• 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.

If you've been following along for a while, you might remember the granola recipe I posted back in the summer. It's a basic, easy recipe that is a great way to get comfortable with the process of making your own granola. However, as the post up today on Dorie Greenspan's blog reminds me, there are a variety of ways to spice up your granola. She describes the homemade granola that friends brought with them when they came to visit over the weekend.

I am intrigued by the combinations she describes, especially the one that they made just for her that included bits of black licorice. I've never thought of incorporating that kind of sweet into granola and already my brain is racing with the possibilities.

If you are traveling this week to spend the holiday with friends or family, think about stirring up a batch of homemade granola to take with you. It is sure to inspire exaltation and joy from whomever receives your bag of oat-y, nutty goodness.

Gone are the days when granola was stigmatized as a crunchy, hippy food. Now, granola is considered to be a tasty addition to breakfast, due to the fact that it is a combination of some foods touted for their health benefits: oats, nuts and fruit. This homemade version from Cheryl at Free Range Living uses all those ingredients, with the addition of shredded coconut for some extra flavor. She sweetened hers with honey and maple syrup, and it looks better than most store-bought versions.

Healthy ingredients or not, granola is also high in fat and calories, so it should be eaten in small portions. Cheryl suggests using it as a topping for yogurt parfaits, mixtures of fruit and plain yogurt, for a nice, healthy breakfast.

I like to call the Red and Black Cafe in Portland, Ore. the Socialist coffee shop. It's a subversive place full of ratty couches, angry radicals and server-owners who are forever forgetting what you've ordered. But the food, well, it's worth all the trouble. Like this homemade organic granola, served with its own pitcher of milk. It's crunchy, nutty, with plump raisins, and just the teeniest bit sweet (never with refined white sugar), the very epitome of health. And delicious to boot. Get it with a pot of one of the house blend herbal teas... even though that will take an extra 10 minutes and you'll have to remind your server at least twice. You'll still thank me for turning you on to the Red and Black.

[Photo Sarah Gilbert]