Pricey rice available

If you love rice, really love rice, consider Kumai Harvest. It's a premium rice from Japan, where it's called Koshi-Hikari, and is touted as the best and most versatile of all the short-grain rices. Its high starch content is considered ideal for sushi, risottos and sweetened puddings.

Kumai Harvest is sold exclusively at Williams-Sonoma stores, in vacuum-packed bags for $6.75 a pound. That's about the price of 20 pounds of Calrose, so you really do have to love your rice.

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Free screenings at
Family Health Fair

If you've been wondering about your blood pressure or cholesterol, Kapi'olani Medical Center at Pali Momi is offering an easy way to find out.

The center hosts a Family Health Fair '98 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, with free screenings for blood pressure, cholesterol, bone density, blood sugar, hearing and vision, along with sunglass testing, grip-strength testing and height, weight and body fat analysis.

Just for kids, there will be a teddy bear clinic, keiki photo I.D. and obstacle course.

Pali Momi is at 98-1079 Moanalua Road across from Pearlridge Downtown. Free, validated parking will be available. For more information, call 488-6000.

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Restaurant serves
eight-course menu at
eighth anniversary

Royal Hawaiian Shopping Center's Beijing Restaurant is celebrating its eighth anniversary with a special menu this month. For $25 per person with a four-person minimum, diners will be served spicy jellyfish with Szechuan-style pickled vegetables, dim sum, Szechuan hot and sour soup, assorted seafood, stir-fried Chinese broccoli in garlic sauce, double-cooked sliced pork, seafood fried rice and almond tofu for dessert. The restaurant is open from 11:30 a.m.-3 p.m. daily (except Saturdays) for lunch and 5 p.m. for dinner. For reservations, call 971-8833.

"A Taste of Thailand": UH-Manoa presents ideas from a Thai kitchen, 10 a.m.-noon Saturday, JMD Educational Center, Aiea. Participants will meet Jim Smigielski, author of several cookbooks, and learn how to bring Thailand home with blackened ulu summer rolls, stuffed chicken wings, Thai fried noodles and tapioca with fresh fruit. Smigielski will also give tips on where to find the exotic ingredients.

To register, call 956-8400 from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. Mondays-Fridays; visit the UH-Manoa Outreach College at 2530 Dole St., Sakamaki C104; or connect to http://www.outreach.hawaii.edu. Cost: $38; Course No. S7045.

"Mediterranean Home Cooking": Norma Koenig will stretch your horizons and take you and your kitchen on a wild, plant-base cooking adventure, 9:30-11:45 a.m. Saturday at the Lyon Arboretum, Upstairs Classroom. Cost: $22. Limited enrollment. Register by calling 988-7378.

Exploring Chinatown: Ranjit Cooray leads another tour through Chinatown picking up those unique ingredients used in Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese cooking, 9:30-11:30 a.m. Saturday. Meet in the front of the Bank of Hawaii in the Yee Hop Plaza, corner of North King and Maunakea streets. Cost: $15.50. Limited enrollment. Register by calling 988-7378.

"Pooch Party Picnic": Spend quality time with man's best friend at Dixie Grill's annual benefit for the Hawaiian Humane Society, 11 a.m.-3 p.m. Sunday at the restaurant. There will be country/western costumes for dogs, dog yodeling contests, and entertainment. Tickets are available at Dixie Grill for $20 per pooch and owner and includes lunch catered by Dixie Grill Bar-b-que & Crab Shack for the human and a special dessert for each dog. For information, call 596-8359.

Contest: Win $10,000 in the Quaker Oats recipe contest. Compete in one or all of three categories--cookies; cookies by kids (recipes with kid appeal and entered jointly by an adult and child under age 18); and lower-fat favorites (baked goods, main or side dishes). Three $1,000 first prizes will be awarded and nine $250 runner-up prizes. Entries must be postmarked by Oct. 31. For a set of rules, send a self-addressed stamped business-size envelop to: Rules, P.O. Box 1370, Barrington, Ill. 60011; e-mail a request to OatContest@aol.com; or connect to http://www. quaker oatmeal.com.

Say "Cheese": Kraft Foods is offering five two-week family vacations not exceeding $15,000 each to anywhere in the United States for the family with the winning-est smiles. The "Smile & Say Cheese K-R-A-F-T" contest is open to American families. To enter, submit a photo of your smiling family along with the name and description of your family's favorite cheese dish. Judging will be on originality, creativity, appropriateness to contest theme and composition of the photo elements. To receive contest entry forms and rules, write to: K-R-A-F-T Rules, P.O. Box 35944-OR, Los Angeles, Calif., 90035-0944. Deadline: Dec. 31.

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