FOOD & COOKING

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• Shopping with the pros
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- As they meandered from one tented farm stand to another, the neighborhood restaurateurs and chefs invited to shop at the St. George Greenmarket on a recent Saturday morning, took their time in examining the bins of fruits and vegetables, checking out the seafood, meat and turkey products and studying the bouquets of fresh herbs displayed in the mid-morning sun.

• Cafeteria at Eger features a new look and a healthy menu
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Employees and visitors to Eger Health Care and Rehabilitation Center will find something new -- and healthy -- in Eger's new cafeteria.

• Catering to Beijing's hordes of visitors
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Staten Island caterer Frank Puleo, co-owner with Frank Lombardi of the Clifton-based Framboise Caterers, peers from his window in Beijing and describes in an e-mail the spruced-up scene he sees stretched out before him.

• Chefs share their recipes inspired by the Greenmarket
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Depending on a chef's imagination, hundreds of recipes can be created by the simple, farm-fresh ingredients being sold each Saturday at the St. George Greenmarket. Vendors will continue to sell their wares each week, from 8 a.m. to about 2 p.m., until the Saturday before Thanksgiving Day.

• Great Kills resident offers class for barbecue enthusiasts
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Hunched over barbecue tables clustered under leafy trees at Historic Richmond Town, the barbecue enthusiasts who came to expand their knowledge of barbecuing listened intently as Smokin' Joe Mizrahi, a Great Kills resident with a passion for authentic, wood-smoked barbecue, described the techniques needed to become an authentic pitmaster.

• Pumping up the health quotient of certain foods
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Regardless of the ethnic twist you want to give a dish, reduced-fat mayonnaise with olive oil whipped into the blend is a new convenience product on store shelves. It's designed to make classic dishes more nutritious while contributing to their flavor profile.

• Fragrant herb papalo a substitute for cilantro
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's 8:45 a.m. on a hazy Saturday, pretty late by standards of some St. George Greenmarket-goers. Thirty or so Hispanic women crowd the area of the municipal parking lot where these farmers usually pitch market umbrellas or canopies.

• Corn smut intensifies squash flower flavor
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- August brings to mind a few items that smack of summertime freshness. Consider delicate, golden-orange colored flor de calabaza, otherwise known as squash blossoms, and sweet corn on the cob.

• TURNING TABLES
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Freshly opened Neptune's Bistro perks up Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden in Livingston.