deconstructing: explanations from the inside out

easter baskets

The first Easter baskets held dinner, not chocolate bunnies. Baskets of bread, cheeses, hams and other food were brought to church on Easter morning to be blessed. After weeks of Lenten austerity, Easter morning was a time to celebrate not only Jesus' resurrection but the joyful end of abstinence.

We're still eating ham at Easter, but not many churchgoers are hauling a spiral cut version to the church service. Hand-woven natural-colored baskets have become pink and green -- and often plastic -- hallmarks of the season.

These days, Easter baskets are filled with candy -- jelly beans, robins' eggs (malted milk balls), chocolate bunnies and marshmallow Peeps. Some children get toys or other gifts.

The bunny, a symbol of spring and rebirth mostly because it gives birth so often, was made into sweets by the Germans in the early 1800s. Those first bunnies were made of pastry and sugar. Chocolate came later.

German children fashioned nests of grass and left them in the yard for the Easter Bunny to fill with candy and colored eggs. Easter eggs also have roots in Christianity. During the fourth century, when eating eggs was a Lenten taboo, people cooked them in their shells to preserve them. Rather than let the eggs sit around au naturel, someone had the good idea to decorate them. Easter eggs were born.

Thank goodness, because what would we hunt for with those bright woven baskets slung over our arms?

cooking class

When it comes to parsley, save the curly stuff for garnish. For flavor, use flat-leaf, also known as Italian, parsley, because flat tastes better than curly's sharp bitterness. Flat parsley can be confused with cilantro, which is a member of the parsley family. The leaves look similar, like mini-maple leaves, but flat-leaf is darker green and cilantro is more delicate and fanlike. One whiff and you'll know the difference; cilantro is pungent compared to Italian parsley's subtle, clean smell.

this web site cooks

www.phule.net/mirrors/www.poundy.com/wwcards.html

If you were on Weight Watchers in the 1970s, when liver was required once a week and fish five times, you'll recognize some of the food humorously celebrated on this site. The Webmaster is a woman named Wendy, who stumbled on some antique Weight Watchers recipe cards when she was helping her parents clean their basement. The names of some dishes, such as Chicken Liver Bake and Chilled Celery Log, don't do justice to how bad this food looks. The worst just might be Rosy Perfection Salad, a jellied salad of red cabbage it seems. Log on and be grateful for how far dieting has come.

constant comment

"Florida oranges are so juicy that you have to eat them in the bathtub." -- California saying ...

"You have to drive a truck over a California orange to get any juice at all." -- Florida saying

pasta with paul

We enjoyed Newman's Own new vodka sauce more for its creamy texture and rich tomato flavor than for the taste of vodka, which was hardly detectable. This hearty sauce will work with cheese-and-pasta combinations as well as casseroles. A 26-ounce bottle costs $2.60 to $2.90 at grocery stores.

eat like they did

One of the hottest cookbook topics these days -- second to quick cooking -- is the 200-year-old Lewis and Clark expedition across North America. Mary Gunderson's The Food Journal of Lewis & Clark: Recipes from an Expedition (History Cooks; $19.95) joins The Lewis & Clark Cookbook by Leslie Mansfield (Celestial Arts, 2002; $17.95) to reveal what sustained the explorers as they explored. Gunderson's book benefits from a daily journal Meriwether Lewis and William Clark wrote about their vittles. Some of the more memorables dishes: hazelnut-cornmeal pancakes and Clark's birthday fruit salad, made festive by a dousing of whiskey.

asparagus tips

You don't need to look at the calendar to know it's spring. Just check out your grocery store's produce aisle and you'll find that, like the robins, California asparagus has returned.

The California Asparagus Board offers these tips on selecting and storing the vegetable:

-- Different sizes lend themselves to different preparations. Jumbo asparagus is best for grilling, but size in general doesn't affect taste, freshness does.

-- Select bright-green asparagus with closed, compact tips and smooth, tender skin.

-- To store, wrap the cut ends of stalks in a moist paper towel and then place upright in a sealed plastic bag in a container.

-- Cook fresh asparagus within two days of purchase for more flavorful results.

i'm blue

The H.J. Heinz Co., which has promoted red, green, purple, pink, orange and teal ketchup, is adding blue to its palette. The company unveiled Heinz EZ Squirt "Stellar Blue" last week. "Blastin' Green" and "Funky Purple" are no longer being made, but some consumers can still find them on grocers' shelves. Of course, ketchup still comes in traditional red.

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