All The News That's Fit To Eat

The city's first Ben and Jerry's Scoop Shop opened last week at 11225 Montgomery NE (at Juan Tabo). Three new Ben and Jerry's flavors are now available at the shop and this lucky girl was able to preview them a few days before the opening. Chocolate Carb Karma has a reduced carb count for those of you Atkins dieters Jonesin for some ice cream. Primary Berry Graham is a strawberry cheesecake ice cream with a stripe of graham cracker that will make you dig through the pint to follow its rich vein. By the way, both Primary Berry Graham and Dublin Mudslide (Irish cream liqueur ice cream with chocolate, chocolate cookies and coffee fudge swirl) are partners with Rock the Vote's voter registration and motivation campaign. Pints of these flavors carry nonpartisan voter registration information on the containers and portions of the proceeds will benefit Rock the Vote.

The folks over at Yanni’s Mediterranean Restaurant (3109 Central NE) are celebrating Greek Independence Day (March 23-25) this week. Diners will be treated to free tastings of Greek wines, cheeses, olives and appetizers from 6-9 p.m. each night. If you've never tried Greek food before, this might be the perfect time to start. Call 268-9250 for more information.

Q-Bar (Rio Grande north of Mountain), the Old Town Sheraton's upscale watering hole, has a new food and beverage director. Steve Paternoster, formerly of such diverse establishments as Scalo and the K-Bob's Steakhouse chain, is also the current vice president and treasurer of the New Mexico Restaurant Association. Q-Bar employees will surely notice a change in their management and the hotel is hoping they'll notice an upward trend in profits. I'm hoping it will bring continued postive news for the food at Q-Bar which began with promise.

There seems to have been a stomach flu going around lately. If you find yourself caught in the throes and unable to keep anything down, your doctor will likely recommend sipping small amounts of Gatorade. She might also suggest ginger ale because ginger is an excellent remedy for nausea. If you find the bubbles too much for your stomach to handle, try sucking on a piece of candied ginger. Available in the bulk section of natural foods stores or in the specialty item section of some grocery stores, candied ginger is a sweet, preserved form of the root that just might help quell the waves of nausea.

Oh, and if you're planning on growing herbs this summer it's not too early to start them inside. Pick up the smallest pots of basil, thyme, cilantro, parsley and sage now while they're cheap. Nurture them in pots on your windowsill until it's warm enough (think May) to move them outside.