 Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. It’s a bit of a mystery to me why International Picnic Day should fall on a Tuesday. After all, Tuesday isn’t exactly the easiest day for a picnic, at least if you’re employed. I’m also a little puzzled as to the difference between National Picnic Day, which falls on April 23, and International Picnic Day, which is today. Perhaps we’re all supposed to go have a picnic in Provence? Regardless, any excuse for a picnic is a good one, so what the heck. There are a few useful tips regarding bringing wine to your picnic, which I feel are worth knowing, since any picnic is improved by the presence of wine. 
Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. If you’ve had anything to do with an airplane recently (gotten on one; awaited for a loved one in arrivals; worked in an air traffic control tower), then you don’t need me to tell there are a crazy amount of delays on the tarmac recently. Some travelers have made the very best of an annoying situation - it’s worth watching a string quartet of Philadelphia Orchestra musicians do a pop-up concert on their three-hour–delayed flight. And the crowd who sang “I Believe I Can Fly,” on their grounded, non-air–conditioned jet. Or you can avoid the possibility of spontaneously singing R. Kelly in a very hot airplane and drive (in the 48 contiguous states anyway). Benefits include the possibility of dropping in at one of the country’s amazing food museums, where you can become an expert at everything from Spam to pizza to Pez.
 Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. June is back on top. After dropping to second place (after September) in 2011, it is once again the most popular month for weddings. What surprises me, though, is that it’s not the most popular month for bankruptcies, given the average cost of a wedding these days is about $28,000. Love conquers all, it seems, even one’s bank account. But the fact that you’re blowing nearly thirty grand on your nuptials doesn’t mean that you have to spend the bulk of it on wine. In fact, there are some terrific wine values out there that will please even the most critical of guests. Possibly even your new mother-in-law, though that might be asking too much. One approach to choosing wedding reception wines that will add some fun to the process is to do a casual taste-off with your spouse-to-be. Find three or four whites and three or four reds that you think are good possibilities, then open them all and taste them together—that way you’ll end up with choices that you both like. (Some venues require you to use wines on their list; ask them for some samples, or find the same bottles in a nearby store using a site such as wine-searcher.com.) Also, keep in mind that you’re choosing wines for a very broad range of people, everyone from your best friend to your weird uncle Morton (or whomever). You yourself may love bizarre organic wines from Slovenia, but a wedding is one instance where you might want to head toward choices that are a touch more familiar. Here, for example, are a few great values that would be ideal wedding reception pours.
 Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. Thank goodness summer is almost here, except for one thing: the competitive eating. Last week, in an event that I see no upside to, Jersey Shore’s Snooki hosted a Bridezillas Wedding Cake-Eating Contest. With their hands tied behind their backs, 10 dressed-up brides-to-be tried to take down their own seven-pound wedding cakes.
 Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. It’s already been a big year for bugs. There are the horror movie-style warnings of the cicada invasion that is supposed to hit any minute now. More recently, Eatocracy highlighted a new United Nations report, "Edible Insects: Future Prospects for Food and Feed Security," that tells you everything you need to know about its message in the title. If you don’t eat insects, you might one day be in the minority. Two billion people worldwide chow down on them, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which sees bugs as a terrific source of viable protein. Even better, you have lots of choices: It’s estimated that there are 1,900 different insect species to eat. Here, a couple good options to get non-insect eaters started.
 Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. Ever since the day that a suitcase of mine appeared at the top of JFK Airport's luggage conveyor belt wrapped in a giant plastic bag, leaking wine, I have given some thought to how one ought to pack wine bottles when one travels. The method I used on that particular trip - slide each bottle into a sock, wrap the sock-swaddled bottles in other clothes, and hope for the best - had clearly proved no match for the brutal baggage handlers at Lisbon’s Portela Airport. On the good side, the bottles that had been smashed were all Vinho Verde, rather than red wine, but I still had to endure the ignominy of standing there while everyone else on the flight watched my dripping bag descend. “Wow,” they were undoubtedly thinking, “I wonder which poor schnook’s bag that is.” So, to save people from a similar fate, here are some suggestions about how to pack wine for travel, whether you’re visiting wine country, or are just tossing it in the trunk of your car to bring to a friend’s house for a summer weekend.
 Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. Memorial Day has become, informally at least, the opening day of grilling season (formally, of course, it honors fallen members of the U.S. armed forces). It’s the second most popular grilling day, after July 4 - and that translates to a whole lot of grilling. Over 96 million U.S. households own grills, and based on figures from the ever-vigilant folks at the Hearth, Patio and Barbecue Association, about 54 million of those grills are fired up over the course of this weekend. As for what we like to grill, in order, that’d be burgers, steak, hot dogs and chicken. So, what’s a wine that goes with all four? I’m going to suggest Grenache.
Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. As the weather warms up, burger eating is pretty much mandatory. If you’re not working a grill, you’ll probably be standing near someone wielding some patties and a metal spatula. But, I generally look to the professionals for my burgers. I asked the top burger judge I know, Josh Ozersky, for his top 10 burgers around the country. (For a list of the 25 best burgers around the country, look out for Food & Wine magazine’s August issue, which features picks from Josh, among others.) A little about Josh: He’s the author of the phenomenal book, "The Hamburger: A History." His website, Ozersky.tv, frequently includes entries like “The Burger That Made Me Whole.” And he only likes hamburgers with squishy, unseeded white buns and American cheese. Take it away, Mr. Ozersky.
 Ray Isle (@islewine on Twitter) is Food & Wine's executive wine editor. We trust his every cork pop and decant – and the man can sniff out a bargain to boot. Take it away, Ray. Spring is in full flower - I know this, because I am sneezing continually - and in addition to the burgeoning boughs and all come asparagus, snap peas, watercress, spinach, artichokes, you name it. Basically, everything’s gone green. With that, if you’re a wine lover, there’s also the question: What wines go best with green vegetables?
 Kate Krader (@kkrader on Twitter) is Food & Wine's restaurant editor. When she tells us where to find our culinary heart's desire, we listen up. The Great GoogaMooga festival hits Brooklyn this weekend, which means it’s the unofficial start of Foodie Music Festival season. (Also on the list: Lollapalooza, Outside Lands, Austin City Limits, the recent Jazz Fest and the just announced Music City Eats in Nashville in September, which - full disclosure - Food & Wine will sponsor.) Coincidentally or not, a lot of restaurants seem to be in a kind of sound system arms race to see who can be the noisiest. When the hot new restaurant app is a decibel reader, you know places are getting loud. Those spots that look like they just stopped being a warehouse yesterday - concrete everywhere, tablecloths nowhere - mean that the sound level could well approximate a construction site. Since it’s not hard to find a noisy restaurant, let’s focus on the ones that are doing something interesting with their outsize sound.
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