Candied rose petals on cakes and stuffed squash blossoms are yesterday's news! Here are five edible flowers that will make you look at your flower bed in a new and delicious light.

What do you collect when you travel? I have an acquisitive soul; linens and tiny ceramics and jewelry just happen to get squirreled away in my bags. But I've found that the best souvenirs of travel are the lightest to carry. When I travel, I look for new things to learn, like the soufflé I picked up in Paris, and the duck magret in Nice. My husband and I have also acquired cocktail recipes quite often in our travels, and I hardly need to tell you that these are my favorites. 

We just picked up a new one, a very summery cocktail from an unexpected place. It's a fizzy concoction of mint, lime, rum, and a hit of grapefruit from my favorite neon orange bottle. It's a little sweet, a little bitter, and totally, totally refreshing. This is my cocktail of the summer, folks. 

Q: I have a fabulous go-to butternut squash soup recipe that is really simple: onions, spices, stock, and squash softened in a deep pot and pureed with a hand blender. However, as summertime looms, it's tough to find good squash at the grocery store. What spring/summer vegetables would you suggest using in this type of simple soup?

Perhaps you reached into the cherry bowl recently and did a double-take at the doubled-up cherry you found in your hand. These cherries — two whole cherries joined like Siamese twins and sharing a single stem — aren't weird mutants or products of a cloning experiment gone awry. Disappointing, at least little, isn't it? Here's what actually causes them...

When I visited Lebanon earlier this spring, fava beans were in season, so every place we stopped seemed to have a big basket of the green pods, ready for shucking and nibbling raw. My Lebanese hosts looked on with bemusement as I painstakingly peeled off and discarded the translucent skin from each individual bean. "We don't do that," they said. And, it turns out, neither does much of the rest of the world.

The green bean casserole is a Thanksgiving staple, but truth be told my favorite time of year to eat green beans starts right now. Freed from the heavy cream and starch of that holiday dish, green beans make the perfect summer side dish all on their own — well, almost on their own. Add a little garlic and oil, or a dollop of pesto and a soft-boiled egg for a truly delicious pairing. Here are 10 recipes that'll soon have you trimming your own pile of green beans with glee!

Lately all of my favorite food websites and blogs have been awash in the bright, fresh colors of spring. From crisp asparagus to sweet fresh peas, there are signs of abundant warm-weather vegetables and salads everywhere I look. And while my senses love it all, on cooler spring afternoons, comfort food is still the order of the day. So last weekend I pulled together this creamy baked orzo to have for a lazy lunch when lofty plans for hiking flew out the window at the first sign of a drizzle. 

Over here at The Forest Feast, I have loved sharing spring recipe ideas with you this month! In my final post for this Farmer's Market Feasts series, I leave you with a simple galette. I love these free form tarts because you can layer almost anything over the pastry and it's delicious. Plus, since it takes only 15 minutes to bake and can be served room temperature, it's great for entertaining.

Food just tastes better outside, doesn't it? The first hint of warmer weather and you'll find us outside come mealtimes: on a porch, on a front stoop, on a park bench, wherever we can find a sunny spot to sit back and enjoy a meal al fresco. With Memorial Day next week, we feel the outdoor eating season is officially open. Here are ten of our favorite seasonal salads to pack up and take on a picnic.