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."

The 99% may not have been able to set up camp in the empty lot bordered by Canal Street, Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, but now they can buy tamarind duck sliders and other food cart goodies there.

Starting this week, Tuesday thru Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the lot will open its chain link fence and hosts a changing roster of food trucks. There's a little stage, too, for bands to serenade hungry workers on their lunch breaks. 

There's a strong DIY wind blowing through Brooklyn, as a recent New York Magazine article about the borough's artisanal food makers noted. It blew through my kitchen window the other night.

I'm supposed to hyperventilate when I see ramps at my local green market. They're wild! They're the first green veggie of the season! But they're so expensive. The price tag is what gets me breathing heavily: $4 a bunch, $15 a pound. Really? For an onion?

In three months, it feels like Speedy Romeo, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, has galloped from start up to neighborhood fixture. I've been there two times, and it's been packed.

I did a double-take when walking past a fruit stand on the corner of Canal and Mulberry in Chinatown this past weekend. I saw a pile of small hot pink hand grenades with soft, leathery plumes of lime green. Very preppy. Very weird.

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.

Garbage is a natural extension of our consumption of food. There's waste throughout the process and not just at the end. 

And yet, I was still surprised when I came upon a web site about making a garbage truck cupcake topper.

I recently tried making my own donuts. The result: disappointing, exploding circles of greasy dough. OOOfa. I decided that other people's donuts — like the ones I tried this week at the new eatery, 606 R&D, in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights — are much better than any I could make at home.

Well. Little did I know that I could get donut coaching, like 606 R&D gets.

Peter Meehan, the editor of Lucky Peach and co-author of the Momofuku cookbook, says Tokyo's cuisine is unknowable, compared to New York City's.  I think I know why.

If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen and away from the hot seat in Last Chance Food's 60-Second Stir Fry.  My advice to this week's guest, Peter Meehan, is to stick with the cold cereal he told me he had for breakfast that morning.  

Leave your manners at the door when attending a coffee tasting or "cupping." Slurping is a vital part of the process.

I love cooking for the masses. My husband and I host a Palm Sunday brunch in our little apartment for 20 to 25 people every year, and I've got it down to a science. How many pounds of salmon per person, how many minutes in the oven per pound, how many side dishes, how many heads of lettuce for a salad. It's cooking for the two of us that is still a challenge.

I usually travel the same, well-worn route with salmon, letting it cure briefly with a rub of salt, sugar, crushed coriander and zests — a mix of lemon, orange and lime. Then I bake it in the oven. But I decided to steer a different course this time.

I decided to make my own gravlax.

If you can't stand the heat, stay out of the kitchen. Or away from the steam wand. Barista Katie Cargiulo, my guest this week on Last Chance Foods, submits to a lightning round of questions.

'Have we gone too far?' That was the theme of a panel discussion Tuesday night at the Housing Works Bookstore and Cafe in NoLiTa, timed to coincide with the launch of Tracie McMillan's well-received book, "The American Way of Eating: Undercover at Walmart, Applebee's, Farm Fields and the Dinner Table." 

Learn to love Brussels sprouts by trying out Amy Eddings's recipe for Shredded Brussels Sprouts with Bacon, Raisins and Pecans.

A story this week on "All Things Considered" on why the best chocolate is the one you eat last has me thinking about my own personal food preferences.  Feel free to chime in with yours.

Nothing Says "I Love You" Like a Chocolate Madagascar Hissing Cockroach.

The weather has been warm enough to fool the irises and daffodils, which have sent up three inches of growth in the gardens on my block. But the calendar still says February, and my kitchen still says winter, with all the celery root and butternut squash stacked up on the counter.

Which is why I decided to give rutabagas a try.