IF YOU ASK ME, MOST ICE-CREAM SANDWICHES aren’t very exciting. They’re usually two tasteless chocolate cookies filled with bland vanilla ice cream. Summer calls for much more rewarding treats. Here’s one to make: fab ginger cookies filled with soft peach ice cream.

Ginger-Cookie Ice-Cream Sandwiches
Makes about 12 sandwiches

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, melted
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 tablespoons molasses
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Demerara or turbinado sugar
1 pint peach ice cream

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl stir together the butter, brown sugar and molasses. Stir in the egg.
2. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Stir into the butter mixture.
3. Place the Demerara or turbinado sugar in a bowl. Scoop out a heaping tablespoon of dough and roll into a ball with your hands. Coat the ball with the Demerara sugar by rolling it in the sugar and place it on a parchment or Teflon-pad-lined cookie sheet. Repeat this process, spacing the balls approximately one inch apart on the sheet.
4. Bake 8 to 10 minutes or until the bottoms of the cookies are lightly browned. Transfer them to cooling racks and let cool completely. Sandwich peach ice cream between cookies and serve.

WORRIED ABOUT SUMMER BRAIN DRAIN (the age-old idea that if your kids don’t keep their minds active, they’ll forget what they learned in the previous school year)?

There’s an easy (and fun) way to avoid it: Play games with your kids! Here’s how to make it happen:

Make sure your game closet is updated with both classic games and newer ones. This is a great job for the kids: Assign each a couple of game boxes and task them with making sure it has all the pieces and is neatly organized. (There is nothing more annoying than opening Monopoly and seeing the money all mixed up!)

Establish one night of the week as family game night. Games are more fun to play with more people. Invite your neighbors or the grandparents to join in the fun.

Choose games that are fun and challenging for all ages. Depending on the ages of your kids, games will have different challenges, but you can make adjustments so it works for everyone.

Here are some of the games our family likes to play and the educational benefit they provide:

• Scrabble: Obviously this is great for spelling and vocabulary skills. If you are playing with younger kids, make a rule that everyone can use only three-letter words. (Have an iPhone? Download Scrabble for word fun wherever you are.) A great variation of Scrabble is the hugely-popular Bananagrams.
• Yahtzee: Everyone loves to roll the dice, and what better way to keep those math skills alive?
• Monopoly: Make sure everyone gets a turn at being banker, and everyone reads his or her own cards. Math and reading, check!
• Apples to Apples: This is our new family fave, and it’s a great way to work on vocabulary.

I DON’T REMEMBER WHEN I STARTED MAKING CANTALOUPE GELATO. I must have gone on a melon-buying spree one summer and then realized we couldn’t eat them all fast enough. So I made melon gelato. Similar to sorbet but more intensely flavored, this is one of my favorite ends to a summer meal.

Gelato di Melone
Serves 4

1 cup superfine granulated sugar
1/2 cup water
1 cantaloupe (about 3 pounds)
2 tablespoons lime juice
Large pinch salt

In a small heavy saucepan, heat sugar and water to make a syrup, stirring until sugar is dissolved. Cool. Cut rind from melon and discard seeds. Cut melon into chunks and in a food processor purée enough to measure 2 cups. Transfer purée to a bowl and stir in syrup, lime juice and salt. Chill melon mixture until cold and up to 1 day.

Freeze in an ice-cream maker. Serve gelato immediately or transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden no more than 3 hours.

I DON’T THINK I HAD EVER PAID MUCH ATTENTION TO RADISHES before I went to cooking school. Of course I’d eaten them, the ones that were thinly sliced and then forgotten on the bottom of the salad bowl. But in a cooking lesson on crudités, we slathered crusty slices of bread with good butter and topped it with paper thin radish slices. And just before we ate them, we sprinkled the radishes with coarse sea salt. The combination was truly astounding, the combination of textures and flavors transforming. I never looked at a radish the same way again.

