Skewers

Why are high school boys who lose their virginity called studs and girls who do so called skanks? This question is brought to you by Easy A , a sassy satire of The Scarlet Letter that skewers such double standards. The film stars Emma Stone, the saucy redhead who always looks as if she has just swallowed a wisecrack. Here Stone ( Superbad , The House Bunny ) lets 'em rip in the high school comedy that will make her career - and you - laugh out loud. Bert V. Royal's screenplay structures the story as the live webcast confession of one Olive Penderghast (Stone)

YOU STAYED away from "The Bounty Hunter" based on its palpable odor of failed romantic comedy, and now the DVD tempts you. Resist. Even though DVD pickin's are slim this week. There's Noah Baumbach's well-received "Greenberg," featuring Ben Stiller as a grouchy East Coaster house-sitting for his big-shot L.A. brother. This is great for Baumbach fans, who appreciate his gift for satirizing social elites. Others may be put off by Stiller's character, who isn't just prickly - he seems to have an undiagnosed or poorly treated mental illness.

Near where East Passyunk flows up from Broad beside the Abruzzese restaurant called Le Virtù, you encounter a blank space in the tight urban block, a startlingly green lot with an aspect, in fact, like that of a putting green. It is tucked between the towering mural (freshly painted) of an Italian village wedding, and a wall of herbs hanging in fabric planters - a faraway enclave just feet off the sidewalk. The patch is noted on the menu, somewhat grandly, as Il Campo at Le Virtù.

Americans love peanuts. According to the National Peanut Council, we consumed 260 million pounds in 1991 - and the amount for 1992 is expected to be larger. Plain or fancy, like a basic black dress, the peanut is as comfortable at the ballpark as it is at a cocktail party. A native American legume, peanuts are an excellent source of vegetable protein, and although they are high in fat, they contain no cholesterol. American children adore peanut butter sandwiches, but there's no reason to limit your peanut cookery to sandwiches.

This quick and easy recipe comes from Meals Made Easy, a compilation of recipes from Real Simple magazine. It is full of good ideas and shortcuts for fast and tasty meals for weeknight as well as weekend suppers. Grilled Shrimp Tacos Makes four servings 1/2 cup sour cream 3 tablespoons mayonnaise 3 tablespoons milk 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped 1 1/2 pounds large shrimp, peeled and deveined 4 limes, quartered 1 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 8 6-inch corn tortillas 3 cups shredded cabbage 1 14-16 ounce jar green tomatillo salsa Wooden skewers, soaked in water for at least 30 minutes 1. In a small bowl, whisk togther the sour cream, mayonnaise, milk and cumin; set aside.

Up to 3,000 people are expected to eat, drink and be merry at the annual Greek Festival on Penn's Landing between 1 and 7 p.m. today and tomorrow. Eleven food booths under the festival tent at Delaware Avenue between Walnut and Spruce Streets will offer a host of Greek delicacies. Foods ranging from gyros (spiced beef on skewers) and souvlaki (beef on skewers, seasoned and barbecued) to moussaka (layers of eggplant, potatoes and ground beef in a milk sauce) and other, lesser-known foods will be sold.

Just when you think you've run out of ways to cook chicken, the seasons change. With each turn of the page on your calendar comes a new opportunity to use this favorite of calorie-watchers. The fresh approach for midsummer is cook out or take out: chicken cooked over the coals or picnic chicken served chilled. The latter can be purchased ready-to-serve in the supermarket and made into meal-size salads or sandwiches. Here are some outdoor ideas that are perfect for bare-midriff weather.

In Turkish, sis kebabi means, quite literally, skewered lamb. In the back yards of America, the term kabob has come to mean cubes of almost anything stuck on a stick. The French, always more precise, refer to skewered foods as "en brochette. " Regardless of the term used, the process of threading hunks of seasoned meat, fish or poultry on skewers, along with almost any imaginable combination of fruits and vegetables, and cooking them over coals has become increasingly popular. There are dozens of cuts of meat that work well for kabobs, and for the cost-conscious consumer, kabobs offer a marvelous means of saving money.

In the Mediterranean and Middle East, cooks prepare ground beef with imagination. It's the base for the most aromatic, luscious entrees that a hamburger refugee could want. Meatballs smothered in egg-lemon sauce are popular in Greece. In Syria and Lebanon, a favorite dish is the kefta kebab: finely ground beef formed into an oval around metal skewers and grilled or broiled. It is often served with a light, refreshing Yogurt Sauce. And, it's reassuring to realize that elegant variations on the American hamburger are no more time-consuming to prepare.

You don't need a tandoor, the Indian clay-pit oven, to cook Chicken Sticks, Tandoori-Style. The recipe is a quick fix on the Indian tradition of threading whole chickens on long skewers to roast in the deep ovens. Cubes of chicken, coated with a spicy tandoori-inspired sauce, cook in about 10 minutes. Grill thick slices of onion alongside the chicken as a substitute for the usual accompaniment of roasted onions. A cool yogurt salad or relish, called raita in India, is another must for this menu.

