While we’re gone next week, I’ve arranged for a few very special guest posts. I know you’ll love them – but in the meantime, while Greg zones for hundreds of miles and I nibble pretzels and read magazines ’til my eyes pop, let’s do some link love. Bloggers are a generous and fascinating breed – many of them have been awfully good to me, and it’s time to give back. Let’s see what’s virtually happening right now:

Over at A Way to Garden, the genius that is Margaret Roach is answering all your garden questions. She’s also written a very sweet piece about how the web works in mysterious ways, bringing together bloggers like our pal April at Coal Creek Farm, sister Marion Roach of The Sister Project, old friend and crafty crafter Alicia Paulson at Posie Gets Cozy, the delightful Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl, and the very talented Jennifer Rae Atkins from The Daily Mammal. Margaret weaves everyone together in her friendly, dewy web; for great reads, check all of them out.

Speaking of April, the happy chicken-butcherer of Coal Creek Farm has written not one but two posts on how she met Margaret Roach, learned a lot and  improved her yard. It’s a must-see adventure in Kansas gardening.

My carp-tastic friend Jean at Renovation Therapy has a super craft post up: how to make lovely cake stands out of thrift-shop finds like old cups and plates.  It’s fast, inexpensive, and pretty. And like a lot of Jean’s posts, it features pics of Penny & Tucker, rising blog stars and all-around cute kittens.

The plot thickens: Marvelous Paige Orloff, writer and Sister Project blogger, profiled her fellow sister-citizen Margaret Roach for Berkshire Living magazine. What’s the before and after like when you write about a close friend? Find out here.

If you can’t stand the heat, dear Sara Reddy Coyne from Culinerapy has whipped up a summer drink to die for, a stay-out-of-the-kitchen cooler that I can’t wait to mix.  Try chilling with her Watermelon Lime Agua Fresca, and read more about wonderful reality-TV writer Sara in her Tell Simmer interview, here.

Finally, Always Order Dessert’s Alejandra Ramos offers a gorgeous way to eat summer’s sour cherries: prepare to swoon for these Sour Cherry Financiers, mini golden almond cakes baked with juicy red gems. I’d like one or two, or maybe a dozen, for my car ride. I’ll settle for pretzels; you try the cakes.

That is all. Enjoy your weekend, enjoy the links and the guest posts, and please don’t wreck the place while I’m gone. Someone has to clean up around here, you know.

And yet…they’re back. Yesterday, over 378 people landed here searching for Edies, in various forms: Edie Beales, Big Edie and Little Edie, Edie Beale’s Hair, edith bouvier beale crazy house. Clearly, the HBO Grey Gardens movie spurred a new wave of Edie interest. So welcome, Edie Lovers! Hope you enjoy your stay at Simmer, but honestly, I can’t imagine your reaction when you went looking for fascinating women, and found…a pair of eggs.

If you’d like the “ingredient list” for Edie Eggs, featuring whole wheat minks, apple-peel scarves and Skittles brooches, click here.

Today we dish with literary agent, coupon genius, home decor ninja and fellow Capessa blogger Jean from Renovation Therapy.

How often do you think about eating?

Too often…and that’s been detrimental to planning a wedding. True story. I blame my hips on my love of all things chocolate and cheese.

I know people will freak, but I hate coffee. It’s true! I’ve tried it a few times in different variations and ended up being very unladylike. I’m a hardcore tea girl. Minimum 2 cups of tea a day. I prefer English Breakfast. I detest Earl Grey. I carry tea bags in my purse at all times. There’s nothing worse than being in a restaurant and being told they only have herbal or Earl Grey. My secret stash has saved me on occasion.

Upstate New York isn’t exactly known for any particular food. It’s very white-bread America. Hadn’t even heard of a bagel till my sister went away to college and brought some home. I remember it so clearly. We all sat down at the dining room table to try out this strange new bread! It was when I moved to NYC that I was exposed things like sushi, real Chinese food, calamari, Indian food, etc. That’s one of the reasons I’ll never be able to truly leave urban life — too much good food!

Oh wait! I just thought of an Upstate New York food…CIDER DONUTS. New York apples make for the very best CIDER DONUTS. Donuts, cheese, chocolate…I gotta plan a wedding.

Yes – I am spoiled rotten. My Fiance loves to dress up a tray for me. I also sleep later than him on the weekends so he may or may not use the breakfast in bed thing to wake me up. He’s pretty good at blueberry pancakes, he even heats up the syrup.

Listen, Chicago girl…give it up. It’s in NYC. I’m gonna have to go with John’s. The pizza is amazing and their bruschetta is heavenly. There are a couple of locations in NYC. The one on Bleeker Street has better food (and pitchers of beer!) than the one in Times Square.

editor’s note: You gonna trust a girl who doesn’t like coffee?

Gefilte fish. I can’t even look at it when I’m in the grocery store. OMG. Total hazard to ALL my senses.

Hmm. I was dating an Italian boy many years ago and decided to make homemade ravioli. It took hours and hours and hours. He ate it in less than 3 minutes and never remarked about it. It wasn’t that great, but I put soooooo much work into. Never again.

Cheese, chocolate…olives. I love olives.

Sushi. Hands down. Sushi. Wait, if it’s something I am making for a romantic night at home…risotto with shrimp and scallops.

Oh man, this could take a while. On the way home last week I bought a diet coke and a small bag of Doritos and proclaimed myself “16 again.” When I am stressed out to the MAX…I hit Hostess Cupcakes. Bad. Bad. Bad.

A martini? What? That’s not a dessert? OK, fine. Hmm. Boston Cream Pie.

Daniel. I went once and rang up a $700 dinner. It was WORTH $700. Lucky for me it was being expensed for work. I was wining & dining a famous piano player. The risotto was mind blowing. http://danielnyc.com/daniel/

Margarita on the rocks WITH salt and a big ole lime. Sweet and bitter…unassuming, and then knocks you on your ass.

I hate rodents – not counting squirrels, which obviously get a pass for being cute – and now my double-crossing blogger pal Jean from Renovation Therapy has made sure that everyone knows it.

She suspected they had an M-Word problem, and I offered her a little advice. Having spent a lifetime as a stark-raving, chair-standing, broom-waving girlie freak, I apparently had plenty to say. See my crazies nakedly exposed here.