Farmer's market stand. Photo: NatalieMaynor, Flickr

• Farmers' Markets, excess produce and the thrills and regulations of selling prepared foods.
• After winning a recipe contest, two home cooks get a turn on the line in the restaurant kitchens of Portland chefs Sam Hayward and Jeff Landry.
• The French may have rejected Malbec, but it's doing good business in Argentina.
• The joys of picky young eaters and standing your ground at the dinner table.
• A rundown of the "Perfect Scent Dinner," where foodies get sniffy and try to name the foods they're smelling.
• HP Hood is sponsoring an inaugural New England Dairy Cook-Off in Portland this Nov. 1.
• Recipes: Pancetta & Red Pepper Penne, Broccoli, Ricotta Salata with Fusilli, Braised Fennel, Onions, Goat Cheese with Farfalle, Creamy Sausage and Broccoli Rabe with Fettuccine, Fusilli with Mexican Corn-and-Tomato Sauce, Zucchini Custard.

• Hmm... Is the secret to curing picky eating having family dinners 5 or more times a week?
• What's more appropriate for a St. Patty's Day dinner than a recipe from an Irish grandmother, born in Ireland on St. Patrick's Day? The meal: Swiss Chard and Potato Soup, Lamb Pot Pie and Irish Cream Cheesecake.
• Forte Bistro at Richmond and York in Toronto: Inconsistent cooking for the Bay Street types and ballet and opera lovers.
• Beppi Crosariol shares the rising world of Irish whisky love and how it might be connected to hard times and The Wire, as well as a talk with Jeff Arnett, master distiller of Jack Daniel's.
  
• Chef David Lee talks about the joys of teaching kids the world of food.
• Parsimony: How to make the most of your chicken, shrimp, eggs, stale bread, cakes and brownies, rice, cheese, vegetables and wine, as shared by Canadian chefs.

• Adam Leith Gollner and his fresh for good fruit.
• Toratatsu in Vancouver offers sweet tastes and great dining on foods like "unbelievably tender pieces of free-range chicken ... pickled in a citrus marinade, lightly dredged in cornstarch, flash fried, splashed with more marinade and served cold."
• Be still my taste buds: Recipe for Local White and Green Asparagus Tart with Maple-Cured Bacon, Morels, Ramps, and Fifth Town Goat's Cheese.
• It looks like dry rosés are the new wines of choice.
• Tequila -- it's so hot right now, and pricey.
• Recipes: Healthy Chicken Tenders, Fish Tacos, Buckwheat Banana Pancakes, and Daf's Homemade Granola.
• Fix your picky kid eater by teaching them to cook.

• In the wake of John and Cindy McCain's "family" recipe blunder, here are some of the other candidates' favorite dishes
• Food detectives solve your kitchen mysteries, from the Puzzle of the Unmelting Mac 'n Cheese to the Riddle of the Ooey Gooey Zucchini Bread
  
• Food TV's Hearty Boys dish about their two year-old son, Nate, who, despite his parents' food-centric lifestyle, is a picky eater. (Read their tips on how to get your own picky eater to eat).
  
• A short history on fricassee
  
• Check out the winners of the paper's 8th Annual Good Eating Awards, which features businesses around the Chicago area who have contributed significantly to the food scene
  

Many experts say that it takes time for a child to accept a new food once it has been offered to them. The number of times you should offer a food varies according to who you ask. The most recent number seems to be 15 times, but once of the reasons to bring up new foods so often is to prevent the kids from getting into a rut with what they eat.

Pediatric nutritionist Jeanne Cox says that variety is important to make sure that kids are getting all of the nutrients that they need, even if the foods that they like are already healthy ones. New foods add flavor variety and change the vitamins and nutrients the children take in. If they are offered, and allowed to eat, the same foods every day, they may be less likely to try new foods in the future.

Cox tells parents that they should offer children, especially picky eaters, very balanced meals that include protein, starch, vegetables and/or fruits. Each element should be varied, serving potatoes, bread (whole grain, of course), pasta or rice for the starch, for example. Even if a child only eats the protein on one night and the starch on another, in the long run, the child will have eaten a relatively balanced diet and probably tried a few new foods, too - new foods that he or she might just want to eat again.

More about picky eaters:

• The "Cool factor" and picky eaters
• The science of picky eating