Summer

Plums are such a special fruit with so many uses. For me their flavor is most unique: they are sweet near the skin but tart by the pit. The color too is deeper toward the skin and paler near the pit. All stone fruits are spectacular, in my opinion, but I adore plums for this uniqueness. I love eating plums when they're so ripe that their juices squirt right out when you bite into them and run down your arm. That's when I find myself eating them over the kitchen sink. Often when I buy plums in bulk, instead of waiting for them to fully ripen, I usually end up making jam or baking them into pastries, pies, and tarts.

Late summer always rewards us with beautiful Italian prune plums, recognizable for their egg shape, dark and bluish exterior, and green to yellow interior. They are typically available from August until September and can be found widely in the States, but more so in Europe. Often they are dried to make prunes, but more famously are made into the eastern European liquor slivovitz. Plums have always been a favorite in my family. Many Hungarian recipes make use of them: one dish in particular is gomboc, which are plums encased in potato dumplings, and rolled in a cinnamon-breadcrumb mixture. I like them, but I love plums much more in pastries like this crostata.

What does one do with 2 dozens limes, freshly picked from a friends tree and a few too many strawberries bought at the local farmers market? Strawberry Limeade Soda anyone??

I tend to be fairly conscious on my weekly trip to the farmers market. But sometimes, “a special” gets the best of me. A flat of strawberries at a special price was something I could not pass up.

Strawberry protein smoothies, a batch of Strawberry Shortcake Cookies for friends, and a strawberry-blueberry crisp made a very small dent in, what felt like, a bushel of berries. I began to think about what else I could create.

I have been making a lot of fruity “sodas’ this summer, using Pelligrino as the carbonate and wanted to have something new on hand when the kids arrived home from camp. Last year, I made a Fresh Strawberry Lemonade, so why not use the limes I had on hand and make a limeade-strawberry cocktail? So I did.

Whether you are married or buried in The South, you will have chicken salad. You may be a newly born baby down in Dixieland, and your first meal will most likely be a Dixieland Delight of chicken salad – second to pimento cheese or barbeque. I say all this in jest – “jest” saying, y’all, we eat a lot of chicken salad!

This Southern staple is apropos for a wedding, a shower, a luncheon, a wake, a church supper or a hunt club picnic. It is a mandatory dish at garden club. You can be quite elegant with your presentation, and remove the crust (Mimi always said that if you cut the crust off, it was fancy), or you may scoop it onto a lettuce leaf. Or, you may dip Ritz crackers into the styrofoam cup of chicken salad as you leave the drive-thru window at Georgia Bobs – chicken salad can be casual, everyday or highbrow, high-end… diner’s choice.

Chipped, chopped, shredded or chunky – chicken salad is much the same as Southern barbeque in its array of forms. “Mother always chipped hers so fine that it was almost fluffy…” I’ve heard many a time. “Uncle Earl just chopped his…” you may have witnessed this. MawMaw, Mema, Mimi and Mama all have their methods and, like brands of mayonnaise, their posterity follow suit in their taste and preference. Then there is the entire debate about celery. As for me and my house, the finer chopped the better – if added at all.

I wait all year for watermelon and then eat it with reckless abandon every chance I get.  I love buying the small, seedless varieties, they are so easy to cut up and enjoy.  I can't believe how sweet the ones I have already tasted are....so far a good crop!

Anyway, if you have never experienced watermelon with something a little salty and a little oniony, it's about time you do.  It's by far my favorite way to eat watermelon.  And it's totally addictive. You will enjoy it all summer and crave it all winter.  

You must experience this to understand what I am talking about.  You can thank me later!! Believe me when I tell you how surprising and wonderful the flavors are when they come together.