Blueberries — Seriously: take advantage of globalization. Fresh blueberries practically year round? They’re sweeter than sugar and are just plain healthy to boot. Try eating just one out of the carton. We dare you.

The New Season of Mad Men on AMC — The best writing, best directing, best art design, and best acting on television comes this time each year and immerses us in New York, 1963. Sunday nights at 10/9c should be staunchly reserved for this amazing, moving series. And this season, they’re getting to cash in on developing some of the most interesting characters for two previous seasons by saying so much with so very little. We are not kidding you: sit down and watch this show.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers — Okay, okay. We know Dave Eggers is the darling boy, the indie author leafed in gold — but this book is different. It’s not about Dave. It’s about what the horror of Hurricane Katrina looked like on the ground, a book written with details you could never imagine. If you’re an American citizen, you’re morally obliged to read it.

Caipirinhas — The national drink of Brazil. It’s made with cachaca, kind of like rum mixed with vodka, and it’s served at most bars now a days. Imagine the bastard child of a margarita and a mojito, only not served to bloated tourists at a theme bar. That’s the drink you want. For that matter…

Mixed Drinks, Outside — Ideally made at home and consumed on the porch — if you have a balcony, even better. Mixing drinks yourself — mixing them well, we should say — has now become a lost art. Bars and clubs now want $14 for a cocktail. Nine times out of ten, you’re getting ripped off. (Notable exceptions: Le Petite Bistro in Rhinecliff, NY; Drink in Boston, MA; Prohibition Room in Oklahoma City, OK … here, pay up. You won’t be disappointed.) Making them yourself takes craft, patience, and most importantly, charm. If you can tell a great story to someone, beginning it while starting to mix the drink and ending it while serving them the drink, and then imbibe it outdoors — badass does not even begin to describe you. Do it while summer’s still here.