If your favorite farmers market, or nearby roadside produce stand, are not yet open, it soon will. And, once that occurs, you will be inspired by what you'll find. My first trip to the market this season yielded the sweetest tomatoes I've enjoyed in months. Silver Queen corn was there, too, as well as lovely Vidalia onions, from Vidalia, Georgia, where the 35th Annual Vidalia Onion Festival will take place April 26-29 (http://www.vidaliaonionfestival.com).

"Gulf seafood is as safe to eat now as it was before the spill."
Some two years after the April 20, 2010 Deepwater Horizon Gulf of Mexico oil spill, language such as this reflects the prevailing sentiments of experts like Michael R. Taylor, J.D., Deputy Commissioner for Foods at the Food and Drug Administration (www.fda.gov/food/foodsafety/product-specificinformation/seafood/ucm210970.htm).

Like many of you, since the Rival Company introduced America to the nation’s first Crock-Pot®  in the early 1970’s, I don’t use my slow cooker as much as I used to. I’m not sure why that is exactly, because using a slow cooker was always very amusing. We place our uncooked food into the pot and several hours later, as if by magic, out  came a fully-cooked meal. If you are new to using a slow cooker, there are a few things to keep in mind. First, the easiest slow cooker recipes are the ones that do not require any pre-browning of meat or sautéeing of vegetables.

Girl Scouts are once again selling their cookies, so be sure you don't miss out. Among the eight varieties of cookies that may be baked by two of the country's only bakers licensed to bake Girl Scout cookies (ABC/Interbake Foods and Little Brownie Bakers), only three are mandatory: Thin Mints(R) (the most popular Girl Scout cookie), Do-si-dos(R) (peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Trefoils(R) (shortbread). These three varieties, along with Samoas(R) (Caramel deLites) and Tagalongs(R) (Peanut Butter Patties(R)) are America's most favorite Girl Scout cookies -- so far.