Couldn’t you just pretend you collect kitchen tools? That’s my excuse. I have an array of baking pans of all sizes and shapes (ones with company names of defunct firms or foods embossed on them are favorites), beer openers, and exotic hand tools whose purpose is unclear.

My friend Ira hosted a Passover seder at his house. In honor of his enthusiastic embrace of observant Judaism, he actually invited a stranger to share the meal in the ancient tradition. It took a while to figure out the extra guy was not some long lost friend of his. The food was good and the stranger was harmless, so the meal went well.

From my mother I inherited, among others, The Settlement House cookbook. This copy was printed in the 40s and I think its lack of pictures was due to wartime economies. What makes it special is that my mother made notes on all the recipes she prepared, a tradition I have carried through in all of my cookbooks.

Here in Gainesville, FL, the spring vegetable season at the farmers market is just beginning. That means many more varieties of summer squash than you’ll ever see in the supermarket, green beans, and cucumbers. Leafy greens will end soon, as most do not like the heat. Strawberries are still here, but not worth buying, as they were damaged by freezing weather followed by too much rain. Blueberries have just arrived and will be around for about six weeks. Redskin potatoes are here and sweet potatoes will last through the fall. In about two weeks, there will be much more variety.

I agree with Helen on using only King Arthur flour. At one of their seminars, the baker/instructor explained that they test the protein in their products to make sure it fits the description of the flour variety.

He also cautioned that flour should be loosely spooned into measuring cups and then gently leveled off, never packed in. Packing can add much more flour than what the recipe calls for.

There’s something about the first watermelon of the season. To me, that means summer is really here. Fortunately, where I live in FL, the market is open yearround, but since it is a grower only market (the only true kind), watermelon only appears for about six weeks.