Natalia de Cuba Romero writes from her home in Massapequa Park, and chronicles simple seasonal recipes for the produce she gets as a Restoration Farm member at hotcheapeasy.wordpress.com. She is a full-time lecturer at Nassau Commmunity College.

A Mermaids and Pirates Breakfast to Fund Maritime Education

He is known as Pauly the Man, the Unofficial Mayor of the North Fork, a three-point specialist on his basketball team and the assistant manager at Front Street Station restaurant in Greenport on Monday nights. And now, Paul Drum, 29, is also known as a philanthropist who is taking on a couple of new titles and presiding over a very special breakfast for sea-loving families at this weekend’s Maritime Festival in Greenport.

RECIPE: David Rosengarten’s Linguine with White Clam Sauce

The combination of dried pasta and clams is a staple all over southern Italy. But the dish is usually different from what we see here in two significant ways. First of all, though Italian-American restaurants almost always choose linguine for clam sauce, in Italy you are much more likely to be served spaghetti with clam sauce; the Italians claim it holds the sauce better, and they may be right.

RECIPE: Strawberry Rhubarb Refrigerator Jam

Rhubarb — one of the first vegetables of the local growing season — is coming soon to a supermarket or farmers market near you. It looks like an exotic and burly pink-tinged celery stalk, but don’t be fooled. And don’t pass it by, either. Strawberry rhubarb jam is incredibly easy to make and is the perfect balance of tart and sweet. And my version is made for the fridge: no gelatin, no pectin, no heating or canning.