It was great having the day off Monday, but did it really have to be Labor Day already?
Did the young woman who minds one of my favorite little farm stands -- a truck, actually, parked outside the Catonsville library -- have to mention, as I picked up peaches and a watermelon Sunday, that it was their last weekend of the season? Where did the summer go?
My kids have been in school for a week now, and they're enjoying it (except for the getting up early part). They're learning, playing soccer, making new friends. And the break from the heat these last few days has been nice. I know it's time to move on to a new season.
But my taste buds still want to hold onto summer.
Which brings me to this week's list:
Top Ten summer foods I'm going to miss
1. Peaches
I want my peaches to be the drippy-mess-halfway-down-my-arm variety. Which means I don't want them picked hard as a rock on the other side of the country. I want them local. Which, of course, doesn't guarantee good. For the first time this season, the ones I bought at the truck were dry and mealy.
2. Tomatoes
I've become hooked on grilled cheese made with Atwater's bread, fresh mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes from my garden. When my vines finally quit, I won't even attempt the sandwich with the supermarket variety.
3. Blueberries
I bought a bunch of local berries from a guy in Baltimore County earlier this summer. I put them in freezer bags and thought I had enough for blueberry pancakes all through winter. I would have, if I hadn't started putting the berries in smoothies. We're already out. Now it's back to inspecting the fine print on the frozen berry bags in the supermarket, trying to make sure they don't hail from a country known for lead-laden toys and toxic drywall.
4. Green beans
We had a great supply in our garden most of the summer, but the plants dried during the recent blast of hot weather. It's so much easier to get the kids to eat their veggies if they're fresh.
5. Corn
My own crop had limited success. (OK, one edible ear.) But the stuff from area farmers' markets has been great. One week I under the JFX, a vendor was letting people sample it raw. I'd never eaten uncooked corn before, but it was wonderfully sweet and crisp. I bought so much, I had to stash some (shorn from the cob) in the freezer. I'll appreciate that frozen stash in soup some cold winter day, but I'm sure it won't match the texture and flavor of that raw ear.
6. Ice cream
Of course we can have ice cream in the cooler months, but I feel a little more guilty about it. This summer we made some interesting sorbets -- peach-tarragon was the stand-out -- but my kids' favorite is plain old vanilla. I was going to make an end-of-summer batch yesterday, until I saw the price of vanilla beans at the supermarket. It was $10 for one bean, $14 for two. And my recipe actually calls for two beans. (Anybody out there got the inside track on bargain vanilla beans?)
7. Salad
I find bagged supermarket lettuce tends to be slimy and rotten, so I like to grow greens myself. The cooler fall weather should give me a chance to get a new crop going, but once it really gets cold, it'll be a salad-free existence around here. Last year I noticed Mill Valley General Store in Remington offered a winter CSA with lettuce grown in Eastern shore hot houses. Maybe worth exploring.
8. Apricots
9. Basil
I love having a fresh supply right in the back yard. I'd better get my pesto made to get me through the winter.
10. Chard
Just kidding! Besides, it winters over.
Sun photo by Kim Hairston