Summer

Mountain tops, leafy glades, pastures? Not for us. We're having our picnic in Columbus Park overlooking Boston harbor. Leave your meat and fancy picnic set-ups at home; there are no grills or tables, just trees, grass and benches and other people's yachts, of course.

We like simple egg salad and tuna salad. Hard boil four eggs and refrigerate. Cut two stalks of celery into tiny pieces. Combine eggs with Hellman's mayo. Season with salt and pepper; add dry mustard if you must. Transfer to a disposable plastic container. Next, drain a can of cold tuna. Dice celery and add Hellman's, not too much. Add a dash of pepper, onions if you must. Garnish with parsley if you're a food writer.

Transfer to a separate container with a tight cover. Finally, cut grape tomatoes in thirds, then peel one cold and dry cucumber. Pack together in a third small container. If you freeze a couple of bottled waters, they'll keep everything cold.

The conditions had to be perfect. We knew there was a ton of honey in the hive. June is the time to harvest, and it was already July. I recently had an unpleasant encounter with the bees when a photographer came to take some pictures of me, my garden, my birds and my bees. (It was late in the afternoon, I was nervous and, was he wearing after-shave? I’m not sure what set the bees off, but they got so feisty. The photographer was stung three times and a persistent bug managed its way into my hood and sent me running and yelping!) So, how to get back to the pleasant calm that husband Martin and I had on our April visit? 

Advice from fellow beekeeping friend Ilse, who tends bees and chickens at Sky Farm Red was taken: “Visit the bees between 12 and two, be super clean with no scent and freshly laundered bee suits.”

An offer of help from Bee Buddy Bruno was accepted.

So on a recent sunny day, we suited up, sipped our pre-hive-tending-calming beer and went for it.

For an excellent summer refresher, perfect for a picnic or party this upcoming Labor Day, how about trying this recipe for sangria? Using in-season stone fruit, this recipe is the perfect way to celebrate (or mourn) the end of summer. Feel free to use whichever fruit you choose, but it is especially nice with fresh, ripe stone fruit such as peaches, nectarines, and/or plums. Mangoes, pluots, or cherries would also make a nice addition. I happened to use a white peach, a white nectarine, and a white pluot.

For the spirit, a peach or plum brandy works especially well (try a plum Palinka from Hungary), but any other brandy works fine too. Many white wine sangria recipes call for the addition of sugar and soda, but there is no need if you use a sweet sparkling wine. Sweet sparkling wines such as Asti, semi-seco Cava, demi-sec Champagne, or Prosecco work the best.

The addition of peach nectar to the sangria is reminiscent of a Bellini, a cocktail of Prosecco and peach purée that was invented in the late 1930s at Harry's Bar in Venice, Italy. So, if like me you were unable to take a trip this summer, grab a glass of sangria and let your mind wander.

When Jeff watches t.v., it’s typically one of three types of shows: sports (he’s a guy), nature/science programs (he’s a doctor), and cooking competitions (I’m stumped). He’s not so much into instructional cooking shows, though he doesn’t mind Giada’s Everyday Italian (he’s a guy). What he really likes are the cooking competitions, like Top Chef and Iron Chef America.

One night last summer, we saw a particularly inspiring episode of Iron Chef featuring Bobby Flay, Jeff’s second favorite chef after Cat Cora (he’s a guy; Jeff, not Cat, that is). We like Bobby’s creativity and the way he makes ordinary grilled food seem chic.

So the following day when I went to the library, I checked out a couple of his books, including Grilling for Life and Boy Gets Grill. They were mixed in among a 4-foot high pile of cookbooks (including many baking ones) that caught Jeff’s eye when he came home.

Picking through the pile like he was looking for the perfect apple among many bruised ones, he paused upon seeing Bobby’s books. “Hon, why do you have two Bobby Flay grilling cookbooks?” he asked. “Because he’s the guy you really like on Iron Chef, so I thought I’d check out some of his recipes,” I replied. “So, are you planning on just reading them or actually making something from them?” he asked.

“Making something. Why else would I have gotten them?” I said. (Though we both instantly realized the flaw in that argument—for the next three weeks, the closest thing those baking books would come in contact with is dust.)

“But hon, we don’t have a grill,” he said delicately. “I know we don’t have a grill, but we will some day,” I said.