It’s five o’clock somewhere. Bottoms up! June 19 is National Dry Martini Day.

Perhaps it’s the long-stemmed, wide-mouthed glass, or maybe it's the uncompromising sting of alcohol, but martinis can be intimidating to a novice cocktail drinker. Not to fear - with a little knowledge and a touch of bravery you’ll be enjoying this classic tipple before anyone has time to make a bad James Bond joke.

Traditionally martinis are made from gin and vermouth. Yes, you can have a vodka martini too, and they’re probably more popular, but gin is the way this all began. When the cocktail was first invented (by whom is unclear, there are semi-serious legal battles over it), it was made with equal parts of gin to vermouth. These days that ratio is more like two parts alcohol to one part vermouth.

Vermouth is a flavored, fortified wine of Italian origin that can either be sweet or dry. As you might have guessed, a dry martini uses dry vermouth but that’s not the only way to make a martini dry. The less vermouth in a martini, the dryer it is. So, dry can also refer to the alcohol ratio.

As if that wasn’t enough to think about, you could also order your dry martini dirty (with a few drops of olive juice), with a lemon twist, with a cocktail onion (that makes it a Gibson) - the well of possibilities will never run dry. Knowing how you like your martini can be tricky, but luckily, the best way to figure that out is to keep on sipping.

Read more on National Dry Martini Day

The recall is categorized by the FSIS as "Class I": a health hazard situation where there is a reasonable probability that the use of the product will cause serious, adverse health consequences or death.

Recalled cases of beef from National Beef Packing Co. in Liberal, Kansas, include 10 pound packages of “National Beef” 80/20 Coarse Ground Chuck, package code “0481,” 10 pound packages of “National Beef” 81/19 Coarse Ground Beef, package code “0421” and 10 pound packages of “National Beef” 80/20 Fine Ground Chuck, package code “0484.”

The affected products have a use/sell date of June 14, 2013 and were produced on May 25, 2013. Cases were shipped to institutions and retail establishments and FSIS has expressed concern that some product may remain in consumers' freezers.

No illnesses have been reported in association with the consumption of these products. The contamination was found as a result of routine inspection by FSIS.

Consumers with questions about the recall should contact the company at 877-857-4143 for details. Additional information can be found at nationalbeef.com.

Consumers with food safety questions are encouraged to contact "Ask Karen," the FSIS virtual representative available 24 hours a day at AskKaren.gov. The toll-free USDA Meat and Poultry Hotline 1-888-MPHotline (1-888-674-6854) is available in English and Spanish and can be reached from l0 am to 4 pm ET Monday through Friday.

- Fast facts on E. coli
According to the FSIS, E. coli is a potentially deadly bacterium that can cause bloody diarrhea, dehydration, and in the most severe cases, kidney failure. The very young, seniors and persons with weak immune systems are the most susceptible to foodborne illness.

Consumers are advised to only consume ground beef that has been cooked all the way through to an internal temperature of 160°F.

Consumer resources:
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Food and Drug Administration's Recalls, Market Withdrawals, & Safety Alerts
FDA Food Safety
FoodSafety.gov
United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Education
IsItDoneYet.gov

More on food poisoning from CNN Health and all foodborne illness coverage on Eatocracy

Previously:
The other E. coli threat? Raw milk
Multi-state beef recall tied to potential E. coli contamination
What? Chicken butt. Why there's salmonella in your eggs
Tainted food – a sticky situation for airline travelers
29,339 pounds of ground beef recalled on salmonella fears

Everything was going fine, until the bill came.

But it wasn't the amount on the check that angered Joseph Gibson, who had stopped at a St. Louis sports bar to chow down.

It was a line on the special order section for his young son that set him off.

Under "1 - Wing Sauce" the receipt read: "F-in Needy Kids."

The name of the bar? Friendly's.

