A Midsummer’s Eve Treat

Wild plums courtesy of the Slumlord and Dr. Sweet and light with strong notes of oolong tea.  Odd but delicous!

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An East Coast Lunch

The Slumlord brought back some corned beef tongue from Zabars after returning from a quick trip to NYC.  I was initially skeptical but the tender slices of meat quickly won me over.

For lunch today, I made a corned beef tongue sandwich on Jewish rye bread from the farmers market with some slices of Armenian cucumber that I had quickly pickled in vinegar, sugar, salt, and dill.  Dessert was a slice of cheesecake from Juniors.

I miss New York.

Peach Canapé with Cowgirl Creamery Panir, Basil, and Honey

Despite the Bay Area’s mellow year round weather, nothing can sustain the all too fleeting presence of perfectly ripe peaches and plums at our local farmers’ markets during the summer.  Around this time of year, you can always find me at the farmers’ market cradling a bag of peaches under one arm and impatiently winding my way through the throngs of people so I can get my charges safely home.

I didn’t always love peaches this much.  As a child, we used to play stone fruit roulette at the supermarket produce section. You never knew whether the fruit you bought would be juicy and bursting with flavor or bland and mealy. The odds were stacked against us and more often than not, we lost our money to the house.  As a result, I disliked peaches until one summer in my teens when my family took a road trip to Ventura County.

Backyard Productivity

It’s barely 7:30am in the morning and my parents’ backyard matching making business is in full swing.  The targeted males sway nervously as my mom sets her scrutinizing gaze upon their pale yellow faces, deciding which lucky ones will be plucked from the crowd to meet their mate. The rest of them will either get their chance tomorrow or wither away.  There’s not much time to dally before she has to head to her day job so she picks two worthy candidates and takes them around the corner where a few femmes are waiting.  Without so much as a cursory greeting, the males and females get busy doing the deed. All that is left is to wait for the resulting union to bear fruit.  A bitter fruit.