Summer-into-fall with the California Cook

Autumn begins Sunday, and there's a chance there'll actually be a nip in the air. It definitely feels like a new season at the farmers market, with all the gorgeous peppers and eggplants and earthy, dark greens and apples and pears. Wondering how to treat them once you get them home? Log on to latimes.com for a live chat with Russ Parsons, the California Cook, at 1 p.m. Wondering which are the best varieties of winter squash? Ask Russ. What's the best way to roast peppers? Russ'll tell you. How to make a quick sauce with end-of-season tomatoes? Grill Russ. A delicious way to cook cavolo nero? Come on, brain . . . ask Russ!

Or maybe you don't care a straw about seasonal produce but you're dying to know the easiest way to shuck an oyster. Or deglaze a pan for a quick sauce. Or brine a pork chop. Or which three cookbooks he'd recommend that a beginning cook buy. Whatever it is you'd like to know about food and cooking, the California Cook's your man. Today at 1 p.m.

-- Leslie Brenner

Photo by Ricardo DeAratanha