What do you love about the lazy days of summer ?
I love reading lazy day summer magazines that remind me to slow down. It is a time when slowing down is acceptable, expected in our "hurry up" society.
The big question is what is the best scenario for flipping through these colorful, joyful magazines jam packed with scrumptous recipes that are crying for the reader to plan an impromtu backyard barbeque with beloved friends and family or ideas for old time summer activities.
I prefer sitting under a big, shady oak tree in the middle of an expansive, green lush garden. The difficulty is that I live in San Diego where that kind of scenario is sometimes hard to come by. Lush and green depends on the time of year, how much rain we have gotten and your locale in San Diego. In the summer, most lawns are looking a bit dry, rain is pretty much non-existant in the summer, and smaller yards with palm trees rather than oaks are pretty much the norm. My pool eats up half of my yard so I need to substitute lounge chair and umbrella for hammock and tree. If this is the case, invest in really good, comfortable, mesh lounge chairs that are comfortable in the sitting or reclining position.
Granted sometimes the best laid plans don't always work out. If you get side tracked like I did last Sunday, try to get back on track the next weekend. Last Sunday was a heavenly day, sunny with a beautiful offshore breeze coming through my bedroom window. I set up everything I needed for a day of writing at my antique white wicker desk, originally from the grand Hotel Del Coronado, a big old seaside hotel built around the early 1900's where the film "Some Like It Hot" was filmed, overlooking my backyard and gardens.
I surrounded myself with my favorite magazines and sat down to write. I wasn't there at my desk more than five minutes when my daughter, home from college for a few days, gave me a list of places that I needed to take her that afternoon. A week has gone by now and I will attempt to sit down and write once again. My favorite magazines that I am referring to are Martha Stewart Living, Food and Wine and Real Simple.
The scenario that I love reading about is the alfresco party with beloved family members and friends sitting at a long table on a lovely front or back porch, in the garden amid shady trees, or in the backyard of a lovely, old farm house. The August issue of Martha Stewart Living fit the bill with an article called, "A Toast of Summer". The couple hosting the party lived in a beautiful 1917 Sears, Roebuk craftsman kit house in the northern Bershires of New England.
The theme with these outdoor parties is usually "non fussy" fare. This couple served all kinds of grilled sides: potato with rosemary; asparagus and tomatoes; and pork shoulder served with homemade hot sauces of all kinds. They cooked the pork in the oven and then in an inground smokepit- not necessary, the grill works fine. The dessert that "took the cake" was strawberry layer cake.
The August Food and Wine issue's theme was - The Best Outdoor Parties. The article was entitled "Living A Napa Valley Dream". Again the scenario was a big old table with the fields and old farmhouse as a backdrop. Likewise the menus was again no fuss: marinated chicken grilled under a brick, and delicious sides like potato salad with green beans and salsa verde; roasted zucchini with ricotta and mint; roasted peppers and leeks; tomato salad and bacon, blue cheese and basil. The defining dessert was harvest cake with sangiovese grapes and grape juice from the farm, but any red table grapes and unsweetened grape juice is fine for this recipe.
Here is a toast to simpler times. Kick back and soak it in and while you are at it read, "Porch Talk" by Philip Gully. It is all about losing the phone and sitting awhile.