Summer foods!

I should blog more often.  I thought I had nothing to say and then I started writing and had to cut myself off so that my dedicated fan base (ha!) isn't reading for days on end.  Either that or I should lay off the wine.  It makes me chatty.  But what is summer without wine?

And what goes better with summer and wine than my new summer foods?  Since I get to answer my own question, not much.

1. Heirloom tomatoes - I love, love, love these.  My favorite booth at the farmer's market is always the guy with the heirloom tomatoes who gives out samples of each of the different kinds.  He hadn't been around, but now that summer is here, he's back! 

 
It is amazing how tomato-y they taste and how different each one is.  I bought some of these yesterday (and carried them home in my new bike basket!):

Green Zebras

And I got an HLT (ham, lettuce, and tomato) sandwich from the Bean & Thyme stand:

Look at those tomatoes (purple cherokees, maybe?)!  And the ham was really more like prosciutto.  And the garlicky mayo underneath it all?  Mmmmm!

Lunch yesterday (I considered the HLT breakfast...) was a bike ride to Lemonade in Venice.  I got four 1/2 portions of salads, including their new heirloom tomato, crushed basil, and fleur de sel:

Winner, winner, heirloom tomato dinner (lunch)!  Also on my plate - wild arugula, bleu cheese, and fresh mission figs; cauliflower, golden raisins, almonds, and curry; and watermelon radish, ahi tuna, snap peas, black sesame, and ginger

2.  Kohlrabi - this strange looking root vegetable has a flavor that is a mixture of cabbage, turnip, and apple... maybe.  It's hard to describe.

B first read about it in an article in Runner's World about new foods to try.  I had seen it at the farmer's market, so decided to pick one up a couple of weeks ago.  I looked up a few recipes, and when I found out that it can be grated and used in cole slaw (I have a weakness for cole slaw), I was sold.  I came up with a new slaw recipe that I have fallen in love with - red cabbage, kohlrabi, feta cheese, smoked almonds, avocado, soy sauce, sesame oil... it's that whole tried and true greek-mexican-asian combo that really pulls it all together ;)

Unfortunately, I ate the entire salad before taking a picture last time I made it.  But I have a new kohlrabi (2 in fact) and I fully intend to make it again.  You can find my recipe by clicking the link at the top of this page called "My Recipe Archive".  It is filed in the "sides" category. (This is a brand new web site that I have been building from scratch for weeks now.  It is still a work in progress, but go check it out!)

3. Cherries - I have a few weird food allergies that are triggered when certain pollens are in the air.  It's not a terribly bad allergic reaction, but my mouth and throat get itchy and sometimes puffy when I eat certain foods raw (the enzyme that causes the reaction is de-activated by heat) and it can be a little uncomfortable.  Since I have to be careful with raw almonds, apples, plums, and cherries, I have just stayed away from them in the past.  California has different pollens than the east coast, so I've been able to experiment a little more.

Because of this, I hadn't had fresh cherries in years.  B and I were at the grocery store last week and he was looking to buy some grapes.

B: "Should we get green or red grapes?"
Me: "Doesn't matter, but the red ones are cherries."
B: "No they're not, they're grapes."
Me: "Ok.  But they're cherries."
B: "Fine, you know what?  I'll taste one and prove that it is a grape."
Me: "Ok, but be careful.  Cherries have pits."

Sure enough, they were cherries (I told him so).  But if this hadn't happened, we wouldn't have bought them.  And I'm so glad we did.  This is my new favorite snack any time I'm looking for something sweet.  Perfect summer treat!

What are your favorite summer foods and how do you prepare them?