For Thirsty Readers

Most amazing subscription premium we’ve seen lately: The Oxford Companion to Wine (Oxford University Press, 1994) by Jancis Robinson, free with a year’s subscription to the weekly Literary Supplement to the Times of London. It’s a huge book, 1,088 pages. But then, a year’s Times Literary Supplement subscription will set you back $145.

A Recipe for Divorce

“I couldn’t cook very well, and he didn’t like it and would swear and abuse me,” testified Ida L. Waugh of Los Angeles, in a June 1925 Los Angeles Times account of a divorce proceeding.

The judge granted her a divorce, but on the condition that she “forthwith and immediately apply herself diligently to the study of the art of cookery to the end that she may within a reasonable time become proficient therein.” Earlier testimony revealed that her father had already bought her a cookbook.

Web U

We’ve seen TV cooking courses. Here comes one on the Internet--a 10-week class on healthful cooking by well-known chef-dietitian Sandy Kapoor, pictured left. If it works out, it may be the prototype for college-level cooking classes that people will take internationally.

Of course, you can physically attend her classes (8 a.m. to noon Thursdays, June 25 through Aug. 27 at the School of Hotel and Restaurant Management at Cal Poly Pomona). But you can also surf the classes (each will be on the Web site by the following Monday), either on an auditing basis or for academic credit (four units). If you’re studying for credit, you can submit photos of your completed dishes by e-mail or even regular mail.

But if you’re planning to Web it, Kapoor still wants you to physically attend three times (one hour per session) at the beginning, middle and end of the course, to trouble-shoot this new teaching technology. Otherwise, this is one college-credit healthful cooking class you can surf in the middle of the night (for credit, the fee is $632). For information, call (909) 869-2288.