Nectarines

Ice Creams & Sorbets By Lou Seibert Pappas The Perfect Scoop Ice Creams, Sorbets, Granitas and Sweet Accompaniments By David Lebovitz Ten Speed Press / 2007 / $24.95 Previously of Chez Panisse fame, David Lebovitz now cooks and blogs in Paris and here brings us his fourth book about all things ice cream. Let's rephrase that; all things ice cream and just about everything related to ice cream, including mix-ins like peppermint patties (yes, homemade) and "vessels" like profiteroles and crepes.

When I appear at speaking engagements, the question I get asked most frequently is: "Should I eat organic food?" Organic food is usually more expensive and harder to find. Is it worth the extra money and the extra effort? There are no simple answers to these questions. But we can start by looking at the two benefits supposedly conferred by organic food: 1. It's better for you and, 2. It's better for the world. My own opinion is that a world without chemical pesticides and animal growth hormones is probably a safer one to live in. Still, this must be weighed against the greater productivity that such agricultural advances have provided.

There was a time when having house guests wreaked such havoc on my schedule and pocketbook, you might have thought I was entertaining royalty or running for Innkeeper of the Year. Weeks before the big event, I would scrub every nook and cranny not only of the guest room, but of the entire house. If my visitors had arrived with magnifying glasses and white gloves, they would have given me an A in Housework 101.The bed linens were starched and ironed; thick, fluffy bath towels were folded with T-square precision and fresh-cut flowers resembled a Cezanne still-life.

Face facts: Nothing beats fresh fruit as a healthy dessert. It's ++ low in calories and sodium, high in fiber and vitamins, has no cholesterol and is naturally sweet.A perfectly ripe fruit can taste as delicious -- well, almost as delicious -- as a rich chocolate-filled, butter-laden flaky pastry. The trouble is that fruit rarely seems special or festive. Yet no rule requires fresh fruit to be dull. A little imagination and ingenuity transform fruits to treats.Simplest is sliced fresh fruit artfully arranged on a beautiful platter.

The debate rages on about whether or not fats or carbohydrates are responsible for America's collective heft. While the experts duke it out, setting the U.S. Department of Agriculture's food pyramid on the firing line, one thing remains clear: It's still a good idea to eat your fruit and vegetables. And now is the time -- the moment we've waited all summer for -- when mounds of locally grown produce deluge our farmers' markets and greengrocers. Backyard gardens brim with more than we can possibly consume.

How do some restaurants manage not only to survive but flourish in what are hard times for an already risky business? Just when I think only chain restaurants will make it into the 21st century, I eat at a place like Boccaccio. You can easily spend $50 a person here, but it's packed on a Wednesday night. Which leads me to some rules for fledgling restaurateurs:Rule No. 1: Location, location and, yes, location. Little Italy is still synonymous with a festive evening. People feel safer here than just about anywhere downtown.

Thousands of years have passed since humans first learned that adding water to crushed grain and heating the mixture on a flat surface would produce a delicious bread-like food. With the discovery of leavening and honey and other sweeteners, the pancake's place in almost every culture's cuisine was assured.In China, the pancakes are rolled thin by hand, steamed, stuffed with meat or vegetables, and folded for serving. In Japan, they are studded with chopped oysters and served with a hot chili dipping sauce.

IT HAS BEEN said that while in Jerusalem, if you want to talk to God, go to the Western Wall. But, if you want to see proof of his existence, go to Mahane Yehuda.Why is that?The Wall is a reminder of the Second Temple, destroyed almost 2,000 years ago. But when Jews began returning to the Land of Israel 100 years ago, that land was barren. Biblical prophecy said that this endless stretch of parched earth would someday become a land "flowing with milk and honey." And so it has come to pass.

There is no tooth fairy. Thunder is not caused by clouds bumping together. And a nectarine is not a cross between a peach and a plum.Surprised? A nectarine, it seems, is actually a smooth-skinned -- variety of peach, a product of natural mutation. A nectarine may suddenly, mysteriously, grow on the branch of a peach tree.Both are fragrant, sweet and tart. Both are so juicy when they're ripe that eating them in public is a task only for the socially secure.Holding a napkin under your chin to catch the juices, you bite through the nectarine's thin, golden skin.

The first time I saw an espaliered peach tree spread-eagled against a brick wall, I was shocked. It was so unnatural. The branches had been pinioned in place and forced to adhere to an arbitrary growth habit that seemed vaguely akin to footbinding. But I was also fascinated. Flattening the tree into a two-dimensional shape was just so practical. The south-facing wall against which it was trained absorbed the sun's heat, thereby extending the growing season. The single-plane branching meant that all leaves and fruit are exposed to sunlight, which significantly increases per-square-foot production.