Graters are useful additions to your collection of kitchen utensils. They are versatile and can be used on a range of food products especially cheese and vegetables. From the preparation of a simple meal to an elaborate spread with delicate finishing touches.

Graters come in many different sizes and shapes. A grater with a coarse blade is ideal for grating apples for pie or chocolate for dessert. One with a fine blade grates parmesan for pasta or ginger for curry. A slicing blade lets you create even slices of cucumber for salad or potato for casseroles and, with the prickly-looking grinding blade, you can grind citrus peel for a tart or spices like nutmeg.

American Grammy-winning singer Regina Belle was the surprise guest artiste at the National Commercial Bank's (NCB's) Pinnacle Awards Ceremony held at the Wyndham Kingston Hotel, St Andrew, on Saturday night.

The function was held to laud the bank's top performing employees for the Financial Year 2010/2011 and was under the theme 'Celebrating Excellence'.

The legendary singer, whose hits included Something's Got a Hold on Me and rhythm and blues standard At Last, has passed away aged 73 after a battle with leukaemia.

She had been diagnosed with the condition in 2010, according to her long-time friend and manager, Lupe De Leon, and died in hospital in Riverside, California.

I received a flood of e-mails last week in response to my food allergy piece. It seems that many people out there are living with this problem and were grateful for my article. Some asked how we could lobby pharmaceutical companies or even the Ministry of Health for drugs not yet available in Jamaica now that allergies are on the increase. Others pointed out that I should have mentioned our beloved national fruit, the ackee, as a common allergen in Jamaica. One lady expressed how she felt so alone, that people thought she was being weird or a hypochondriac as they didn't believe food was the root cause of her illness. She told me she showed the naysayers my piece and felt vindicated. I appreciate the feedback and hope more dialogue will ensue at other levels about food allergies and how to control them.

The search to find Miss Jamaica Universe 2012 commences this weekend.

The promoters of this year's pageant have organised a series of castings covering the three counties, ahead of the selection of a final bevy of contestants.

The City of Hamilton today announced it has signed a Collective Bargaining Agreement for its management group. Making the announcement was Hamilton Mayor Charles Gosling.

AS Jamaica prepares to celebrate 50 years of Independence from British rule, chairman of the Church of God in Jamaica, Reverend Lenworth Anglin, has issued a call for the breaking down of the walls of divisiveness so as to facilitate reconciliation and the rebuilding of the country.

A distinguished professor of education from the United States and a former teacher at a transformed local high school both agree that working with community stakeholders such as churches, businesses and youth groups to develop programmes to respond to the people's needs is critical to changing the output of underperforming schools.

ROY Thompson was remembered by friends and loved ones as an avid sportsman with a jovial personality during the service of thanksgiving for his life at the Phillippo Baptist Church in Spanish Town, St Catherine last Saturday, which included scripture lessons being read by daughters Janeife and Tamika.