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Dear Eric: Our family just recently discovered sweet-potato squash. We only have had it barbecued and enjoyed it immensely. We know it has more potential than this.

Thanksgiving dinner is just around the corner, and many of us around the Island will soon be mashing potatoes to serve as a side dish for that meal. How the dish turns out will vary, and the potato and technique used will be key reasons why.

This is part two of my answer to a reader鈥檚 question on roasting lean pork loin and sirloin roasts without them ending up dry and tough. In last week鈥檚 column, my focus was on preparing a roast that you only seasoned on the exterior.

Tomatoes are a fickle plant. If you plant them聽too late, put them in the wrong spot, don鈥檛聽prune them and/or get a spell of cool weather, all the fruit won鈥檛 ripen, especially late in the growing season.

Dear Eric: Can you help me with roasting boneless sirloin pork roasts and pork loin rib roasts? Sometimes, mine turn out really tender, other times they are tough. I use my convection oven and put seasonings on the roast and some olive oil.

Back in January, I wrote a聽story on food trends and among the items I聽listed was hummus. I聽noted then, that it wasn鈥檛 long ago that the only place you could buy it was at a Middle Eastern or Mediterranean specialty food store.

Both my children are back at school 鈥� my son to middle school and my daughter to university. I have to be very creative for their lunch menus because both of them don鈥檛 want regular lunches to fill their appetites.

Dear Eric: I鈥檓 retired with a productive garden and I want to preserve all my produce. But I find the 鈥渞ules鈥� have changed somewhat.

My mother-in-law is visiting from Ontario and I like to spoil and cook for her when she鈥檚 here. She loves comfort foods and one of the dishes she鈥檒l joyfully spoon up is borscht.

Tomato lovers wait for this all year 鈥� that moment when the plants in the garden are struggling under the weight of those gorgeous red (or yellow or orange or even green) orbs, and the tables at the farmers markets threaten to buckle under the load.