Why We Love Summer

One reason is obvious - tomatoes.  And these are our own, harvested this morning.  I get our few plants every spring from the Tomato Lady at the park, aka Dolly Baker.  She always has a huge selection of plants, many heirloom, many unusual.  It's always a big ordeal to pick the ones we want - we usually like a cherry or two, a slicer and a plum.  They have just started coming on, big time. 

Next we have the onions that Margaret from Arnold Farms brought in yesterday.  Look at these beauties.  Apparently Bob is trying to develop a sweet onion, on par with the famous Vidalias of the South.  He has dubbed these "Chester Sweets" and we will be checking them out tonight on the prix-fixe, to see if they live up to their moniker.  They are certainly off to a good start, if looks are anything to go on.  To have local onions of this quality would certainly  be a great addition to our summer menu.

An array of summer things on the cart: Kevin's always delicious ratatouille; a BlackBerry Pie, with Redmans fresh picked fruit; roasted tomatoes and fresh cherry tomatoes, also delivered by Bill of Redmans.  Below you can just about see the other flat of regular tomatoes.  It sure makes you hate to think that it is almost the first of August already...

And a final seasonal treat to gaze at - the CrabWich, served at lunch for the past few weeks.  Crab filling stuffed into a roll of Kevin's new enriched white bread, topped with cheese and baked until bubbly - this is good eats.  There is so much to enjoy this time of year, it never gets boring.  And Kevin knows just what to do with it, to make use of his produce in ways that enhance the natural flavors while going out of the box for presentation and combination. Black bean and watermelon salsa anyone?  Who knew that it would be a big hit with the tuna this weekend?!  And despite the feeling that in some ways summer is slipping away faster than we can find the time to enjoy it, produce production is pretty much just hitting it's stride.  We have months yet of corn and tomatoes, peppers and squash, watermelon and peaches.  It is such a lovely time to be on the Eastern Shore, to be able to feast on the freshest and finest the land - and the farmer - has to offer.  We are very lucky.