For the last few

months of 2003, it seemed you couldn't drive by Fayette Pavilion

without seeing signs of another restaurant under construction.

Savor

Fresh and Simple Southern Cuisine at Sandra's Cafe

There are magazines

and books on simplicity. Ways to cut back clutter, make life less stressful.

Sandra's Cafe is one of those places that defines simple. This

is functional, clean decor and southern-style home cooking without palate-irritating

frills.

Reading

labels right can cut fat, confusion

Studies indicate

that 70 percent of grocery shoppers believe there is conflicting information

about which foods are healthy. The Food and Drug Administration recently

eased its restriction on allowing food manufacturers to make health

claims on product labels.

American

icons

A few months back,

something spurred me to make the Quaker Oats "famous oatmeal cookies"

I'd baked frequently when I was a girl. I picked up the Quaker

Oats tube only to discover that - horrors! - the reliable

recipe on the back of the box had disappeared, replaced with a recipe

inside the lid teasingly called "vanishing oatmeal raisin cookies."

Lembas

bread, the second-breakfast of Tolkien's champions

"The lembas

had a virtue without which they would long ago have lain down todie

... this waybread of the Elves had a potency that increased as travelers

relied on it alone and did not mingle it with other foods. It fed the

will, and it gave strength to endure, and to master sinew and limb beyond

the measure of mortal kind."

Mad

cow disease: What you should know

Recent reports about

mad cow disease have left some people with questions about the safety

of beef and milk products.

Need

a quick breakfast? Turn to your toaster

Parents need to

think fast in the morning. Getting themselves and their kids out the

door while making sure the family has a nutritious breakfast is important.

Books

can help shed pounds

A new handy book

is titled "Get with the Program! Guide to Fast Food and Family

Restaurants" by Bob Greene (Simon & Schuster, $12.95). Greene

is a personal trainer and exercise physiologist and Oprah Winfrey's

personal trainer. Greene's latest guide focuses on healthy eating

but zeros in on making healthy choices while eating out.

Dining

Guide Briefs

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