You get four babushkas," said my husband.

"Out of how many?" I asked.

"Four," he said, digging again into his halushki.

High praise from a guy who's half-Slovak to a woman who's mostly German.

Halushki isn't something I've made often, but on this lazy fall Sunday afternoon, searching for a dish I knew would make him happy and that was a snap to make, halushki seemed a natural.

Local cabbage is still plentiful, so I sliced and diced one, boiled it, sauted onions, added noodles -- voila!

I am a bit chagrined to say I had to look for a recipe; no self-respecting southwestern Pennsylvanian should have to do this. Even authors of conventional cookbooks (Better Homes and Gardens, Fannie Farmer) seemed to know that and failed me. So I went to the Web and found one pronto.

Cookbook author Jean Johnson would've told me to wing it.

Her new "Cooking Beyond Measure: How to Eat Well Without Formal Recipes" (Seventy-Sixth Avenue Press, $16.95) encourages today's cooks to shuck the measuring cups and spoons.

Freestyle in your kitchen for more enjoyment of cooking and food, and for better health, she writes. Release your creativity and draw on what's local and in the pantry to stir up a storm.

Her book is full of suggestions for slicing and dicing fruits and vegetables, and for using high-nutrition grains such as quinoa and millet. A chapter explaining how to make a simple sprout jar for beans, alfalfa seeds and wheat berries is intriguing.

It's a bit jarring as you read her recipes to be given no measurements. Her obvious longtime experience with cooking shows in her knowledge of how flavors and textures mix, and she encourages cooks to learn and experiment.

A sample recipe:

Start with water, tomatoes and salsa. Add sliced leeks, grated carrot, cooked pinto beans, and leftover millet. Stir in fish sauce, balsamic vinegar, black pepper and red wine. Cut the heat and fold in a rustic chop of kale. Garnish with diced parmesan.

(Ms. Johnson says to keep cooked millet in the fridge to sub for pasta: One part millet to two parts salted water, bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and cover. Simmer for about 20 minutes until fluffy.)

This recipe -- more like a little soup poem -- "shows how many of the rules we can bend -- like skipping the onion saute or the adding of the sacred bay leaf -- and still come up with good food."

Four babushkas to her.

The "Cookies, Cookies, Cookies!!" class conducted by Chef Jeff Ward at the Buffalo Inn in South Park has been moved from Saturday to 6:30 p.m. Tuesday. If you have already registered, e-mail gardens@alleghenycounty.us or call 412-835-2112 to say whether you can still attend.

From 6 to 10 a.m. today and tomorrow, get a free latte with a breakfast order to go at Eat'n Park's remodeled Monroeville store, 3987 Monroeville Blvd. The store now has a takeout window, the first for the chain. Order ahead by phone (412-471-1111) and pickup at the window; or order at the window and park nearby until your order is ready.

Updated are upholstery, wallpaper, carpet and window coverings, and the location has a new counter section, booths and tables. It sports a bakery display and Smiley Stuff retail shop as well.

Saturday's the day for the Good Taste Pittsburgh Food Show, from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. at the Pittsburgh Expo Mart, Monroeville.

Dozens of exhibitors, from food purveyors to kitchen stores to restaurants to publications -- name your culinary niche, it'll be represented -- will join celebrities of the food world at the show. Those include the Hearty Boys from Food Network (Dan Smith and Steve McDonagh), "The Perfect Recipe" author Pamela Anderson (not the other one), the 2007 American Pizza champion David Smith, and Steelers chefs Rick Laskie and Corey Hayes.

Go to goodtastepittsburgh.com, where you can get a discount on the $15 admission. Parking is free.

Chef Shaun Alcorn, owner of Bella Cucina in Franklin, Venango County, has again been crowned Western Regional Pennsylvania Preferred Best Chef. He won the title for the second year in a row in an Iron Chef-type competition Oct. 5 with Chef Nate Barker of the Springfield Grille in Mercer, Mercer County. The chefs had 30 minutes to create dishes from a "blind bin" of ingredients that included eggs, bacon, Empire apples, trout, cilantro, strawberries, poblano chilies, anchovies and Volant Mill Chambourcin.

Chef Alcorn, who received $500, will compete Jan. 15 for the state title during the Pennsylvania Farm Show.

Dozen Bake Shop, Lawrenceville, will hold a bridal open house from noon to 5 p.m. Saturday.

Sample the shop's vanilla and chocolate cupcakes and discuss catering with owner/baker James Gray. Also attending will be Allison McGeary of Allison McGeary Floral & Event Design and Rich Rosenthal of M Catering. Go to www.dozenbakeshop.com or call (412) 621-4740.

Whole Foods Market, East Liberty, is selling reusable shopping bags (made of 80 percent post-consumer plastic bottles) bearing an artist's depiction of a tree and words by singer Sheryl Crow. Large, 99 cents; small, 79 cents.

PG tested

• 1 head cabbage
• 8-ounce package noodles
• 1 large onion
• 4 tablespoons butter
• Salt and pepper to taste

Shred cabbage and boil in a little water for about 6 minutes. Cook noodles until soft. Drain. Brown onion in butter. Mix all ingredients together. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

-- cooks.com