* Do you know how to boil...

* Do you know how to boil water? Can you make a mean bag of microwave popcorn? If that’s the extent of your cooking skills, the California Raisin Advisory Board has come out with a booklet of simple, no-fail recipes that even the novice cook can prepare. If tuna pita pockets, no-fuss fish and power-lunch pasta sound good enough to eat, send a stamped ($1.25 in postage), self-addressed 12x9-inch envelope to: Raisin Cooking School, 55 Union St., Dept. CST, San Francisco, Calif. 94111.

* Eleven chefs were asked by the Washington Apple Commission to create luncheon menus using different apple varieties. Joachim Splichal of Patina in Los Angeles devised a layered apple cake with vanilla ice cream; Charles Ramseyer of Seattle’s Cafe Alexis created apple, potato and Cheddar soup. The result: Their recipes, along with nine others, were put into brochure form. For a free copy, send a self-addressed, stamped No. 10 envelope to: The Romance of Flavors, Washington Apple Commission, P.O. Box 550RF, Wenatchee, Wash. 99807.

* Planning a trip to Italy this year? If you’ve got the time and a few extra bucks, you might consider a week of cooking classes in Venice with Robert Reynolds of San Francisco’s Le Trou Restaurant. Besides hands-on cooking, the session includes daily tours of major and smaller Venice markets, visits to local restaurants and walking tours of the city. Classes, which begin Sept. 16, are limited to six students. A fee of $1,100 covers six-days’ tuition and food for lunch and dinner. For more information contact Reynolds at Le Trou, 1007 Guerrero St., San Francisco 94110 or call (415) 550-8169 for a brochure.

* The McIlhenny Co., makers of Tabasco pepper sauce, has put together a handsome 31-page cookbook of tried-and-true spicy Southwestern favorites from tried-and-true Southwestern restaurants (pan-roasted quail with artichoke-oyster timble from the Coyote Cafe, Pink Adobe’s barbecued beef sandwich). And guess what? They all contain Tabasco pepper sauce. For a copy, send $3 to “The Best of Southwest Cuisine,” McIlhenny Co., Dept. SWC, Avery Island, La. 70513.