Denny Domachowski, the general manager of Friendly's Sports Bar and Grill, told CNN the waitress meant it as a joke and intended to delete it before handing the bill to Gibson. She's been reprimanded, he said.

"I apologized to them, and he called later and I apologized again," Domachowski said.

Gibson, who had a soda and chicken dinner, was still offended.

Read - Receipt profanity angers dad who took young son to sports bar

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.

First, know the rules. In New York City, for instance, all open containers of alcohol are banned at parks and beaches. Most public beaches prohibit glass containers (pretty easy to see why - the beach is much less fun if you’ve got lacerated feet). However, some national parks do permit alcohol consumption; check the National Park Service website for rules specific to each park. For instance, at White Sands National Monument, alcohol is banned during February, March, April and May, but not other times.

Second, consider the temperature. Summer is hot; it doesn’t take to long for wine to get hot, too. My advice is to chill all the wine you’re bringing to a picnic, whether white or red. The reds will quickly rise to a pleasant drinking temperature once you’re at your destination.

Third, consider travel and temperature. If you’ve got your wine (and your cold roast chicken, potato salad, brownies, and what have you) in the trunk of your car on a hot day, you will soon have hot wine unless you put it in a cooler. And hot wine is revolting, unless it’s December and you’re picnicking on a ski slope. (And when it comes to travel, of course, don’t drink and drive.)

Finally, some wines just seem particularly suited to picnicking. Bright, unoaked whites, such as Sauvignon Blancs, Albariños from Spain, Vermentinos from Italy’s coastal wine regions, and dry Rieslings are all great options. Dry rosé - as opposed to white zinfandel - and particularly the crisp rosés of southern France (Provence, Languedoc, the Rhône Valley) are classic picnic choices.

If you are in a red mood, try lighter reds such as Beaujolais, lighter-bodied Pinot Noirs (for instance from Oregon’s Willamette Valley), Zweigelt from Austria (little known, but delicious with a slight chill), Barberas from Italy’s Piedmont region, and so on.

And don’t forget wine’s secret virtue when it comes to picnics: ants don’t like it.

More from Food & Wine:

Best Burgers in the U.S.
America’s Best Lobster Rolls
Incredible Fried Chicken
Make-Ahead Picnic Salads
Summer Grilling Recipes

The Art of Outdoor Dining

Make your tailgate a touchdown
5 picnic no-nos
How to use grilling leftovers
Bring your indoor favorite to the great outdoors
Make a Mexican-inspired outdoor feast

Or possibly tenderly cradle you to his sculpted chest.

Ditch the great indoors and dine al fresco. June 18 is International Picnic Day!

We’ve given you and do’s and don’t of picnicking, along with some helpful planning tips, and told you what to drink.

Now here are some dishes that are portable and picnic friendly.

No mess no fuss
Dishes that are messy just don’t work for a picnic, you’ll spend more time cleaning up than actually enjoying yourself. Stick to dishes that are self-contained like wraps instead of sandwiches. Instead of putting a sauce on whatever you’re eating prior to picnicking, take it along separately and have people dip. Skewers also work great for picnics and can be served as snacks, dessert or a full meal. Instead of fussing with a salad, skewer veggies and salad ingredients.

Keep it simple
It’s a picnic, no one is expecting a three tiered cake and perfectly seared steak. Break elaborate meals down into components that can be enjoyed al fresco without a knife and fork. Bite sized food like meat balls, pigs in a blanket and mini mozzarella balls are easy to snack on and don’t require more than a napkin. Meats and cheeses can also be arranged within a container with some crackers so that everyone can help themselves without too much effort.

Fake it
Who says you have to cook for a picnic? These days grocery stores offer a variety of prepackaged food that’s perfect for picnicking. Subs or sandwiches from the deli section go perfectly with a pre-made potato salad. Take out from your favorite restaurant is also an option. If you’re a regular, tell them you’re picnicking and they might help pack the meal accordingly. And the best part? Cleaning up is as easy as throwing everything away or recycling.

