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This is sooooooooooooo easy, and cukes are in season.

In a small saucepan bring to a simmer for 5 minutes:

• 1/4 cup vinegar (white)
• 1/4 cup water
• 1/4 cup sugar (you can use a wee bit less, please no substitutions)

Remove from heat and let it cool to room temp. Meanwhile combine in a bowl:

• 3-5 cucumbers, sliced about 3/8 -1/4 inch thick*
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced red onion (only if you like it)
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Toss with cooled dressing. When ready to serve add:

• 1 cup chopped roasted peanuts

* If you are using small organic cukes, just wash and slice. If you are using larger cukes, please peel them, as the flesh will be bitter and waxy. Make a judgement call, if the seeds are large and prolific, scrape them out with a spoon.

If you are feeling adventurous:Feel free to add red pepper flakes or chopped fresh mint as well.  This salad makes a nice relish simply by chopping the cucumber in a small fine dice.

Yay tomato season!

I am a tomato purist and would rather eat no tomato than a crappy pink tomato that will rot before it ripens. I am trying to grow tomatoes on my back deck, but they are not so fond of the Savannah summers. In my CSA* box last week I found some big beautiful swollen ripe tomatoes.

There are a million things to do with summer tomatoes, beyond eating them sliced with salt and pepper. My friend Jim Duhamel invented what I call a “Duhamwich.” Toasted bread, mayo, sliced tomato, crunchy peanut butter, toasted bread. I know this may sound weird, but it is good, very good. I suppose you could substitute creamy peanut butter.

Tonnato Sauce

This is so easy to make, especially if you have an immersion blender with mini processor. If you don’t, you should get one, it will make you a very good cook. I like this sauce slathered over sliced meaty tomato** on fresh bakery bread. It is also delicious on blanched/steamed green beans.

Process together the following:

• 1/4 cup x.v. olive oil
• 2 Tablespoon fresh parsley or rosemary
• 6 oz ITALIAN TUNA IN OLIVE OIL***
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 1/2 teaspoon capers
• 2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
• 4 anchovy filets
• 1 clove garlic
• salt and pepper to taste after you’ve processed

*CSA is Community Supported Agriculture. A way for produce consumers (all of us) to connect directly to the producer, for fresher, organic fruits and veggies, to find one near you, please visit Local Harvest.

** NEVER EVER EVER EVER put your tomatoes in the refrigerator. Temperatures below 55F will destroy the starches, and you will lose valuable flavor and texture in your tomatoes. This is why most tomatoes are crappy, they are picked while still green, sent halfway around the world and refrigerated until they get to you. Yuck!

*** Please do not confuse this with regular canned tuna. This tuna does come in a can, but is generally imported from Italy and a wee bit more expensive, but well worth it. You will find it in the tuna section of your local grocery store.

I even heart green beans from a can, ( a recipe I will share with you in the deep heart of winter when there aren’t any lovely fresh ones flying or sailing in).

Recipe backstory: last Friday night, in an attempt to  circumvent the traditional “where should we eat?” debate that surely follows a few beers out, I decided we should just head back to my house, which I would feverishly clean by sweeping up drywall dust and moving paintbrushes. I grated carrots and tossed them with sesame ginger dressing, made a quick curried lentil salad and threw chicken in a marinade. Prep time: about an hour, would have been less but pantry cabinet is currently behind a 12 drawer tool chest.

I have been accused of being prescient, but was shocked to find all of downtown Savannah under emergency lockdown after a transformer explosion/fire. No power, no bars open, nowhere to go, but back to my house (without the aforementioned beers).

My friend had brought some green beans to have with our dinner, we topped and tailed them over a glass of wine while the grill heated up and a pot of salted water came to boil. I dropped the green beans in the water for about 3 minutes, rinsed them under cool water. I let them cool for a few minutes, tossed with balsamic viniagrette, toasted pecans and bleu cheese.

Yes, i know this is like the recipe I  gave you last week, the toasted nuts and sharp cheese combo. It doesn’t just work on salads, it works on everything.

Now, go forth with toasted nuts and sharpened cheese and make a large flavor!

I’ll start with a pretty basic list and you can add on;

• rubber chicken
• anything with the word chicken
• quiet irony
• Mr. Deity
• whoopee cushions
• Things that sound like whoopee cushions
• Sarah Haskins
• The word “poop” spoken repeatedly by anyone under the age of 7 or over the age of 70

I forgot how much fun paint and ink can be.  All of these cards on done with ink on index cards.

I am so sure this has been done before, but I was stuck. I was stuck between an idea and some puffy paint and didn’t know how to find my way out. This seemed like a good starting place. Subtle is very new to me.

What do you think?

This is Danielle, my four year old niece, holding the pigeon she chased after and successfully caught in Bryant Park in NYC this week. She refused to let the pigeon go, claiming she won it, she was the fastest, it was too slow and as she had been chasing birds for years this one was her prize to keep. Any attempts to ply her with ice cream and carousel rides, or to appeal to her sense of humanity wouldn’t get her to release the struggling bird from her tiny glorious fist. Threat of bird poop, however, was enough to get her to unhand her victory.

I am sitting in an airport on my way home after a very long, sad, unexpected weekend in Brighton, England. Summer is just popping her head out on those sunny northern shores and the locals are wasting no time basking in her glow.

Did you know if you google image cheeto some of my art work comes up?

That must be how the good folks at trendinista found me and grouped me with some pretty heavy hitters. Please check it out.