I love May when all the seasonal farmers markets start to open. For the next 4 weeks, I'll be visiting the markets weekly near where I live in Northern California and buy ingredients to make a simple, vegetarian dish to share with you. This week there were gorgeous rainbow carrots at the market, along with lemons from a neighboring table. A fresh veggie fettuccine was definitely on the menu.

My mother is an avid baker, but when she moved to Thailand after college to work at a leprosy hospital, she didn't have access to the peaches, fresh berries and apricots that filled the cobbler recipes in her old copy of the Betty Crocker Cookbook. Instead, she had mangos. Lots of mangos. She only mentioned her mango cobbler once many years ago, so I'm sure it will surprise her to learn I never forgot about it. But it stuck in my head, that mango cobbler, begging to be brought to life. And I'm so glad it did.

Last weekend I hosted a small dinner party in my apartment. (You'll hear all about it next week!) At the end of the meal I served a lemon verbena tisane — essentially, a handful of lemon verbena leaves steeped in hot-but-not-boiling water — with a splash of St. Germain. It was delicious: fresh, delicate, and cleansing, like spring in a teacup. As a result, lemon verbena may just be my new favorite herb. Here are 5 ways to use it:

It feels unnecessary sometimes to take something that's so good in and of itself and change it in any way — a little over the top, or just a waste of time. That is not the case, however, with frying an avocado. It will always be worth it. Here's why:

Artichokes, man. I really want to like them. And I do...mostly. I just didn't grow up with artichokes and so never developed a taste for them — either the big globes that are in season right now or the trimmed hearts that can be found in the freezer or canned food sections. So help me out: what are your most beloved dishes with artichokes?

Come springtime and warmer weather, I get positively giddy when I hear the first chimes of the ice cream truck. But now I don't have to wait for the truck to make its rounds — I can make my favorite chilled treat, the Drumstick, whenever a craving hits. Seriously, this version is easy, fast, and a million times better than the original!!

Is risotto still risotto if it's made without rice? It might be stretching the term a little far, but the idea is intriguing — especially as seen in this rice-less risotto recipe from Sarah Britton of My New Roots. She creates her own "rice" by chopping up one special spring vegetable. Care to take a guess what it is?

If you have ever been to Seattle, then surely you went to Pike Place Market. And if you went to Pike Place Market, then surely you have stood under the awning near the fish market and waited eagerly for one orange-trousered gentlemen to yell, "HALIBUT!" and toss a ginormous glittering fish over the counter to another orange-trousered gentlemen. And if you haven't, you need to turn around and go back. My point is: this book. This book captures that experience better than a snapshot — plus you get recipes!

Q: I've been making my own chicken broth for years. After cooling and straining, I fill old spaghetti jars (leaving room for expansion), put them in the freezer (lids off), then put the lids on after they're frozen solid. And yet, I've broken more jars than I can count. Help! How do I prevent this?

Sent by Jen