Mark Bittman first had this salad at a Chinese restaurant in Manhattan, and always orders it there.

Governor Paterson and legislators in Albany are trying to reach compromises to close the yawning gap in New York’s budget. Although the proposal to sell wine in grocery stores is back on the table, there is another drinks-related area our officials have yet to uncork: bottle deposits. Last year, a reform bottle bill passed–largely unnoticed–that included significant changes, notably extending the deposit to include water containers and sport drinks. Further, and more importantly, the system for unredeemed deposits was redirected to send 80% …

Rather than scaring you about the Iberian lynx , some cork enthusiasts have put out a video to try to save…foxes? Foxes and forests? Bottles sporting wood? Something like that. I am confused.

POM, the beverage company that turned an old pomegranate orchard into a money machine with POM Wonderful juices, is taking the Coca Cola Company, parent of Minute Maid, to court. The reason: false advertising. According to POM, Minute Maid’s pomegranate juice name and label make it appear as if pomegranate is the main ingredient, though the blend actually contains less than 0.3 percent of …

One of my favorite things about summer is going to a farmer’s market and being surprised by an ingredient that you don’t see too often. Such was the case this past Saturday when I went to the monthly New Amsterdam Market –which by the way, is THE best market in all of NYC. In addition to the usual array of stunning produce, and delicious prepared foods, one vendor had

Giorgio Milos, the 2008 barista champion of Italy, is giving away coffee every Friday from noon to 2 p.m. until early October.

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Wednesday vetoed a bill that would have made the state’s 700,000 farmworkers the only ones in the country to get overtime pay for working more than 40 hours a week or eight hours a day. “The governor had a chance to make history,” said state Sen. Dean Florez, the Democrat who wrote the bill. “He had a chance to wipe a 70-year-old shame off the books of California. Instead, he has decided to side with the shameful.” That “shame,” though, is on the books of the whole country. Federal law exempts farmworkers from overtime pay, as Schwarzenegger noted. He also noted that forcing farms to pay overtime at that level could put some of them out of business. And he noted that some workers would get less pay …

Crunchy cool slaw with a light peanut dressing. It’s almost the end of July. How has your summer been? Moonlit and sultry? All Popsicles and kiddie pool? Or just plain flat out busy as a bee? If it’s been busy, Sugar, I can relate. Here in our tiny corner of the world we’ve been too crazy to cook much. We’ve been living on…

The Gulf oil gusher is benefiting some farmers in southern states. They are getting paid to provide alternative wetlands for migratory ducks and geese that can’t hang out in oil-befouled, food-deprived waters on their way south. The $20 million program is meant to make about 150,000 acres available by mid-August in the five Gulf states as well as Arkansas, Georgia, and Missouri, the Associated Press reports. One farmer of rice and crawfish in Louisiana will get $132,441 over three years to turn 762 acres into wetlands. That’s far from lucrative. The AP reports that his contract with the government will “cover his costs but provide little if any profit.” Given the relative lack of largesse, this is obviously not your typical federal farm-subsidy program. Nevertheless, the USDA program “is so popular…

The paiche fish will be on display at Lobster Place until 2 p.m. on Thursday.