Food

Not long ago, we asked readers to share cherished recipes passed down from their mothers and grandmothers as a Mother's Day tribute. We didn't say what kind of recipes readers should submit. Could have been casseroles. Or pork chops. Or sandwiches.

What does it take to impress the owner of a place where, for Laura Bush's 60th birthday luncheon, the first lady of the United States asked permission to take a doggie bag home to the president? It takes the queen of England.

When "The Silver Palate Cookbook" first appeared 25 years ago, many home cooks had never experimented with ingredients such as flavored vinegars, sun-dried tomatoes or exotic mushrooms. The cookbook that led the gourmet way is being re-issued in an anniversary edition this month, with all of the old favorite recipes and now more than 100 color photos.

You know you should eat a variety of fruit, but do you know why or which ones are a better choice? Here's a quiz to test how much you know about fruit. 1. Bananas are an excellent source of potassium. True or false?

If guacamole is on your menu for this Cinco de Mayo, here are some tips for enjoying avocados: “Although there are hundreds of varieties of avocados from around the world, the Hass and Fuerte are two of the most popular and commonly available. The Hass has bumpy skin and the Fuerte smooth, green skin. Both have appealing smooth, buttery flesh.

31 Cent Scoop Night - Benefiting the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation, an organization that honors America's fallen fire heroes and their families. Baskin-Robbins is making a $100,000 donation to the organization. Today. 5-10 p.m., 1925 N. Monroe St. 31 cents/scoop. (509) 327-1531. Spaghetti feed and auction - The dinner, auction and bake sale will benefit Austan Pierce, a local boy fighting cancer. Thursday. 5:30-7 p.m., Central Valley High School, 821 S. Sullivan Road. Suggested donation is $5 per person or $20 per family. (509) 228-4000.

Two Spokane-area moms who met at a play group have started a business to bring restaurant-quality fish and seafood to your doorstep. Heather Lanzone of Spokane and Melissa Brown of Liberty Lake are the women behind Front Door Seafood, an online company that sources high-end seafood such as halibut, salmon, shrimp and lobster and delivers it to your home.

Making a salad isn't rocket science. For many home cooks, salads usually consist of some lettuce, a glop of dressing from a bottle and perhaps some Bac-Os or croutons. And they often bear little resemblance to the salads found in restaurants.

Dear Recipe Doctor: I made a very rich but wonderful dish by Giada De Laurentiis for Baked Rigatoni with Béchamel Sauce. It was too rich for us and I would only trust you to lighten it. A: When you said "very rich," you weren't kidding! For six servings the recipe calls for a stick of butter, a quart of whole milk, a cup of fontina cheese, a half-pound of prosciutto and it's all topped with 3 more tablespoons of butter. Are you ready for the totals? A serving adds up to 823 calories, 45 grams fat and 25 grams saturated fat.

In the book, "101 Things To Do With a Tortilla," authors Stephanie Ashcraftand Donna Kelly go beyond typical Mexican fare and offer recipes that can open your eyes to the versatile nature of tortillas. Consider some of these twists: smoke salmon triangles, tortilla sushi rolls, creamy fruit roll-ups.

55 Plus luncheon and program - Adults 55 and over are welcome. The program is "Window on the World" by Wey Simpson. Today. Noon. Spokane Valley United Methodist Church, 115 N. Raymond Road. Suggest donation: $2. (509) 924-7262. Dining Out For Life - Local participating restaurants will donate 20 percent of their food and alcohol sales for the day to the Spokane AIDS Network. Participating restaurants include Bennedito's Pizza, Bistango's Martini Lounge, Cafe Marron, Catacomb's Pub, Fai's Noodle House at Northern Quest Casino, Herbal Essence Cafe, Luigi's, Mizuna Restaurant and Wine Bar, Niko's Greek and Middle East Restaurant, and Woodland at Northern Quest Casino. Thursday. (509) 455-8993.

Dine out Thursday at one of 10 local restaurants and that dinner bill will do more than just warm your tummy for the evening. It will help the local Spokane AIDS Network raise money to help men, women and children in the area who are living with HIV and AIDS. Each of the restaurants listed below will donate 20 percent of the food and beverage bills to the Dining Out For Life effort, which is sponsored by Subaru. More than 2,500 restaurants in 43 cities have joined the cause.

Let the record show, there is no such person as Bernard Griffin. Though Bernard (Bernie to his friends) is often cited as the man responsible for the excellent wines marketed by a certain well-known Tri-Cities winery, it is in fact Rob Griffin, and his wife Deborah Barnard, who started (and still own) the enterprise back in the early 1980s. This year, Rob Griffin is marking his 30th anniversary as a winemaker in Washington – a milestone that few individuals have yet reached, and even fewer have surpassed. It was supposed to be, Griffin recalls, just a brief adventure following his graduation from UC Davis; a youthful fling way up north. "I figured I'd invest a year or two, get my name on the marquee and come back to California in a blaze of glory," he told me a couple of years ago. Three decades later, it has become a life's work.

Cook now to have more time later. The editors of Cook's Illustrated have whipped up a stack of recipes that will buy you time to spend with your family on a busy weeknight and give you more time to mingle with guests when you entertain.