Eastern Europeans love tomatoes in salads, casseroles, sauces, tarts, breads, just about everything. Usually the thickness of the tomato slice doesn't matter but, sometimes, even slices are an important part of the presentation.

See what I thought of Williams-Sonoma's Italian Tomato Slicer that touts itself to "create perfect slices every time." Does it live up to its hype?

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The dog days of summer are upon us and, with them, our brief chance to grab what we can of sun, sand and ... soup! OK, so soup might not be something that immediately springs to mind when thinking of hot-weather meals, but there's nothing more refreshing on a warm, summer day than a bowl of cold soup.

Cold soups can be divided into uncooked and cooked varieties. You'll find both types in this list of Top Eastern European Cold Soup Recipes.

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The debate rages on -- is squash a fruit or vegetable? Furthermore, what's the difference between squash, pumpkin and gourds? Here's a little Tell-All that should squash (ouch!) some rumors.

Even though squash originated in the Americas, the seeds traveled back to Europe and now they grow all over the world. Try some in this Hungarian Chilled Summer Squash Soup and take a gander at an early summer Midwest farmers market.

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Sour Cherry Soup is a traditional summertime treat in Hungary, where it is known variously as meggy (sour cherry) leves (soup), hideg (cold) meggy leves, cseresznye leves, meggykeszoce, and cibere, although purists will tell you the latter only refers to cold beet soup.

Every Hungarian family has its own unique recipe for sour cherry soup. In Hungary, this soup is generally served before the main course and the cherries are unpitted, but many Americans consider it a dessert and prefer pitted cherries.

Sour cream or heavy cream are used to thicken the soup, and some recipes call for cinnamon stick and cloves while cooking, and sweet white or dry red wine to be added just before serving. You might find Knorr instant meggy leves soup at a European import deli, but you know it's not going to taste as good as homemade!

Jo etvagyat (yoh ate VAHD yaht) -- bon appetit!

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