Peas

The battle of the soil is about to begin. The gardening partner is itching to get out his spade and turn over the vegetable garden; I'm cautioning him that it's too soggy and too soon. You've heard this before, either from me or in your own house. "Those peas," the partner says, "should be in the ground by St. Patrick's Day. " For years, we've turned over our hillside vegetable garden in the fall, then sowed winter rye as a cover to hold the soil from eroding and to provide green manure to turn into the ground the following spring.

If Hillary Rodham Clinton has her way, peas - not broccoli - will be the anti-veggie of the Clinton administration. During taping yesterday of a segment for TV's Sesame Street - to air Nov. 22 - the script called for her to urge Big Bird and Rosita to "eat your broccoli, string beans and green peas. " But between takes, Clinton suggested that the director substitute apples for green peas. "You could go . . . 'broccoli, string beans and apples' because hardly anybody likes peas," she said.

Spring and summer is the season for one of the sweetest, crunchiest peas around: The sugar snap pea. The pea growers in Idaho developed this cross between the green pea and the snow pea in 1978, so it hasn't been around that long. This is a totally edible veggie, folks - no strings attached here. They're so sweet the children will love eating them for snacks and they won't even realize they're getting a healthy doses of Vitamin C at the same time. At the market, select plump, small peas with an even green color.

Ever since many of us can remember, a common accompaniment for the meat at dinner has been peas and carrots. All too often this side dish was not particularly exciting. Usually it consisted of mushy carrot cubes and grayish-green peas. In the process of canning, their colors were muted and their texture became soft and tired. Frozen peas and carrots did not produce excellent results, either. However, peas and carrots can be a lively combination. My favorite formula is to combine fresh carrots with sugar snap peas.

AS I WAS WATCHING the news the other day, I saw two people being interviewed by reporters - Moammar Gadhafi and Charlie Sheen. After the interviews, I started thinking about these two characters, and I came to the conclusion that these two are cut from the same mold. They are both in denial about the truth going on around them. They need to put these two clowns in a hospital or crazy house. Gregory Betancourt Philadelphia

To their detractors, the Black Eyed Peas are a soulless hit machine, mechanically churning out chart-topping singles with subtext as shallow as a sideways CD. Their sold-out show at the Wachovia Center on Wednesday night seemed designed in part to answer their critics, not with a defense of their integrity but with a hearty "So what?" As the group's four vocalists emerged from a haze of green smoke, a robotic face on the screen behind them ran down a list of the show's components, as if it were an old PC booting up, step by step, and each Black Eyed Pea were just a subroutine within a giant computer program.

Yo, Chefs! My wife and I had what has to be the best-tasting black-eyed-pea soup ever made, at the Down Home Diner in the Reading Terminal Market. Please tell us how it's made. Richard Battle Philadelphia Dear Richard, The Down Home Diner was opened by chef/owner Jack McDavid 10 years ago. His menu is heavily influenced by his Virginia country background, modified by his classic chef training, including a stint at Le Bec-Fin. What's the secret to Jack's Black-Eyed Pea Soup?

Like many twins, Daniel and David Young were extremely close, and neighbors said that if they saw one, they would see the other. But, said neighbors, the Young family was really a threesome - the 8-year- old twins and their mother, Darcell. "They were real close - they did everything together," said Lula Moyer, who lives across the street from the Young family on Indiana Avenue near 20th Street in North Philadelphia. "She was the type who was really into her kids. " Neighbors said the twins' mother often took the children with her when she left the house, even if it was only for a short trip to the store.

For the BEP, there's BF and AF. That is, in the career of the Black Eyed Peas, there are two distinct stages: Before Fergie and After Fergie. Before singer Stacey Ferguson joined the will.i.am-led group, which headlines at the Wachovia Center on Wednesday on a bill that includes Atlanta rapper Ludacris, the Peas were a politically conscious alt-rap band with little commercial success. Then in 2003, Fergie came on board, lending her apple pipes to the international hit "Where Is the Love?"

Produce merchants who are peeved at Hillary Rodham Clinton's reported remarks about peas said Friday they had just the recipe for her. Merchants of the Hunts Point Fresh Produce Cooperative in the South Bronx are packing a 900-pound crate of peas and other vegetables, along with their favorite recipes for pea soup, to send to the White House in response to Clinton's alleged swipe at green peas during a taping of Sesame Street in New York City on...

