August, the glorious month when tomatoes are abundant and their most flavorful. There really is nothing better than a ripe tomato, heirloom if you can find it, and leave it to the editors at Martha Stewart to print a recipe that epitomises savory summer cooking.

When I peruse the food magazines I subscribe to, many of the pages are turned without a lot of fanfare. I might make a mental note that a recipe looks good, or consider adding it to the menu for an upcoming week, but every so often a recipe stops me right there and I just need to make it. This was one of those recipes.

I love bread. And I especially love it when it's crisp and toasted with olive oil. It's perfect warm, dipped in a pool of olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and equally perfect smothered with fresh tomatoes and basil. Now, for all the goodness there is in bread, I sometimes have a problem with sandwiches, as in, there's just too much bread on my sandwich. It doesn't necessarily matter if it's the best bread you've ever had. If the ratio of bread to fillings is wrong, the sandwich experience is diluted, the way iced tea loses its flavor after the ice cubes melt in your glass.

Two of the most refreshing elements of summer are fresh fruit and rosé wine. Swirl them together, freeze, and you have an irresistible, adult version of sorbet. With the temperatures rising, Andrew was subtly hinting that we need some more ice cream in the freezer. One Saturday I handed him The Perfect Scoop by David Lebovitz and told him to pick out whatever he wanted. And while I started regretting this approach when the first options out of his mouth involved peanut butter (I love peanut butter, but I was in the mood for something lighter), we settled on this raspberry rosé sorbet, a perfect companion to the burgers we grilled for the Fourth of July.

The farmers market excursion that resulted in my favorite summer flatbread also offered up these little gems, and I couldn't resist, mostly because I love the color purple. Now, this salad can be made with any kind of potato you'd like, but just be well aware that the color contrast won't be as striking.

Food allergies are so common nowadays I'm willing to bet most of you have a member of your immediate family or know of someone in your circle of friends affected by an intolerance or dietary preference that needs to be accommodated. My brother is one such person, though it's a bit complicated. He has gluten and dairy intolerances, among other concerns, such as not being able to eat almonds or beans. There's a running list I have trouble keeping track of. When my family got together in the mountains for a weekend, I took charge of Saturday night's dinner. I knew there would be stone fruit sorbet for dessert, but I wanted to make a shortbread cookie to go with it.

Something has happened to me this year that I never would have expected. I like burgers now. But I didn't start out this way, so if I really want to understand why, I suppose it started with Andrew. We all have our comfort foods and burgers are his, without a doubt. Over the years we've made our way to many restaurants in a quest to find the best burger, and when we finally found it, my brain switched.

This is how I like to eat during the summer. Yes, there is space at the table for burgers, raw salads, and refreshing sorbets, but one of the simplest pleasures of the season can be flavored with little more than garlic and white wine. Dunked with grilled bread, this meal is just about as blissful as fresh summer dining can get.

We've talked before about how I'm very much a planner when it comes to my weekly meals. If I didn't take this approach, I'd be left standing in front of the refrigerator most nights after work trying to throw something acceptable together for dinner.

I find that shopping with purpose, list in hand, almost always saves me time and money and it's a routine I've been in now for at least the last five years. With my work schedule, I don't have a lot of time to wander aimlessly through the farmers market without the slightest notion as to what my dinner plans are for the next few days. So when I embraced this shopping method last weekend, I felt unnerved in a really good way.

Think of summer cooking like wearing a tinted moisturizer instead of foundation. You just need less of everything from June to September. No need to slather things with sauce or turn on the oven for extended periods of time. It's one of the great benefits of summer produce that everything shines through on its own.

When one of Andrew's colleagues went fishing with her dad and brought back a fresh catch, I jumped at the chance to attend the fish taco party she was hosting. I wanted to bring something light and after wandering through the Thursday farmers market near my office, this salad was the result.

I think we're close enough now that I don't need to elaborate (too much) on my love for sage. Although I tend to think of it as an herb best suited for cooler weather, I'm happy to report it fares well in springtime, too. Whole Living has done a lot of wonderful food features the last few months including stories on Heidi Swanson from 101 Cookbooks and Kim Boyce, author of Good to the Grain, so I was not at all surprised to open the June issue to find a spread of fresh recipes for a farm-inspired brunch.

I have a new addition to my kitchen: a shiny copper risotto pan. Andrew surprised me with it for my birthday last month, and as much as I wanted to pretend I didn't really need it, I sure did want it. This risotto pan was designed with high sides and and a curved shape that makes getting air into the rice an easier task than with a traditional sauté pan.

Air is one of the secrets, you know. Vigorously incorporating air into the rice throughout the cooking process helps enhance the creamy texture, ensuring that the rice is clinging to the sauce and suspended on the plate. Risotto done right is a special thing.

