I celebrated my birthday last week. Bryan, who is officially the most amazing person in the world, arranged for two of my dearest and most favorite friends to fly in from New York to surprise me. I was so surprised I spent most of the weekend talking about how surprised I was—and having an incredibly fun time. Even before I knew they would be with me, I had been contemplating what to make for my birthday dessert. The answer appeared to me in the new issue of Bon Appétit: Apple Fritters with Bourbon Ice Cream.

Melissa Clark is one of the food writers that I just trust. I have been cooking her recipes for years, and they are always excellent. She co-wrote many of my favorite cookbooks including the The Last Course with Claudia Fleming, which remains one of my all-time favorite books. Her new book, In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite (named after her excellent column in the New York Times) is as appealing, fresh and wonderful to read as you might imagine. Clark really excels at recipes that are both familiar and somehow special. These are the recipes that I find myself wanting to cook, and the book is full of them.

I’m crazy for concord grapes. This is the third recipe I have posted involving this autumn staple. If you haven’t tried one of these recipes, you are missing out. They are among my favorite recipes ever. I started with a grape tart that was pure heaven. I thought I couldn’t do better, until last years grape foccacia—which blew my mind. This sorbet rounds out the trio and is a delicious and intensely flavored sweet treat.

Sometimes I like a recipes because it presents me with questions. It makes me think about how and when I might serve it,  or what I might serve it with. It gets me thinking. This recipe for Tourteau de Chèvre from Dorie Greenspan’s latest masterpiece is one of those recipes. It is a cheesecake, but is definitely not the sweet creamy cake you might be expecting. It is more complicated. It is dry and isn’t very sweet. You can pick up a piece and eat it out of hand. It is also absolutely delicious.