Homemade

  Homemade ricotta Total time: About 45 minutes Servings: About 1 pound, or 2 cups Note: This recipe requires the use of a thermometer. 9 cups whole milk 1 cup buttermilk 1 teaspoon salt 2 1/2 tablespoons distilled vinegar 1. Heat the milk and buttermilk in a heavy-bottomed pot over medium heat to a temperature of about 185 degrees. Stir in the salt and vinegar and remove from the heat. Let stand until curds have formed, 5 to 10 minutes.

It's cooking class this week at Try This - for skin cream. If mixing your own cosmetics sounds like fun, here's a recipe we think is worth the effort. The concoction comes courtesy of Rosemary Gladstar, a Vermont-based herbalist and author of "Science and Art of Herbalism" and numerous other titles. "It turns out a really fluffy, beautiful white cream like what you would buy in any fancy cosmetic store," she says. The all-natural moisturizer calls for ingredients that can be found at health food stores or online at places such as Mountain Rose Herbs (www.mountainroseherbs.com)

Ever thought homemade bagels were possible? And great bagels at that? They are, and Peter Reinhart wrote a great story for Food to share his secrets :  " What I am about to explain could get me barred from the Lincoln and Holland tunnels or any other routes into Manhattan. But as a baker who loves bagels and all the things that can go on them, I am duty-bound to dispel urban legends and to tell you that anyone can make great bagels at home, no matter where you live.... "Bagels are about the simplest of all breads to make.

A tradition from pre-Spanish times continues today in a mountain pass near the scenic Ojai Valley in Ventura County. Just like the Chumash Indians, folks are lining up to soak in the mineral hot springs that still bubble up along Matilija Creek in Los Padres National Forest. Nowadays there's more to enjoy than just the soothing waters--you can get massages, delicious meals and even jazz concerts.

Gordon Elwood of Medford, Ore., kept his pants up with a bungee cord, accepted handouts from a food bank and refused to have a phone installed in his home because of the cost. When he died in October at age 79, he left a $10-million fortune. Elwood was among a small fraternity of America's upper class: the penny-pinching, often shabbily dressed wealthy who are almost as much a mystery to the people who know them as to the millions of strangers who read their stories and wonder, "Why?"

The Bodensee, also known as Lake Constance, has been described as Europe's inland sea, and this impression is particularly strong at night when a gusting southeast wind from the Alps churns up the waters and a heavy mist obscures the opposite shore. Forty-six miles long and an hour northeast of Zurich, the Bodensee is an immense, moody lake with a checkered past and a placid, prosperous present.