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• How to keep your living costs as low as a student's
• Simple ways to indulge without sabotaging your diet
• CelebStyle: Celebrities still love camera bags — add one to your mix
• Start mobile blogging with the new OnSugar app

We recently took a look at what barbecue meant across America, but, as a native Texan, I dare say that no state has more passion for barbecue than Texas.

I have fond memories of entering smoky barbecue joints, where I would make my meat selection, served casually on a styrofoam plate, then head over to the checkered cloth picnic tables, swinging my legs cautiously over the benches to slide into a small space in the crowded bench. I feasted on melt-in-your-mouth tender brisket with a caramelized, crunchy exterior. Depending on the joint, the brisket was either served with buttery green beans and mashed potatoes or sweet baked beans and cornbread. But one thing was for certain: it was much less about the sides, and all about the meat.

Texas barbecue originated in the 1850s; German and Czech settlers opened meat markets when they moved to the state and brought over their native practices of smoking leftover meats that hadn't been sold that day. It was a way of preserving the meat, and Texans took a major liking to it! Keep reading for more about the origins of Texas barbecue.

We're already tied to our smartphones and tablets, so who wants to wait until you're at a home computer to blog the day's latest adventures? The brand new and beautiful OnSugar iPhone app (free) — yep, made by us Sugar peeps — offers a way to blog, wherever you are and is now available for download on iTunes. Even if you've never used our awesome platform OnSugar before, you can create an account and get started on a blog, all within the app itself.

Once you've set up a blog, select what type of post you'd like to create: picture, text, video, gallery, link, quote, or poll. Post a photo of your delicious lunch, share a video of your coworkers goofing off during Happy Hour, or ask your readers to help you decide which Game Boy iPhone case to buy in a poll. Should you want a separate site just for your foodie finds, the app lets you toggle between and post to multiple blogs.

Naturally, you'll want to find other OnSugar blogs to interact with, and this can be done with a tap of the star tab — which opens the Discover page — to showcase a list of blogs that meet your interests. Follow the new discoveries and they'll appear in your stream, waiting for you to "like," reblog, and comment.

Get every OnSugar detail on our help page. Ready to get started in the blogging life? Create a blog on the app and share your website name in the comments so we can all follow along!

In the South, iced tea is the standard, and waiters greet you with the question "Sweet or unsweetened?" rather than "What can I get you to drink?" My answer is usually half and half, as most Southern sweet teas are practically syrup; I like my iced tea edging toward bitter but still slightly crisp and not too dark.

This particular iced tea uses Lipton, the most commonly found tea in American grocery stores. Add it to a glass full of crunchy ice with a squeezed lemon wedge and a straw, and let the hot, lazy days of Summer begin! Keep reading to learn how to make iced tea.

• Hot dogs like you've never seen 'em — Yahoo! Shine
• Five Washington restaurants where Obama's dined recently — Zagat
• These cooking habits could be making you sick — Kitchen Daily
• Guess how much it costs to have lunch with Warren Buffet? — Delish
• Inside Bryan Voltaggio's new restaurant, Family Meal — Eater
• Auguste Escoffier wasn't just a good cook . . . he was also a good crook — Grub Street SF
• How to halve a bunch of cherry tomatoes at once — Big Girls Small Kitchen
• Cornmeal, grits, polenta, masa: what's the difference? — Food52

For food lovers who embrace the local and sustainable eating philosophy, Oustanding in the Field is a rare opportunity to literally experience farm-to-table (or shall we say table-to-farm?) dining. Here, Fresh Tart gives us a look at one such event in Minnesota.

Tickets for Outstanding in the Field 2012 — August 9, at Little Foot Farm in Afton, Minnesota — are on sale. I bought a ticket and then thought, Hey! I should post the pictures I took at the 2011 event, at Riverbend Farm in Delano . . . last July . . .

Yeah. In fact I have several pretty posts in the queue, waiting for me to dust them off and share them. I guess it takes a looming one-year anniversary to kick my butt into gear.

For more pictures — including those of the farm and, of course, the lovely Summer food! — keep reading.