I'm as corny as Kansas in August.

Summer is here!, originally uploaded by Mandee - IThinkYouShould.

Farm to table is nothing new in my world. My grandfather had a farm, and I never miss it more than during corn season. He always filled the field across the street from their house with corn - "just for you", he'd tell me. I think that was the only thing that got me out of my ham, potato chips, and orange Hi-C rut.

The key is to pick the freshest corn you can. My favorite source is the old men who pull their pick up trucks up to our local farmers market on Saturday mornings. Most people line up for the tomato guy, but you can find me with the corn men when they ring the bell at 8am. If you can get it fresh enough, raw corn is really like candy.

Silver Queen is my favorite (I'm still kicking myself for not stopping when I saw a sign in Northern Florida on the way back from the beach Memorial Day weekend), but the most important characteristic is freshly picked.

When I hit the jackpot, I like to eat it raw. I'll slice it off the cob with my chef's knife. You'll read lots of different ways to do it most efficiently, but I just keep it simple: stand it on end in a bowl big enough to catch the flying kernels and go to town. You'll want to get close enough to the cob that you get some of the delicious corn "milk," too.

Once you have that bowl of summer goodness, use your imagination. Yesterday, I added cherry tomatoes, avocado, salt and pepper and topped my flank steak with it. Another favorite is tomatoes, a little white wine vinegar, olive oil, goat cheese and basil.

Of course, if you gamble and lose in the freshness category, just boil a big pot of water and drop it in there for only a few minutes. If it's too hot to heat up the kitchen, wrap it in a wet paper towel and then some wax paper and microwave it for a couple of minutes.

If the grill is already on, prep the corn by removing the silks but leaving the husks on. Mix up a little compound butter - softened butter, brown mustard, garlic and cilantro is a favorite - while you soak the corn in water for 20-30 minutes. Smother the ears with the compound butter, tie up the ends of the husks, and throw them on the grill for 10 minutes or so. You can thank me later.

Where should I eat in New York?

We spent some time last weekend trying to figure out when it all started - this obsession of mine. I am always in search of the perfect restaurant for the occasion. Was it the dinner at Cashion's Eat Place following the fire at our little house on East Nelson? Maybe it was actually utilizing the sommelier at Tru celebrating my sister's first national speaking gig. At any rate, it's a full fledged obsession now, we know that.

So, last week this time, I was on a flight to LaGuardia for a combination weekend of sorts - one part girls' weekend, one part performing at Lincoln Center weekend. My friend L lives in the West Village, so when Sherri heard I'd be visiting for the weekend and singing, we decided to make it a girls' weekend, too. Some of our prime eating time was taken up with rehearsal, but these were my favorite places of the weekend.

Murray's Cheese - Sherri and I arrived before L got home from work so I suggested a stroll over to Murray's. L and I visited last year when I was in town and I quickly fell head over heels. Grab a number from the dispenser near the front of the store in front of the cheese case. When someone calls your number take full advantage and taste to your heart's delight. They also have plenty of meats, crackers and bread to accompany your cheese. By the time we made it back, L had the wine breathing and we settled in for some catching up.

Eataly - our intention was to head to the newly opened beer garden on the roof, but by the time we escaped our Murray's stupor, it was nearly 10pm. The wait was 2.5 hours, so we just decided to nosh downstairs. And, wow, was it a big overwhelming. Several different restaurants, lots and lots of humans. They stop serving food at 10pm so we had to order in a hurry after finding a seat at one of the bars. We ended up with more cheese and a charcuterie plate - plus a softshell crab. We grabbed gelato on the way out and walked everything off on the way home. Right?

Luke's Lobster - Unlike most Southerners, I'm not a huge fan of mayo. These rolls were perfect for me. We hit the Upper East Side location on the way to the Met for the McQueen exhibit and they absolutely hit the spot. They are described as having just a swipe of mayo, and frankly, I didn't notice any at all. It seemed to be unadulterated, pure, luscious lobster on my roll. Perfect. Sherri and I each had a beer and L. went with a whoopie pie (she gave it a thumbs up and as the sigoth for a Maine native, the girl knows her whoopie). Highly recommended.

Mas Farmhouse - For dinner Saturday night, we decided to go for the gusto with the tasting menu at Mas. We know our way around a tasting menu - hello, mini bar - and really enjoyed this one. It was a little more substantive food vs. foam and caviar (the last time we were all together, we did Eleven Madison Park's chef tasting menu for Sherri's birthday. Incredible but L and I still can't tell you half of what we ate). The only real downside was that our waitress was on crack. Or tweaking. We couldn't decide. Fun place, though.

Red Rooster Harlem - by far, one of the highlights of the trip for me was our dinner Sunday night at Red Rooster. What a great place. The entire front is glass and they had both sides of the windows open to the street while a phenomenal band played. The bar is a huge, copper-topped, u-shaped presence and the cocktails were great (Spicy Lady, ftw). I saw on Twitter the week before that Molly was headed there for her birthday and asked for her recommendations. She did not steer us wrong with the advice to get there early enough to have a drink at the bar and to have the cornbread and bacon appetizers. All the food was incredible. One of my favorite places.

So, are you visiting New York any time soon? Want me to help you obsess over where to go? This article cracked me up - you mean there's some other reason to visit a city?