Summer

In a few days I’ll be hopping on another plane to a place that promises lots of good food, relaxation, sunshine and wine. It’s a trip we’ve been planning for a while, but what I wasn’t planning on was real life enveloping the weeks before and after this excursion. In this case real life means work, and work means travel, and that means I’ll be up in the air and away from home for many weeks. When I return it will no longer be summer but early fall and I can’t help but feel slightly Rip Van Winkelish about the whole damn thing.

I’ve managed to cram quite a bit of summer in the past few weeks. Dinners outdoors with best friends, long walks in the muggy streets of NYC with my blogging family, even one last hurrah at our house just the other night dedicated to the bounty of figs. Summer is my favorite season and I just don’t like to see it ending, footstomp footstomp footstomp!

As a symbolic gesture I picked up stone fruit at the farmers’ market the other day, knowing that it could very likely be the last peach or plum I would buy and cook with at home for some time. Of course I’m looking forward to what’s around the corner but saying goodbye to stone fruit always leaves me a bit melancholy.

With our year-round temperate San Diego climate, we have picnicked in November, in March, and many months in between. But like chilled watermelon, slushy lemonade, and buttery ears of sweet corn, picnics taste best in the summer months.

That's why last weekend Jeff and I went on our first summertime picnic. I could tell you about the weather (grey skies) or the view (choppy ocean waters), but I think you'd be more interested in the food. I was. 

We brought a bottle of chilled pinot grigio, a salad of heirloom tomatoes, fresh corn kernels, basil, and olives, and eggplant, asparagus, and smoked mozzarella sandwich wraps with red pepper mayo. Dessert was simple: juicy, sweet fresh cherries from the farmers' market.  

When it comes to vegetarian sandwich wraps there's much more than just hummus, tomatoes, and sprouts. With creamy eggplant, crisp asparagus, and smoky mozzarella cheese, these healthy picnic wraps taste like warm rolled up pizzas but without all the fat and calories.

There is a restaurant in my town that serves a dish using shrimp and very large cannellini beans.  It's one of my favorite things to order when I go there.  However, since I rarely go out to dinner, I decided to use those two ingredients and create something I could enjoy at home.

I do love shrimp and cannellini beans and I thought incorporating them into some type of salad would work well. 

I never expected it to turn out so good.  This Shrimp and Cannellini Salad with Oregano-Chive Vinaigrette has such an incredible flavor.  I couldn't stop eating it. 

I made the dressing strong in flavor since the beans, lettuce and shrimp tend to be bland.  Do not try to soften the acidity of the dressing as it really livens up the flavors of the foods I just mentioned.

The best part about this dish is it could be served as a light appetizer for six, salad or first course for four or a heavy meal for two.  I can't wait to make this again.

It is often the simplest of gestures in life that make for elegant entertaining. With amazing refrigerators and ice machines galore in our homes, the old fashioned method of freezing water in ice trays has almost gone to the wayside.

I keep some of those ice trays around for to make herbal ice cubes for drinks. My friends and family are always glad to have a treat in their ice and the presentation is both memorable and aesthetically pleasing.

The crisp shapes and forms of the lovely aromatic leaves bound in ice is the perfect accouterment to sparkling mineral water. Whenever I travel outside the country, I love being asked by the servers if I’d like water “with gas” or “no gas” and this drink reminds me of those travels.

As the ice melts in the sparkling water, the herb leaves release their essence and the scents , bouquets, and flavors meld with the fizz for beverage of pure delight and refreshment. Flavor with a syrup or citrus but trust me, this clean tasting drink is fine on its own.