Summer Pretties

As much as I kick and scream about how unbearable the summer heat is, I don't know where I would be without it.

Sure, my electricity bill sky rockets with my indiscriminate AC usage because I can only exist within a plus or minus 5-degree range of 80 degrees to maintain my temperature happy place.  And how I complain and whine about summer months before it's here because just thinking about the summer sun makes me sweaty.  The I'm-from-Hawaii-and-it-never-gets-this-hot-there excuse gets old with everyone (especially since I've been living here for nearly 10 years...holy moly), and then I start to realize that maybe, just maybe...I'm the unbearable thing.  And not the summer heat.

Maybe.  That's just a thought.

But this whole summer thing is in actuality a love-hate relationship.  As much as I say I can't stand it, I absolutely adore it.  The days are longer.  I'm not in constant worry of having a jacket handy.  The skies are a pretty blue minus the fog.  And the produce!!  It's what I wait all year for! 

The strawberries and blueberries have been particularly delicious this year.  And Trader Joe's has been selling them in bulk Costco packs.  And so, I have been buying them as such.  The blueberries are so sweet and floral I can hardly stand it!  I have a pot of blueberries bubbling and burping their way to blueberry jam.

As you can see, steam and an iPhone camera do not mix.  I accidentally dropped a Meyer lemon seed in there.  Somewhere.  I shrugged it off.

If you are lucky enough to be a member of a community garden (which I am not...sniffles), you might have a crop of lovely tomatoes.

My co-worker Megan is lucky enough to have a little garden plot to call her very own. 

They were quite juicy and not at all watery!

Which was just perfect for a chopped caprese salad. 

The zucchini and eggplant have also been veggie standouts this summer.  I see them everywhere in the farmers market!  So shiny!  Of course, I have a fridge full of these because I have zero self-control at a farmers market.  It might even be in the negative.  But my solution to too many veggies (if there is such a thing) is to make them into a salad or roast them.  Roasting usually wins.

Especially when I remembered the wonderfulness that is the Barefoot Contessa's Roasted Vegetable Orzo!

Seriously.  Best.  Orzo.  Ever!  And so so so easy.  I used her recipe here.  Except I added a couple zucchini because I had them, and I made it a Moroccan dressing of sorts by adding a 1/4 teaspoon each ground coriander and smoked paprika.  But the lemon and olive oil combo as suggested by Ina is also awesome.

But perhaps the winner of the summer pretty prize is this:

Sigh.  Yup, definite winner.  I mean, can you really compete with a Shun knife?  Really?  Of course not.

So for those of you that don't spend an inordinate amount of time reading food blogs and watching food shows, the above knife is like the holy of holies when it comes to knives.  I can't really tell you why except that they are made from fancy Japanese steel and are used by fancy chefs on tv.  Like a certain Giada de Laurentiis.  You know what that does to me.  But beyond my star-struckness, these knives are pretty amazing.  The curved blade and handle makes it very comfortable and easy to use and hold.  It also makes it very conducive to that rocking sort of motion used when chopping.

See?  Hand does not touch counter. 

Hand very close to counter.

Amazing!