Eating

Possibly the world's greatest ginger snap. If you're passing around a cookie plate after dinner, this is what you want on it. If you want to give a gift of homemade cookies, these are the ones you want to give. 3 minutes to make the dough.

Seven delicious courses to savor, marvel at and talk about. Pass 'em around. Family Style. The handoff. The social interaction. A feast to share. You can pull this off. With ease. For less than $20 per person.

Everyone inhales deeply while the polenta's being passed. They gasping in awe, maybe drool, when the platter of osso buco comes around. Family Style. The handoff. The social interaction. A meal to share. Easy and foolproof to prepare.

Concentrated sweetness from baking very ripe fruit. Zero sugar. Flaky, buttery luxury-in-your-mouth from your leftover homemade pie crust. Your home smells like a very good bakery. Your tart cost less than 75 cents.

When you get eggplant, peppers, squash, fennel, scallions and tomatoes in one week's CSA farm share, it's time to make ratatouille. And when these hot-weather vegetables ripen at once, make a huge pot to refrigerate and enjoy cold for the rest of the week.