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Radish Crostini
Makes 8 slices (serves 4)

2 (or more) tablespoons European-style butter
8 thin slices crusty French or Italian bread
2 radishes, thinly sliced
Coarse sea salt

Spread the butter on the bread slices, dividing evenly. Cover with the radishes (this can be done up to an hour ahead, just cover with a towel). Just before serving, sprinkle liberally with salt and serve.

THIS TIME OF YEAR YOU CAN FIND POTS OF ALL SHAPES and sizes in any garden center. But for my money, turning something unexpected into a planter is the best way to add style and personality to your garden. Unless you’ve decided to use an item of antiquity, the costs can be minimal and the steps are easy:

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• Look in the garage, storage shed or basement. What’s lying around that you can’t bring yourself to throw away? I’ve converted all sorts of interesting items into planters. The slightly rusted little red wagon that my sons outgrew became a cool place for daffodils and other spring bulbs. The vintage but leaky galvanized metal watering can now has chocolate mint spilling from its opening. And succulents peek from the open flap of an upturned mailbox — one that I salvaged during a construction project.
• Assess your drainage needs. While standard-issue flower pots come with drainage holes, a piece of old pottery or industrial metal may not. A little ingenuity may be called for. In the case of ceramic items, a masonry bit will do the trick. Used with an electric drill, the bit’s sharp point can penetrate the base of an old piece of pottery to create holes. It will also work with concrete and cast stone. Depending upon the thickness of a metal item, you might be able to puncture the base by hammering holes using a large nail. Otherwise, look for a drill bit that can be used with metal surfaces.
• Plant to your heart’s content. Fill the converted vessel with organic potting soil and plant annuals, perennials, bulbs, herbs or succulents inside — just as if you were designing any garden container. Remember, you win bonus points for creativity! The most amusing repurposed item I’ve seen for holding plants is a pair of 1970s women’s pumps. Oh, la la!

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FARMERS MARKETS IN THE SPRING are chock full of wonderful things. On my last visit, I bought spring greens for salad (chickweed, mizuna and arugula) and a few bunches of spring onions.

Looking very similar to scallions, spring onions have the very beginnings of onion bulbs on the ends of their long green stems.  They’re milder than fully developed onions but a bit zippier than scallions. Anyway, I took them home, rinsed and trimmed them and threw them on the grill with a steak. Yum.

Grilled Spring Onions
Serves 4

2 bunches spring onions, tops and roots trimmed, rinsed
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Coarse salt
Crumbled feta or blue cheese (optional)

Preheat a grill to high heat. Toss the onions with the olive oil and salt and grill until tender, turning a few times, about 5 minutes. Sprinkle with cheese if desired and serve.

WHAT’S YOUR IDEA OF THE PERFECT WEEKEND HOME? Is it a place out of town, a spot you drive hours to get to? Is it a place in the country or a loft in the city?

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What a luxury it would be to have such a retreat: A quiet place to rejuvenate, relax and regroup.

Many of us will never have a second home. However, the primary residence we do own is the place where most of our treasured memories are made. So, this summer — even for just a weekend or two — make your home feel like your favorite getaway.

Here are a few ideas:

• Picnic night: Once a week, pick up a variety of deli items, a bottle of wine and a few special treats. Clear a spot and spread a blanket. As the evening progresses, star gaze, catch fireflies and tell stories.
• Hire someone to clean your house and mow your lawn while you sit on the porch.
• Pay your kids to wash the car, then start a water fight with them afterward.
• Sleep in. Or get up early, grab your coffee and enjoy some quiet time reading, journaling or just putzing.
• Start a summer-memories scrapbook and add to it every year hereafter. Encourage your kids to draw pictures and teach them to use your camera. Summer through a child’s eyes is priceless.
• Set up a tent and leave it for the summer. It makes a great fort!
• Take the kids berry picking and make homemade ice cream.

To some, owning a home can feel like more of a chore than a luxury. But for many of us these days, owning one home is a luxury — one we sometimes just need a little break from.

