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Eliot plays YMCA basketball in Eugene on Saturday, Feb. 4.

Lamb has always been a favorite of mine. A roasted leg of lamb was my first choice for childhood birthday dinners, and it’s hard to imagine anything that smells better than crispy grilled lamb chops on a bed of rosemary. On a cold winter evening, this recipe from the Cordon Bleu in Paris is just what I want. When you lift the lid on the cooking pot, a cloud of herby, garlicky, lamby steam is released, revealing browned chops on a bed of sliced potatoes. For this recipe you want the larger, flatter blade-cut shoulder chops that take well to braising,…

Try topping with peanuts and chocolate chips People who say they don’t love pie are not to be trusted, says Dani Cone, pie queen and owner of both High 5 Pie and Fuel Coffee in Seattle, in the introduction to “Cutie Pies: 40 Sweet, Savory and Adorable Recipes.” I must be very trustworthy then. I love pie. Cone loves her pies, too, making them in all sorts of shapes and flavors. The first chapter covers four crusts: all butter, vegan, gluten-free and graham-cracker crumb. I admire Cone’s honesty about gluten-free pies. Cooking without gluten can mean using ingredients you might not…

I first tasted Ginger Sesame Salad Dressing at The Mustard Seed restaurant in Missoula, Mont. I can’t recall anything else from the menu, and I ate there often, but the salad dressing was memorable. I would go there just to have the salad. I’ve had this recipe for so long, there is no paper trail as to where I found it, but I’m glad I did. This delicious blend of fresh ginger, toasted sesame seeds and soy sauce fancies up almost any salad or vegetable, so you can use it to perk up a plain main dish. The one essential piece…

It’s just about 2012. About a year ago I called Brian to see if he wanted to go to lunch. We met at the Metropol Bakery down on Willamette St., had a quick visit and a sandwich. As ever, we made jokes about practically nothing and laughed. We had done that, off-and-on for about 37 years. The next time I talked to him, he was in Seattle, getting ready to photograph Bill Russell for Sports Illustrated, the next morning. It was the third to the last time I talked to him. When I look back at 2011, a lot of not-that-great…