Many times when we open up the Wednesday newspaper food sections, we find stuff that makes us say, “Oh well.” Maybe the recipes featured seem to be heavy on a couple of our least-favorite ingredients, or the restaurants reviewed just sound kind of OK, or the drinks writer focuses on absinthe (sorry, fiends!).

But then along comes a week when we feel like the editors have ESP, and that is how this week is. Tamarind? We were literally just trying to decide what to do with the rest of it that’s left in the box from the last time we bought some. Tonic — we love it mixed up with gin, of course, but we have always felt alone in enjoying it on its own (no more!). And coconut cupcakes … we were just at Safeway with an entire coconut cake in our grocery wagon (we put it back; no one else in our household would eat it).

Starting off with the fluffy, angelic sweetness of this dessert of our youth, we were delighted to come upon the L.A. Times’ recipe for coconut cupcakes. The writer uses descriptive terms such as “billowy … irresistible … tender … airy … creamy” to describe these treats, but if you don’t like coconut (reminds you of fingernail clippings?) you’ll probably shy away. Poor you.

Also on the sweet side, but with tanginess, is this balsamic honey vinegar spotted by Florence Fabricant. We’re salad dressing fiends over here, and we have been way into honey this winter. (Our current Product of Love is the Whole Foods Market’s freshly made honey butter.)

And speaking of tang, here’s the L.A. Times’ story on tamarind which, frankly, we needed earlier this winter. We sent an email query out not long ago to some of our foodie friends asking if anyone regularly cooked with tamarind (no one did; no one knew what it was), because we had a whole bunch left over from when we made a Thai-style chicken soup recipe that called for the stuff.

We honestly had no idea what it looked or tasted like (it’s a fruit) until we had the produce guy at the H-Mart find some for us. Thank you, Times: “Wonderfully zingy, tart and piquant, with an intriguing herbal-floral note, the fruit’s flavor shows up in a wide-reaching array of cuisines — Southeast Asian, Indian, Middle Eastern, Chinese, Eastern and Northern African, and Caribbean.”

Along those lines of exotic deliciousness, The New York Times’ “One Pot” column this week is about a sauce-as-a-meal that sounds amazing: it is “a fiery shrimp curry with a pinkish-red sauce flavored and inflamed with curry leaves, black pepper, dried chilies, cayenne and tomatoes, and then soothed with coconut milk.” The recipe is included if you are feeling daring (and ready to warm up).

There is a certain Thai restaurant that keeps us up at night. We don’t mean we’re up thinking about the food — though it is really delicious and somewhat addictive. We eat it, and then later, we find ourselves in bed, feeling tired, but lying awake. Heart beating a little faster than normal. Can’t fall asleep for a little while, slightly annoying. Each time, we have wondered if maybe it is something else, but we find it curious that it seems to occur when we eat from this one place.

Well, maybe there is no connection, but when we read this New York Times piece on MSG — that ’80s acronym for monosodium glutamate — we got to thinking. By the way, we didn’t know the stuff is also called just plain “glutamate” on labels. Julia Moskin reports that glutamate is in “virtually everything ranch-flavored or cheese-flavored.” In fact, “Nacho-cheese-flavor Doritos … contain five separate forms of glutamate.” Apparently that’s partly why we have trouble stopping at a handful of these (somewhat nasty) things.

All this talk of spicy food and junky additives is making us kind of thirsty. We could use something like ginger beer, or a nice clean-tasting fizzy water … or tonic. Outfitted with oodles of ice and at least three lime wedges, it’s a great way to feel like you’re having an adult beverage when you’re not (this can be fun while one is with child, or abstaining from the drink for any other reasons). Plus, tonic contains quinine, which can help settle your stomach. So, we like it. And we were excited to see the L.A. Times writeup of these “artisan mixers” which can be had by themselves or blended with your spirit of choice. It looks like only one of them might contain quinine, but they all seem to have very honorable ingredients.

Lastly, our hometown paper The Washington Post writes about something great that’s happening for baseball fans on March 30: Nationals Park opens. And: “There will be cherry trees on Center Field Plaza and cherry pie as well. Plus iconic chili dogs. And sushi.” Not sure we are OK with sushi at the ballpark, but the improved food situation is a major step up.

“Baseball fans have already said goodbye to well-worn RFK Stadium, with its long concession lines for tepid sausage sandwiches and precooked hamburgers under the management of Aramark.” Read the article to see which of your favorite vendors will be peddling their offerings to Nats fans (and Yankees fans living in D.C.). This news is just another sign of D.C.’s arrival as a real food city — and a sign that spring may finally be around the corner.