It's that time of year: berry season. In Seattle, we had early local strawberries, and raspberries and blackberries have been gracing grocery store shelves for a while now. Along with berry season comes decision time: which basket to choose? Thankfully, there's reason enough to grab all three this week. 

I'm sure you've noticed that strawberry season has arrived. There are flats of strawberries at the farmers' market and pints upon pints at the grocery store. Maybe you're even lucky enough to have a few peeking out from your garden (I wasn't brave enough to plant any myself this year). While strawberry shortcake is often the go-to summertime dessert, here are a few ways to spin it so it remains interesting and exciting for you and your guests this season. 

Lately I've been spending weekends in a house upstate that I'm sharing with my friends Hilary and Al. Deciding to share the house with them was a no-brainer: lovely people, great style, a kind and gentle son for Ursula to hang out with, fabulous British accents, and a killer house. What I didn't know until arriving for our first weekend was that Al makes bread every Friday night for toast on Saturday morning. I totally scored. 

I ate my first kouign amann from the palm of my hand at a farmers market in Oakland almost two years ago, and I will never in all my life forget the taste of those first buttery, caramelized, incredibly flakey morsels. I dream of traveling to Brittany to try a kouign amann straight from the source. Then again, now that I know that making them at home is not only doable, but just as buttery and flakey as anything coming from a bakery, I may not need to. Kouign amann? At home? I'm not kidding. Here's how you, too, can have a fresh batch of kouign amann cooling on your counter right now.

The moment I stepped into the little neighborhood bakery near the coast of Lebanon, I knew I was someplace special. Furn Al Sabaya ("Bakery of the Ladies") is run by three sisters, Martha, Lorenza and Lucie, who work together behind the counter to sweetly and almost magically churn out an array of unusual breakfast pastries from their fiery oven. The one that captured my heart was a thin egg tart flavored with butter and mint, sort of a cross between a quiche and a pizza. This recipe keeps the buttery goodness of the original, but bakes the egg filling into a flaky, free-form crostata that would make a uniquely tempting addition to a weekend brunch or a special lunch alongside a crunchy green salad.

Sponge cake is rumored to have been the very first non-yeasted cake. It's created by trapping a good bit of air in the batter while beating the eggs and sugar together, which makes for a light, delicate dessert. If you've had a jellyroll cake or a slice of tiramisu, you've likely had sponge cake. So why do I think it will be a summertime hit this year?

Q: My boyfriend’s cottage has the sweetest vintage stove I’ve ever seen. The only problem is that the oven is limited to two settings: high and off. The only way to regulate the temperature is by opening the door until the oven cools down, and then closing it until it gets too hot again. 

It's true that when the weather turns warmer, I don't bake as often. But when you live in Seattle, that tends to be a slow, evolving process with many people here insisting that summer doesn't actually start until after July 4th. In other words: we've got some baking days left in us yet! I've been experimenting with wholesome quick breads for breakfast and had great luck turning oil-laden, sweet recipes into healthier morning options. 

Normally, I'm all for minimizing the number of bowls needed for a single task. But when it comes to separating eggs and ensuring that nary a wisp of yolk touches those pristine egg whites, three is the magic number.

Fun fact: I got married at a BJ's Restaurant. During a six-month period when I lived in a Southern California suburb surrounded by giant, generic chain restaurants like Applebee's and Outback Steakhouse, my future husband and I developed an unexpected affection for the doughy deep-dish pizzas and hot-pink strawberry lemonades at the local BJ's. Not to mention the Pizookie, a cookie baked in a small cake pan, served hot and gooey with ice cream scooped on top. The Pizookie had a lot to do with it, come to think of it.