Q: I bought a soft granola bar and I want to find a recipe so I can make my own. The bar wasn't baked and it had no rolled oats. It had lots of different seeds. I tasted honey and peanut butter. It was soft, but held together well. It was so great.

Sent by Laura

Last week when we asked readers to share their favorite ways to pack food for a trip, one reader tip stuck out:

Q: My husband, who is a bourbon lover, preserved peaches last year in a sweet bourbon syrup. They are delicious, but I don't know what to make with them. I want to use the juice, as that is the best part. Any recipes would be appreciated.

Sent by Donna

Q: I've been helping my mother clean up her kitchen. Because her kitchen was so disorganized before, she would buy groceries she already had. For the most part, I've been able to use up all the excess, except for one ingredient: powdered sugar. 

Do you have a travel limit — the number of days you can be on vacation before you start feeling that slight tug to return back home? My personal limit is somewhere around six or seven days. That's about the time I start to think about how much I've spent, worry about how much I've eaten out, and generally just miss the routine of life at home. There is however, a way to extend this limit. It all starts with taking time to cook a meal while on vacation. Are you doing this yet?

My sourdough starter is like a beloved pet or houseplant. I made it from scratch almost 8 years ago and have kept it going through two cross-country moves, three states, and many lapses in bread-baking. When I go on a long vacation, making sure that it is taken care of — along with all my other fermented food projects! — is at the top of my vacation check-list.

We've talked about visiting local farmers' markets to get a flavor for a city, and a similar argument can be made for local grocery stores as well. Even the most suburban, fluorescent-lit supermarket can give an interesting look into everyday life in another town and its people.

I must confess to eating this entire bowl of soba by myself. I didn't share. I didn't look up from the bowl. I just inhaled. Fresh buckwheat soba is an entirely different food group from the dried soba we usually buy at the store. It's like night and day. The nutty aroma of the buckwheat, the perfect chewiness of the noodles, the way they slip perfectly around a chopstick — fresh soba needs little more than some dashi and a splash of soy sauce to be the perfect meal. Here's how you can make it at home.

Sometimes, if you're traveling, and always, if you're a cheese fiend, bringing your own cheese is the way to go.

Whether you're going to the beach or the woods where cheese selection might be spotty or you're visiting your hometown with nary a cheese shop in sight, you might want to take note of these notes on how best to transport your little gems. You might be surprised at just how far you can bring your cheese.

Q: Lately my husband and I are trying to make healthier versions of foods that we like to eat in order to improve our diet without giving up everything we enjoy. One of our horrible addictions is Totino's Party Pizza, mostly because the crust has such a unique texture and flavor.