The scenario: you don't drink alcohol, but you're having people over who do. What's a teetotaler to serve? 

I love my Soda Stream and I love having sparkling water on the table at my dinner parties. What I don't love are the plastic Soda Stream bottles plunked down in the middle of my carefully arranged table. Our very own Faith Durand offered me the perfect (and perhaps obvious!) solution.

This week we're sharing the second party in our Gatherings from The Kitchn series, an elegant, make-ahead spring brunch I hosted for my book club. I often admire the intricately-styled table settings on design and wedding blogs, but they rarely seem realistic for my budget or styling capabilities. My goal for this party was to create a table that was inspirational, not just aspirational; in other words, a table that could move from Pinterest to reality without requiring a degree in design or hundreds of dollars. Here are four concrete tips for putting together a special, stylish table on a small budget.

So you thought preserved lemons sounded like a cool ingredient and you got yourself a jar! ...Now what? There are only so many Moroccan chicken tagines a person can make, after all. Here are a few ideas for using up that whole jar.

The price of silver keeps rising. What's a southern girl to do if her pattern will never be completed? Go to eBay, of course. Sterling looks better with age, like you've had it for a while and you know how to use it. But the prices on eBay aren't really any better than anywhere else... unless you aren't afraid of monograms.

We have an occasional dinner party dilemma at our house: we really want to gather our friends together and make cocktails and prepare just a few quick things, but the thought of making a full meal often proves to be a deterrent. So a few weeks ago we came to a sort-of solution: invite friends over a bit later in the evening so they're not expecting a full meal. We still have the chance to prepare a few snacks, my boyfriend Sam can make cocktails, and everyone will be happy. Or will they?

My sister-in-law is a genius, one of those mothers who always knows how to have a good time while maintaining decent parenting technique. She started "F Friday." The children think the "F" stands for "fun." Their parents know it stands for the chance to slack off, not worry about making dinner, and hang with their friends. This is how it works.

You know what's great? Bringing home an armful of fruits and vegetables from the market, all bright, fresh, and ready to be tossed into salads, soups, and stir fries. You know what's not so great? Having a busy week and realizing later that the produce is wilting and rotting in your refrigerator. Properly storing fruits and vegetables is key to extending their shelf life, yes, but even that only goes so far. 

So when the editor-in-chief of The Cooking Lab, the culinary research team behind the Modernist Cuisine books, said he'd found a better way to preserve fruits and vegetables, we knew we had to listen. (Hint: it doesn't involve any chlorine, irradiation or peroxide baths, and it's not blanching.)

When I was on a food tour in Israel last summer, I attended a Sabbath dinner hosted by three young architects/designers. These Friday night dinners with friends were weekly affairs for them, a nod to the tradition of their culture but more about celebrating food and friendship. The dinner was held in a stone-walled courtyard outside their apartment in Tel Aviv, and when we arrived, the first thing we saw was the menu for that night's dinner written in chalk on the courtyard wall!

Q: If I make 24 cupcakes from a layer cake recipe and I only have one 12 cupcake pan, can I let the batter sit for 30 minutes while the first 12 bake? Or should I put it in the fridge so the leavener is still active? Or divide the recipe and make it twice? Thanks!

Sent by Jayne