Usually I devour newspapers while planting my toesies in the sand but for this year's days at the beach (they can't come fast enough), I may lug along a novel and a few paperback, food-related books that have caught my fancy. Here's a few that may make the vacay cut:

• "What to Eat: A Real World Guide to Making Smart Choices" from Cooking Light magazine (Oxmoor House, $17.95). Snappy little guide to picking and choosing food at the grocery. Divided into topics ("Dairy & Eggs," "Condiments, Dips & Oils"), it contains data broad enough to keep all but the most educated food pros digging around in it. It's the kind of book you can either reference by topic, or just flip through for nuggets you never knew, such as, "One cup of frozen spinach has four times more potassium than raw."

• "How to Feed Your Whole Family a Healthy Balanced Diet with Very Little Money ... and Hardly Any Time Even If You Have a Tiny Kitchen, Only Three Saucepans (One With an Ill-Fitting Lid), and No Fancy Gadgets -- Unless You Count the Garlic Crusher..." by Gill Holcombe (St. Martin's Press, $14.99). I had to give the whole title. Ms. Holcombe is a single mother of three and a Brit. Her book was a best-seller in England. It attempts to demystify everyday cooking and make it accessible for newbies, such as college students or new parents. It does, in a bit of a chatty British way.

• "A Slice of Organic Life" by Sheherazade Goldsmith (DK, $19.95). Another British import with a foreword by slow-eating doyenne Alice Waters. Oh dear, I see Publishers Weekly ripping this on Amazon as too rangy and somewhat useless, it being vague in spots. I have to agree, but found it fun to flip through. I mean, where else are you going to learn from someone named Sheherazade how to make "Zucchini & Tomato Scones" for your 1-year-old?

• "In a Cheesemaker's Kitchen" by Allison Hooper (Countryman, $19.95). This slim volume tells the story of Vermont Butter & Cheese Co., founded by Ms. Hooper and Bob Reese in 1984. With recipes from top chefs and lovely photography, it is a book of pretty, top-shelf food within your cooking grasp. And I can't wait until it's time to make "Winter Creme Fraiche Baked Potato Soup."

Have an unused restaurant gift card laying around? Or any gift card, for that matter, even if mere cents are all that's left on it. Head to South Park's Bright Star Pavilion on Saturday from 2 to 6 p.m. and donate it to People Helping People. Websites: pghpeoplehelpingpeople.com and giftcardgiver.com. Music, food and drinks also will be offered. The event benefits Conflict Kitchen, the East Liberty sandwich shop/international dialogue project. Read about it at www.post-gazette.com/pg/10154/1062553-34.stm or conflictkitchen.org. Way cool idea. Besides helping out, you're recycling plastic.

Jonathon Alsop, founder of the Boston Wine School, will lead a wine tasting and discuss his new book, "The Wine Lover's Devotional: 365 Days of Knowledge, Advice & Lore for the Ardent Aficionado" (Quarry, $19.99), from 5 to 7 p.m. Saturday at Penguin Book Shop, 420 Beaver St., Sewickley. $15 per person fee for the wine tasting. Penguinbookshop.com; 412-741-3838.

Sunny Anderson, star of Food Network's "Cooking for Real," will appear for a cooking demonstration at 11:30 a.m. Saturday at Market District, Robinson. Ms. Anderson's career has melded her love of music (she used to cook for musicians and once was food and lifestyle editor for Hip Hop Weekly Magazine), her travels with her family during its Army years and her training in TV and radio. If you've watched her show, you know she makes comfort food with a little splash.

Beginning at 6:30 p.m. Monday, join the Western Chapter of the Pennsylvania Restaurant Association for a buffet and Pirates game at the Hall of Fame Entrance at PNC Park. Benefits the PRA Education Foundation, Allegheny County Camp Cadet and the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank. Now, who better to put on a buffet, I ask you? Southern fried chicken, barbecue ribs, pepper jack mac and cheese, dessert and more on the menu. Church Brew Works will pour the draft. $50 adults, $30 children ages 4 to 10, children 3 and under, $9. RVSP by tomorrow to Heidi Howard, 1-800-345-5353; parestaurant.org.

The food festival circuit moves next week to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, Ambridge, beginning at noon Wednesday through July 24. Besides food from stuffed grape leaves to lamb, dancers will perform at 7 p.m. nightly and also at 2 p.m. July 23, with the band Kakias at 7 p.m. on the 22nd and 23rd. 2930 Beaver Road.

These will freeze for a month, says author Sheherazade Goldsmith. Ingredients and directions in her book "A Slice of Organic Life" are a bit British, so I've translated a little. She rightly states that the earlier you expose your baby to a variety of foods, the better. But do so according to the advice of your pediatrician.

-- Margi Shrum

• 12 ounces all-purpose wholemeal flour (Kingarthurfloor.com sells wholemeal Irish-style flour if you want authenticity, but it is not organic. Users describe it as slightly nutty and a bit sweeter than whole-wheat flour, which you can use instead and find as an organic)
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 cup milk
• 2 ounces butter
• 2 ounces grated zucchini
• 2 sun-dried tomatoes, finely chopped
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine flour, baking powder and milk in a bowl. Cut in butter until mixture is crumbly.

Stir in zucchini, tomatoes, thyme and enough milk to make manageable dough.

Roll out dough until it is about 3/4 inch thick. Cut into rounds. Place on an oiled baking sheet (you can spray with nonstick spray) and bake for 12 to 15 minutes.

Variation: Use 1 finely diced red pepper and 8 black olives, pitted and finely chopped.

-- "A Slice of Organic Life," by Sheherazade Goldsmith (DK, paperback, 2010)

• Zucchini & Tomato Scones recipe, see E-3.

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