As summer rapidly approaches (where did April go?), chat around the coffee machine has begun to revolve around one simple question…

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Mojito (mo-HEE-toe), def.: a cocktail consisting of rum, sugar, lime juice, sparkling water, and mint.

I’m sure many of you have heard of this summer drink, which has become wildly popular in the past 5 years or so.

Would you be surprised if I told you it was Ernest Hemingway’s favorite cocktail?

Yeah, that’s right; this drink can actually be classified as “venerable,” right up there with the Rob Roy and Sidecar.

What goes around, comes around…

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In the past, if I were to choose to make a batch of cookies, any flavor I wanted, I must confess Snickerdoodles would not have been at the top of the list. I mean, they’re fine, OK, pretty good.

And then PJ created her Superdoodles. I started to love Snickerdoodles more and more. But could I make them into a cookie I craved?

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There is a wonderful Norwegain book that I read with my children about three sisters who go out to pick strawberries for their mother. The girls run, giggling, out into the meadow; a picnic basket swinging from one child’s arm, two large tin buckets for the berries swaying from the handles clenched by the hands of another.

If only life were that idyllic. Even though the berries are being picked for jam in this book, I can’t help but think of strawberry shortcake each time I read it. Maybe it’s the picnic basket with the red and white checkered cloth that invites the image to my head and elicits the memory of an old friend sharing this dessert each year at the peak of strawberry season.

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The rain may never fall till after sundown.
By eight, the morning fog must disappear.
In short, there’s simply not
A more congenial spot
For happily-ever-aftering
Than here in Camelot. – from the musical “Camelot,” Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe

Do you see that lovely scene above? It’s Camelot, our King Arthur Flour campus – Baker’s Store, Bakery, and Baking Education Center – in Norwich, Vermont, taken on a green and sunny day in late spring, 2011.

We’ve been at this particular location since 1995. And, with the pond and lots of trees, it’s beautiful.

Problem is, we grew. And grew, and grew, until at many times of the year we couldn’t squeeze another customer inside the store.

Classes at the BEC sold out so quickly we couldn’t schedule enough of them to satisfy all of our would-be students.

And our Bakery was hard-pressed to turn out the number of baguettes and napoleons and pizzas demanded by the many folks looking for a fresh-baked treat.

So, what’s a business to do?

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High-rising, whole wheat blueberry muffins…

Light, tender whole-grain pancakes…

Ooey-gooey buttermilk cake…

What do all of these treats have in common?

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Sometimes, not often but sometimes, my fellow employee-owners here at King Arthur Flour would like to murder me. Well, maybe not murder, but definitely toss me out the window in displeasure. Like the other day…

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A few weeks ago, Baking Sheet writer and editor Susan Reid and I were discussing our latest projects. This often leads to our discussing our latest dinners too, and often turns into an all-out “You’ve GOT to try this!” festival.

I think Susan is one of the most creative cooks I’ve ever met and she has called me “devil woman” on several occasions for my contributions. On this day, however…

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Q. What do you call a savory bread pudding, made with sourdough bread, asparagus, ham, cheese, and eggs?

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So many recipes… so little time!

There’s a running list I keep called “recipes I’d like to develop someday.”

A baking bucket list, as it were.

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