The 99% may not have been able to set up camp in the empty lot bordered by Canal Street, Varick Street and Sixth Avenue, but now they can buy tamarind duck sliders and other food cart goodies there.

Starting this week, Tuesday thru Thursday, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., the lot will open its chain link fence and hosts a changing roster of food trucks. There's a little stage, too, for bands to serenade hungry workers on their lunch breaks. 

There's a strong DIY wind blowing through Brooklyn, as a recent New York Magazine article about the borough's artisanal food makers noted. It blew through my kitchen window the other night.

Forager and author Tama Matsuoka Wong explains how to safely eat stinging nettles and how they may help with seasonal allergies. Try a recipe for Nettle and Asparagus Pizza from the book she wrote with Daniel chef de cuisine Eddy Leroux.

Our Last Chance Foods guest this week, Tama Matsuoka Wong, forages and eats stinging nettle, so we knew she wouldn't break a sweat when confronted with the Stir Fry's lightning round of tough-as-overgrown-knotweed questions.

Knotweed is an invasive pest hated by many, and the most effective way of getting rid of it may also be the most delicious. Urban forager Marie Viljoen talks about finding, cooking and eating knotweed. Plus, try her recipe for Knotweed Soup.

Note to self: invite 66SquareFeet blogger Marie Viljoen to the station more often. The writer, cook, gardener and forager brought a little picnic of goodies made from knotweed for this Friday's Last Chance Foods.

I'm supposed to hyperventilate when I see ramps at my local green market. They're wild! They're the first green veggie of the season! But they're so expensive. The price tag is what gets me breathing heavily: $4 a bunch, $15 a pound. Really? For an onion?

Registered dietitian Tamara Duker Freuman talks about the health benefits of fiddlehead ferns. Try her recipe for a Sauté of Fiddleheads, Snap Peas, Ramps & Shiitakes.

If you can't stand the heat, don't put your hand on a hot stove. And certainly don't sit still for the 60-Second Stir-Fry. Manhattan-based dietician Tamara Duker Freuman is not afraid of a hot stove, although she admits to a fear of fiddlehead ferns in this week's Last Chance Foods.

In three months, it feels like Speedy Romeo, on the border of Clinton Hill and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, has galloped from start up to neighborhood fixture. I've been there two times, and it's been packed.

Bike trail controversy isn't just for New York City residents. That controversy is also brewing north of the city. Some residents living in eight upscale communities along Connecticut's Merritt Parkway are debating the pros and cons of putting a bike lane along the northbound side of the scenic, wooded highway.

I did a double-take when walking past a fruit stand on the corner of Canal and Mulberry in Chinatown this past weekend. I saw a pile of small hot pink hand grenades with soft, leathery plumes of lime green. Very preppy. Very weird.

Farmer Perry Hack of Two Guys From Woodbridge talks about growing and using watercress. Try ABC Kitchen's recipe for Crispy Soft Shell Crab with Sweet and Spicy Sauce, which is garnished with red watercress.

Watch a video of hydroponic greens farmer Perry Hack, of Two Guys from Woodbridge, get out of the greenhouse and into the 60-Second Stir-Fry hot seat.

Feeling adventurous, I ordered a fancy-pants coffee at Starbucks. A "lite" caramel macchiato, tall, extra foam. I could taste the artificial sweeteners in the sugar-free, vanilla syrup, but otherwise, it was pretty tasty.

If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen and stay away from the Studio 4 hot seat. My guest this week on Last Chance Foods, Jacques Gautier, clearly loves standing over a hot stove in August. He's super-relaxed during his lightning round of questions. So much so, he finishes the Stir Fry in under 60 seconds.

Chef Jacques Gautier of the restaurant Palo Santo talks about growing and using green garlic, a young, aromatic incarnation of regular garlic. Try his recipe for chimichuri sauce. 

Garbage is a natural extension of our consumption of food. There's waste throughout the process and not just at the end. 

And yet, I was still surprised when I came upon a web site about making a garbage truck cupcake topper.

I recently tried making my own donuts. The result: disappointing, exploding circles of greasy dough. OOOfa. I decided that other people's donuts — like the ones I tried this week at the new eatery, 606 R&D, in Brooklyn's Prospect Heights — are much better than any I could make at home.

Well. Little did I know that I could get donut coaching, like 606 R&D gets.

Peter Meehan, the editor of Lucky Peach and co-author of the Momofuku cookbook, says Tokyo's cuisine is unknowable, compared to New York City's.  I think I know why.