12 ounces frozen tiny green peas (preferably organic) 24 ounces chicken broth 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter 6 sprigs fresh tarragon, leaves picked off, stems discarded 6 sprigs fresh chervil or Italian parsley, leaves picked off and stems discarded 5 ounces fresh spinach, washed and stems removed, chopped Salt and white pepper to taste   1. Place the frozen peas in a medium saucepan, and just cover...

1 pound snow peas, ends trimmed 1 tablespoon mild white miso paste 2 teaspoons tamari 2 teaspoons sesame oil 1 teaspoon rice wine vinegar 1/4 cup scallions, rough chopped 1 small garlic clove 1/4 cup water 1 teaspoon canola or peanut oil 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon black pepper 1. Lightly steam, boil, or water-sauté the snow peas until they turn bright green. Then drain the water. 2. Combine the rest of the ingredients in a food processor and process until smooth.

1 pound sugar snap peas 2 small cucumbers, unpeeled, thinly sliced (Persian if you can find them) 1 cup (about 1/2 pint ) cherry or grape tomatoes, halved 1/4 cup chopped fresh dill 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil Grated zest of 1 large lemon 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice (from one large lemon) 3/4 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 1 (14.75-ounce) can of boneless, skinless pink salmon, drained 1. Bring a large saucepan of salted water to a boil over high heat.

This is the season of shoots, sprouts, and all manner of greens and lettuces. Small clumps of asparagus are just poking up through the soil. Rhubarb leaves and tender stalks have also emerged. Many gardens and nearby farms have an abundance of hearty greens to herald spring. My true harbinger of spring? Peas. Since I've just planted peas outside, I won't be eating them from the garden until May. But what I am eating (and have been for weeks now) are pea shoots. These delicate-looking tendrils of young pea plants shout spring.

Vanessa Paradis , 39, on Tuesday was confronted with that most pressing question: Is she still Johnny Depp 's one and only? Or is the couple no more? The French model, singer, and thesp gave a reply that philosophers will still be deciphering centuries from now. "You know, when I eat three peas, I'm pregnant. When I visit a city, I'm buying a house," Paradis told French radio station Europe 1. "In the winter I separate, in the summer I marry. It's been 15 years since I've been getting married every year.

I love this classic version of pasta and peas. The prosciutto adds not only protein, but also a salty savor that rounds out the dish.   Pasta and Peas Makes 6 first course or 4 main course servings 4 tablespoons butter One 4-ounce slice prosciutto (1/4-inch thick) cut into 1/4-inch dice 1 small onion, chopped One 10-ounce package frozen peas (or 10 ounces fresh baby peas) 1 bunch parsley, finely chopped Pepper 1 pound dried pasta, such as spaghetti or linguine (or 1 1/2 pounds fresh)

THE UBIQUITOUS Black Eyed Peas have pulled out of Saturday's Michael Jackson tribute concert in Wales. Organizers say the band has withdrawn due to "unavoidable circumstances. " They got a feelin' . . . Christina Aguilera , Smokey Robinson , Gladys Knight , Leona Lewis and Cee Lo Green remain on the bill. * In other pseudo-MJ news, TMZ.com reports that Katherine Jackson , Michael's mom, has been lent money from his estate to pay her settlement of a 17-year-old lawsuit with South Korea's Segye Times newspaper.

Growing up, I firmly believed two things. First, I would one day be the starting power forward for the Philadelphia 76ers. Second, vegetables are bad. As I've gotten older, I've realized I lack both the height and the array of post moves to make it as an NBA starter. But the years have only affirmed my instincts about vegetables. The herbivore camp will point to the various health benefits of consuming leaves, stems, and roots. But these pale compared with the emotional, physical, and monetary costs.

An ancient vegetable is finding legions of new fans as cooks rediscover the joy of peas. Most of us grew up with frozen, canned, or dried split peas. Shelling peas by hand, it seemed, was just too much work. But the flavor of fresh peas rewards those who take on that time-consuming chore. And some peas need no shelling - they're eaten pod and all. An early-spring staple for millennia, peas are at their best, and sweetest, just plucked from the vine. Ask any gardener who grows peas; they often get munched before they reach the kitchen.

A proper red-eye gravy gets its bold richness in part from a dose of strong black coffee. Shawn Sollberger, chef and co-owner of the new Northern Liberties pub Gunners Run, combines his grandfather's technique for chicken-fried steak with his North Carolina neighbor's red-eye gravy recipe. Instead of adding ham to the gravy, as is the norm, Sollberger crumbles bacon into the oil he uses to pan-fry the top round steak. He deglazes the pan with coffee. It's served with sauteed spinach and black-eyed peas.