Grazing

UFC 158 takes place Saturday night from Montreal, headlined by a UFC welterweight title bout pitting champion Georges St. Pierre and challenger Nick Diaz. The contest, expected to be one of the biggest pay-per-view attractions of the year, has featured a unique buildup and hype. The mercurial Diaz was controversially selected for the title shot despite losing his last bout and failing a post-fight drug test. St. Pierre and UFC president Dana White justified this decision by saying St. Pierre was angry at Diaz and thought the "disrespectful" Diaz "deserves a beatdown.

SEATTLE - The long-running detective saga involving one of North America's earliest inhabitants has taken a new twist, with news that Kennewick Man - the shockingly intact 9,300-year-old skeleton unearthed in 1996 on the banks of the Columbia River - probably was a visitor to central Washington, not a longtime inhabitant. More likely, Smithsonian Institution anthropologist Douglas Owsley announced in a pair of lectures this week in Washington state, he came from the coast, not the arid inland valley where his remains were found.

It's the last thing you expect to see in multimillion-dollar digs on exclusive Pelican Hill: a goat grazing in the foyer. Even the wooden one from a Parisian carousel that welcomes guests to the luxurious home of Louis and Mary Kay VanderMolen. After all, the hilltop estates of the tony Newport Coast development have a reputation for containing serious treasures--rare Turkish rugs, original artworks, museum-quality antiques. Not to worry. The VanderMolen home has all of the above, and more.

We've been snorkeling in warm Caribbean waters, following the underwater trail along the coral reefs of Trunk Bay off St. John Island. Through our face plates we can read about the reefs and fish on display markers beside the trail. With a flick of its golden tail, a butterfly fish lured me toward a patch of coral, where the blue shimmer of a queen parrotfish was leading my wife Elfriede astray.

It surfaces from time to time: the belief that it's better to eat a series of small meals rather than three squares a day, that somehow eating small is easier on the digestive system. Not so. There's no evidence grazing is better, reports the University of California, Berkeley, Wellness Newsletter. The body needs the nutrients it needs, and that's that.

On one side, there is the lone man and his flock of sheep grazing on land made sweet and abundant by winter rains. On the other side, gritty platoons of weapon-toting Marines rumbling across the horizon. In a plan forged by the Camp Pendleton Environmental Natural Resources Management Office, six herds are allowed to graze on the 125,000-acre base every few weeks from February to June. Fees collected go toward Marine Corps conservation projects.

What was once called snacking has been upgraded to grazing--and it is done in all the best places. Some of these restaurants sport a separate grazing or bar menu, full of hors d'oeuvres, appetizers and the like. Other restaurants have entire menus filled with little dishes--the point is to order enough of them to fill you up. CITY RESTAURANT (180 S. La Brea Ave., Los Angeles, (213) 938-2155).

Re "Weaning West's Ranchers Off 'Cowboy Socialism,' " editorial, Aug. 27: The editorial is based on a number of factual inaccuracies resulting in a poorly informed opinion that misleads your readers. The Public Rangelands Management Act has been passed out of the Senate committee and is awaiting action on the floor. Sen. Pete Domenici (R-N.M.) has indicated his willingness to continue to work with his colleagues to craft good legislation and we support him in that effort. You repeat unsubstantiated claims by opponents to the legislation as though fact.

The Scene: Monday's West Coast premiere of the Environmental Media Assn. and HBO documentary "Earth and the American Dream," which airs Thursday. The screening and reception were at the Directors Guild. "It's the story of our pursuit of the American dream," said director Bill Couturie. "And the price the Earth paid to make that dream come true."

M eze (pronounced mezzeh ) is a word you see on Greek, Yugoslav and Near Eastern menus of every stripe. Originally it was just Persian for "a taste," but it's become the name for a whole repertoire of small dishes, or a meal made up of them (the more the better). Just about anything can be meze , so long as it's not sweet and you can put it on a small plate.