Registration is necessary for anyone who wants to take “a break from winter” and enjoy a cooking class, “A Taste of Mardi Gras,” with chef Larry Grieco.

The event benefits the Ronald McDonald House of Bangor.

The class will be taught from 6 to 8:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 25, at the Ronald McDonald House, 654 State St., Bangor.

The $20 fee includes the class, the recipes and the meal, and you may register by calling 942-9003.

Patricia Beckwith, the facility’s house manager and executive director, reports Grieco’s class will feature Cajun and Creole cooking.

Attendees will have the opportunity to “help prepare jambalaya, gumbo, seafood cakes and muffuletta,” Beckwith wrote.

And while muffuletta will be great for a Mardi Gras event, Beckwith also suggested it would be “a great addition to a Super Bowl Party.”

A muffuletta is a type of sandwich that is considered a specialty of New Orleans.

For more information about the class, or about the Ronald McDonald House, call the number listed.

As the St. Croix Valley Amateur Radio Club enters 2008, Ann Carter reminds interested individuals its monthly breakfast meetings are “more of a social occasion,” while its monthly business meeting “is always both business and pleasure.

Carter invites anyone who is interested in what “hams do or how to become a ham,” to attend either meeting.

The next breakfast meeting is 7 a.m. Sunday, Jan. 13, at the Wickachee Restaurant in Calais.

The next business meeting is 6:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 20, at Methodist Homes Recreation Center, Palmer Street in Calais.

Robin Long of the Bangor Y has announced that Donna Kraft-Smith will discuss home remedies for chronic pain when the Caring Connections Bone Health Information and Discussion Group meets at 10 a.m. Tuesday, Jan. 15, at the Bangor Y’s 17 Second St. location.

According to Long, Kraft-Smith “is a practicing, licensed, massage therapist” with 21 years of experience who uses “natural remedies to create her therapeutic massage sessions.”

The meeting will feature a discussion of natural lotions, herbs for cooking, the use of hot and cold water, herbal teas, and self-acupressure techniques.

The meeting is free, and anyone who has concerns about bone health is most welcome to attend.

You will enjoy a calcium-rich snack and recipe, and more information is available by calling Long at 941-2808.

She reminds you that Caring Connections is a cooperative program of the Y and Eastern Maine Medical Center, supported through fundraising efforts of Healthcare Charities.

Here is a very special invitation for parents of preteens extended by Melissa Gray on behalf of Downeast Health Services in Ellsworth and several other Hancock County organizations and agencies.

You are invited to a Parent Information Fair from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 17, at the Downeast Family YMCA after-school site at 397 High St., Ellsworth. Gray said it is, “directly across from Pat’s Pizza.”

Gray wonders whether parents of preteens in the area are “prepared for a teenager,” or if you feel “out-of-touch with the topics preteens are dealing with.”

At the fair, staff of area programs and agencies “will be available to answer questions parents may have about their upcoming teenager,” and you will have the opportunity to “discuss topics and current trends in our area.”

Participating staff members include those representing Downeast Health Services, Hancock County Children’s Council (Baby Think It Over), Big Brothers-Big Sisters of Eastern Maine, Downeast Sexual Assault Services (Internet Training), Family Life Education and Family Planning services, The Next Step and Downeast Family YMCA.

If you have questions, or want more information, you are welcome to call Downeast Health Services at 667-5304, or e-mail info@downeasthealth.org.

Beth Lambert, secretary of What’s for Suppa? Food Pantry, e-mailed with helpful news for families finding it difficult to put food on the table during the winter months.

Lambert wrote that the food pantry “will increase operating days, during the winter months, from January through April.”

The pantry now will be open “every two weeks, instead of once a month, beginning Wednesday, Jan. 16.”

The pantry will be open from noon to 5:30 p.m. bimonthly, starting that day, at the Mariaville Grange Hall.

The What’s for Suppa? Food Pantry “serves those in need from the towns of Mariaville, Otis, Amherst, Aurora, Osborn and Great Pond.”

Joni Averill, Bangor Daily News, P.O. Box 1329, Bangor 04402; javerill@bangordailynews.net; 990-8288.