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Editor's Note: We've been having so much fun running advice columns from the Internet's own Chaucer Doth Tweet, we've brought him back to dispense wisdom on all things summery. As always, Middle English is involved.

Gentil folke, yt ys wyse and profitable to seeke advyce and counsel yn all thinges. And counsel ys sore needed whan the brighte dayes of summer do puzzle and distracte us all lyke a newe Apple product. Ye have sent your summer questiones to NPR thrugh the litel birdes of Twytter, and heere am Ich, Geoffrey Chaucer, minor bureaucratte and woulde-be poet, redy to helpe wyth my summer tippes.

@nprbooks @LeVostreGC how doth one live under the sone, and burne nat? #ChaucerSummerTIps

— Waif of Bath (@Bunny_FiFi) June 2, 2015

Trewelye, thogh the summer sonne doth bringe muchel lighte and joye, yet yt kan also be lyke the love of Tristan and Isolde: an unendurable burninge payne that causeth rash.

Worry not, for heere ys a remedye. First, gather all of the sages and folk wise in lore who dwell yn thy realm. Commaunde them to build a greate dome of clear glass and to ynscribe that dome wyth the auncient runes of UV protectioun. Once thy dome ys inscrybed, presto! Spende thy summer dayes within thy lovelye and mirthful dome of glass. The magique of thy dome shal protect thee from the harmful power of the sonne. O, the great joye and festivitye thou shalt have within thy protective dome! Thou mayst have dome barbeques, and dome garden partyes, and great dome gatheringes of slippe and slyde. Thou kanst flye a kite but not verye high. And whanne the dayes grow shorter thou kanst assemble thy somer memoryes ynto a kynde of boke that doth collect the photographs of thy plesaunt dayes within thy dome: a veritable domesdaye boke.

Of course, thys doth assume thou art a riche and powerful monarch and kan commaunde magicians. Yf not, trye parasols. By cause parasols are cool.

@LeVostreGC @nprbooks Glampynge - yes or no? #ChaucerSummerTips

— Chorlton Bookshop (@ChorltonBkshop) June 5, 2015

O controversye! Greate debate doth aryse about Glampynge, the which ys a worde that doth joyne 'glamour' and 'campinge.' To glamp doth signifye to go campinge but not to seek the simple lyfe of the woodes. Ynstead, glamperes wisshe to be outsyde yn great comfort and fashione and style.

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Lo, good folke, Ich have reade muchel of glamping in the romaunces and historyes of knightes and chivalrye. For yn dayes of oold manye a great knighte and warlike kynge hath glamped. And yn our tyme wyth myne owene eyes Ich have seen Kynge Edward III glampinge whanne on campaign. Hys royal pavilion was so huge yt hadde a bowlinge alleye and ynogh breakfast nookes for al the knightes of the Order of the Garter to have French toaste simultaneouslye.

Yet al of thys feste and richenesse doth beare some ymprint of vanitye and excess. And certes, yt ys far from the purpose of campinge. For the wisdam of campinge ys to be close to the goodnesse of the earth, to the smell of floweres and trees, and to the lovely tweetinge birdinesse of birdes, the which ys right harde to do when thou hast a mahogany trayler and a portable xboxe CCCLX and a wardrobe of fyne silkes. And thus upon the issue of glampinge Ich wolde advyse: go easye, unless thou art Kyng Edward III.

@nprbooks @LeVostreGC #ChaucerSummerTips Any suggestions for remaining pleasaunt & gentil while driving for hours and hours with the family?

— karen poremski (@profkarenpski) June 2, 2015

Sumer ys indeed a tyme of manye familye roade trippes, the which ys immortalized yn the wel-knowne lyric poeme:

Sumer is icumen in
Let vs get in the car!
Are we ther yet?
Nay, we are not —
Trye to take a nap!
TAKE A NAP.
NO. REALLYE. TAKE A NAP!

Ich present to thee three keyes to a pleasaunt journey, the which are trewe for eny pilgrimage, whethir ye go to Caunterburye or to the the Mouses Kyngdom of Sorcerye or to the house of sum distant but insistent relatives. Whanne on a journey thou must alwayes bear yn mynde the three Ts: Timinge, Tales, and Treates. Timinge, for thou must leave neyther too late nor too earlye so that thou mayst breake thy journey yn to reasonable stoppes. Tales, for storyes are the shippes yn which we cross the rough seas of boringe hours. And the thirde thinge nat to forget ys Treates. For we litel realise how a smal sweete taste on the tonge kan greatlye strengthen the heart and corage within us.

And yn the hotte monethes of sumer, the best treate of all treates ys broken yce wyth flavored syrup upon yt. Thys disshe hath many a name yn manye a lande and fer contree, and ys sum tymes crusshed finelye lyke tinye diamonds or sum tymes chypped lyke shininge flakes of sapphire. But alwayes a slushye icye thinge ys the best of al treates of summer, and the moost courtlye and delectable snack to fynde asyde the roade. Sum bokes of olde saye that Vergil the wyse poet was the first to devyse the magic of flavoured yce for the Emperour Octayven, and other legendes tell us that Merlyn dyd create yt afir the worke of buildinge of Stone Henge was finisshid. But thogh the origin of thys disshe ys forevir lost to tyme, the great deliciousnesse of yt ys apparent to all folke.

