"summer food" news and stories

When I was young and my family still lived in Los Angeles, we'd make the drive from Eagle Rock to Woodland Hills to visit my grandma Bunny about once a month. My dad's brothers would arrive with their families, filling the driveway with cars, dogs and kids. The musicians would settle down to the serious business of jamming, while Bunny listened, occasionally added a harmony line and took care of dinner. During the summer months, she would buy dozens of ears of corn and it would be my job to help her with the husking. We'd sit outside at a picnic table, a paper grocery bag from Ralph's between us and we shuck away. I can't make corn on the cob without thinking of her.

Over the weekend, I bought some corn at the farmers market and last night I gave it a quick steam. I was the only one eating, but I boiled all I had, because while I love it buttered and hot, straight off the cob, I also am a big fan of fresh corn on salads. What I couldn't eat was sliced off the cob and is now waiting in the fridge to be tossed with some arugula and Lancaster county tomatoes. Oh, but it was good on the cob. Sweet and crunchy and tasting of the essence of summer.

photo by Marisa McClellan

I don't eat watermelon enough. I love it and it's summertime, but for some reason I don't remember to buy it (or if I do the selection at my local supermarket is...eh). But I have to buy some and make these watermelon bowls from the fun food blog WhatWereEating.com.

They're descibed as "summertime in a cup," and from the looks of them we won't argue. Full recipe after the jump!

Today, it's approximately 2000 degrees outside (around 2100 in my apartment), and I don't feel like turning on my oven or even eating anything hot. I think a salad would hit the spot, and this recipe from Jessica over at AllRecipes sounds interesting (and by interesting I mean "hmmm...I never thought of putting those things in the same salad").

It's the Watermelon Summer Salad, and besides refreshing, cool watermelon, you also get feta cheese, black olives, and sliced red onion. However, Jessica tells us not to be scared by the ingredients,. They work well together. Full recipe after the jump.

I find cookouts rather boring (as I've said here before, I'm not a fan of summer, cookouts, parades, or humidity - bring on the fall!), but if I were going to throw one, I'd try to find different things to make other than the usual burgers and hot dogs and corn-on-the-cob. Or at least find a way to do a different spin on those mainstays.

Over at AOL Food, there's a recipe for Inside-Out Cheeseburgers from EatingWell. The cheese -- both cheddar and Gruyere -- goes on the inside so it can ooze out. However, I think if they really want to make these cheeseburgers inside-out, they'd find some way to put the bun on the inside too!

So what's the best way to celebrate both the Fourth of July and National Ice Cream Month? Recreate the recipe from one of our forefathers, of course.

Best Life magazine has the recipe for Thomas Jefferson's Ice Cream. It only has four ingredients (heavy cream, eggs, sugar, and a vanilla bean) but who says that ice cream has to be complex? Though the actual preparation is a little bit more involved than the four ingredients would have you believe, it's great to see a recipe with such basic ingredients.

But it has eggs. Oh oh. I wonder if Andy Rooney would approve?