The Back Page

Reading Italian Just can’t get enough of Italian cooking? Join the crowd. Sometimes it seems as if every other restaurant opening in Southern California serves pasta alla checca and has a wood-burning pizza oven. Sensing a market, one of the better Italian food and wine magazines, Gambero Rosso, has begun publishing an English-language edition. The latest edition includes stories on Chianti Classico, cruising the Amalfi Coast and a history of the tomato--with recipes (none, thankfully, for pasta alla checca ). The quarterly is available for $15.85 a year by calling (800) 969-1528.

Food Art

A refrigerator without a magnet is like a frame without a picture. And what better picture to have hanging in your kitchen than one of food? With these vibrant hand-painted dough sculptures by Phyllis Wong and Nicholas Corrales stuck to your door, even the most humdrum notes will seem momentous. It’s all here, a cornucopia of seemingly edible art: deep purple grapes; identical pea pods, and an avocado complete with pit. A big favorite is the hollowed-out coconut shell. Corrales, who is from Colombia, and Wong, who was born in Hong Kong, sell their wares at the Friday Long Beach Farmers Market, the Sunday Hollywood Farmers Market, the Orange County Marketplace in Costa Mesa as well as several smaller shops including Seasons and Artesanias Oaxaquenas in Santa Monica.

My Spoon’s Got a Hole in It

Just what you need to lose weight: a spoon with a hole in it. Actually, this is no mere dieter’s trick, but a ladle made for skimming fat from soups and stocks. Since the fat floats to the top, you can pour off the flavorful liquid below while the grease remains behind. Whether you’re doing it for caloric or aesthetic reasons, a fat-free sauce is a thing of beauty. Available at most kitchen stores.