We just finished oven-roasting a big set of baby-back pork ribs--dry, no sauce--and in addition to the neanderthalian (Um, let's all agree it's a real word, OK?) feelings of joy that come along with cooking a huge slab of meat and bones we had a rush of macho pleasure while using our cleaver to, well, cleave them into individual pieces. The cleaver was a wedding present, along with a full-set of kitchen knives--good ones--so all we can say to those of you who register for your honeymoon or some such nonsense instead of hard goods: Suckers. We mean, congratulations and all, lots of happiness, but still. . . Cake! At least we can all agree that a good cake is important to a wedding, right? Sure we can! And check out Sweet Napa for a quick little course in everything involved in modern wedding cakerie. And if you're one of those who stay away from gluten or refined sugars, well, Sugar Savvy has just the right sparkle for you, too.

Summer marches ever onward, so some people are enjoying their first tomato harvest, while other are enjoying tomatoes for the first time, period. Mental Masala eschews tomatoes, and harvests plums, preserving them in an easy jam. And, of course, it wouldn't be summer without picnics. The second annual Bay Area Food Bloggers Picnic looks like a hit, but we're surprised only Bunrab and Bay Area Bites wrote about it. It sure looks from the potluck pics that there were more than two bloggers there. . .

So we'll end with a warning and a solution. One, be aware of the shrinking food middle-class, as discussed by Give Me Some Food. Just because you don't have the time or skills to cook like Alice every night doesn't mean you have to resort to cooking from a box. And, in order to help you find the inspiration you need, may we recommend checking out Bay Area blogger Mrs. B's new book?

Pic is of lemon verbena and mint leaves from Simply Recipes, because it looked so summer-y and refreshing to us.