For three hours each day, they speak one language - basketball. Off the court, however, their diversity is easily noted in their accents, languages - and favorite foods. The Phoenix Mercury, now in its second year, includes professional women athletes from the United States, Australia, Germany, Russia, and Slovakia. Each loves the game, as evidenced by the nomadic lifestyle to which they subject themselves. Three months of the year, Mercury players live here in communal Phoenix digs. Then its off to play wherever there is a game and a contract.

European influence
Phoenix Mercury center Jennifer Gillom, 34, has been one of those nomads. For 11 years, and a career that has included and Olympic gold medal, Gillom lived overseas playing basketball in Turkey, Greece and Italy. It was from a family in Milan that she learned to make Carbonara, Chicken Fettucine and Spaghetti Ragu, dishes that are a far cry from her Southern roots.
   Home cooking in Oxford, Miss., included plenty of vegetables, meatloaf and a variety of chicken dishes along with peach cobbler. But, Gillom didn't learn to cook any of these dishes from her mother, Ella Ree.
   "My mom wouldn't let us in the kitchen," Gillom recalled of her childhood as one of 10 children. "I think she was afraid we would burn down the house."
   While her mother found time to cook those three meals a day for her small army of Gilloms, her Phoenix Mercury daughter does not. At least she doesn't find the time during the WNBA season. Playing overseas is another matter. In Europe, games are about once a week.
   "There's nothing else to do," Gillom said on spending time in the kitchen there. Pasta is likely to be the choice for her main meal.
   "Sometimes I find myself inventing things," Gillom said. Without a recipe to serve as a guideline, those inventions don't always work out. Take, for example, Pasta alla Norma. "Yeah, that was one of my bloopers," Gillom said, throwing back her head and laughing. "I just can't get the eggplant soft."
   And then there are the cakes she attempts from time to time. Gillom admitted to having a little problem with the sugar portion of the equation.
   "My mom is a good cook. She had her own garden," Gillom said. Sunday dinner was the culinary highlight of the week at the Gillom house. "We indulged," Gillom said, smiling. A roast of some sort most likely would be on the menu that day along with loads of cooked vegetables, including collard greens and corn. Dessert might be sweet potato pie or blackberry cobbler.
   "Blackberries grow wild around us," Gillom said of her Mississippi home. "I used to make money picking and selling blackberries."

Multi-meal menus
Chili's is where Mercury power forward Michelle Griffiths likes to go when she eats out. The 25-year-old Australian admitted to a soft spot for fajitas, though don't expect to find them on the dinner table in her Phoenix apartment.
   "My husband is a plain eater," Griffiths said. "No spices. No garlic. He doesn't like rice or corn."
   Which means that often when she does cook, Griffiths is cooking two meals.
   "He does like my lasagna, though. It's crispy, not sloppy," she said.
   But meals like that are real treats for Griffiths, partly because of the limited time she has for meal preparation but also because she watches her diet.
   "I have to watch what I eat because I tend to put on weight during the season and it is hard for me to lose it," Griffiths said.
   A meal for her might consist of a salad sandwich along with some fruit and yogurt. For her husband, Steve, it is Chicken Schnitzel, a chicken breast dipped in egg and batter and fried.
   "My mum cooked every meal even though she worked full time as an exec secretary," recalled Griffiths of her years growing up in Adelaide, Australia. "If there wasn't much money, we'd have a rice dish. Otherwise, it would be steak, potatoes, carrots, peas."
   Curried Sausage and Apricot Chicken were standard fare in her Australian home, though her mother did not consider herself a good cook.
   "She couldn't even make scones," Griffiths said.
   Her mother was able to show her how to cook roast, pork and lamb, and when she has the time and inclination, Griffiths makes those. "For some season, people think it is hard to cook roast, but it's not. You just have to put it in the oven and there you have it."
   Griffiths admitted she struggles with eating when she goes overseas. "It's not bad in London, but in Asia I might just have a bowl of rice."
   Generally, when she travels she carries with her sultans (raisins), cereal and Vegimite, a salty Australian spread eaten on bread or crackers along with butter.
   "Pumpkin soup is something I do miss from home," Griffiths said. "No one knows what it is over here."
   Another food she misses is Meat Pie, similar to American pot pies.

Worldly travel and recipes
   "In Australia, meat and three veggies is a classic," said Carrie Graf, 31, one of three assistant coaches for the Mercury.
   Graf grew up in what she described as a traditional home in Melbourne - two parents, who are both schoolteachers, and two brothers, one younger and one older.
   "When I was young, my daddy couldn't even boil peas," Graf said. "Now that he's retired, he's become the chef of the family."
   Knowing her love of food - known as tagine. A Moroccan tagine is a shallow, round casserole with a conical lid like a pointed hat.
   "I have tried Durrant's and was impressed with that," Graf said of the Phoenix restaurant. She also has sampled foods at Sam's Cafe and Lombardi's, two other Phoenix restaurants, and found them to her liking.
   But mostly she cooks at home. Gourmet, Food & Wine and the Joy of Cooking sit on Graf's coffee table as a game between the Charlotte Sting and Detroit Shock plays on the television.
   After basketball, Graf said she is dead serious about opening a country-style caf‚ and also having a "veggie patch" to tend to. But for now, "I'd like to keep being an assistant coach in the WNBA and someday a head coach."

Michelle Griffith's Orange Glazed Maple Bananas
Bananas
Maple Syrup
Orange Juice
Vanilla Ice Cream
Quarter the bananas (one per person) and place them in a skillet. Drizzle the bananas with the maple syrup and pour orange juice over the top until the bananas are nearly covered.
On low heat, simmer the bananas until they are soft. You might need to add more maple syrup to avoid the orange juice being too intense. (The taste should be somewhere between orange juice and maple syrup.) Place the warm bananas in bowls and serve topped with vanilla ice cream.

Jennifer Gillom's Carbonara
4 ounces of thin spaghetti
3 ounces grated Parmesan cheese
2 tablespoons butter
8 ounces bacon
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
In a large pot, boil water and cook pasta for 6 to 8 minutes.
While the pasta is cooking, melt the butter in a skillet and add the chopped bacon; cook for 5 minutes. The bacon should not be crisp but "limp cooked."
In a small bowl, mix the eggs, grated Parmesan and salt for 1 minute. Pour this mixture into the skillet with the bacon.
Drain and rinse the pasta in a colander and return to the pan. Combine the pasta with the bacon mixture and stir on a low stove-top setting for 2 to 3 minutes.
Serves 2.

Carrie Graf's Pumpkin, Ricotta and Pesto Pasta
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 pounds pumpkin squash, seeded, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
10 ounces ricotta cheese
1 pound spaghetti, linguine or fettuccine
1/2 cup pesto (can be purchased in jars)
Heat olive oil in roasting pan.
Add the pumpkin and toss to cook in oil, then return to oven and cook for 30 minutes at 350 degrees or until tender and golden.
Meanwhile, slice ricotta and place on an oven tray and brush with a little olive oil. Season to taste, cooking under the broiler for 5 minutes or until it is golden brown.
Cook pasta in boiling, salted water until al dente. Drain and toss with a little olive oil.
Gently toss the pumpkin with the pasta and the crumbled ricotta. Top with a generous spoonful of pesto. Serves 4.

-Reprinted with the permission of the Tribune Newspapers. c1998 Tribune Newspapers.