Pineapple

The tangy-tart taste of pineapple can really "juice up" mild-tasting main courses like fish, chicken and veal. All are low in saturated fat - good news for both calorie-counters and cholesterol-watchers. Today most pineapple products are available with no sugar added. The calorie savings can be significant. For example, one cup of crushed pineapple can be as little as 130 calories. But packed in syrup, the calorie count zooms to nearly 200 - or more, if it's extra-heavy syrup. The following recipes have a tropical flavor, just right for this time of year: POLYNESIAN FISH KEBAB 1 pound firm-fleshed fish steaks (salmon, swordfish, etc.)

Foggy Bottom has tried everything else to dislodge Panama's strongman Manuel Antonio Noriega - threats, bluster, economic warfare. So why not a little sugar? The word out of Washington last week was that the State Department was plea-bargaining with the man they call "the Pineapple," promising that the drug charges that are the purported reason he ought to go would be, well, forgotten about. This, of course, got the Department of Justice in an uproar, up to and including the chief drug-warrior himself, Edwin Meese 3d. And it was something of a softball across the plate for other critics, including the two remaining Democratic presidential candidates.

When the Spanish explorers landed in northern South America, they discovered a strange and wonderful fruit they named a pineapple. Pineapples are available to us year-round, but their supplies peak March through June, so you'll be seeing a lot of them in local stores at pretty good prices. Unlike pears and peaches, pineapples do not ripen after they're harvested. The pineapple you see on your grocer's shelf will never be any sweeter than when it's picked. So the key to a great-tasting pineapple is that it should be harvested at the right moment.

Pineapple adds natural sweetness and savor to spicy foods; its unique flavor is especially welcome in dishes from the cuisines where the pineapple grows. Pineapple adds something else to meat and poultry: tenderness! Fresh raw pineapple - and pineapple juice - contain an enzyme that helps break down the fibers of meat that might otherwise be tough: ultra lean beef, for example. This enzyme survives only so long as the pineapple is not cooked, canned or heat-treated, so pay special attention to making sure you use the ingredient called for in these recipes . . . don't substitute canned!

We didn't set out to make it a tradition or anything. It just happens that every spring about this time, I go to stay for a few days with my friend Ann- Marie, she of the passion for all things chocolate, she for whom a house gift involving any other comestible, never mind something you can't even eat, is more or less unthinkable. Theoretically, this should make selection easy, but there are difficulties when one is dealing with a known connoisseur. Through her mother, an indulgent woman if ever there was one, she has a steady pipeline to deluxe homemade chocolate candies.

The true Latin name of the pineapple is Ananas comosus, but pineapplea elusiva might be a better moniker in the continental United States, where examples that live up to expectations are rare. Because they do not continue to develop sugars after they are cut, only pineapples that are picked fully ripe have the rich fragrance and abundant sweetness that led to their original South American Guarani name nana, "excellent fruit. " A fully ripe pineapple is tender and easily bruised.

When I was growing up, I rarely saw pineapple except in an upside-down cake. In the center of each perfectly round ring was a maraschino cherry, fresh from a bottle, colored as brightly as a stoplight. In that era, people would have thought you a raving loony if you had suggested that pineapple might combine with meat. Except, of course, for Easter, when the Easter ham was dutifully decorated with the same round rings and dyed-red cherryoid products (borrowed from the bar where they normally graced "Manhattans;" but that's another story!

Could be that all the sugar has gone to confectioners' heads. First, M&M's declares itself the official candy of the millennium, as if other candies could quibble. Now, Life Savers has turned pineapple upside down, for the sophisticated reasoning that the fruit is "not Y2K-compliant. " This may make for one seriously bitter fruit. Nabisco, which makes Life Savers, plans to bounce pineapple from its five-flavor roll (orange, pineapple, cherry, lemon and lime) at year's end and bring in strawberry or watermelon, unless consumers vote otherwise.

Dear Polly: My Pointer is for new mothers. At the birth of your baby, purchase a scrapbook-type album. Don't get one with plastic pages because you will want to write in it and all pictures and items will not be the same size. On the first page, write a letter to your baby telling him or her of your love for him and that this is your own personal gift of love to be given to him at high school graduation, at age 21 or college graduation - whenever you prefer. Be sure to date your letter.

To date, the only trade between the Port of Philadelphia and the Port of Conakry in the West African Republic of Guinea has been a small amount of cocoa beans. But a coalition of public and private organizations hopes to change that. "We see the potential of importing fruit and produce from Guinea that would not compete with U.S.-grown products or with the port of Philadelphia existing contracts with Chile," said Philadelphia Deputy Mayor Ron Cuie. "Guinea produces the best pineapple in the world," he said.

