summertime is all about keeping it simple, so on a balmy june evening when your friend asks you to go on a picnic with her in the brooklyn botanical gardens, you say yes and whip up some pesto and cold noodles and sigh with happiness when she fills up your plastic cup with crisp rose.
i'll be honest though. i don't actually love summer.
i love everything that summer stands for: fresh fruit and vegetables, cold drinks, lazy days, and long light evenings. i love warm breezes but i hate those dog days in new york city when it's so hot you start sweating the minute you get out of the shower.
fortunately, we're not quite there yet and i plan on enjoying it until we are. i've had so many ups and downs lately. for now, all i want are quiet nights in the park with the smell of honeysuckle wafting by.
yesterday, my dear friend jackie and i took a little trip to the beach. there really is nothing like warming yourself a few feet away from the ocean. that night we went to her parent's house in staten island and cooked vegetables and tiger prawns on their big fancy grill (the luxury of living in the suburbs). we made grilled vegetable salad with creamy mozzarella and fresh picked basil and oregano, fusili with homemade pesto and the juicy grilled shrimp, and used the leftover tomatoes and mozzarella for a quick caprese. it was perfect. we sat outside with candles and ate delicious summer food. everyone was happy and we all had seconds.
here's a little more summer loving happening for me right now:
an unbelievable memoir for anyone who has ever appreciated food.
i know. everyone loves it. everyone is talking about it. it's that good.
dead man's bones's (ryan gosling's band)
a late discovery, but a friend just sent me this and i am hooked. what can't this guy do?
midnight in paris because it is pure joy for a francophile with all the familiar neurosis of woody allen. sigh.
happy independence day!
