Avocados are not one of my favorite foods. Occasionally I find some in a salad I am served. It doesn’t interfere. However, I prefer seafood salad with an artichoke.

At this time of year, when tomatoes and many other fruits or vegetables are lemons, turn to lemons to refresh a tired menu.

"Whoever heard of Christmas without dried figs?" (Is that anything like New Year's Eve without a date?)

There is still time to enjoy local tomatoes. Another month (with luck) before the rich, ripe, winey crop disappears for good, to be replaced by the phony fruit from Florida.