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We cook with loads of fresh herbs in summer, but sometimes we find that we've snipped or bought more than we can use right away. Rather than let them go to waste, here are three ways to save herbs for later.

For us, it wouldn't be summer without a bunch of fresh basil in the kitchen. We layer the fragrant leaves with sliced heirloom tomatoes, tear them into salads, or grind them into pesto. From sweet basil to lemon basil and Thai basil, we just can't get enough of this essential, intoxicating herb.

We attended the Dwell on Design conference this weekend and encountered so many beautiful, thought-provoking, and innovative designs. Held in Los Angeles, the conference features all areas of the home, but this year's event had an especially strong kitchen component, with exhibits, cooking demos, and panel discussions on the intersection of food and design. The Kitchen Ecology exhibition curated by Designboom featured eco-friendly, energy efficient solutions from international, young, and upcoming designers. Check out some of our favorites...

Although we have turned our attention towards more quintessentially summer flavors, we still have beets galore at the farmers' market and are always pleased to discover new ways to eat them. Here's a vibrant, crunchy, no-oven-required and ridiculously quick preparation we picked up from one of our beet sellers.

In the great pantheon of Italian frozen desserts, there's gelato, there's sorbetto and granita, and then there's semifreddo. Translating to "half cold" or "half frozen," semifreddo is a velvety, mousse-like treat that does not require special equipment to make.

As we saw earlier this week, when cooking with cherries, sometimes it's just fine to leave the pits in. However, many recipes do require the extra step. Here is our simple and efficient method for removing cherry stones.

I must admit, a wee bit of envy welled up when I read Elizabeth's post on moving venues for dessert. Ahh, how lovely it would be to meander from coffee table to dining table to living room in the course of a meal! Unfortunately, like many small space dwellers, my partner and I are restricted to a single venue: the coffee table.

Are you grilling fruit this summer? Just as barbecue cooking doesn't have to be limited to savory ingredients (see our recent roundup of grilled desserts!), your skewer options are not restricted to bamboo and metal.

If you're lucky, you might have this growing in your front yard or garden. The next best thing is finding it at the farmers' market!

This week, Dana reflected on influences, particularly those restaurant meals which inspire us in our own kitchens. This is a dish influenced by my own recent visit to the Porthminster Café, a breezy restaurant nestled below an ocean cliff just steps away from the stunningly blue water in St. Ives, Cornwall.

Wimbledon is just around the corner, and while the spectators may be sipping Pimm's Cups, the players will be served the tournament's official drink, lemon barley water. Barley water may not sound terribly alluring – in Mary Poppins, the children stipulated that their ideal nanny must "never smell of barley water" – but we think it's a refreshing drink ideal for hot summer days.

We recently experienced our first, glorious encounter with curry ketchup. Served with fries at a restaurant, it initially seemed like a gimmick, but with each subsequent bite, we became increasingly addicted to the bittersweet sauce. By the next day, it was all we could think of and we set out to learn more about this condiment.

Along with the arrival of summer squashes this season are their dainty, edible flowers. The bright orange blossoms sold at farmers' and specialty markets are generally from zucchini plants, though the flowers of other summer squashes may be eaten, as well. The blossoms are often served fried – a dish we will never turn down, but there are several other ways to fully enjoy the beautiful color and delicate texture and flavor of this summer ingredient.

If we looked a little guarded and paranoid while navigating the crowds at the farmers' market yesterday, the reason was our bag of highly coveted, delicate produce. In winter, we can toss hardy squashes and root vegetables around with minimal concern, but summer brings out our desire to handle produce deliberately, cradling heirloom tomatoes like prized possessions and nestling ripe peaches into our bags with care. Here are some of the delicate seasonal treats to be found at the Hollywood farmers' market this month.