GOOD TASTES.

DECADENT CARAMEL APPLES: Who doesn't love caramel-dipped, embellished apples - especially at Halloween? A Beverly Hills company, SkinnyDippers, started three years ago by 19-year-old Dustin Beck, offers four different kinds - Candy Bar Crunch, Praline Crunch, Cookie Crumble and Original Cinnamon Spice. Each large apple is dipped in rich, buttery caramel, then decorated with candies, cookies, chocolate or spices. Tasters favored the two most popular flavors - Candy Bar Crunch and Praline Crunch - and found them delicious. The green apples were crisp, too. Beck, a USC student, sold 3,000 last year.

Each apple will easily serve four and can be kept unopened and uncut in the refrigerator about a week. Look for the apples at Neiman Marcus stores, or order by calling [phone]. Apples are $15 each (plus shipping). A five-apple basket is $68.

- Natalie Haughton

PBJ KIDS' CONTEST: Does your child have a great idea for a unique - or the ultimate - peanut butter sandwich? Jif Peanut Butter wants to know.

Children 6 to 12 are encouraged to send in their recipes by Dec. 1 to Jif's Most Creative Peanut Butter Sandwich Contest for Kids, c/o Cohn & Wolfe, 292 Madison Ave., Floor 8, New York, NY 10017. Entry forms can be printed online at www.jif.com, or write to the above address.

The grand prize is a $5,000 savings bond, and four runners-up will each take home a $500 savings bond and some Jif products.

Last year's winner was a toasted cinnamon bread sandwich filled with heaping spoonfuls of Jif and topped with banana and mandarin orange slices, pineapple chunks and garnished with pomegranate seeds and grated ginger.

For a copy of this and other contest favorites, write for a copy of Jif's free brochure, Creative Kids in the Kitchen. Send a self-addressed postcard to: The J.M. Smucker Co.,Attention: Jif's Creative Kids in the Kitchen brochure, Consumer Relations Department, P.O. Box 197, Orville, OH 44667 (allow six to eight weeks for delivery).

- Daily News and Wire Services

DINE WITH AUTHORS

The Los Angeles Public Library is presenting 50 literary odyssey dinners of 12 to 24 guests each featuring well-known authors (David Lipsky, Richard Reeves, Lisa See, etc.). Each dinner will be hosted in a private home (Judith and Steve Krantz, Ginny Mancini, Liane and Richard Weintraub, and others) in the Los Angeles area Nov. 3 at 7 p.m. Tickets are $300 each, and guests are required to indicate six choices. Proceeds from the dinners will benefit Los Angeles Public Library system programs for children and teens. For reservations, contact Jackie Frame at [phone].

- N.H.

COOK FOR THE CURE: Cook for the Cure, a fund-raising event presented by KitchenAid, to support the Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation, will be held at Sur La Table at the Promenade at Westlake, Thousand Oaks, 6 to 8 tonight. The two-hour tasting will offer attendees an opportunity to sample signature fare from area chefs and restaurants, including Cafe Provencal (Thousand Oaks), Leila's (Oak Park), Bogie's (in the Westlake Village Inn) and Suzanne's Cuisine (Ojai), and taste Wente Vineyards wines. Tickets are $25 each and can be purchased by calling [phone] or visiting www.surlatable.com.

- N.H.

DINING OUT

Following up on a reader's tip, we've learned that the 29-seat Cafe Carolina (pronounced carol-eena) has replaced Mr. Kabob in Encino.

Chef-owner Giuseppe Drossi's Italian fare emphasizes organic ingredients, especially in salads and chicken dishes. Organic eggs, coffee and milk are also used.

Drossi adds daily specials to a limited dinner menu of three salads ($4.50 to $7.50), six pasta entrees ($10 to $14) and five desserts ($1.25 to $5). One of his pastas, ravioli cremaschi ($12.50), described on the menu as an old family recipe, has a sweetened cheese filling with amaretti (macaroons), raisins and citron, and is served with a sage- and rosemary- flavored brown butter sauce. Other pastas listed are ricotta, spinach and Swiss chard dumplings ($11.95) baked in a porcini and white mushroom cream sauce and an Adriatic-style linguine ($13.95) with shrimp, tomatoes and garlic in a white wine sauce.

Drossi also makes a sliced red beet salad ($7.25) with onions and lentils that is topped with salted ricotta cheese.

And his tiramisu ($4.95) dessert is fashioned in the traditional method with ladyfingers, sweet mascarpone cheese and espresso.

Cafe Carolina at 17934 Ventura Blvd., Encino, is open for brunch, lunch and dinner, serving from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sundays and Tuesdays, from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and 5 to 9 p.m. Saturdays, and from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. and then 5 to 9 p.m. Wednesdays through Fridays. It is closed Mondays. Reservations taken for parties of five or more. Call [phone].

- Larry Lipson

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