NEW AND NOTEWORTHY.

NEW MAGAZINE: The premiere issue of Italian Cooking & Living, a bimonthly magazine for people who love Italian cuisine, debuted this month. Paolo Villoresi, president of the Italian Culinary Institute in New York, is publisher. The magazine, his dream, is the official voice of the Italian Table, a club he started years ago to share the pleasures of Italian cuisine and culture with as many people as possible.

The first issue features a discussion on spices, several quick pasta dishes, a guide to making foccaccia, a story on Lombardy's grating cheese, Grana Padano, a celebration of the Italian wine Brunello di Montalcino, and stories on Amalfi and Sardinia. Parts of some food articles don't seem as easy to follow as their American counterparts. In a few of the articles mentioning hotels or restaurants, we would have welcomed a range of prices, not just a phrase like extremely reasonable.

Although we didn't test any of the recipes, some seemed a little heavy- handed with the olive oil like the one that contains a cup in a recipe that serves four. For the most part, the colorful food and travel photography was appealing. But there were a few things we found offputting - such as the recipe for crab cakes with applesauce and the constant icon ``Click on our Web site'' sprinkled throughout at the end of many articles.

There's a lot to whet the appetite for things Italian here. Look for the magazine at newsstands, book and gourmet stores at $3.99 per copy - and judge for yourself. For a yearly subscription (six issues for $18), call [phone] or go the the Web site at www.italiancookingandliving.com.

- Natalie Haughton

NEW COOKBOOK DIGS: Our favorite local haunt for used, out-of-print and hard-to-find cookbooks recently moved from Burbank to Pasadena. Cookbooks by Janet Jarvits is now located at 1388 E. Washington Blvd., Pasadena, [phone]. Jarvits has 15,000 cookbook volumes, and you can peruse the shelves from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday. You may be amazed at what you'll find. If you're looking for a book Jarvits doesn't have in stock, she'll try to track it down for you. You'll also find the entire store inventory and can order books at her Web site, www.cookbookjj.com.

- N.H.

COOKBOOK: Break out the mixer and the cake pans. Teresa Pregnall, known as the Charleston Cake Lady, who's baked and shipped more than 20,000 cakes from her Charleston, S.C., kitchen to customers throughout the country in the past 20 or so years, has come up with a second cake cookbook volume featuring beloved goodies that'll have dessert lovers asking for seconds.

``Special Recipes From the Charleston Cake Lady'' (William Morrow; $16) includes how-to's for old-fashioned cakes, brownies, muffins, a pie or two, and even a bread pudding. Ingredients are few, and most cooks will probably find what they need on their pantry shelves.

Some of the desserts even start with a cake mix - how's that for easy? And most, Pregnall says, are so moist, they need no frosting, thus saving a bunch of calories (really?).

Mix-ins are intriguing, from orange marmalade to cranberry sauce, from 7-Up to blackberry jam, from rum to beer, and even one German chocolate pound cake with the pecan-coconut frosting baked right inside.

And each cake comes with a short tale about its origin, from Pregmall's housekeeper, her good friends, even from an elderly driver who rammed her son's sports car. About all you need to enjoy this 50-recipe volume is a mixing bowl, an oven and a fork. Get baking.

- Carol Bidwell

CITRUS SAVVY: OXO's citrus juicer earned our approval for many reasons. It comes with a two-sided reamer in different sizes so it can accommodate any size fruit, from tiny limes to large grapefruit. The reamer is removable, making it easier to wash, and has a built-in strainer. What we liked best, though, was the container, which has measurement markings. This juicer is a bit bulkier in terms of storage, but it rarely leaves the counter top because we're using it all the time. It's dishwasher safe too. The juicer costs $12 to $13.

- Chicago Tribune

ON TV

A & E'S ``Compliments to the Chef'' week airs on Biography at 8 p.m. April 23-27. The shows go behind the pots and pans to uncover the people beyond those chef whites, including Emeril Lagasse (Monday), Wolfgang Puck (Tuesday), Wally Amos (April 25), Julia Child (April 26) and Graham Kerr (April 27).

- N.H.

HELP FOR DIABETICS

Flavorful, diverse and colorful aren't words commonly used when describing a diabetic diet. BHG.com suggests its new weekly diabetic-recipe newsletter is geared to spice up the taste buds of more than 15 million diabetics in the United States.

Every week, subscribers find in their inbox a great-tasting, nutritious recipe chosen from the hundreds of dishes approved by the Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen.

Also available are cooking tips and nutritional information for diabetics. To receive the newsletter, register on BHG.com at http://www.bhg.com/members.

- Associated Press

DINING OUT

Monday is currently Maine lobster night at Delmonico's in Encino with an added special menu of lobster items ranging from a 3-ounce lobster cake appetizer topped with crispy leeks and spicy corn relish for $10.95 to Maine lobsters weighing up to 2 pounds done various ways and ranging from $45.95 to $55.95 each as main dishes.

Appetizers - $14.95 each - include a lobster cocktail topped with lobster mayonnaise, a crispy lobster roll on bok choy and a buttermilk-crusted lobster ``cobbler'' bowl.

For $25.95, there's a half lobster tail in shell along with a lobster roll and a lobster stuffed-artichoke; for $24.95 a lobster cutlet on mashed potatoes; and for $18.95 an entree-size lobster salad. The restaurant is at 16358 Ventura Blvd. Details and reservations: [phone].

- Larry Lipson

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

Photo:

(1) no caption (Magazine cover ``Italian Cooking'')

(2) no caption (OXO's citrus juicer)

(3) no caption (``Special Recipes from the Charleston Cake Lady'')