The Art of Outdoor Dining

Make your tailgate a touchdown
5 picnic no-nos
How to use grilling leftovers
Bring your indoor favorite to the great outdoors
Make a Mexican-inspired outdoor feast

The least we can do is prepare them as deliciously as possible. Here's our best advice for making the most of the season's bounty.

- Seasonally speaking
Ramps, fiddleheads, fava beans and other spring vegetables about which people are freaking out
A vegetarian may show up at your summer cookout. Do not be alarmed.
Quick, simple vegetable sides for fall
Winter vegetables. Eat them. Here's how. (That means you, Anderson Cooper!)
- Alliums
Vidalia onions – accept no impostors
All about garlic scapes
Get on the ramps train
- Artichokes
How to eat an artichoke
- Brassicas
Don't like broccoli? Give it a roast
Kohlrabi, a highly adaptable space octopus
Brilliant Brussels sprouts
- Corn
Simply ear-resistible: A grilled corn tutorial
Summer is for sweet corn
- Leafy greens and succulents
Homegrown lettuce – hold the E. coli
Five ways to cook and eat dark greens in winter
Food adventure day: Chinese broccoli
Take a chance on green soup
Foraged greens
Radish leaves
Purslane, the ‘noxious weed’ that makes a tasty salad
Multiplying greens and the mystery of amaranth
Sea beans - nature's quick little pickle
- Okra
Okra – in season and 'snot just for frying
- Root vegetables
Take a trip to the market, it might turnip a surprise
Americans just don’t understand the potato. Colombians do.
The best potato salad we've ever had
Sweet potato kimchee
Horseradish - rooted in tradition
- Squash
Squash is the answer to all your problems
We need to talk about zucchini
Learn to roast butternut squash
How to cook fall squash
- Tomatoes
The best sandwich in the universe – at least for the month of August
The only salad that matters right now
Heirloom tomatoes explained
You really should be putting tomatoes in your drinks
Mom's perfect tomato sauce

Spring vegetables | Summer vegetables | Fall vegetables | Winter vegetables

Keep track of all out best vegetable advice at eatocracy.com/vegetables

Celebrity chef Nigella Lawson and her children have moved out of their home as her husband denies a report that he attacked her.

In response to a tabloid's photos showing Charles Saatchi reaching his hand across a table and apparently holding her neck, Saatchi told another newspaper Monday that there was no attack.

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," Saatchi, an art dealer and former advertising mogul, told The Evening Standard.

"There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt," he added. "We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

Lawson's spokesman said only, "Nigella and her children have moved out of the family home."

Read - Chef Nigella Lawson moves out after report of possible assault by husband

I lived in a fifth-floor New York City walk-up apartment with no yard when I started getting the itch to put food to flame. I was drawn to it like a moth, for reasons I couldn’t quite grasp, and which now smolder at the core of my food-loving soul.

Whenever my friend Ali was out of town, I’d let myself onto her back deck to fire up her kettle grill after watering her plants. Since I took pains to replace the charcoal and scrub the grate as cleanly as I could manage, she was kind enough to issue me a key.

I do not come from a grilling people; flame-licked patties, chops and chickens are not my birthright.

My parents, sister and I hauled skillet-grayed burgers and broiler-blistered hot dogs out to the sunless cement patio on holidays. Once my parents finally caved in to suburbanity and picked up a grill, I was already deep into sullen teenhood (and anything that involved fresh air and sunlight). I recall my father - a brilliant scientist and adventurous cook - attempting to flame-cook a batch of frozen french fries in a perforated foil pouch. It was...a noble attempt.

My mother’s twin sister - the only family member in possession of a grill - was afraid of the darn thing. She’d force a spatula and tongs into the hands of any visitor with a Y-chromosome; my sister and I sometimes had to explain to a visiting boyfriend that, no, this wasn’t some odd Sicilian test of virility he had to pass to stay in the family’s favor. (A drag queen friend of mine tamed those flames in heels, pearls, an apron, and a blaze of authority.)

