," a pure crystal form of methamphetamine, was invented by the Japanese during World War II and used by kamikaze pilots who savored its day-long "high. " Last year someone tried to smuggle about 13.2 pounds of ice, worth $3 million, into Philadelphia on a passenger train, but the shipment was discovered by a federal agent in Albuquerque, N.M. It was the first, and so far the only, seizure of methamphetamine ice in the continental United States, the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said.

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.

There's gold in them thar hills! And rubies, sapphires, platinum, and silver. Who could resist that siren call? Not Philly guy Americo DiSantis. "It was a chance to change my family's life," says the 31-year-old father of two, who works for AmeriDrill in Levittown. "How could you not do that?" Actually, a few reasons spring to mind. First of all, them thar weren't hills. They were rugged, forbidding mountains. In Greenland. With one of the most inhospitable and treacherous climates on the planet.

LISA VIOLA tweaked a basic buttercreme recipe to give it "a little something else. " She recommends this for beginning decorators because it is easy to manipulate and the consistency can be adjusted by adding water or confectioners' sugar. WHITE CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREME FROSTING 3 sticks salted butter, softened 2 tablespoons lukewarm milk or water 1 tablespoon vanilla One 12-ounce bag white chocolate morsels (2 1/2 cups), melted 4 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar Using a mixer with paddle attachment, beat butter, water and vanilla on medium speed until mixture is light, creamy and pale in color.

MATT MANDES is experiencing one of those go-figure springs. He played some shaky baseball when the weather was cold, then emerged as the ultimate hero on an early April day with outrageously warm temperatures. The 5-9, 175-pound Mandes, a junior and lefty swinger, serves Archbishop Wood High as the second baseman and leadoff hitter. His other sport - and he's the only diamond Viking who plays this - is ice hockey, and this past winter, skating at center, he finished second on the team in scoring.

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.

STAT WATCH: 14: Days until the NHL's trade deadline on April 3 at 3 o'clock. 18: Games remaining for the Flyers. 24: Points required over those final 18 games for the Flyers to have a realistic shot (34.8 percent) of qualifying for the playoffs. That means 11-5-2 or 10-4-4 to finish. 0: Times the Flyers have won three straight games this season. 30: Number of general managers who will be in the same room on Wednesday at the league's annual meeting. Let the trade speculation begin.

Warren B. Goodman, 91, of Bala Cynwyd, an ice skater who won championships in the 1930s, died Thursday, March 14, of a heart attack while visiting his daughter in Los Angeles. Born in Philadelphia, Mr. Goodman started skating at age 11 with skates he found in an attic. With the exception of two lessons from a professional, he was self-taught. In 1937, while attending West Philadelphia High School, he won the Middle Atlantic States Men's Junior Championships; in 1938, he won the Philadelphia District Men's Junior Championship; in 1939, he won the Men's Senior title at the Middle Atlantic Championships; and in 1940, he competed at the U.S. Championships in Cleveland, where he placed fourth in the Men's Senior Division.

As out of sync as the Flyers appeared when Pittsburgh pounded them with four unanswered goals on Thursday, they were similarly disorganized at practice on Friday. At one end of the ice, Scott Hartnell was banging, slashing and whacking in an attempt to jolt his teammates - since the only thing they hit over the final 40 minutes on Thursday was the snooze bar. Hartnell was one of the last players off the ice, skating nearly an hour when his teammates capped their ice time at 25 minutes.

In Business Keep the champange on ice. Mike Armstrong isn't celebrating. A11.  

TAKE A LOOK at the scoresheet from the Flyers' 5-3 win over Winnipeg on Saturday and one thing stands out. It wasn't Jake Voracek's three assists. Or Claude Giroux' 33 faceoffs. Or Brayden Schenn's three points. It wasn't even Zac Rinaldo's game-high 12 hits, 11 of which he was credited for in the first two periods. But how about Rinaldo's ice time? He skated a career-high 14:08, and punched in an empty-netter with 1 second remaining in regulation to ice - a pure hustle play that started with sound defense and ended in exultation.