News from the Grace Rush kitchen out Cincinnati way: The dark Martha Ann fruitcake, which built the business, has a new honey-gold sister, white fruitcake by name.

One glorious month in the Far West on the hunt for good things to pass on to gourmets. First stop Seattle, to visit Samuel Martin, importer of men's topcoats.

Dark red, clear as crystal, it pours from the bottle, a smooth, velvety syrup with a glistening look. Ribena by name, made from pure black currant juice and sugar, not a thing else.

Honey in comb for a summer breakfast treat. Crash in with the fork, spill out the white clover sweetness, a bee's content distilled with a trace of the basswood bloom.

We found Ruth Tao Kim Hai, an American woman, through her husband, Andre M. Tao Kim Hai, a Vietnamese writer who'd done a few stories for us in the '40s.

Lindt Swiss Chocolate returns to America, the first shipment here since before the war. Back in a variety of kinds: semisweet milk, extra bitter, chocolate with marrons, with hazelnuts, with mocha.

New Orleans, Queen City of the Mississippi. Sip a Ramos gin fizz, dull circs forgotten, bury disappointments in a heady Sazerac.

Easter ahead. Everything points to it. The winds soft; the roots are stirring. Plan now to bring the golden foods to the table.

Giving a party? Want cheese, lots of cheese to serve pass-the-tray fashion? Order the gold box from the Dairyland Cheese Company Madison 3, Wisconsin.

Rain or shine, spring's in the bones. Undeniable evidence at Ye Olde Herb Shoppe, 46 Dey Street, New York. Here are spring tonics for sale, the old-fashioned kinds made of bark, seed, and berry to turn into teas to quicken the blood....