Meal

NEWTON - Dan Kennedy will graduate from Boston College on Monday, summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, and the recipient of the school's most prestigious prize, the Edward H. Finnegan Award. Winners of the Finnegan, given to the student who best exemplifies the BC motto, "ever to excel," tend to go big - top grad schools, Wall Street, overseas fellowships. Kennedy is planning to give away his computer, recycle his Blackberry, and move to a modest communal house in St. Paul, Minn.

Gaining weight is not just the result of the number of calories eaten but also may have to do with the time of day those calories are consumed, at least in mice. The researchers, from the Salk Institute in California and elsewhere, fed the mice a high-fat diet or a standard diet. Some of the mice were allowed to eat only within an eight-hour period each day and the others were given an unrestricted amount of time to eat. When mice on the high-fat diet were restricted to eating within eight hours, they consumed just as much as those on the same diet who were permitted to eat around the clock.

It could have been one soggy brown bag too many that prompted London-based award-winning designers Dan Black and Martin Blum to come up with a better way to carry lunch. Inspired by Japanese bento boxes, Black+Blum's Box Appetit (about $22) is a well-crafted, sturdy polypropylene box with a transparent lid that locks firmly in place. In addition to a small covered insert for dressing or nuts, there's a covered triangular dish for a sandwich or salad and space in the middle for the rest of your meal.

Patrons of local restaurants and hotels will pay a little more as a result of increased taxes passed by Town Meeting earlier this month. The extra taxes will generate an estimated $180,000 for the town, according to Town Manager Philip Lemnios. The hotel tax will go from 4 to 6 percent, he said, and the restaurant tax will increase by three quarters of a percent. He said Town Meeting voted not to go ahead with a proposal for JPods – a monorail-like, solar-powered transportation system that would have run from Nantasket Junction to Pemberton Pier and Nantasket Beach.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - Space shuttle Atlantis’ astronauts thought they were going to give thanks with pantry leftovers yesterday as their mission drew to a close, but found turkey dinners awaiting them. The meal switch was revealed yesterday when a TV interviewer brought up the absence of turkey dinners on Atlantis. “That’s not going to be on your menu today, is it?’’ the interviewer asked. “Shockingly, yes, I think it will be,’’ commander Charles Hobaugh said as some crew members grabbed the unopened pouches of turkey and trimmings, and let them float around.

One of the great pleasures of coastal living is being able to enjoy a relaxed meal in an outdoor setting overlooking the ocean, when temperatures allow. Plymouth’s newest addition, the Waterfront Bar & Grill, offers a lovely view of the town’s harbor from a second-story deck. And its peaceful color scheme, a wash of blues and whites both inside and out, is a great fit with the ocean setting. One recent evening, we were lucky enough to score an outdoor table overlooking the harbor.

CAMBRIDGE - An arabesque with your dessert? While dinner theater has been a popular genre for years, dinner dance has never quite caught on. Theater can be done in an area the size of a tabletop if need be, but dance performances generally require room to stretch and a forgiving floor. Spread out a 10-foot-square marley floor in the right room, throw in some rudimentary theatrical lighting, trot out eight dynamite dancers in charming routines, and precede it with a terrific meal, though, and you have the makings for a very tasty show.

Cuts of ham can be confusing. They can be brined, wet-cured, or dry-cured. They’re sold as whole or half legs; if it’s half, it’s either the shank (tapered) or the butt (rounded) end. Finally, the meat might be bone-in (also called semiboneless) or boneless. What you’ll typically find at our markets is a fully cooked, half ham, cured with a brine, weighing 7 to 10 pounds. Heat it for maximum flavor and brush with a sweet glaze that caramelizes in the oven. If you buy a precut (“spiral cut’’)

When it comes to making dinner, Thursdays are the bane of my existence. After a long week of work and juggling kids' schedules, usually by that day I'm starting to look to the weekend and the chance to relax for a few minutes. The last thing I want to do is think about what to cook. So I found myself drawn in by Jane DeLaney, founder of eMeals.com , when she told me about the inspiration behind her subscription-based meal-planning service. DeLaney's Dinner Planning Tips for Families 1)

Every traveler has tales to tell: delayed flights, run-down hotels, misplaced passports, dreadful food. When you’re away from home, meals are especially important. They provide rest during jam-packed days, time to review where you’ve been and where you’re headed, a moment to savor some of the culture that brought you there in the first place. Even people who wouldn’t call themselves foodies are keen to discover a bit of local color on their plate or in their glass. When what you encounter is dull or frankly unpleasant it can easily spoil the day’s...

