Summer

Festive enough for a party, quick-and-easy for everyday cooking, skewered shrimp and cherry tomatoes are ready to serve in 30 minutes.

A few words about the convenience of shrimp. In my experience, shrimp that come already shelled and deveined have less flavor and are more susceptible to freezer burn. If you buy shrimp in the shell, the benefits outweigh the added work. Buy the large sized ones (30-35/pound).

Removing the shell is easy enough, if a bit tedious. Grasp the legs in one hand while you rotate the shrimp with your other hand. The shell will come off easily. If you want the tail meat to stay on the shrimp, pinch the very tip of the tail with your fingers and gently pull the meat away from the shell.

With a sharp paring knife, cut down the back of the shrimp, pull away the vein, and discard. Wash the shrimp thoroughly, drain, and keep cold until ready to use.

Memorial Day weekend has become synonymous with the beginning of summer and usually celebrated with barbecues, outdoor gatherings, or some kind of pre-summer fun.

A great side dish to almost any outdoor menu is potato salad. This version uses a mustard vinaigrette rather than mayonnaise to bind the ingredients - it’s lighter and the abundance of fresh herbs gives it great flavor – and it will hold up a bit longer on a warm summer day.

“Fines herbes” (fēn-ˈzerb) is a classic combination of herbs that is commonly found in French cuisine and usually include fresh parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil. leaves (If fresh chervil isn’t available, substitute an additional 1/2 tablespoon of minced parsley and an additional 1/2 teaspoon of tarragon)

I couldn’t possibly have known that the books I managed to read this summer, in some convoluted way, would all share a common thread: success.

In "The Hidden Staircase" by Carolyn Keene, Nancy Drew, using her wits and intuition, solves the mystery of the old stone mansion successfully.

Splat, from Rob Scotton’s "Splat the Cat", has an anxious but ultimately very successful first day of school.

Don Freeman’s "Corduroy", a department store bear missing a button who yearns to find a home, does.

Stephanie Plum, not surprisingly, figures out in the nick of time who decapitated the celebrity chef in Janet Evanovitch’s "Finger Lickin' Fifteen".

Last week I hosted a cooking class with my friend, “J”.  Each year we donate a cooking class to our school’s auction and this years theme was “Little Bites”.  I wanted to not only come up with recipes that one could eat at a small cocktail party, but also, give ideas that could made in a few minutes, using pantry staples.

 It took me a while to motivate, but once I did, it all came together.  ”J” was in charge of cocktails, cheese + nuts, and setting the perfect environment.  We collaborated on the menu and I typed up the market list. 

Our little bites theme carried through to dessert.  I made a double batch of dough so I would have room to play with it.  I made a batch of these little cups.  But they failed. I started to get a little nervous because I kind of procrastinated and waited until a few hours before the dinner to bake these off.  

I baked off a batch of traditional style shortcakes which came out perfect.  Eli tested and gave the thumbs up. I went back to the drawing board.