Grilled cheese. Photo: adactio, Flickr

• Move over, pizza! Grilled cheese sandwiches are sent to the outdoor grill.
• Rather than spending a fortune on premade custom spreads, take a few hours and make condiments that will last a month.
• Since they're all over the farmer's market, skip ho-hum green beans in favor of haricots verts.
  
• Those super-huge summer zucchinis make great relish.
• Wine picks: The Westrey "Willamette Valley" 2008 Pinot Gris is a notable find, and as is the 2007 Chinon Domaine Jean-Maurice Raffault.
  
• In this week's On Our Desk, the Oregonian likes the "Adaptable Feast" for vegetarians and meat-eaters alike, and loves the secrets of "Mother's Best."
• Recipes: Pork Chops with Blueberry-Ginger Relish and Stuffed Baby Eggplant with Bulgur, Feta, and Pine Nuts.
  

Guacamole and condiments. Photo: rick, Flickr

• Seven recipes to make condiments more memorable.
• The wonders of watermelon, from Mark Twain's musings to how to pick your own.
• Cooking Tips: When you need to get rid of that fat, collect it in a cleaned cardboard milk or cream container. To promote browning, skewer scallops when grilling.
  
• Blackened poblano peppers will make a unique and tasty pesto.
• Product watch: Allen Brothers' prime steak, MolliCoolz Shakers ice cream drink, the practical "Dad's Awesome Grilling Book," Wickles pickles, and Eggland's Best Hard-Cooked Peeled Eggs.
• Recipes: Pasta with Peas, Mushrooms, and Tomato-Cream Sauce, Crab Bisque, BBQ Ginger Lamb Satays with Thai Dipping Sauce, Dragon Berry Strawberry Basil Lemonade, Patriotic Twinkie Pie.
• A list of Houston's local farmers markets.

• A beer expert vs. a wine expert.
• If you ever have to roast a sucking pig, here's how to do it.
• A foodie road trip to Jamaica.
• Three outdoor escapes, in Montana, Wisconsin, and California.
• A list of what to drink this summer.
• Here are 15 simple condiments you can make, along with 12 healthy fruit desserts (including the Concord Grape Granita, above).
• This month's recipes include: Sunflower Seed Dip with Dill, Sweet and Sour Carrots, Buttermilk Chicken with Crispy Cornflakes, Grilled Mini Meat Loafs, Vietnamese Chicken Salad, Four Citrus Salsa, Hot Dogs with Grilled Coleslaw, Chocolate Fondue with Fruit and Grilled Pound Cake, and Zen Sangria.

A really high-quality, aged balsamic vinegar is something that no chef should pass up, as it is basically the standard to which all other vinegars aspire. Other vinegars have their uses, of course, but few will be coveting the taste of white vinegar to top off a nearly perfect dish. Aged balsamics can be expensive, though, and as a finishing touch to a dish or to enhance the flavor in a dressing or marinade, flavored vinegars can be great options.

Flavored vinegars are infused with everything from sweet berries to fiery chilies and they seem to be everywhere right now. Trader Joe's, for example, is carrying at least four kinds right now, including the ones pictured above: California Grapefruit, Mango Chili, Strawberry Balsamic and Pomegranate. The flavors tone down the astringency of vinegar, while retaining its brightening properties. Of the ones pictured above, Grapefruit and Pomegranate are delicious in salads, while Strawberry is good on desserts and Mango works well as a marinade.

If you can't find a flavor that matches your own tastes, you can make your own fairly easily, with fresh herbs, fruits and spices.

Last year, the HJ Heniz Company received a score of 91 points out of a possible 100 on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ACSI), a ratings system based run by the University of Michigan and independent consulting firms, which tracks American consumer preferences and overall satisfaction. It was the highest rating in the history of the index and there was some small speculation that the company could not sustain that level of performance. But this year, for the seventh consecutive time, Heinz is coming out on top of the ACSI list again. Their score did dip slightly to an 87 out of 100, but a spokesman said "the survey results illustrate once again, that Heinz offers high quality food products to our consumers" - and that the customers are clearly satisfied.

Heinz may have some real competition next year, though. They only narrowly beat out their three closest competitors on the ACSI list - Hershey, Kraft and Mars - each of which scored 86 out of 100.

• The many uses of the chick pea.
• When it comes to chefs, Boston is a more female-friendly city than New York.
  
• Yes, there are more condiments in the world than ketchup and mustard.
• Kids love to make doughnuts.
  
• A guide to apple picking in Massachusetts.
• More and more New Englanders are becoming vintners.
• What do vegetarians eat on Thanksgiving?
• This week's recipes: Tapenade; Mock Lemon Aioli; Buttermilk Doughnuts; Buried in Vermicelli; and Chicken Curry.

Store brand products can be more affordable and, in many cases, better tasting than their name-brand counterparts. With some products, the larger national brands actually produce the store-brands, which simply receive different packaging before being shipped out to stores. Personally, I'm an open minded shopper and don't usually discriminate between name brand and non name brand food items. I buy store-brand sodas along with Diet Coke and do price and ingredient comparisons with products I haven't previously tried, often to discover that the store brand is almost identical to the more expensive corresponding brand.

That said, there are still some products that I won't buy if they're an off-brand. I prefer Heinz ketchup, for example, and approximations of Honey Nut Cheerios just don't quite measure up. It's probably because they're familiar flavors that I grew up with, and for that same reason, you probably have some, too. What store brand products will you not buy?