Can't face another night at the stove, knowing that whatever you make is doomed? We sought advice from top moms (defined as mothers whose families grumble slightly less than average). Good luck, and bon appetit. Fajitas are your friends. Put out a variety of fillings — chicken, grilled vegetables, grated cheese, rice — and let each combatant assemble his own. Everyone's basically eating the same thing, meaning you didn't commit the sin of making a different meal for each person.

Wh en Debbie Siegel hears her husband and their 5-year-old daughter pull into their Newton driveway at the end of the day, her stress starts to build. "I feel the tension in my shoulders," she says. Marital strife? No. It's the prospect of the inevitable battle over dinner options with little Hannah. "I hope there's not a major temper tantrum and we can just get to the table," says Siegel, a woman confident enough to head her own company, Westchester Mortgage, who nonetheless fears a meal with her own child.

BELMONT — This time, there's a lot of ajvar. The Serbian relish of roasted peppers and eggplant plays a role in Tea Obreht's bestseller, "The Tiger's Wife. " Tonight, the dish is part of a buffet served at the home of Ann Silverman and Israel Fridman. Silverman and Fridman are hosting their book group, which has been meeting for nearly four years to discuss literary works ranging from classics to current literature, and to share a meal. Over time, the meal has evolved into a culinary celebration of whatever book is on the group's agenda, with dishes that reflect the culture and...

SOMERVILLE – Once a month, Alyssa Napoleon bakes a batch of cookies. In itself, that's no big deal. Added to the efforts of 200 or so other cooks who make up the volunteer corps of Community Cooks, it becomes a very big deal and provides meals to hundreds of hungry, vulnerable, and at-risk people in the area. Individual efforts have become a collective force thanks to galvanizing efforts of Vicki I, the group's founder. Some 20 years ago, she and a friend had a modest idea.

At Town Meeting Monday, residents voted to adopt a 7.5 percent local meals tax, and approved $24,000 to purchase a boat for the harbormaster. They also defeated a proposed demolition delay bylaw, voted to take no action on a revision of the animal control laws, and made the assessor an appointed rather than an elected position. Voters also approved an annual operating budget of $12.6 million for fiscal year 2013, and approved $12.7 million for its portion of the Manchester Essex Regional School District budget.

Voters in Abington's annual Town Meeting approved a proposed 0.75 percent local meals tax on Monday, a move expected to help provide revenue for several town projects. Though selectmen twice turned down the proposal, about three-quarters of the nearly 300 voters at Town Meeting voted in favor of the tax, which will take effect July 1. The state Department of Revenue estimates that the tax could bring up to $225,000 to the town annually. In the past, selectmen had expressed concerns about local restaurateurs losing business if diners opted to drive to a nearby town that did not have a meals tax.

It’s the end of a wonderful meal, and the staff at Bondir is tiptoeing past our table, arms full of woolens. They stop in front of the fireplace, where they unfurl our coats, holding them before the flames until the garments are toasty. It’s a cold night we’re heading into. They want us to take some of the restaurant’s warmth with us. It’s one last thoughtful gesture at this most thoughtful restaurant, a reflection of its chef-owner, Jason Bond. When you’re seated by the fire having a glass of wine before dinner, some little nibble appears at your elbow — perhaps periwinkles to be extracted from their...

This column goes out to anyone who’s ever wondered where to celebrate a special occasion in the North End, no expense spared. It also goes out to anyone who’s wondered where to have a delicious but reasonably priced meal in that neighborhood. That probably covers just about everyone living in the Greater Boston area. Everyone wants to eat in the North End, with its cobblestone charm and cannoli. It’s the place to go for Italian food in Italian food-loving Boston. Or is it?

The Islamic Center of Boston will host its annual spring fund-raiser from 6 to 9 p.m. April 28 at 126 Boston Post Road. The keynote speech is "The Fatigue of Shari'a" by Ahmad Atif Ahmad, an associate professor of religious studies at the University of California Santa Barbara. Tickets are $35, or $10 for children under age 10. The children's ticket includes a meal and babysitting. For more information, visit www.icbwayland.org. - Jennifer Fenn Lefferts

SAN FRANCISCO - Children in California will still be able to get toys with their Happy Meals. A judge has dismissed a proposed class-action lawsuit that sought to stop McDonald's Corp. from using toys to market meals to children. The suit was filed in 2010 by Monet Parham, a California mother of two, and the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a consumer advocacy group. The suit claimed the hamburger chain was violating consumer protection laws and exploiting children's vulnerability to lure them into eating nutritionally unbalanced meals that can lead to obesity.