I hit a seven-year vegetarian jag when I turned 19, and throughout college and grad school, would show up to cookouts clutching sad little packets of cut-up vegetable chunks, seasoned with salt and pepper and a thin slather of whatever oil was cheapest at the Super Fresh that month. I’d hand the packet to whomever was manning the grate and wait to be handed back a pouch of steamed glop that I’d eat with as much gusto as a starving, self-serious art student could muster.

The masters degree I was fueling myself through, by the way, was in metalsmithing. I am neither thrilled nor cowed by an open flame - if anything, it just feels as comforting as cool air to me. I’d just never been privy to the alchemy that occurs when fire kisses meat and chars the edge of vegetables and summons the most bewitching flavors known to mortal man. Cooking (especially in the big, mostly yard-free city where I moved after graduation) was for the stove and, sadly, the microwave. It was most definitely an indoor sport - and so far as I'd ever seen, only dudes could play in the outdoor leagues.

It was a piece of fruit –and a little bit of kind instruction - that finally compelled me to try it for myself. Two friends of mine settled into a ground-level apartment with a yard, perfect for entertaining.

One night after dinner, I watched as one of our hosts, Pete, pulled out what looked like a section of air duct with a handle bolted to the side. He carefully lined the bottom with newspaper, filled the top with chunks of black wood and set the whole mess ablaze from below.

But at the peak of the inferno, he didn’t dump the whole shebang into the Weber kettle in an effort to bring hellfire to innocent foodstuffs. He waited patiently for the fire to wane into an orange, ash-coated glow, tipped it into the grill with a little spark and not much fanfare, and placed peach halves face down on the oiled grate above them.

Until that point, I’d only ever witnessed well-meaning, weekend warriors flicking switches to summon gas flames, or dousing noxious lighter fluid over pillow-shaped briquettes. This was artful - and entailed the use of tools to boot - and the results were inarguable. After he pulled the softened, hash-marked peach halves off the grate, he scooped vanilla ice cream into each and ground a few flecks of black pepper on top.

Dessert was served with minor fanfare, knee-buckling flavor, and not even a hint of the acrid flavor I’d always associated with grilled food. I needed more of this in my life.

From then on, Pete was generous enough to indulge my rookie questions and with access to Ali’s grill, I worked my way from fruit to vegetables to fish to chicken parts to whole animal heads. I flamed through my fair share of flare-ups, overdone food and minor injuries, but somehow along the way, it became my go-to method of cooking and I was reborn as something of a grilling evangelist.

These days I’m rarely happier than when I’m spending hours slow-smoking a brisket, feeding the results to friends and neighbors, and empowering other people to adopt outdoor cooking as part of their arsenal. My first job in food writing was as Grilling editor for AOL’s food section, and that’s sparked a career in which I get to write about mastering brisket and ribs, triage grilling ills, and celebrate the bounty of the season with vegetables that people might not think of laying on a grate.

I regret the two and a half decades I spent thinking that somehow grilling was off-limits to me, for reasons of gender, locale, dietary restrictions or budget. I suppose that's what upset me about that dude-centric article: the notion that any cooking method would be the domain of any particular group, and that some young woman might read it and assume that her father, brother, uncle, boyfriend, guy pal or any random fellow might somehow be better equipped for the task.

So far as I'm concerned, the more hands on spatulas, the more tasty grilled food there will be for all of us to eat. Can't we all just grill along?

The Southern Foodways Alliance was kind enough to share a few of their favorite women who aren't afraid to play with fire:

Helen Turner of Helens' Bar-B-Q - Brownsville, Tennessee
Susie Headrick of Green Top BBQ in Dora, Alabama
Ashley Christensen of the Fatback Collective barbecue team and AC Restaurants in Raleigh, North Carolina
Desiree Robinson of Cozy Corner BBQ - Memphis, Tennessee
Elizabeth Karmel of Girls at the Grill Hill Country Barbecue, New York City and Washington, D.C.