So goode readeres, remembir the great virtue of tastye yce, and forget not the three Ts, so that your journeyes shal be right pleasant, no mattir how small your car. And yf ye have cattes, make certayn that folk shal come to thy hous to entertayn the cattes and to make muchel of them, for no thinge ys as wrathful and damaginge to the sydes of a couch as a catte that hath not been entertayned.

Yn the summer, and eny othir seasoun, Ich remayne

Your humble servaunte,

— LVGC

European leaders hold an emergency summit in Brussels on Monday in an effort to prevent Greece from defaulting on its debts. Greece owes the International Monetary Fund $1.8 billion by the end of this month, and it needs Europe's help to make the payment. But the Athens government is refusing to commit to an economic overhaul package that officials are demanding.

Greece has come close to default many times before — only to work out a last-minute compromise with its creditors. This time, though, it faces much longer odds.

"This is a real deadline, unlike the others because we really are at the end of the road," says Jacob Kierkegaard, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics.

Greece desperately needs Europe's help to roll over some big debt payments coming due. But the Athens government has strenuously rejected Europe's demands for further tax increases and pension cuts.

Over the weekend, Athens made a last-ditch effort to resolve the dispute with what it called a mutually beneficial proposal to European officials. It provided no details. But relations between Greece's leftist government and its creditors are chilly at best right now. And neither side seems inclined or able to budge much.

"There is now a dire risk of markets bringing forward the day of reckoning for Greece, leaving little room for pushing off the end game any further," says economist Eswar Prasad of Cornell University.

The concern in the markets is the recent surge of withdrawals from Greek banks. Many Greek citizens are worried that without the European Central Bank's backing, Greek banks will no longer be liquid enough to keep operating. And the government might have to impose capital controls to prevent a run.

The Peterson Institute's Jacob Kierkegaard says that if no agreement is reached at Monday's summit in Brussels, Greece may even have to shut down its banks altogether.

"It is quite likely that the Greek banks will not open up Tuesday morning, or at least open up with some variations of restrictions on access to the bank deposits," Peterson says.

He adds people and businesses would no longer be able to access their funds, and that would lead to a sharp deterioration in Greece's already weakened economy.

The emergency summit in Brussels is an attempt to prevent that kind of disaster and pull Greece back from the brink — yet again.

You know it's springtime in Germany when eager shoppers ransack the produce aisle of the local supermarket.

In April, it's the rhubarb, in May, it's the peaches and in June, it's the cherries. These fruits only put in a brief appearance while they are in season; the rest of the year, you have to rely on their canned or frozen equivalent.

Right now, Kollwitzmarkt — a farmers market in the leafy Berlin neighborhood of Prenzlauer Berg — abounds with produce. Retired schoolteacher Dorothea Berint, 62, has just bought a basket of strawberries, one of the few summer fruits sometimes available out of season.

"It's not natural to expect strawberries in December," she says, "and if you can get them at all, they're grown in hothouses or they've come from halfway across the globe."

Her attitude is typical. Yes, buying local produce — which is de facto seasonal — or eating "farm to table" is as big a trend in Germany as it is in the United States.

But in Germany, seasonal shopping is not just an organic, ethical endeavor favored by urbane foodies. It's a fact of life: The supermarkets simply don't stock everything all year round.

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Beelitz, Germany, is home to some serious asparagus mania — including these walking, talking asparagus stalks. Esme Nicholson/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Esme Nicholson/NPR

Beelitz, Germany, is home to some serious asparagus mania — including these walking, talking asparagus stalks.

Esme Nicholson/NPR

"German shoppers don't understand the concept of the very huge hypermarket offering everything at the same time," says Frankfurt-based retail analyst Denise Klug.

This is not just a legacy of East Germany, where lines would form for rare items such as oranges. Klug says consumers in the former West also have moderate expectations, because discount food stores dominate the market and guarantee their low prices by offering limited stock.

"The discounters have been around for 60 years now," Klug says. "They have educated shoppers that they don't need all this choice."

Of course, grocery stores offer staples like cucumbers and tomatoes, or fruit not grown in Germany like bananas, kiwis and oranges. But anticipation for other seasonal vegetables proves to be successful marketing — especially when cabbage and potatoes dominate supermarket shelves over the winter.

Whether it's plums, nectarines, blackberries, redcurrants or chanterelle mushrooms, shoppers stockpile and restaurants lay on special menus before the goods disappear for another year.

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Dana Beiler is this year's Asparagus Queen in the German town of Beelitz. John-Erik Jordan hide caption

itoggle caption John-Erik Jordan

Dana Beiler is this year's Asparagus Queen in the German town of Beelitz.

