It's the fourth Friday of August and my office is dead quiet. Half the staff is out on vacation and the other half is surfing the internet, trying to pass the minutes until it's time to go home. Here are some of the things I've been reading to make the moments fly by until the end of the day...

1. Could organic booze be the secret to avoiding a hangover?
2. Joy the Baker and What Geeks Eat both whip up homemade doughnuts.
3. David Lebovitz asks, "Are you a melon washer?" (I'm not).
4. Speaking of melons, Culinate waxes poetic about the noble muskmelon.
5. Looking for a greener way to do your grocery shopping? Check out the iZip Tricruiser.
   
6. If you grew up in California, then you probably have memories of getting ice cream cones at the Thrifty Drug store (now Rite Aid). They used a cylindrical scoop to dole out their ice cream and Kate has finally found one that replicates that experience.
7. Looking to spruce up that hot dog? Marie at Make and Takes has some fun ways to make hot dogs even more kid-friendly.
8. Looking for ways to keep your fruit budget out of the stratosphere? Follow Sweet Juniper's lead and do a little urban gleaning.

I've been cooking, in one way or another, for more than 20 years. That includes my early childhood experiments like when I would try to make hashbrowns on the days when I stayed home from school. Although tasty, they were always grey, a bit mushy and very visually unappealing. In recent years I've come to be something of an adequate cook, but I know that there is always more for me to learn.

It's in that spirit of continuing food education, that I particular love the post that David Lebovitz put up the day after Thanksgiving called "Ten Easy Ways to Improve Your Cooking." His tips are really helpful and include such easy changes as using lots of shallots, making a point of incorporating fresh herbs and rethinking the oils and vinegars you cook with. Another reason to go and check out this post is for the pictures as they are just lovely (that picture of thyme up above is borrowed from his post).

There must be something in the air, because while I didn't see this post until yesterday, about a week ago on a whim I bought a large bag of shallots at my local produce market. It's been lovely having them on hand as an alternative to my normal garlic and onions. They give food a sweeter, gentler flavor that I'm loving. They aren't wimpy though and still pack a punch that stands up to many of the stronger tastes out there.

I have sort of an unconventional travel resume. When I was 16 I spent three weeks in Poland, eating more pork in 21 days than I had consumed in the previous decade. The summer after I graduated from college I spent a month and a half in Indonesia, with a brief stopover in Hong Kong. Jakarta could have been a foodie paradise, except I continually made poor choices in street food and spent most of the time with a seriously uncomfortable stomach. I haven't had much luck in the way of foodie vacations.

While I'm not much of a francophile, David Lebovitz now has me longing to pack a bag and get on a plane to Paris. The reason? The most recent post on his blog, Living the Sweet Life in Paris. Friends and acquaintances often ask him to name a few places that they shouldn't miss when they visit the City of Lights and so he decided to create a post listing Ten Insanely Delicious Things You Shouldn't Miss in Paris. With pictures. Delicious!

In my mind, Perfect Light Desserts: Fabulous Cakes, Cookies, Pies, and More Made with Real Butter, Sugar, Flour, and Eggs, All Under 300 Calories Per Generous Serving has more than just a few good things going for it. Obviously, it is geared towards slightly less fattening/lower calorie treats. The recipes use less butter or sugar than they might otherwise, and often make substitutions like swapping egg whites for whole eggs. No artificial sweeteners or other ingredients are incorporated into the pies, cakes, cookies and other baked goods, so the recipes will taste just as satisfying as their high-calorie counterparts with less guilt attached.

Author Nick Malgieri is known for his much more decadent desserts and it is somewhat reassuring to know that he really stands by these recipes, in much the same way as dessert maven Alice Medrich stands by her hugely popular book Chocolate and the Art of Low Fat Desserts. To add another chef to the mix, David Lebovitz is also recommending it and has provided the recipes for Banana Cake and Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (which look quite similar to my favorite low-fat oatmeal cookie recipe) on his blog.

If you like to bake, this is definitely one to add to your wish list for the holidays - although if you sneak out and buy yourself a copy, you'll get to "wow" your family and friends in a way that they'll appreciate at parties and other festive (food-related) occasions.

David Lebovitz thinks that Chocolate Covered Marshmallows are a difficult food to photograph and I have to agree with him, having spent a good deal of time photographing marshmallows myself. Those little pillows of sugar have a softness and lightness to them that is hard to capture on film, although that ethereal quality is not exactly what he was referring to when he expressed that opinion. He was referring to the fact that he couldn't stop eating them once he started. I don't blame him one bit, judging from this shot that he managed to snap before they were all gone.

His marshmallows are from Pierre Marcolini in Paris, but if last year was any indication, the closer we get to the holiday shopping season, the easier it will be to find chocolate covered marshmallows at chocolatiers and specialty shops in your area.

It is perhaps every baker's dream to take a tour of the KitchenAid factory, but to do so by invitation is something that most bakers can only dream of. When you are the author of more than one wildly successful cookbook, though, it looks like the company will extend an invitation without even having to be asked. Food blogger, author and chef, the ex-pat American in Paris, David Lebovitz was lucky enough to get just such and invitation. He visited the factory in Greenville, Ohio, took a private tour and put on a demonstration of a few things, including rocky road and ice cream for other visitors. Yes- they do offer tours to non-professionals.

They generously allowed David to take photos along the way, so every photo in his post is an exclusive look inside the factory. He checked out some of the very first stand mixers, the assembly lines and the newest colors, like "Meyer Lemon, Martha Green (named after...), Caviar (black with silver flecks), a cheerful Green Apple, Olive, and colorfully-red Bing Cherry." According to David, each mixer takes one day to assemble and each employee assembles around 90 mixers per day. One of the things that I like about KitchenAid is that, in addition to the high quality of their products, nearly everything they sell is made in the United States, not overseas.

He said that it was one of the most fun tours he's taken, with interesting information and a very helpful staff. Be sure to drop in the next time you're passing near Cincinnati:

The KitchenAid Experience
423 South Broadway
Greenville, Ohio
Tel: 1-888-886-8318