File this under foods to try next winter. During my one-year stint in Scandinavia, this is an absolute favorite food combination I picked up. Never had I tasted these two rich but seemingly-opposed flavors together. But one fateful evening in Sweden, I was offered thin, crisp gingersnaps smeared with blue cheese alongside a glass of glogg. It seemed weird to me only for that split second between the offer and the first bite. Ever since, it's been a perfect combo in my book:

Grilling can seem like a lot of hard work if you are not in-the-know. Growing up in the South, I spent most of my youth presuming it was a man's activity — all of those 'secrets' and 'rituals' seemed best left alone by the ladies. And while, yes, when it comes to charcoal grills, smokers, and Big Green Eggs, there can be a certain amount of finesse involved, the actual act of cooking over fire doesn't have to be engulfed in a shroud of mystery. With this fabulous chicken recipe, grilling can be for everyone!

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. 

It doesn't often get swelteringly hot in Seattle. Even in the heart of the summer, we'll have a few record-setting days, but rarely more than a handful. But when I visit my mom's cabin in upstate New York, the marriage of heat and humidity can often make for pretty uncomfortable days and a loss of appetite — which is why we always have this cool, easy yogurt dip at the ready. 

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?

As any coffee addict knows, in places where a decent cup of coffee is hard to find, you'll always find Nescafé. Though the coffee snob in me feels I should turn up my nose at instant coffee from a packet, I have a soft spot for those brown crystals that make it easy to find a steaming cup of hot coffee no matter where in the world you are.

A big slice of pie is always nice in the summer, but sometimes a few small bites is all you need. That's why there's a lot to love about hand pies. They're portable, which makes them a great candidate for summer picnics or impromptu backyard lunches; they're an excellent excuse to buy more summer fruit at the market; and there's a wide variety of interesting flavor combinations you can try!