What I Did this Summer

I offer you here and now a pictorial account (accompanied by a brief write up) of my trip to North America this past summer.

Since it was summer when I arrived, it was high season for produce from the garden. There were lots of tomatoes, basil, peaches, and pears. I made a few batches of grilled tomato salsa (onions, tomatoes, peppers and jalapenos were placed on the grill until nicely charred and then spun around the food processor for a few seconds), and we canned the peaches, the pears, as well as a batch of grilled tomatoes (a first for us- and since there were some left over, we converted those into a nice grilled tomato garlic soup).







There were memorable drinks like the salty chihuahua, the blueberry fizz, and the sambucca lemon juice concoction.





There were some great meals too. We made some pizza on the grill; one of them had homemade pesto with prosciutto and nectarines, another had grilled red peppers and feta cheese, while the third had a asiago and caramelized onion topping. There was a birthday meal of spanakopita, greek salad and domaldes (all homemade). There were also some blackberry tarts, an spiced upside down pear cake, and lots of grilled vegetables and meals from the barbeque.




There was even a trip to the Summerland Fall fair where LMS and I walked around and surveyed other people's canning, baking and quilting. Here is the winning pumpkin.


Now that I am back in Shanghai, it appears that the summer has completely disappeared; the weather is a bit dreary and much cooler than when I left. Here comes fall.