Fresh berries and flaky puff pastry are always a winning combination. To keep up with our berry tempting recipe series, I made mini blueberry-vanilla cream cheese pies that are simple and delicious. I was a little zealous while filling them and clearly overdid it — thus, my pies popped open during baking. Regardless, they were still mighty tasty!

This recipe is a great staple to have on hand when you want to impress guests with pastries. Feel free to substitute another berry or flavor the cream cheese mixture with citrus zest or a different extract. My next round will be raspberries with a lemony cream cheese. Get started on your own pocket pies by reading more.

Talk about a lost treasure. Divers exploring a shipwreck near the Baltic Sea's Åland Islands have also uncovered a collection of what appears to be the world's oldest drinkable Champagne. The 30 bottles, which were likely part of a cargo destined for Russia in the 1780s, are believed to be more than 200 years old.

Divers — among them instructor Christian Ekstrom — hauled the bottles from a depth of 200 feet, and popped one of the corks before even reaching land. Ekstrom said of the wine, "It tasted fantastic. It was a very sweet champagne, with a tobacco taste and oak."Upon consuming one of the bottles, the instructor sent samples to a French lab for testing and analysis. Experts say that based on the bottles' shapes, the Champagne was likely produced in the 1700s by the house of Cliquot.

If this theory is proven correct, the bottles would take over the title of oldest recorded drinkable Champagne (currently held by an 1825 Perrier-Joulet bottle), and each would be valued around $65,000. I suppose it makes sense that the cool, dark conditions of deep sea water are perfect for long-term storage of wine. Underwater cellars, anyone?

One of the most admirable writers in my book was an equally prolific drinker: Ernest Hemingway. I love any excuse to channel him whenever I'm out on the town, whether it's with one of his tried-and-true tipples like the Papa Doblé Daiquiri, or a more contemporary drink such the Scarlet Harlot made with apéritifs, which he loved.

But before this weekend, I'd never tried the one cocktail that Hemingway himself invented. It's named Death in the Afternoon, after his famous nonfiction account of traditional Spanish bullfighting.

Appropriately, the classic cocktail contains little more than champagne with a splash of the most legendary bohemian spirit of all, absinthe. The end result? A strong, stiff drink, perfect for the most tormented of writers. Feeling the need for one yourself? Then read more.

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Yesterday I was one of five lucky people who judged the first annual Lamb Jam in San Francisco. The culinary competition was put on by Fans of Lamb and the American Lamb Board, hosted by chef Matt Accarrino of SPQR restaurant, and featured 20 of the city's top eateries. Each participating chef — among them Chef vs. City star Chris Cosentino and Top Chef season 6 contestant Mattin Noblia — was given a different part of lamb and asked to create a delicious bite. From lamb sausage to lamb crostini, there was no shortage of creativity and good eats.

To take a look at all 20 dishes and see my thoughts of each one, keep reading.