"swine flu" news and stories

• Grace is simply stunning: Portland, Maine's newest restaurant pulled off an epic historic renovation to turn Chestnut Street United Methodist Church into an impressive dining experience (at right).
  
• Don't pass on the parsnips. They offer a "sweet, caramel-y flavor" that makes them ripe for roasting.
• The old-school Chateau Brane-Cantenac is enjoying a quality upswing with notable new wines.
• Battle Lobster: Steve Corry will represent Maine in an "Iron Chef"-like charity event.
• No locale is safe from fiddlehead fever: Portland jumps on the bandwagon with a recipe for a tasty sauté with sugar snaps and baby carrots.
• California's producing bottles of sauvignon blanc that offer surprising softness.
• A recipe for tasty but fattening Congo Squares.
• A rundown of local events.

Love it, loathe it or live for it, meat's been on a lot of minds these days.

A recent study found that red meat consumption increases the overall risk of mortality. And even though swine flu is not transmissible through pork products (duh), it wasn't exactly a publicity boon for the other white meat, either. Even the beloved bacon has been taking a beating. One writer went so far as to declare an end to Baconmania, proclaiming that "Our Long Coronary Nightmare Is Almost Over."

Meat, needless to say, isn't going down without a fight. Aside from the expected army of industry lobbyists covering its (fat)back, it's got plenty of product tie-in love. There's these plush toys from Sweet Meats, so cute they could bring a smile to even a vegetarian's face. There's Meatcards, the beef jerky business cards that recently took the Internet by storm.

And, standing boldly in the face of the bacon backlash, there's Heather Lauer's "Bacon: A Love Story." Subtitled "A Salty Survey of Everyone's Favorite Meat," it includes profiles of bacon-loving chefs across the country, recipes for such delicacies as bacon-jalapeno pizza and bacon Bloody Marys, and tips for creating your own cure. Clearly, Lauer isn't writing bacon's obituary. And if anything can help meat get its groove back, its a 100 percent recycled fleece T-bone.