AN ATTORNEY for chef Georges Perrier has initiated legal action against the blog StaphMeal.com by filing a writ of summons in Common Pleas Court. Attorney Jonathan Cohen 's filing indicates that a complaint outlining allegations of libel and defamation could be forthcoming. The writ of summons lists John Doe as a defendant because Cohen does not know the identity of the blogger (or bloggers) behind the site. The legal action is intended in part to unmask the writers.

April 28 An Evening of Wine-tertainment , featuring a performance by Phillip Silverstone, with samplings of his seven favorite affordable wines, plus nibbles prepared by Kathy S. Gold of In the Kitchen Cooking School. $30. 7-8:30 p.m. at In the Kitchen Cooking School, 10 Mechanic St., Haddonfield. Please reserve at www.thesilverstonecollection.com/category/events?eventDisplay =upcoming. April 29 A Royal Dessert , inspired by the wedding cake for the April 29 marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton, created by pastry chef Thomas Heck: a molded, chilled dessert of bittersweet chocolate, condensed milk, English biscuits, almonds and currents, covered in ganache and garnished with glazed cherries.

Near where East Passyunk flows up from Broad beside the Abruzzese restaurant called Le Virtù, you encounter a blank space in the tight urban block, a startlingly green lot with an aspect, in fact, like that of a putting green. It is tucked between the towering mural (freshly painted) of an Italian village wedding, and a wall of herbs hanging in fabric planters - a faraway enclave just feet off the sidewalk. The patch is noted on the menu, somewhat grandly, as Il Campo at Le Virtù.

Why are high school boys who lose their virginity called studs and girls who do so called skanks? This question is brought to you by Easy A , a sassy satire of The Scarlet Letter that skewers such double standards. The film stars Emma Stone, the saucy redhead who always looks as if she has just swallowed a wisecrack. Here Stone ( Superbad , The House Bunny ) lets 'em rip in the high school comedy that will make her career - and you - laugh out loud. Bert V. Royal's screenplay structures the story as the live webcast confession of one Olive Penderghast (Stone)

YOU STAYED away from "The Bounty Hunter" based on its palpable odor of failed romantic comedy, and now the DVD tempts you. Resist. Even though DVD pickin's are slim this week. There's Noah Baumbach's well-received "Greenberg," featuring Ben Stiller as a grouchy East Coaster house-sitting for his big-shot L.A. brother. This is great for Baumbach fans, who appreciate his gift for satirizing social elites. Others may be put off by Stiller's character, who isn't just prickly - he seems to have an undiagnosed or poorly treated mental illness.

Pasta with baby artichokes and ham is a simple dish that's easy to prepare. Skewered shrimp adds a colorful and light touch to this quick Italian meal. To save a cooking step, the shrimp can be added to the skillet with the garlic and ham instead of cooking them on a skewer. Skewered Shrimp 1. Mix the olive oil and garlic together in a plastic bag. Add the shrimp and marinate 10 minutes, while making the pasta. 2. Preheat broiler. Place 5 shrimp on each skewer.

GIRL SCOUT cookies are not just for snacks. For one thing, they can be used to create some rather surprising dishes, such as Peanut Thai Chicken. For another, this annual ritual is the largest girl-led business in the country, providing many youngsters with their first taste of entrepreneurship. Locally, the sale, which began last month and continues through March 7, has a goal of selling 4 million boxes in 2010. Sounds like a lot of shortbread Trefoils, but consider that the nine-county Girl Scouts of Eastern Pennsylvania region moved 3.8 million last year.

Forbidden Broadway was a New York showbiz institution for 27 years: It ended its hilarious run in March, having spoofed big Broadway musicals - the bigger, the spoofier - to the delight of audiences, as well as the stars who came to see themselves satirized. Gerard Alessandrini wrote and directed the revue, winning the Tony for excellence in theater. The installment I saw in 2005 was Forbidden Broadway: Special Victims Unit; the last installment was called Forbidden Broadway Goes to Rehab.

Let me get this straight. A couple of agitated yahoos in a rally of thousands yell something offensive and incendiary, and John McCain and Sarah Palin are not just guilty by association - with total strangers, mind you - but worse: guilty, according to the New York Times, of "race-baiting and xenophobia. " But should you bring up Barack Obama's real associations - 20 years with the Rev. Jeremiah Wright, working on two foundations and distributing money with William Ayers, citing the raving Rev. Michael Pfleger as one who helps him keep his moral compass (Chicago Sun-Times, April 2004)

One headline branded the outcome "Faldo Folly. " Another deemed him "Captain Calamity. " European Ryder Cup captain Nick Faldo was under siege yesterday after his team's loss to the United States. Faldo, a six-time major winner, was belittled for his player selections. "Nick Faldo, not the crowd, was America's 13th Man," the Daily Mail said of his role in Europe's 16 1/2-11 1/2 loss in Louisville, Ky. The Times of London assailed Faldo for using his most successful players - Ian Poulter and Graeme McDowell - near the end of Sunday's singles matches rather than at the beginning.