Breathe in the heavy fragrance. Listen to the crash of the Pacific surf. Close your eyes and imagine you're in Hawaii. But the extravaganza of orchids and heliconia that will dazzle you at the Philadelphia International Flower Show beginning Sunday has little to do with the native Hawaiian landscape. "It's not really Hawaii plants," says Warren Wagner, the Smithsonian Institution's chair of Pacific botany. "What you'll see at the Flower Show is what the typical tourist to Hawaii sees - nearly 100 percent nonnative species.

With the tease of spring in the air, a man roared down 63d Street on a quad runner, his shirt ballooning in the wind as he did a wheelie. On the block, a young couple sat nestled on front steps, and the line outside of Morrone's Water Ice grew and grew. The store, at the corner of 63d and Race, the first in a long line of rowhouses, has been a staple in West Philadelphia since 1925. Generations of loyalists have come from near and far to stand at the window, and they were there Friday, the warmest day of the year with temperatures above 70 degrees.

In a Labor Day demonstration, Philadelphia union dock workers dumped cases of Del Monte pineapples into the Delaware River today to protest Del Monte's decision to switch its banana shipping business to a different port. The International Longshoremen's Association Local 1291 will lose 200 to 300 jobs - 400,000 labor hours a year - when Del Monte Fresh Produce Co. shifts 75 ships and a half million tons of banana cargo from Camden to the privately-owned Gloucester Terminals L.L.C.

I just went on a girls' night out, or a GNO, and it got me thinking. How did that term, and even its acronym, enter the vernacular? Why do we specify when it's a girls' night out, as opposed to a boys' night out? And is it because a boys' night out is the norm, so we need to specify when it's a girls' night out, which is, what, bizarre? We all got dressed up for each other and even took pictures. Again, I doubt that guys dress up for a boys' night out, and they leave the flip cameras at home.

It's easy to see why salsa is one of America's favorite condiments. Its fresh, crisp, tangy flavor adds a refreshing touch to a meal without a lot of sugar or fat. This bright pineapple salsa brings out the flavors of grilled fresh fish, and aromatic cumin gives it a distinctive taste. The poblano peppers, called ancho peppers when dried, that give the rice dish its zing, are medium-hot.   Fish With Pineapple Salsa and Poblano Rice Makes two servings . 1. Combine the tomato, onion, poblano pepper, pineapple, cilantro, sugar, and cumin.

All those heirloom tomatoes are nice, but it's really the tacos al pastor that have me hooked on the Sunday farmer's market at Head House Square. We're so addicted to the food stand there run by South Philly's Los Taquitos de Puebla that the mere thought of their taco platter actually gets my sleepyhead family out of bed. The al pastor meat - layers of pork marinated in cuminy guajillo chile salsa, orange juice, and achiote - turns and sizzles like...

I TALKED to a director the other day who was a bit miffed that I referred to his movie as being under "the Apatow umbrella. " No offense intended. I was merely noting that as a producer, Judd Apatow has a knack for assembling diverse talent in a way that generates comedies of a consistent tone, and there's no better example of this than the pothead laugher "Pineapple Express. " It's directed by David Gordon Green, an indie auteur noted for mannered, rural, often gothic dramas that are almost scrupulously humorless.

AT A CERTAIN age, you should be receptive to the value of preventive medicine. I'm at that age. About 10 years ago, I had a physical that included a colonoscopy, even though I'm naturally against body invasions, since I believe, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it. " But with family "encouragement," I did it. It was comforting to learn that everything was fine. But it's been a decade. My son the urologist recently reminded me it was time to have another look. I wasn't enthusiastic.

You may already be a barbecue "sauce-iopath" or a competition-class smoke-pit purist. Or maybe you're just a backyard kettle-grill amateur. But everyone, and I mean everyone, can use a splash of tangy love from time to time. Because there is no char-marked sin a good sauce can't cure, no triumphant beer-can chicken that can't fly higher with a brush of the perfect fiery glaze. But how to choose? There are literally hundreds (maybe thousands) of sauces out there, and the variations seem endless, from international flourishes (Hawaiian, Mexican, Asian)

A sociologist, or better yet a cultural historian, would do well to study the dining scene at the Basil Bistro & Bar, a please-everyone restaurant that opened five years ago in Paoli. Along with its sister restaurants - Tango in Bryn Mawr and Nectar in Berwyn - Basil has a no-nonsense name, but it is surprisingly diverse in its appeal. It has a spacious bar and a straightforward menu that seems designed not to talk down to patrons, although it does include wine recommendations.