Water From A Hose

The tastes of summer...brings back memories. Simple food paired with sweet sunshine late into the evening, one of my favorite experiences. Eating outside is one of the sweet pleasures of summer. Walking on the boardwalk and getting a corn dog and a fresh lemonade, still one of my favorite things to look forward to in summer. When I was a kid taking a long drink from a hose until I couldn't drink anymore was standard summer fare.
Floats was something my grandmother liked: orange soda with vanilla ice cream, root beer floats, coke floats, cactus cooler floats. My mom, when I was very young, used to make us plain old grilled cheese sandwiches with tomato soup and a dollop of cottage cheese on top - after we had a bath having played outside all day long. I like to have my coffee or tea in the morning sitting outside. When there's still some dew on the plants; before it gets too hot.
When my son and I lived on a boat we had a stainless barbecue on the back and cooked on it all summer long. I dearly loved living on a boat, you could tell when summer was there, it sounded just like the first scenes from the beginning of Jaws, with water splashing, motors starting and voices from all around, from early in the morning. Washing down the boat and taking a long drink from the hose. Do people still do that? I do.

Lovely Summer Salads

I love salads. In the summer I eat them all the time. And the thing about my salads is that I like HUGE salads - the size of a basketball! When I have a huge salad in the afternoon after work it is usually enough that I do not have to have any dinner.

I take the bowl down and just start throwing things in.

Here are some salad ingredient ideas:

**different types of lettuce, torn into bite size pieces
**tomatoes, avocados, green onions
**beans of some sort, garbanzo or black tend to be my favorite
**carrots in lovely ribbons made with a vegetable peeler
**any vegetable like zucchini that can be made thin with the peeler
**grated cheese, like mozzarella, cheddar or parmesan or feta
**hardboiled eggs
**any cold leftover meat or bacon
**roasted veggies, like eggplant, squash and bell peppers
**albacore tuna
**smoked salmon

I like to make everything bite sized so its easy to eat.

To make it even more of a meal I will broil some chicken, fish or whatever meat I have and slice it thinly then toss that into the bowl.

For dressing I like to keep it simple and its just olive oil, balsamic vinegar a squeeze of lemon and some salt and pepper. If I have fresh herbs I will add some(finely chopped) basil or thyme or a pinch of herbs de provence. A smashed and very finely minced garlic clove once in a while is good. Bottled dressings...I have gotten over those.

Give it a good toss and eat it in the huge bowl it was created in. A baguette to dip into the dressing and a cold beer or a glass of pinot and you're there. LOVELY!! Summer is here!!