I grew up drinking this drink, as it was a favorite in my childhood friend Ali’s household.  Her mother, who was a great cook, turned me on to lots of Cuban treats (like chicken soup made with chicken feet and boiled yucca!). Guanabana nectar is made from the juice of the soursop fruit, and it is thick like pear juice, but has a mild pineapple flavor.  It is very commonly found in the Caribbean, Central America and Southeast Asia, and washes down spicy tacos or chili-laden noodles quite well because its cooling qualities counteract the effects of hot peppers.  The can in the photo accompanied a jalapeno-laced pork sandwich, which was a life-saver for my burning tongue!

I’ve eaten lots of chocolate-covered snacks.  But, until picking up a tube of these candy-colored seeds, I had never tried this sweet variety of sunflower seeds!  They remind me of a healthier, slightly less sweet version of the ever-popular M & M.  If you happen upon them at your local corner store, give them a try!

There is nothing better that seeing one of my childhood favorite breakfast items making a comeback on brunch menus.  I remember many a Sunday morning with my family at our neighborhood pancake house, my brother and I sharing an apple dutch pancake bigger than our heads combined and covered in a blizzard of powdered sugar.  We were in heaven on those weekend mornings and challenged each other to see who could eat their entire half.

This is my latest retro dutch pancake find.  It was served in an individual caste iron dish and baked with the season’s first crop of local berries.  Light, fluffy and delicious.  I love brunch.

Lemon Verbena, is a fantastic herb, that has a very sharp lemony flavor that is balanced with a delicate, floral and green, herbaceous quality.  It’s often used to scent perfumes and toiletries, but even better when used in cooking.

I like to steep the fresh leaves in an ice cream base to make lemon verbena ice cream, or to tear the leaves over a bowl of fresh berries to make a fancy fruit salad.  It is one of my favorite ingredients to use during the spring and summer and I really look forward to finding new uses for it!

These are gorgeous Ruston, Louisiana peaches.  Once upon a time, there were a number of Louisiana peach varieties and a number of growers.  Nowasdays, there is one big commercial grower remaining, and a handful of much smaller farms, growing Louisiana peaches.  This is a homegrown food in crisis.  Louisiana peaches are unique, with a sweet, almost spicy flavor and an aroma that can only be described as heavenly - floral and softly earthy.  The meaty-firm texture of Ruston peaches stands up to being grilled, or peeled and sauteed in a lovely Peaches “Foster,” or as I’m want to do, eat out of hand standing over a sink, letting the juices run down my chin, hand and arm.

My favorite foodie friend Arianna brought me back a bottle of Loganberry Liqueur after visiting Clear Creek Distillery in Portland, Oregon.  And along with that bottle, she told me how the loganberry came to be.

Contrary to what I would have guessed, the loganberry is not a wild berry but in fact a cross between a raspberry and blackberry.  It was originally created by a horticulturist named James Harvey Logan in Santa Cruz, California, sometime in the late 1800’s.

We tried to make Loganberry margaritas with the liqueur, but found that the flavor or tequila was a little overpowering.  Maybe next time we’ll keep it simple and just sip it on the rocks with a sprig of mint and a little sugar.

While walking on 23rd Street towards the Hudson River to catch the display of Fourth of July fireworks, my friends and I stopped for an ice cream cone at one of the many trucks dotting each corner along the route from subway to river.

I ordered my favorite, a simple vanilla soft-serve cone dipped in chocolate.  But, in a moment of genius, I asked the ice cream man to top my dipped cone in coating of chocolate sprinkles!  Delicious!  A perfect marriage of textures and flavors!  How did I not think of this as a child?!

Because I now feel like I have to make up for nearly 30 lost years of chocolate-sprinkled ice cream cones, I’m certain that I will have a problem in the warmer months ahead.  Even though the ice cream truck that is parked outside my restaurant everyday is very convenient, I’m not sure my belly will appreciate this new endeavor…

According to the gang at Yumsugar, Sprinkles cupcake shop is serving .75 cent shots of their rich and decadent buttercream frosting…frozen.  Although it never ocurred to me to eat frosting frozen, it sure sounds terrific.  We don’t have a Sprinkles in New Orleans, but I did just get the latest Martha Stewart Cupcake book (genius by the way) and so I’m planning on whipping up a bit of extra frosting to pipe into mini tasting cups and toss into the freezer.  The lazy person in me is also considering going to the local cupcakery and asking them to do it.  Either way, I’m checking it out.

What a sight to see a heaping mound of shell peas at the farmer’s market this week!  I dropped by for a bit of lemon-thyme to use in a sorbet I am making for the dinner menu tonight and couldn’t help but snap a picture of these peas on my way through the market!  So impressive!

Bacon.  If loving you is wrong, I don’t want to be right.  At La Divina Gelateria, this is but one of the delectable gelati flavors.  The almost tobacco-like taste of Steen’s cane syrup gelato, wrapping it’s creamy self around smoky bacon…I need a fainting chair positioned near the cold case.   Then, when I faint, here’s hoping someone places cool slices of bacon on my forehead whilst having me whiff bacon-scented smelling-salts.