John-Erik Jordan

And because some vegetables are more equal than others, certain seasons prompt consumer worship. One of these is "Spargelzeit" — asparagus season — for which there is an entire epicurean liturgy. The pinnacle is the crowning of the Asparagus Queen at the Asparagus Festival in the town of Beelitz, 30 miles southwest of the capital.

This year's asparagus royalty is 26-year-old masters student Dana Beiler. She hopes the honor will give her public speaking experience and look good on her resume.

"I sent my application to the Asparagus Association," Beiler says. "Then I had an interview with the farmers and had to answer some asparagus questions." She says the farmers wanted to hear her opinion on the challenges faced by the revered vegetable.

For festival-goer Andre Stein, celebrating this king of vegetables is no challenge at all. With a half-liter of Pils in his hand, he says, "It's very known for drinking beer before asparagus.

"That's the rule," he insists: "you have to start with beer and then you have the asparagus later."

While Germans delight in as much asparagus as possible over a period of eight weeks, barley is one crop they are happy to consume — in its preserved, liquid form — all year round.

asparagus

Germany

This summer, NPR is getting crafty in the kitchen. As part of Weekend Edition's Do Try This At Home series, top chefs are sharing their cleverest hacks and tips — taking expensive, exhausting or intimidating recipes and tweaking them to work in any home kitchen.

First up: making magically moist sous vide chicken without the fancy equipment.

The Chef

Christina Tosi knows a thing or two about elaborate cooking techniques. In fact, she's invented quite a few of them as founder of Milk Bar, the innovative New York bakery that's a cousin to David Chang's Momofuku restaurants. And she recently won the James Beard award for Outstanding Pastry Chef.

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Set a piece of tin foil in the pot like a hammock (with the ends folded over the edge). Then put the bag into the pot of hot — but not boiling — water. Ted Robbins/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Ted Robbins/NPR

Set a piece of tin foil in the pot like a hammock (with the ends folded over the edge). Then put the bag into the pot of hot — but not boiling — water.

Ted Robbins/NPR

But as she explains in her new cookbook and memoir, Milk Bar Life: Recipes and Stories, Tosi is no stranger to the joys of the quick, low-brow meal. After a long day in the commercial kitchen, after all, a chef often wants a break — from the hard work, but not from the flavor.

"You have the technique and you use it all day long [at a restaurant], and then you come home and you find a way to get the same delicious flavors," she says. "But you gotta do it really quickly and usually on a shoestring budget."

In that spirit, she shares a hack that saves hours (and hours) of cooking time. It mimics a toy that's the darling of many a professional and amateur chef: the sous-vide machine.

The Hard Way

Sous-vide is a cooking method for attaining ideal levels of moisture and tenderness. It involves sealing a piece of meat or vegetable in an air-tight bag and cooking in a warm bath at a constant, low temperature.

The catch? First, it takes forever: up to 96 hours. And second, it normally requires a fancy machine, called a water oven, which retails for anywhere from $400 to $2,200.

But Tosi shows us how to get a similar effect, cooking chicken with a spiced-buttermilk sauce sous-vide, in just five to 20 minutes, with a wallet-friendly Ziploc bag.

The Hack

Tosi calls this her "Bird in a Bag." You'll need a chicken breast or boneless thigh, seasoning of your choice (either salt and pepper or a spice blend), buttermilk (or even bottled ranch dressing), a heavy-duty zip-top freezer bag, and a straw.

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Tosi serves her Bird in a Bag with mashed potatoes and cut roasted okra seasoned with smoked paprika. Ted Robbins/NPR hide caption

itoggle caption Ted Robbins/NPR

Tosi serves her Bird in a Bag with mashed potatoes and cut roasted okra seasoned with smoked paprika.

Ted Robbins/NPR

Butterfly the chicken breast, or pound it flat, and season.

Put a butterflied chicken breast in a plastic freezer bag with the buttermilk (or ranch).

Seal the bag except for one corner. Insert a straw into the remaining hole and slowly suck out the air with your mouth. Be careful not to suck the sauce into your mouth! Seal the bag to get it as air-free as possible.

OPTIONAL: If you are using thinner storage bags, repeat the process in a second bag, to prevent leaks.

Bring a pot of water nearly to a boil. Set a piece of tin foil in the pot like a hammock (with the ends crimped over the edge).

Plop the bag into the pot of hot — but not boiling — water. The foil will suspend the bag above the bottom of the pot so the bag doesn't burn.

If the chicken is thin, it will cook (poach, essentially), in five or 10 minutes. An intact chicken breast may take 20 minutes.

You can test the chicken by looking and feeling to make sure it isn't pink inside.

If your bag appears a little unappetizing, don't be alarmed. When you're done, Tosi says, it "looks like a bag of crazy." That's because the buttermilk has coagulated and separated from the chicken juice, but it's fine to eat.

And your chicken will be moist and evenly tender — sans sous vide.

Final step? Sear the chicken in a pan briefly to brown it for better presentation.

The Plate

Tosi serves "Bird in a Bag" with mashed potatoes and cut roasted okra seasoned with smoked paprika.

Then it's time to enjoy this not-so-hard-earned dinner.

Do Try This At Home

food hacks