I wonder how Martin Cruz Smith’s Arkady gets through a day on cigarettes, sausage, fatback, bread — and vodka.

Pick with thumb and forefinger, twisting slightly so that the berry rolls off into your hand.

When a recipe tells you to throw out some of the most nutritional part of the vegetable, reader beware!

When food shopping, ask if you can pick out your own goods and make friends with vendors.

When my husband asks, "What’s for dinner," I'm often still stumped.

Sometimes these myths begin for practical reasons (short ovens) and other times because cooks don’t know, for example, that fresh garlic is always superior to garlic salt, that fresh herbs are infinitely tastier and more interesting than dried ones.

My question of the month is only this: Whatever happened to manners?

My husband and I decided long ago that we need no more objects in our lives, and so our gifts to one another are moments: a nice dinner at a trattoria or day in the country at our favorite hideaway.

Suddenly I lived in Italy, and the marvel of Italian food and cooking cemented all I had learned before. Italians have great respect for food, and I have respect for food because of my eccentric and talented, feisty and ferocious grandmother.