There’s some great stuff in The News & Observer (Raleigh, N.C.) and Charlotte (N.C.) Observer today – making ice cream without a pricey, counter top-eating ice cream machine, to name one. But a more interesting item is in N&O food writer Andrea Weigl’s blog. The Raleigh Downtown Farmers market is struggling. It’s a great market, great farmers, local seafood, you name it. The problem, in my opinion, is it’s in the middle of the workday. Where are downtown workers supposed to keep veg and fish if the office has no refrigerator? I think an end-of-the-workday market would draw more shoppers (say, 4 p.m. to 6 p.m.).

Community gardens are not new. But a huge garden (1,000 sweet potato plants, for starters) in Winston-Salem, N.C. is being grown by volunteers, with the entire crop going to Second Harvest Food Bank. Read more in the Winston-Salem Journal, here.

Cupcakes? They’re so ’09. The hip baked good now is the macarone, declares the Kansas City Star here. No they’re not shaggy macaroons. Macarones are puffy, light, colorful cookies in unusual flavors.

Water your whiskey? Ice cube in your wine? Not so crazy, writes food scientist Harold McGee in the New York Times. Water can actually be a useful flavor enhancer. Read more here.