IT’S NEVER BEEN EASIER TO BE A WRITER these days: emails and blogs and tweets and status updates and websites, oh my!

Now, the first part of that sentence alone can set a writer’s eyes either laughing or crying. One of my big light bulbs in life was the understanding that most writers don’t find writing easy. (Very helpful when writing isn’t going so well — I’m not alone!) As Georg N. Meyers, one of my first editors, used to say, “Writing is when you sit at your typewriter until little beads of blood come to your forehead.”

Yet we still endeavor. A few tips and tricks from along my road that might come in handy on yours:

• Trim the first three paragraphs. Often we get all writerly when we write, and spend too much time setting up a piece. On the web especially, where people tend to scan rather than read, getting to the point quickly usually is more effective.
• Write for your mother. Or your best friend. Include anecdotes and metaphors that you generally use in conversation.
• Start in the middle. Or at the end. Don’t let a lack of idea for how to begin derail your efforts. Often I find that as I’m writing the middle or end, the suitable beginning reveals itself.
• Power through writer’s block. Go for a walk, do the laundry, take whatever break you need, but don’t let it become avoidance. In either “Wild Mind” or “Writing Down The Bones” (I can’t remember which), Natalie Goldberg recommends simply sticking with it: Write, “I can’t think of what to write. I can’t think of what to write. I can’t think of what to write” over and over until something else comes to mind. Believe me, it will.

IF YOU’VE ENJOYED MISO only in that light, savory soup that often kicks off a Japanese meal, then you’re in for some treats. The fermented-soybean paste is a versatile seasoning that can be incorporated into many other dishes. For example:

© ASIAN FOOD GROCER

• As a base for other soups
• To make an even creamier risotto
• Brushed on baked or grilled vegetables, including corn on the cob
• Adding a new dimension to mashed potatoes
• Used as a marinade for fish
• Blended into dips and sauces

Miso is low in fat, has no cholesterol and offers a balance of protein, carbohydrates, essential oils, minerals, vitamins and isoflavones. A tub of miso paste lasts well in the refrigerator. I find yellow miso the most versatile, but sometimes experiment with the white and red varieties as well.

Miso can, however, be high in sodium, so if you’re keeping an eye on that, be sure to compare labels: Some brands have less sodium per tablespoon than others that are labeled “low-sodium”.

OPEN AN ENVELOPE OF RADISH OR CARROT SEEDS, pour a few tiny grains into your child’s hands, and encourage him or her to sprinkle those seeds onto the soil. Within a few weeks, young leaves will emerge, soon followed by harvest time — when crops of veggies can be picked, washed and eaten straight from the garden. Your kids will have the healthiest snacks around.

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Gardening can be any parent’s secret agenda to teach children that vegetables and fruits don’t always come pre-cut and shrink-wrapped from the supermarket. My boys, now 13 and 17, learned to garden in a postage-stamp-sized city backyard where two 4-by-8-foot raised beds yielded organic raspberries, strawberries, heirloom apples, sugar peas, carrots and beans. While playing outdoors the boys were free to graze on fruit, vegetables, herbs and salad greens. Since we used organic practices, it was safe to eat straight from the pea patch.

Here are some more kid-friendly ideas:

• Make it colorful. Plant playful varieties of seeds, such as ‘Thumbelina’ carrots (2 to 3 inches long, they’re ideal for shallow or poor soil); ‘Easter Egg’ radishes in a colorful array of red, white, purple and pink; and ‘Bright Lights’ Swiss chard, with neon yellow, hot pink and vibrant orange stems (delicious and colorful in stir-fries and soups).
• Grow in small places. Plant all the ingredients for a delicious and fresh-from-the garden salad in a sunny window box. Even a single cherry tomato plant in a container will yield a menu-enhancing crop.
• Make room for herbs. Tuck basil, parsley, thyme and mint plants around the edges of larger containers or planting beds. Ask your children to assist you in the kitchen — send them out to pick the aromatic leaves to season a pot of soup or garnish the chicken. They’ll enjoy helping!