CHECK OUT : NEWS AND TIPS PICK TOMATOES.

Calling all tomato canners. For those desiring to can their own fresh tomatoes to have on hand year-round, Underwood Ranches is offering a bargain deal. You can pick tomatoes from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday at Tierra Rejada Ranch, 3370 N. Moorpark Road, Moorpark for 15 cents a pound. For ease in weighing, bring containers of equal size that will hold no more than 50 pounds. For more information, call [phone].

Ears to you

Does summer get any sweeter than that first bite into a fresh ear of sweet corn? The only cereal native to North America, corn is actually a grass. Its proper name is maize (``corn'' simply means ``kernel''), named by the Native Americans who cultivated it. At the market, choose creamy-colored cobs, fresh green husks and golden silk. It'll keep in the refrigerator for a few days.

Contest alert

A no-recipe contest you can't resist: Once you clean out your container of Shedd's Spread Country Crock, make something with it. That's the challenge from the company, seeking entries in its 1997 Country Crock Creations contest. Use at least one container - tub, squeeze bottle or stick carton - and cut, paste and glue your way to making anything from a doll house to roller skates. Top prize is a $10,000 vacation. For complete rules, send a self-addressed, stamped envelope by Oct. 31 to Contest Requests, P.O. Box 5141, Department A, Parsippany, N.J. 07054-6141. Entries must be received by Nov. 21.

Freebie leaflet

Just in time to celebrate Quaker Oats 120th anniversary on Sept. 17 is a leaflet, Quaker Oats Most Requested Recipes. Included in the collection are classics, such as Quaker's Best Oatmeal Bread, Quaker's Chewy Choc-Oat-Chip Cookies, Fresh Fruit Crisp and Prize-Winning Meat Loaf. For a free copy, send your name and complete addresss to Most Requested Recipes, P.O. Box 487, Dept. N, Chicago, Ill. 60690-0487. Allow four to six weeks for delivery.

Coffeehouse-style topping

Whipped cream is easy to make, and store, with the Coffee Cream Whipper from iSi North America. The Chicago Tribune test kitchen tried it; the whipped cream was easy to make and stayed thick and fresh. It holds 1 pint of cream and makes 4 pints of whipped cream. The Coffee Cream Whipper costs $40 to $45 at Lechter's Housewares, and the Chef's Catalog; to order by phone from Chef's Catalog, call [phone]. It requires chargers that need to be replaced with each batch; a box of 10 costs $8 to $9.

Kid cookbook pick

A colorful format and sparkly plastic spoon are two enticements of ``Magic Spoon Cookbook'' (Klutz; $14.95). Easy-to-follow recipes for young chefs include a list of ingredients as well as tools. Some dishes: Greek salad pockets, sleepover s'mores and summertime spaghetti. An activities section includes the ``World's Best Tasting Science Project'' (you make rock crystal candy).

X-er dinner

The NPD Group, a Rosemont, Ill., company that tracks national eating habits, surveyed 5,200 people over the last 10 years and found that adults 18 to 34 had increased their cereal consumption at dinner by about 30 percent.

Memorabilia on the menu

Care for an after-dinner souvenir? Many pricey restaurants are now into name-recognition merchandising, the Wall Street Journal reports. At the new FireBird restaurant in New York's theater district, gleaming $125 Faberge dinner plates and $525 Austrian crystal necklaces are for sale in the entryway. At Windows on the World, atop New York's World Trade Center, diners can browse in a 400-square-foot retail store laden with plates, glassware, aprons, cuff links, even replicas of the jackets worn by the valet-parking attendants.

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