Did you go to summer camp as a kid? I didn't, but just last week I learned that it's never too late when I boarded a bus full of strangers and embarked on an adventure complete with campfires, bunk beds, and hands-on workshops. It was a life-changing experience, accompanied by the taste of fragrant mountain conifers. 

Our home is a five minute walk or drive from Whole Foods, our favorite local market, Piggly Wiggly, Publix and a host of other specialty food shops. I can have almost any ingredient I want within minutes. On Edisto Island, on the other hand, my options are limited and I have to make do with what I can find, like MacGyver.

No matter where I travel, there's one small kitchen gadget I've now learned to always bring with me: the humble waiter's key corkscrew. 

One of my favorite traveling companions is my friend Liz, who is one of those people with the amazing ability to instantly make friends wherever she goes and is always full of fascinating stories about her adventures. After taking a couple trips with her, I suddenly realized how she does it, and since then have made her habit my personal travel philosophy. It's simple: she always says yes.

This is a cookbook about celebration: celebrating women who have survived war and other conflicts, and celebrating the foods that nourish us and bring us together. With recipes like sweet, cakey Sudanese Baseema and fragrant Burmese tomato fish curry, it's also a cookbook that will lift you right up from your seat and carry you  straight into the kitchen.

Although I mentioned that I always have three essentials in my road trip snack stash, I do appreciate a real meal now and again. Sure, peanut butter and jelly is easy enough, but when you want something more satisfying, think of packing some  heartier food in canning jars. With mason jar meals, you can eat all the things! ALL THE THINGS! (Insert evil laughter here!)

Traveling can always be filed under the category "learning experience." For a moment's time, you're set outside your bubble and thrust into the unknown with unfamiliar cultures, traditions, and thoughts. Those elements are why so many people become enamored of travel — it's fuel for an open mind. Though not as cultural as a trip abroad, perhaps, my most recent trip took me to the fields of Driscoll's berry farms on the coast of northern California. I learned quite a bit.

I know, bringing a knife on vacation sounds a bit precarious, especially when facing an airport security line. However, if you're traveling by car or can check a bag at the airport, bringing one or two of your favorite, sharpened knives could save you from major cooking frustration later on.

By now, we’ve all been guilty of doing it. It’s one of the fastest epidemics that not even scientists can explain. Anthropologists and historians hundreds of years from now will find landfills of objects once known as a DSLR camera, lenses, hard drives and memory cards. To their surprise, they will discover that their ancestors and predecessors have been taking pictures, tons of pictures... of food?!  

Shooting food has become one of the fastest growing hobbies for hundreds of thousands of people internationally and many have made the successful leap into the professional side of it. Naturally, everyone wants to get better at it too. 

Ok, I'm going to be frank: there is really nothing quite so uncomfortable and embarrassing — for you and the people around you — as having digestion issues when you're on a plane. You can pop a Gas-X, but I hate those chalky, chewable tablets. This is why I was really intrigued to hear of another remedy: bitters!