Q: I'm a college student on a budget with limited storage space. I'd like to have a blender or food processor for making smoothies and since many recipes call for a food processor. Is it better to buy an immersion blender or a 3-cup food processor?

Sent by Audrey

Our post earlier this week on bigger, yet tasteless, strawberries really struck a chord. Here's one more reason to think about switching our shopping habits: organic fruits and vegetables just taste better. It's not opinion; it's science. Just ask food scientist Harold McGee.

Waiting in a line that curves around the block is practically part of the experience when you go to San Francisco's beloved Bi-Rite Creamery. Luckily, you are usually with friends, or else you tend to make friends as you collectively wait your turn. The conversation meanders, as it will, but eventually it always comes back to, "What are you going to get?" For anyone who has waited in that line and then been forced to choose — oh, the agony of indecision! — this book is for you.

Q: I recently took a trip to India and brought tons of spices back home. I stumbled across something that I thought was saffron, but when I got home, it did not smell like real saffron. How do I tell the difference between real and synthetic saffron? Could there be geographical variations?

Sent by Isabella

Bet you can't eat just one! Plunk a bowl of cherries down on the coffee table and they'll be gone by dinner time, guaranteed. Cherries are still a super-seasonal fruit that you can really only find in that small window between late-spring and high-summer. What are you making with cherries this year?

Even after visiting Seattle for years, Pike Place Market is still one of my first stops when I get into town. I'm convinced that you can find anything there if you look hard enough: dried mushrooms for risotto tonight, that weird spice no one else has heard of, a cookie to revive your weary soul. It's a magical place. In this new book of recipes, tips, and stories, Jess Thomson has perfectly captured both this magic and the very spirit of Pike Place Market. What's your story of Pike Place Market?

Q: A close friend is returning from out-of-state, and four of us have planned a "mini-reunion." I'd like your advice on putting together a Spring meal. I'd like to grill at least part of the meal, and one friend is allergic to fish and shellfish. Any ideas?

Sent by Erica

You best be ready to shake some tail feathers when you bring this extra-special beer to the party, my friends. It's a blend of not one, not two, but a grand total of six different beers from Shmaltz Brewing Company, each of them individually-aged for anywhere from a month to over a year. Just go ahead and wrap your head around that as you open the bottle and pour yourself a big ol' glass.

I have big plans for boozy popsicles this summer. Big. Plans. As far as I'm concerned, there is a whole wide world of cocktails out there just waiting to be made into popsicles. The only question is how?

Oh, hello there! Were you just thinking you'd like a bite of cheesecake without the bother of water baths or a hot kitchen? One that would, perhaps, win you friends and earn you accolades at backyard picnics this summer? Why, me too! Great minds really do think alike.