Hot, hot, hot here in Portland. Whew, we're just not used to this. We generally wilt when it gets to 100, never mind 106! I've never been good in the heat and that certainly hasn't changed. So, cooking meals is just not an option. What is an option is eating out at restaurants with AC and eating simple meals that can be prepared with chopping and assembling. On our worst three days this past week, we had two salads here and one at one of those restaurants.The best was last night's caprese salad. I have to say it was nothing unique or unusual. But, all I need to say is that the tomatoes came right out of the garden and onto the plate. It just doesn't get much better than that. They were still warm from the sunshine and so delicious. With the salad, we had bread with pesto. I did actually heat up the broiler and put in the pesto bread with a little cheese for a few minutes. All done quickly enough not to heat up the kitchen.
So, here's the local food rundown:
tomatoes - first of the season from our garden
mozzarella - have to admit I don't remember where it came from
basil - also fresh out of the backyard
olive oil - brought from Italy by our friends the Dawsons
white balsamic vinegar - I got it in San Francisco on our last trip
ciabatta bread - from the bakery down the street, Grand Central
pesto - made last week using our garden basil
cheese - Tillamook white cheddar
And, lastly, because Patty requested more puppy photos, here's one of Lucy. She's growing like crazy. Still pretty shy, but making slow progress on that front.
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4 comments:
First tomatoes :-) When the tomatoes are warm from the sun like that, it almost seems wrong to do anything complicated to them. When there is fresh basil in the picture, its even more true I think. And when its hot on top of it - well, your recipe is just right.
How is your basil doing? Mine has been hanging in there still despite the roller-coaster weather with the alternate downpours for days and the bright sun/heat on other days.... its a shock really!
Our basil is hanging in, in spite of our 3 weeks away (but had a friend watering while we were gone). But, the leaves are fairly small - doesn't seem to be getting much bigger. not a big deal since there are a lot of them. Not being a gardener, I'm wondering if they would be bigger if it was planted in the ground, rather than in pots.
I would give anything for a great tomatoe. They certainly are not at the grocery store and we only have a local market one day a week here.
I love Lucy!
Should the blog get a new name, new dog old tricks?
She is gorgeous. Kiefer is the easiest dog in the world. Perfect for our family of lazy people.
The name change - maybe I should? Actually had thought at one point about redoing the whole format to make it look better. But, then I got lazy - like Keifer and his family.
Another fresh off the vine tomato tonight on hamburgers - mmmmm!
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