My pantry needs a makeover. When we moved in well over a year ago I tried to organize the shelves with intention. I bought bins and drawer organizers, and for a while at least, I seemed to be in control. But in the spirit of spring cleaning (I've already donated lots of clothes to charity), I need to take a long, hard look at my spices, bags of rice, and stash of various vinegars. In short, I need an intervention.

I'm one of those guest room people. I love having a space for friends and family to stay that's a separate oasis for them to relax while they're away from home. And when they do stay, I always like to make a little something special for breakfast.

For all the discussions we've had about my not devoting a lot of time to breakfast, I've sure given you a different impression lately. Scones, honeyed quinoa with yogurt, and now, muffins. I was planning to make my lemon scones, but the evening before our guests were coming Joy the Baker posted strawberry banana bread that I just couldn't resist.

I probably sound like a broken record. It's so easy! Simple meals are the most satisfying! I've fed you excessive amounts of beans, lentils and whole grains for the last few months with all these easy-when-you-come-home-from-the-gym explanations, but I'm embracing it because this is what my dinner table looks like at the moment.

It's generally well known that time consuming dishes can be extremely comforting. Lasagna, for instance, or braised short ribs over creamy polenta. Something that takes hours to cook, perfuming the kitchen, might seem more appealing than say, chickpeas with spicy greens. But I think there is a case to be made.

I don't always have time for a leisurely breakfast. Or, I don't choose to make the time for a leisurely breakfast. That's the truth. So when Memorial Day weekend arrived, there was an extended opportunity to do something more proper than cereal, complete with a side of homemade jam.

Sometimes I wish I could eat this way every day, but it does make a morning like this all the more special. And speaking of breakfast, things just got a lot more interesting around here. After months of research, Andrew recently purchased a new Bezzera espresso machine straight from the factory in Milan. He spent most of the weekend testing the grind in the beans and steaming milk to the perfect froth. These scones alongside a hot latte reminded me of our time in London last year, a great memory to mull over for a few minutes.

Do you ever get the feeling, too many recipes, too little time? It's my own fault that I subscribe to four food magazines, read newspaper dining sections weekly, and am always prepared to add the next cookbook that catches my eye to my Amazon cart. Recipes envelop me. And it's with enthusiasm that I accept them, but sometimes it can leave me feeling overwhelmed, even when I tend to try new recipes almost every night of the week.

I recently received two new cookbooks in the mail. One is by the talented Heidi Swanson of 101 Cookbooks. I tend to read cookbooks with a pad of fuchsia post-it notes nearby to tag the recipes I'm interested in, but even before I sat on the couch to read her cookbook cover to cover, I didn't bother. I knew I'd want to make most of the recipes. For the next few weeks at least, most of my meals came from her book, and in a way it was liberating to have one direction to go, letting the gray dissipate like heavy rain clouds moving through after a storm. The clouds parted, and I could see clearly.

Today is my birthday, and about a week before my big day three years ago, I started a blog. I've described some of my journey here before, how I learned to cook in college after determining that grilled cheese sandwiches and frozen curly fries weren't sufficient, long-term solutions to hunger. How I blackened the ceiling in my first apartment trying to fry mozzarella sticks. (Or maybe I didn't tell you, but there it is, mistakes happen).

I'm not sure what to call this salad exactly. Goes with everything salad? Warm Lentil and Cauliflower Salad? The Pantry Salad? Lemony Lentil Salad? I'm clearly open to suggestions. It came together on a rainy night, a Tuesday, actually. Tuesday is sometimes devoted to meals like this. Because we get organic vegetables delivered on Wednesday, we're working with the very end of our produce and sometimes in my sheer laziness I just don't plan a meal hoping something will inspire me in the moment. Thankfully, sometimes this actually does happen.

It came as a surprise to me that I still had frozen shrimp in the freezer. I had no plans to use them, but it turns out I discovered the shrimp on pizza night. I'd also just come home with some wild arugula, so there seemed no other solution but to combine the two. And it was about time. Almost every week we uncork a bottle of zinfandel and ease into the weekend with one of our favorite meals and maybe a good movie, but lately I was making the same pizza over and over again. While there's absolutely nothing wrong with pizza margherita, and I love the simple flavors of mozzarella, tomato sauce and basil as much as the next person, I was thinking we needed to shake things up.

When the seasons transition from fall and winter into spring and summer we talk at length about how we're craving asparagus and radishes and juicy red strawberries. Our bodies begin to change, and everything around us lightens up. The weather, our wardrobe, and even our kitchens. Also, our wine. There are plenty of irresistible wines that I can drink year round, including Sonoma Zinfandel (hello, pizza night), and Santa Ynez Pinot Noir, but in the spring something special happens at the vineyards, namely the release of their lighter varietals like Rose and Viogner that speak to the season we're all gearing up to enter.