These past few days I have been completely overtaken by how much I love summer. Now that we are actually having summerish weather in the pacific northwest I’m starting to remember why it really is my favorite season. I mean what is not to love, sunshine, fresh produce, baseball, lingering sunlight, lingering cocktails… I digress.
My absolute favorite thing about the summer is the food…. Do I really need to say anymore besides nectarines? These tasty morsels are my all time favorite food, let alone fruit. Of course there are other delicious things like melons, garden greens, peas, beans, cucumbers, tomatoes, cold salads with things like quinoa and lentils, chilled soups, fresh herbs, the list goes on. Right now I am obsessed with the smell of tomato plants… seriously, bottle it up, and bathe me in it… the tart, green, almost sulfurous smell is like natures cologne. I am undeniably drawn to it. Currently I’m trying to come to terms with the fact that at least one of my tomato plants has spider mites… I’m fighting back… please God don’t take away my tomato plants, but I’m flashing back to the downhill battle of my lemon tree… Thankfully we have several varieties planted at work, so I can get my scent fix if things go awry with the mites.
This is a pre-mite picture... in the meantime I am singing Pink Martini to it...
I love how easy it is to throw something delicious together without even trying in the summer. Grill up a few vegetables, add some quinoa, and voila, seasonal tastiness with minimal effort. Salads can be thrown together in mere minutes, tear up some greens, add a smattering of fresh herbs, and a quick vinaigrette and you’ve got a meal. I kind of play loose and fast in the summer when it comes to food. There are no rules, no recipes (or at least very few recipes) I just throw things together and hope for the best. Most of the time it works out beautifully.
Roasted Beets, Olive Oil, Fleur de Sel.
I tend to also be loose and fast with my extracurricular activities in the summer. This is just one of the perils of being an event coordinator, your summer weekends are pretty much tied up throwing other people’s parties. On the bright side, my chaotic schedule has helped me really appreciate my free-time, and I tend to savor the moments I get to spend with my friends outside the confines of over-scheduled weekend. I accidentally had this past Saturday off. There was supposed to be a wedding, but things went awry a few weeks ago, and the bride ended up throwing all the groom’s stuff on the front lawn and draining the joint checking account. Anyway, my manager sort of forgot to put me back on the regular schedule, so when I realized on Thursday that I would actually get a normal Saturday I was thrilled. I spend the day sailing on the Columbia River with a few friends. The weather was perfection, as was the company.
Perfection
Very much enjoying my sailing adventure
I love browsing the Thursday Farmer’s market to get inspired for my week in cooking. A few weeks ago I felt like a beauty pageant winner as I walked down the sidewalk with an armful of beets, and a jug of hard cider… ok maybe not a beauty queen… but quite frankly I’d rather have the gorgeous bunch of beets, than the oversized bouquet. I cannot get over how beautiful vegetables are… the vibrant colors, the leafy greens, the imperfect shapes. I go to the market not only to inspire my palate, but to inspire everything in my life. I love the rustic charm of outdoor markets, the beautiful ways in which things are displayed, and the overall knock–out beauty of fresh produce.
Purple Cauliflower
The other place I draw a lot of inspiration from is Red Ridge… ok I know, it’s the slight ick factor, because I work there… but I am blown away on a daily basis by how gorgeous nature really is. When I need a few minutes of down time I browse through the green-house planning out my fantasy landscape. I walk through the lavender fields, stop and take in the views of Mt. Hood and marvel. When I first drove into Red Ridge for my interview two and a half years ago I remember thinking “I have to get this job, because I don’t want to leave”… I have since out-grown that. I do want to leave, and when I have a day off I run in the opposite direction… but I am still so drawn to it. I always get really excited when I see someone else with that same reaction. They see Red Ridge for the first time, and they cannot get over it. I was touring a writer around the property today and his reaction was “Well when your publicist told me how tranquil this place was, I thought she was feeding me a line… I mean that is her job right? And then I got out here and realized she wasn’t kidding.”
Crocosmia
Bee Balm by the Olive Tree
I notice new things in the landscape every single day, and I often like to think of it as my own little garden of Eden. I get really envious of the people who come to hang out on the patio & browse the gardens on their days off, because that is exactly what I want to be doing! I just want to hang out there without having to answer the phone, and explain how to taste olive oil. I’ve even considered sneaking in on a Monday when we are closed, but then that just seems too ridiculous… I cannot and will not spend my day off from work, hanging out at work… I will be the first to admit that my life is very much defined by my job, but I’m not quite ready to spend seven days a week there…. But if they asked me to move in I would.
In the meantime, I will just enjoy the fact that I get paid to visit this place on a daily basis (and I will keep reminding myself of this through August, as I will essentially be spending all of my weekends from now until September working). So long as I’ve got the tomato plants, I say, bring it on summer. Bring it on.
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