Monday, August 8, 2011 at 4:00AM 
By Sandy Hu
I love endive – braised, grilled, in salads or as an edible scoop for dips. I’ll eat this crunchy, nutty, slightly bitter vegetable any way it’s served.
So you can imagine my delight when I was invited last Wednesday to Rio Vista, California, for an endive farm tour at California Vegetable Specialties (CVS), the largest producer of endive in the U.S.
Friday, August 5, 2011 at 4:00AM 
By Joy Liao
Thai cooking is by far, one of my favorites. I love that it utilizes simple, fresh ingredients to create bold, aromatic flavors. While Thai fare is famous for lots of spice and heat, it's also celebrated for balanced flavors with components of sweet, sour and savory.
Aside from the popularized Pad Thai noodles and Thai curries, there is a slew of amazing dishes like Larb. Admittedly, the first time I ordered this dish, it was simply because I found the name interesting. To my dismay, a few of my dinner companions thought the name rather off-putting. Little did we know, Larb, really pronounced 'Laab,' would become one of the best discoveries we'd ever make.
Thursday, August 4, 2011 at 4:00AM For centuries, dough has been shaped, molded, dropped into boiling water or simmering stock to poach. I grew up eating Southern-style chicken and dumplings. Maybe this explains my adult love for the little, more refined spaetzle.
Sometimes I imagine having a German grandmother on the plains of Texas making spaetzle instead of its bigger dumpling cousin. Spaetzle is a cross between dumplings and pasta. They are boiled and then pan-fried in butter. The boys like to eat them plain, sprinkled with Parmesan cheese.
Wednesday, August 3, 2011 at 4:00AM 
By Lori Powell
There is a local farmers’ market about a quarter of a mile up the road, open on Sundays from 9 to 1. After watching “CBS This Morning,” my go-to show and a regular weekend ritual, I grab my market bags and stop by to check out the new offerings. This week, there was an abundance of cucumbers, tomatoes and corn.
A freshly-cut cucumber perfumes the air as soon as it is cut. It’s so refreshing on hot summer days – and hot days seem to be a regular occurrence here in Pennsylvania. I love cucumbers as a snack, done simply, freshly sliced with a sprinkle of sea salt...yummmm!!
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 4:00AM Ripe summer berries always make me crave jammy, jewel-toned desserts like pies, cobblers and crisps. But it just seems cruel, for both cooks and eaters, to serve bubbling baked goods in this sizzling heat. The dilemma has inspired me to come up with frozen twists on some of my favorite oven-made treats.
This week, I had a hankering for late-season strawberry shortcake. So I took the traditional shortcake topping of sugar-sweetened strawberries, puréed it with rich, tangy Greek yogurt and poured it into popsicle molds. Then, to mimic the shortcake biscuits, I finely ground shortbread cookies for a crispy pop coating. The result was a hands-free and refreshing version of the original with all the intensity of flavor. These sticks totally hit the spot!
