Melissa Roy, the new owner of Twisted Cork Cocktail & Wine Bar, shared recipes of two new items that can be found on her menu. Her bar is located where Corks used to be at Festival Center Plaza, near the Sea Pines Circle.

A new pizzeria is opening at 1534 Fording Island Road in Bluffton. Black Balsam & Blue will serve New Jersey-style tomato pie once it opens in October. Find more information at www.blackbalsamblue.com. 

The Italians named it “pomodoro,” or “apple of gold,” and appropriately so, as Italy is famous for its tomato-based dishes. Amelia, Big Beef, and Celebrity are popular tomato varieties grown here in the South, along with smaller heirlooms Amish Paste, Black Cherry and Sun Gold. The Ugly heirloom, often misshapen with deep scab-like cracks and unevenly colored, shines as one of the most flavorful, coining the new adage “Don’t judge a tomato by its cover.”

It only takes a few common-sense steps to make sure that summer picnicking and other outdoor festivities don’t result in food-borne illnesses that can be very hazardous, especially to both younger and older people with more susceptible immune systems. Food-based bacteria multiply at a much more accelerated rate in hotter and more humid temperatures, so picnics and cookouts are potentially high-risk environments. Keeping the peace in the family and trying to get rid of guests who never want to leave are also challenging, but that is a different checklist!  

Title: Executive chef, Charbar Co.

Question: Who taught you how to cook?

Answer: I spent a lot of time watching my family cook growing up. Mom cooked dinner every night with my dad on the grill. When the whole family got together, everyone was doing something for the meal. The kitchen was always the place to be.

On August 11, Signe Gardo, owner of Signe's Heaven Bound Bakery Cafe will celebrate her 44th anniversary since opening her establishment in 1972 in the tiny (650 sq. ft) lighthouse keeper's cottage in HarbourTown.

Monthly food writer Carrie Hirsch was a finalist in Wild Wing Café’s annual “Battle of the Bones” chicken wing competition. Her “Whoooa-sabi” wings made it all the way to the finals of the franchise-wide competition, losing by just 27 votes. The winning wing was “7 Pepper Sticky,” submitted by Raleigh, North Carolina, resident Felice Bogus, who received $5,000 and a spot on all Wild Wing Café menus. 

The Palmetto Plant Eaters club, a PlantPure Nation pod group that meets monthly to educate and support plant-based eating, will be hosting Leslie Haas as its guest speaker at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 3 at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Lowcountry at 110 Malphrus Road in Bluffton. Haas will not only showcase her tips and tricks for making the most out of the Instant Pot pressure cooker's multiple functions, but also cover everything from the basics for beginners to time-saving ideas for creating healthy meals. 

So many of our favorite shows have come to an end — we're still recovering from the final episodes of “Breaking Bad,” “Mad Men” and “Downton Abbey,” and some baby boomers are even still reeling from the end of “Seinfeld,” “Friends” and “The Sopranos.” Yes, these shows were addictive and had characters galore, but movies and documentaries about food are where real character development takes root. Need a few suggestions? Try: “Jiro Dreams of Sushi,” about an 85-year old sushi master who runs a world-class restaurant in a subway station;