Summer

Homemade tomato soup is good, but roasted tomato soup is even better. With the abundance of tomatoes right now in the markets, this makes great use of all those tomatoes and may be the best tomato soup you will ever have.

This method calls for roasting the tomatoes, along with some whole garlic, before making the soup. Roasting the tomatoes concentrates their flavor and adds a depth to the soup that you would not have otherwise.

I used beautiful San Marzano tomatoes for this soup because a vendor at my farmer's market had them. Use whatever nice, ripe tomatoes you have. Any Roma or plum tomato is a good choice.

The parmesan crisps, sometimes called fricos, are a favorite in our household and we use them to accompany salads sometimes (or a glass of Prosecco). These lacy wafers make the absolute perfect flavor compliment to this soup. They are surprisingly easy to make – they only have one ingredient – and fast, too.

"Not only did I know that August is National Picnic Month, that's exactly how I celebrate every year. By having a month long picnic on a small patch of grass, by the lake, in my favorite neighborhood park. Each August 1, I pack the SUV with 31 day supplies of chicken wings, macaroni salad, bottled water, colorful napkins - and don't return home until just before Labor Day." - Alan Zweibel

Pack up your picnic and enjoy an afternoon in the beautiful gardens at Anne Hathaway's Cottage in the heart of England, Stratford upon Avon home to the Bard himself, Shakespeare.

Here you can enjoy free entertainment and activities for all the family, and it is a perfect excuse to venture outside and enjoy the gardens at their very best. There are competitions for the best dressed teddy, fairy dressing up, story-telling and children’s gardening tips from the team of expert gardeners plus races and craft activities.

Foods to enjoy are scones with fresh cream and homemade strawberry jam made from locally grown strawberries…the little ones not the puffed up GMO varieties! Lots of white and brown bread sandwiches filled with delicate fillings of cucumber and egg salad and crème cheese all locally sourced and of course lots of dainty fairy cakes and delicious home baked tartlets…yummy! - Carolan Nathan

As a child, I would go boating with my family in the Stockholm archipelago. We had a small boat which barely slept the four of us and in it we and would skip from island to island for a few weeks. My brother and I would hop ashore first and explore until we found the perfect spot for a picnic. As the sun started to set – which it does late up in these parts – we would sit on the rocks that were still warm from the days sun.

These days, I go with my wife and daughter to the beach in Wainscott where we have a modest house in the middle of a field. Listening to the sea we munch on halibut salad, cheese and crackers from Loaves and Fishes in Sagaponack. - Fredrik Carlström

Strawberry season is in full swing across most of the country, so chances are you're buying lots of them. You are, aren't you? Then that also means you likely have a few soft or slightly bruised berries -- good enough to eat but not pristine enough to showcase on the top of a strawberry shortcake.

Well I'm not going to suggest you use them to make sweet jam or a smoothie (though I love both). I'm going savory with strawberries. That's right. If you've never paired strawberries with meat, then expect to be wowed.

Succulent strawberries and creamy mango are enhanced with aromatic anise seed in this simple yet flavorful salsa. The fruits' sweetness provides the perfect balance to the savory, buttery flavor of the pork tenderloin.

Plums are such a special fruit with so many uses. For me their flavor is most unique: they are sweet near the skin but tart by the pit. The color too is deeper toward the skin and paler near the pit. All stone fruits are spectacular, in my opinion, but I adore plums for this uniqueness. I love eating plums when they're so ripe that their juices squirt right out when you bite into them and run down your arm. That's when I find myself eating them over the kitchen sink. Often when I buy plums in bulk, instead of waiting for them to fully ripen, I usually end up making jam or baking them into pastries, pies, and tarts.

Late summer always rewards us with beautiful Italian prune plums, recognizable for their egg shape, dark and bluish exterior, and green to yellow interior. They are typically available from August until September and can be found widely in the States, but more so in Europe. Often they are dried to make prunes, but more famously are made into the eastern European liquor slivovitz. Plums have always been a favorite in my family. Many Hungarian recipes make use of them: one dish in particular is gomboc, which are plums encased in potato dumplings, and rolled in a cinnamon-breadcrumb mixture. I like them, but I love plums much more in pastries like this crostata.