A beautiful wooden tray or platter is an entertaining staple. You can use one to serve appetizers, display glasses alongside a pitcher of cool iced tea, or serve breakfast in bed! I love the look of walnut, too — even more so when it's rimmed in a bright, neon color, like these WUD trays and platters by David Rasmussen. 

Q: I just bought a large container of sumac because I wanted to make fattoush salad and it was the only size I could get my hands on at the time. It was delicious, but now I have a lot of leftover sumac. Any suggestions on what to use some of it for?

Sent by Kasey

Yesterday I checked out the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York, an annual trade show highlighting what's new in design. It's not a kitchen-focused show, but I like going to see what's exciting for the dining room. A big reveal at this year's show was the brand-new Stockholm dining table and chairs from IKEA, made of walnut and due in stores in August! See more photos below:

Q: I am desperate to re-create Newman's Own Olive Oil & Vinegar salad dressing with less oil. I buy Newman's regularly, only to pour (and discard!) at least 3/4 cup of oil from the bottle before using it. Newman's light dressings do not have the same appeal; I am looking for a make-at-home solution with the same exact flavor.

If you're gifting a bottle of wine, you might think the bottle itself is gift enough. But if you want an extra special presentation, I have just the thing: wine wrap papers from the newly launched Bottle Stock, a small shop based out of LA catering to design-minded wine lovers. Each sheet is cut to fit most 750ml wine bottles, and the paper designs are lovely and eye-catching!

If you've grown tired of run-of-the mill cookie cutter shapes — the star, the heart, the Christmas tree — then you're going to love Printmeneer. This small Dutch company makes the coolest cookie cutter shapes: diamonds, clouds, mountain range profiles, pig cuts, penguins, even a Herschel graph! And they're all made using a 3D printer.

Whether I'm at a trendy restaurant or bringing beer to a backyard party, there is one beer that never lets me down — or rather, one beer style. And that would be the Belgians.

White appliances are making a big comeback in the kitchen, which isn't surprising when you consider how popular white kitchens are. One reader asked us to round up a few particularly awesome-looking white ranges, which I've done here — all gorgeous and gleaming. Note: the word "awesome" should be taken for its true meaning here, i.e. something that inspires awe, because when you see the prices on these ranges, that's exactly what you'll feel.

Not quite wine and not quite vinegar, verjus settles Goldilocks-style somewhere in between. It's made from the pressings of young, unripe grapes cut at the beginning of the grape season to allow other vines more room to grow. Verjus isn't fermented, so there's no alcohol, and the flavor is a gentler, sweeter version of vinegar — though definitely still tart. So, do you drink it? Do you cook with it? Let's discuss.

I hadn't been living in California for very long before I felt compelled visit wine country — a common side effect when one has only ever lived in northern climes and sunshine is a novelty. I was not disappointed. It's impossible to visit any California vineyard and not fall in love with the orderly rows of grape vines stretching to touch the distant hills, or the way food tastes when eaten outside in March, or yes, of course, the wine. If you want a little glimpse of what an afternoon in wine country feels like, specifically an afternoon in the Central Coast's "new" wine country, pick up this book and prepare to be transported.