By LYNNE ROSSETTO KASPER, Scripps Howard News Service

Dear Lynne: Recipes that call for "white wine" or "red wine" started me thinking. Usually I use whatever I have opened; yet it occurs to me there must be optimum wines for cooking. True? If true, what are they? -- Mike in Minneapolis

Dear Lynne: How do you switch a bean-vegetable soup made from dried beans from "OK" to "really great"? You've mentioned a couple of times that cooking dried beans with vegetables is easy soup. Well, mine are easy, but dull as a tree stump. What's the deal here; what am I missing? -- Missing Soup Karma in Milwaukee

Dear Lynne: In a moment of rash misjudgment, I planted pumpkins for my friends' kids, since no one else gardens. If you think zucchini breed like rabbits, you should see my pumpkin patch. I'm up to my knees in pumpkins -- about 20 of them -- and that's after giving most of them away.

Dear Lynne: We're making small updates in our kitchen, but we're stalled because of a debate about the backsplash, especially behind the stove. We are not neat cooks. In fact, we joke that we should just hose down the kitchen after dinner. What is the best backsplash material? -- Ken and Billy in Knoxville

Dear Lynne: My tomatoes are so late, they're not going to ripen on the vine. So how do you ripen green tomatoes? How do you make green-tomato jam? Is there some rule for using green tomatoes instead of ripe ones? -- Lola in Duluth

Dear Lola: If red tomatoes didn't exist, green tomatoes would get more respect. With their crunch and piquant kick, they hold their own in a lot of dishes.

Dear Lynne: There are 27 basil plants in my yard. Please, can you take me beyond pesto? -- Angel in Indiana

Dear Angel: Why does this sound familiar? OK, you know you can freeze basil by just washing a stem, letting it drip dry, stripping off the leaves, packing them in heavy-duty plastic bags and freezing. Break off what you need as you cook; don't defrost the basil ahead.

Dear Lynne: The pot we make tomato sauce in is enameled cast iron. Enamel is flaking off the bottom. Can we still use the pot if we scrub it out? -- Lacy and Family

Dear Lacy and Family: You don't want enamel flaking into your tomatoes. It's just not healthy. Parting will be sweet sorrow, but the pot's given its all and it is time for it to go.

Dear Lynne: During our Italian trip, at one meal, I remember a light red wine, not a rose, served chilled. It was a hit. Is there anything similar here to try? The heat was beyond belief, so we were surprised to be served a red, and to have it chilled. Are wines like this imported? -- Vicki in Colorado

Dear Lynne: My girlfriend moved in with me and we're starting to have our friends over to eat. So now we have a bunch of people who don't know each other and things get awkward, as in conversations start and then slow down and then nothing. There are solutions, right? -- In Love in Albany

Dear Lynne: Fantastic corn is our passion right now. We're feasting with corn on the cob. So how about getting it off the cob? Haven't fooled around with that. -- Farming in Illinois

Dear Farming: This is one of those "let me count the ways" situations.