All week we have been showing you how to use food to take you on a journey in your own home. Cooking up delicious, exotic and foreign dishes is a great way to globalize your life, as is using fun internationally-inspired cooking tools and gadgets. Judging by all of the cool worldly things you've bookmarked in the Yum Market on TeamSugar, you guys already know this! Experience Italy with this ricotta making set that mellie_608 bookmarked. Or serve your ratatouille in classic French dishware or teach your kids how to use chopsticks with holdstix. Other ways to bring the world to you: drink Hawaiian coffee, keep your stews in an authentic Brazilian soapstone, and mix up guests a classic Cuban mojito.

As a perfect end to travel week, I present you with a list of the best eight beverages in the world. I'm pretty sure there are a few great treats missing from this list. What do you think? - Gadling

Guess who was at the premiere of No Reservations? I'll give you a hint, think "watch what happens." Think you know who it is? read more

Don't forget to get your submissions in by today!

I scream, you scream, we all scream for ice cream! This month I thought it would be fun if we all got together to share our favorite ice cream related posts. Last month's candy challenge proved to be so much fun, that I'm positive this will be a blast as well. So set aside a few minutes and pull together a post that talks about your favorite ice cream. It can be ice cream recipes (either actual ice cream recipes, or recipes that use ice cream as an ingredient - root beer float anyone?!), stories about ice cream, odes to ice cream, a photo of a shirt with an ice cream cone on it, anything!

Here's how to get your post included in our roundup:

• On TeamSugar, or on your own blog elsewhere, write about your favorite ice cream flavor, ice cream recipe, a recipe using ice cream or just a great ice cream story (be sure to include a link to this post).

• Notify me via email (yumsugar@gmail.com) or PM by July 27 with the following information:

  - Name & city (so I can give credit)
  - Your blog name or TeamSugar name
  - Permalink to your post
  - A 100x100 pixel image that goes with your post (optional)

I can't wait for the roundup! Yay for ice cream!

Cognac, like Champagne, is a type of alcohol whose production is limited to a specific region of France. It's a type of French brandy that is produced in Cognac and the surrounding regions. Although cognac is used to make an assortment of specialty cocktails in America, it has only recently been accepted as a mixing ingredient in French bars. In the past, the French preferred the liquor alone, but now, with the help of popular Cognac brands like Hennessy, it's making its way onto the scene. In this cocktail it's mixed with ginger ale, bitters, and an orange peel for a refreshing taste treat. Take a look at the recipe, just read more

This week I decided to bake something French for travel week. I originally thought I'd make a classic creme brulee, but after flipping through Julia Child's wonderful Mastering the Art of French Cooking, I landed on a clafouti instead. The anniversary of Julia Child's birth is approaching and in order to celebrate, I thought it was time to try mastering something new.

So what is a clafouti (pronounced kla-foo-tee)? It's a custard-style baked French dessert, traditionally made with cherries (but you can substitute most any fruit). The batter is similar to pancake batter, but the result is more like a flan. It's wonderfully delicious served warm with powdered sugar on top, and is ridiculously easy to put together. To make this tonight, read more.

If you love picnics as much as I do, head on over to Picnic Mob and get in on the picnic of the year. Part art, part neighborhood community building, and part picnic party fun, the folks at Conrad's Blog have come up with a unique social experiment. It takes a few minutes, but here's how it works: you answer 30 random questions about your tastes and interests and then enter your location. Your stats get added to a gigantic database and once they have a thousand people per town, you'll get an invite to a nearby park for a picnic with the masses! To ensure fun, they plan each section of the picnic based upon your answers. I know I'll be at the San Francisco picnic mob whenever it happens and I hope to see you there!

Source: BA Blog

• I'm not sure I would consider fresh sugarcane juice is the original lemonade, but it is really delicious. - Serious Eats



• I know how much you all love cupcakes, so what do you think of this pan that will allow you to make a giant sized one? - Baking Bites
• What are you going to do with all of your warm-weather ingredients? - Chow
• Love soda water? Here's how you can make your own soda water at home. - Apartment Therapy: The Kitchen
• Can the words luxury and canned food really go hand in hand? - Will Work For Food
• If you can't make it to The French Laundry, you can do like Carol and cook The French Laundry recipes at home. - Slashfood
• Release the inner beauty of tomatoes by peeling and seeding them. - Culinate
• In case you haven't heard, The Simpsons Movie opens today. To celebrate here's a list of the Top 10 Simpsons candy moments. - Candy Addict
• Speaking of candy, here's a review of my fave Sour Gummi Bears. These are the best sour gummis out there. - Candyblog

When I was in Nice, France, I was mildly surprised to see that a large chunk of the salads on menus were Nicoise salads - especially because Nicoise is a French phrase that means "as prepared in Nice." Dishes a la Nicoise generally include tomatoes, black olives, and garlic. The quintessential salad contains these basics and additional tasty, fresh ingredients like green beans, tuna, and hard boiled eggs. Traditionally the salad is made with anchovies, but you can omit them if you like. The recipe also calls for a homemade vinaigrette, but you can easily substitute your favorite oil and vinegar based dressing if you are short on time. This hearty salad is a meal on its own - one that is perfect when paired with a French white or bubbly. To get the recipe, read more