Today's Dining section in the New York Times was a doozy! There was enough good content to pack out a magazine - let alone a weekly section. There's so much that we want to talk about it for the rest of the week. Jack’s 99-Cent Store meals! Fermented black beans from the Minimalist (shoutout to Laurie Colwin fans), teenage drinking, Starbucks/Clover buyout and secret grandmother recipes. We don't know where to start. Dumplings seem like a good place...

Missing Ingredient, Gone for Good - Alex Witchel works to recreate her Nana's lost meat dumpling recipe.

A Secret Staple Begging to Be Used - Fermented black beans and shrimp - we adore black beans' musky fragrance in Asian dishes and we're glad to learn new ways of using them here.

Spaghetti Stir-Fry and Hambagoo: Japan Looks West - Western foods adapted for the Japanese palate - fascinating article.

Italy’s Trash Crisis Taints Reputation of a Prized Cheese - Trash pollution is corrupting buffalo mozzarella! This is very worrisome - can the Italians put a stop to the contamination of one our all-time favorite foods?

Can Sips at Home Prevent Binges? - Is it wise and right to introduce children to alcohol in the home? A very good and interesting piece by Times wine writer Eric Asimov.

We'll discuss the frugal eating headline piece later today. Also see our roundup of Florence Fabricant's picks here:

• Suvir Saran's Mortar and Pestle

(Top image credit: for The New York Times)