Compiled by Polly Campbell
The Cincinnati Enquirer

Required Reading

"Summer vacation" is surely one of the best phrases in the language. If you had summer vacations you loved as a child, you probably have a food memory connected with them. Rebecca Charles does, and she turned them into a successful Manhattan restaurant.

Charles spent her childhood summers on the coast of Maine, eating blueberries, oysters, lobsters and fish. As an adult, she opened the Pearl Oyster Bar in Greenwich Village, a well-regarded though simple restaurant that gained fame from Charles' lobster rolls.

Now, she has a cookbook, Lobster Rolls & Blueberry Pie (ReganBooks; $27.95) that combines recipes from her cookbook and memories of her family's long summertime connection to the Kennebunks. You'll find standards such as clam chowder and fried oysters, directions for a traditional clam bake and new favorites: Pearl Oyster Bar lobster potpie and butterscotch praline parfait. For anyone who's spent long summer days at the beach, it's food that evokes good times.

Sea or bay?

Deep sea or bay scallops? Here's cookbook author and New York restrauteur Rebecca Charles' point of view:

The answer depends on your taste. Because of their origins, I am partial to deep-sea scallops, which are taken from the bottom of the cold Atlantic off the coast of Maine and up into Nova Scotia. Sometimes called ocean or Maine diver scallops, they are large and firm and perfect for sauteing. I also use them in scallop chowder, pan roasts, and my scallop casserole, because they are nice, big and meaty. I feel like I get more value with them. Frankly they are just easier to cook on the stove and less time-consuming.

But bay scallops, also from the Atlantic, are often sweeter than the deep-sea scallops. They are impossible to saute, however, because they are so small. They are best broiled or used in dishes where it's harder to overcook them. They are also delicious raw.

From Lobster Rolls and Blueberry Pie

We tried it

If you reached for a Snapple yesterday and did a double take when you found one with an upside-down label, you were April-fooled. The new flavor, kiwi teawi, was introduced Tuesday, and in honor of its Down Under associations, the company flipped the Snapple logo.

If you like sweetened iced tea, this is a pleasant version, with the mild citrusy flavor of kiwi against a fairly weak iced tea background. A 16-ounce bottle is around $1.