The inaugural Great GoogaMooga food and music festival last weekend is a reminder that greatness is neither self-bestowed nor assumed. You have to earn it.

From the looks of things during the event in Prospect Park and the critiques dribbling in on Twitter and Facebook (internet and cell phone service was abysmal on Saturday, when I went), GoogaMooga has a way to go before it can be called "great."

If you can't stand the heat, don't sit still for the 60-Second Stir-Fry. This week’s Last Chance Foods guests, Vinnie Calabro and Robert LaValva, may have hooked a lot of fish in their time, but when confronted with the lightening round of questions they were left fishing for answers.

Feeling adventurous, I ordered a fancy-pants coffee at Starbucks. A "lite" caramel macchiato, tall, extra foam. I could taste the artificial sweeteners in the sugar-free, vanilla syrup, but otherwise, it was pretty tasty.

I always thought butter-making involved Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ma and Pa Wilder, a cow, and a big wooden churn. But my sister showed me all you need is a jar.  And little kids eager to do the work.

I love eating. I mean, like, cutting and spearing and chewing and swallowing. Eating's pleasurable, especially in the company of others.  

So it took some convincing to get me to try smoothies in the morning.  A liquid meal doesn't seem like a lot of fun.

One of my favorite guests on Last Chance Foods is Farmer Lee Jones of The Chef's Garden. It's not just that I'm partial to fellow Ohioans. Farmer Lee loves to farm, and it's evident every time he talks about his veggies.

It's also evident on his farm, which I had a chance to visit this fall.

Noha Waidsnaider is not a household name, but her company, Peeled Snacks, is well on its way toward becoming one. In just five years, her dried fruit company went from an idea to one of the featured products at your local Starbucks. 

Now she's trying to help other small food producers in the New York City area boost their companies to similar levels of success. 

She's the host of the NY Foodies Company groups on LinkedIn.

There always seems to be a new vendor or two at Brooklyn's DeKalb Avenue Market, and yesterday, I discovered Mayhem & Stout, and their slow-cooked beef, pork and chicken sandwiches.

It pains me to say this, but WNYC business editor Charlie Herman took the prize for best pie in this year's pie throwdown.

For another year, the crown of pastry greatness has eluded me. What will it take, judges? WHAT WILL IT TAKE?

Here are the entrants for the annual WNYC staff Pie Throwdown, folks. Vote here on which one you like the best.

The annual WNYC staff Pie Throwdown is today and I've got my pie cutter -- and elbows -- sharpened. Yes, I'll say it: "I WANT TO WIN."

The creator of the vegan, gluten-free energy Bum Bar seeks a bigger foothold in a crowded field.

I'm not a big soup fan, but I changed my mind after I made some mind-numbingly awesome roasted beet soup.

I'm still on the hunt for the perfect burger. Got any recommendations?

A regional candy and childhood favorite gets a makeover.

At Roman's Famous Meats and Seafood, an Eastern and Northern European specialty store in Honesdale, Penn., I expected to find spaetzle, flatbreads, herring and stollen.  

I didn't expect to find a little man made of marzipan, excreting a silvery paper coin.

The Brandenburger Pastry Bakery in Jeffersonville, NY has only been open since April, but it's already got loyal customers.

When Farmer Lee Jones comes to visit Last Chance Foods, he always brings half his farm's yield with him. As our topic this week was sweet potatoes, I wonder if he had to pay a heavy bag fee at the airport.

I wanted to make lamb this weekend, and I did. I made a leg of lamb, which would have turned out quite lovely if I hadn't overcooked it.

Overcooking would NOT have been a problem with my original lamb plan: a tagine, or Moroccan lamb stew, recipe courtesy of the now-defunct and much-missed Gourmet Magazine. But I had to change that plan after the butcher talked me out of the cut of meat I wanted.

Wandering back to the break room to get a cup of tea, I stopped to take a cucumber pickle break, courtesy of WQXR host Jeff Spurgeon.