Achieve Grilling Greatness

- Why girls should grill

- Grate balls of fire? Not on our watch.

- Help! My neighbors stink at grilling!

- C'mon baby, light my fire – just don't skimp on the flavor

- Up your grilling game

- Red hot grilling tips from Eatocracy readers

- 5 grilling mistakes – and how to fix them

- Advice from killer grillers

Brilliant Burgers

- Burgers – a step-by-step guide

- Best. Burgers. EVER and Best. Cheeseburger. EVER

- Dean Martin's Bourbon Burgers

- Buffalo sliders and fried chicken that raises the bar

- Slider battle!

- Big, bad burgers from around the country

- Food & Wine's favorite burgers

- Top 10 burgers in the United States

Monumental Meat

- Five slices of barbecue wisdom

- Five tips for hot dog success

- How to smoke a brisket in your backyard

- Take a stab at a slab – an intro to ribs

- Five steps to steak supremacy

- Hearts afire! Liver, marrow, kidneys and more great offal for the grill

- Whole hog BBQ - the Mount Everest of Meat

- Five cuts of meat to buy and grill

- A prime rib primer

- Lobster roll 101

- What every carnivore should know

Stellar Sides

- Best potato salad we've ever had

- How to grill corn

- Grilled pizza basics

- All about cole slaw

- The art of the deviled egg

- Ultimate grilled okra

- The only salad that matters right now

- A vegetarian may show up at your cookout. Do not be alarmed.

The Art of Outdoor Dining

- Make your tailgate a touchdown

- 5 picnic no-nos

- How to use grilling leftovers

- Bring your indoor favorite to the great outdoors

- Make a Mexican-inspired outdoor feast

Read all about barbecue

Vegetables are dirt candy - so dig in. June 17 is National Eat Your Vegetables Day!

It’s one of those things in life that we should just accept: toast will always fall to the floor buttered side down, and mom is usually right - especially when she tells you to eat your vegetables.

Vegetables. Eat them. Here's how.

It’s unclear what happens childhood and adulthood to change our minds about vegetables, but boy, should it happen sooner. Sure, there are some vegetables that we’ll never develop a taste for, but for the most part, they're quite tasty.

Vegetables can add texture, sweetness, or freshness to a dish, and don't require that much work. Nature's bounty should be treated with respect, so forget boiling them until they’ve lost all the color and become mushy beyond recognition. Try blanching them for a minute in boiling water and shocking them in an ice bath, or (gasp!) serving them raw. Heartier veggies can be roasted for extra flavor - think sweet potatoes or butternut squash.

Not only are grocery stores stocked with the standards – squash, peas, cauliflower, etc. – these days, new and exciting veggies popping up all over the place. Kohlrabi looks a bit like it came from another planet, but it makes a great crunchy addition to any salad. Celeriac is a great alternative to a potato, and a good source of dietary fiber. Even greens like bok choy are readily available at your local grocery store.

All of them are begging to help you experiment with something new and exciting. It’d be a shame not to heed that call.

What’s your favorite or least favorite vegetable? Let us know in the comments below.

Previously:
Vegetables. Eat them. Here's how.
Ramps, fiddleheads, fava beans and other spring vegetables about which people are freaking out
What to drink with green vegetables
Simply ear-resistible: A grilled corn tutorial
Okra – in season and 'snot just for frying
Food adventure day: Chinese broccoli
Scorpacciata – garlic scapes
We need to talk about zucchini
Kohlrabi, a highly adaptable space octopus
Purslane, the ‘noxious weed’ that makes a tasty salad
Multiplying greens and the mystery of amaranth
Anderson Cooper, eat your vegetables!
Squash is the answer to all your problems