Carrots are a year 'round item at the Hollywood Farmers Market. But this time of year particularly beautiful carrots can be found in an array of colors, sizes and shapes. I love the little round French carrots; so sweet and carroty. They are the perfect size to pop in your mouth like a little carrot bon-bon, and that’s exactly what I do with them.

So this week I chose carrots for my Market Matters post. Not just any carrot however, I chose a variety of the most unusually colored carrots I could find. Because once you get out of the PigglyWiggly you will discover that there is way more to a carrot than orange. There are red carrots, purple ones, even yellow, white, and two-toned varieties.

You needn’t be frightened of these carrots. They are not some mutinized hybrid with a lot of genetic hanky-panky going on. Nope, most of these carrots are heirlooms.

I am off tonight for an overnight flight to Panama. I will be leading a cooking demonstration for a group called Boquete Gourmet, highlighting 6 recipes from 6 legendary restaurants of Hollywood. It’s an exciting honor to be asked and I am ready for this adventure!

And an adventure is exactly what this is going to be. We arrive in Panama City Christmas morning, where (hopefully) a rental car will be waiting for us. Then we will drive the entire length of the country (8 hours by car) from the lowlands near the canal– all the way up to the Volcan Barú, the country's highest elevation, near the Costa Rican Border. This is where the beautiful village of Boquete lies and this is where I will be showing off my culinary razzmatazz!

In the meantime, it’s Christmas Eve and I am still in Los Angeles surrounded by my friends. As a holiday gesture I am making a big bunch of scones so that the poor suckers I am leaving behind will have something to remember me by come Christmas morning.

I was recently asked to make a birthday cake and bring it to a friend’s party. Of course this is a great honor. Of course I wanted to do a bang up job.

But I did think to myself, have you ever seen SippitySup? Cakes are not my thing! I am not saying I can’t make a cake when push comes to shove, but it’s not what I'd would call a strong point.

Though, I did make a simple and rustic strawberry cake a few months back, and an even simpler Italian-style corn meal cake with fresh berries even more recently. I was rather proud of these cakes. These are Sups! kind of cakes. Flavorful with out being too sweet or too fancy. Layers and ganache are beautiful and, of course, delicious– but they probably make a heck of a mess in the kitchen. Nope, I am not into messes!

I get stress dreams just thinking about the kind of work that must go into some of the comely confectionary creations I have seen cascading across the pages of so many of the talented geniuses in this big, wide blog world.

 It's summer. It's hot. You may not feel like cooking. Especially in the heat of the day.

But people are still going to stop by aren't they? I have friends coming by this afternoon. We plan to beat the heat by laying low by the pool. I would not really call this sort of event entertaining because everybody will probably have his or her noses tucked inside a book. But I am still going to have to feed them aren't I?

You betcha.

So this morning I walked down to the Hollywood Farmers Market. I needed to do Market Matters post and I needed to put together a light lunch for my friends.

I picked up these sweet little summer squash. They are a bit bigger than a golf ball. But not quite as big as a tennis ball. Look how round and perfect they are.  They are a great jumping off place for the light poolside lunch I have planned. Stuffed Summer Squash di Alici.

But just because my lunch needs to be light and easy to make ahead does not mean it can't be big on flavor.

Well, all good things must come to an end. So must mint.

And what better way to end something than with dessert.

And what better dessert is there than ice cream? Mint ice cream. Well, spearmint ice cream. I make the distinction because really good spearmint has nothing in common with Wrigley’s Spearmint Gum.

Because this ice cream is complex and herbal in its flavor. Sure it is minty, but not pepperminty. Sure it’s sweet. But oh so subtly sweet. Just sweet enough to entice you into taking another bite.

You could add chocolate chunks, I suppose. But I think the pure taste of spearmint all on its own has more integrity in this case. I think it’s best to save the chocolate for peppermint ice cream.

But feel free to prove me wrong.

Guess what?

I have a lunch date with The Daily Spud. Spud has won prestigious blogger awards. Sup has not. Spud blogs potatoes. So far, Sup has not. Spud will be in San Francisco next week. Sup will too!

We may be doing Vietnamese food. I wonder if Spud knows there are not a lot of potatoes in Bahn Mi! Come to think of it there are not a lot of potatoes in any Vietnamese cooking. Well maybe sweet potatoes (I think…)? But (gasp!) I just thought about something else. What will we talk about?

I don’t know a lot about potatoes. Why do you think I read The Daily Spud in the first place?

Spud is Irish so there is always ale. I can talk about ale, and lager and beer…

But really I should bone up on potatoes, don’t you think. I mean Spud is visiting this country from a land far, far away. Diplomatic proto-call requires I make the alien (err I mean, visitor) feel welcome.

So I am honoring the Irish Spud with a mashed potato recipe! Not just any mashed potatoes either. Green Mashed Potatoes!  Minted Mashed Potatoes & Peas.

Cuz I am still stuck on mint!