Berries Jubilee (Shortcakes with Mixed Berry Flambé)

Strawberry shortcake is a classic dessert, and I've been obsessed with it for as long as I can remember. As a child, I'd wait with bated breath for dessert-time, ever irked when my mother insisted it was so-named because the table is "deserted" from having cleaned one's dinner plate and cleared the way. Even when I was little, I knew the difference between a sponge cake and a shortcake and, despite how groceries dutifully place the spongy yellow pucks next to the strawberries every summer, I would accept no substitutions. Proper shortcake should be like a biscuit or a scone. Not spongy, but crumblingly delicious, at once dry and yet delectably saturated with oil; with flaking crumbs that melt away on the tongue and leave nothing but happiness in their wake.

Pictured: happiness

Cool As (Blueberry Tzatziki Salad)

The season dovetails nicely in that the finest of summer's greens, cucumbers, berries, and peaches become fresh and locally available just in time for the last few barbecues before labor day. Steaks and ribs tend to take center stage at such gatherings, but a clever assembly of bountiful produce can still manage to be a showstopper. The heirloom cucumber on our backyard deck has coiled forth in riotous abundance, overshadowing the meek carrots and beets I tried to nestle below, and I've over a dozen cucumbers to contend with. In order to thin the herd, I decided to make a rendition of tzatziki, spiked with darkly sweet blueberries and served as salad.

Also thicker and chunkier than most tzatziki, but I like it that way

Some Assembly Required (Red, White, and Blue Tiramisu)

This post is also available as an article in the 6/27/2012 Williamsport Sun Gazette.

Once, back in high school, we were having a party and I was responsible for dessert. It was already the roaring heat of summer, much like now, so I decided to do something other than baking; something like tiramisu. I went a little overboard, doubling the amount of egg yolks to enrich the custard and finally adding a whole stick of butter because I wanted a conspicuously golden hue to contrast with the white whipped cream. Perhaps the only thing that saved me in the end was drowning everything in shaved chocolate, fresh raspberries, and mint sprigs.

Raspberries fix everything