Now that Summer's here, peak travel season has officially begun! Whether you're exploring the farmers markets of Hawaii or soaking up the sun in Costa Rica, if you're headed somewhere fun and exciting and plan to seek out good food while you're there, be sure to share your pictorials with us. For instance, PetSugar just jetted back from Bali, Indonesia, where she stayed at the Uma Ubud retreat and enjoyed a refreshing breakfast at the Kemiri restaurant.

Curious to know what breakfast looks like in Indonesia? Then read more.

While an elegant poolside dinner may not be the most traditional of bachelorette parties, there is one classic element involved: a girlie, fizzy cocktail. Since a big group of females will be spending the weekend at a house in Calistoga, I'm going to need a large punch recipe to kick-start the festivities. Thus, I'm making this raspberry champagne punch. With vodka, orange liqueur, cherry liqueur, and sparkling wine, it's pretty potent and sure to loosen the crowd up . . . in case a stripper happens to stop by! I'll also stock up on sparkling water, white wine, and red wine.

To get the punch recipe, read more

For years, I was one of those people who avoided mushroom quesadillas. I would often see them on menus or buffet tables, but mushrooms just didn't seem like an acceptable filling for quesadillas. Red peppers? Yes. Onions? Of course! But mushrooms? Nope. Until one day when I was starving and grabbed a mushroom quesadilla not realizing what it was. I was shocked to learn how good it was!


Mushrooms do work in a quesadilla, and when paired with the correct cheese (like manchego) and filling (think roasted jalapeños and fresh tomatillo salsa), they can be absolutely divine. Dollop with a little bit of sour cream and serve with a cold Mexican beer and I'm almost in heaven. To give mushroom quesadillas a try — you won't be disappointed, I promise! — read more

I love discovering lesser-known fruits — my recent finds include white sapotes and tayberries — so I couldn't say no when specialty produce company Frieda's offered to send me an exotic fruit called the feijoa. Pronounced "fe-ho-a," feijoas (also known as pineapple guavas or guavasteens) originated in South America and are related to — you guessed it — the guava. Learn more about them when you keep reading.

When I was little, one of my favorite dishes was my dad's firehouse birthday cake. He was a fire chief, and like most firefighters, a great cook. His dessert specialty was a boxed chocolate cake that he jazzed up with a whipped cream cheese frosting and syrupy cherry topping; it was called firehouse birthday cake. Since he retired, I haven't had firehouse birthday cake, so with the original recipe in hand, I recently set out to bake an updated version of the dessert. Instead of a boxed mix, I made a devil's food chocolate cake from scratch and I replaced the canned cherries with fresh bing cherries. The resulting cake has all the delicious flavors I remember, but with a more sophisticated appearance. It's a rich and wonderful pairing of chocolate and cherries, cut with smooth, fluffy, thick cream. If you've got a birthday coming up, I highly recommend this cake. Here's the recipe.