All the Ingredients for a Fulfilling Day

It is a good day to graze.

Think of all those lean salads consumed in the last three months, each picked over with the conviction that you really can wear a bathing suit one size smaller.

Remember the months of deprivation, the weeks when ordinary lettuce took on a moral stature?

Now, aren’t you hungry? Good. Because we’ve got a couple of different feed bags you can strap on today: one for a good cause; the other for a little wholesome fun.

The first is the 13th Annual Festival of Chefs to benefit the Long Beach Youth Home. It offers the best of 23 Long Beach restaurants, ranging from popular eateries to undiscovered hole-in-the-strip-mall joints.

For a $35 entrance fee, eat your way through offerings from Buon Gusto Trattoria, Hamburger Henry and the singles’ drinking establishment, Barwinkle’s.

Try the chicken fajitas from El Pollo Pronto or move on to clam chowder from Jimmy’s Fish & Grill, Cajun sausage and rice from Johnny Reb’s, or chicken Dijon from Simon and Seafort’s.

No need to blow the whole diet here, but a sampling from even half of these restaurants may bring on a delicious feeling of naughtiness--and haven’t you been good for long enough? Besides, all proceeds will go to the Youth Home, which provides shelter for about 40 boys from 11 to 17, who have been abused or neglected. This is one of two annual fund-raisers for the home and it usually brings the organization $10,000 to $15,000.

The party begins at 4 p.m. today at the Long Beach Youth Home, 4151 Fountain St. Western attire is optional. Information: 494-7491.

For those who may have had a little too much fun last night, we have a different idea. A bit north of Long Beach along Pacific Coast Highway, there is a cure for that lingering headache, that bad mood: menudo .

Not just menudo , but the winners of the big Menudo Cook-off, part of the 12th annual Wilmington Fiesta. It’s not just a soup; it’s a secret Mexican cure for hangovers. No chili cook-off could do that for you.

The top three winners of Saturday’s competition will be ladling out the results of their secret recipes today. Don’t think about the ingredients, generally a mixture of tripe (that’s a cow or ox stomach), chili, cilantro, lemon, oregano. Just let it work its magic cure.

After that, you’ll be ready for the Ferris wheel, the high-speed hammer, or any of the carnival rides offered at the fiesta, along with live music and all the other food vendors.

The Wilmington Fiesta is today, from noon to 8 p.m., at Banning Park, 400 E. Pacific Coast Highway at M Street. Admission is $5. Information: 835-1751 or 549-0052.