Connor did not request this salad for his birthday dinner, but I needed something cool, refreshing, colorful, and healthy to add to the menu that was heavy with ribs and BBQ sauce.

I’d be happy eating this all summer long! Add some feta or goat cheese if you’d like. I left it out because those aren’t Connor’s favorite things, and on your birthday, you should never have to eat something you don’t like!

Summer Corn, Cucumber & Tomato Salad

Cilantro Vinaigrette
1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon champagne vinegar
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped cilantro

Salad
16-ounce package frozen corn, thawed
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/2  English cucumber, diced
1/2 red onion, peeled and diced
2 avocados, diced

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This is a recipe I posted nearly four years ago, very soon after the birth of this blog.

Since it’s been so long and is buried deep in the archives, I feel it’s time to remind you about the summertime goodness and refreshment of my cucumber martini.

Cool cucumber, tart lime, luscious lime-simple syrup, herbal gin, and a boat full of ice  …  what more could a parched girl living in a sweltering, arid, suffocatingly hot, dry, scorched, oven-like desert want?

OK, honestly, maybe a bowl of ice cream … but even without the ice cream, this cocktail will do just fine!

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I had these five lemon cucumbers (there on the lower left) from my CSA haul last week and I couldn’t decide what to do with them. Dave doesn’t like cucumbers and five was too many for me to eat over a short length of time. He does love pickles though, so I turned them into bread & butter pickles and then proceeded to give three of the five jars away.

I am by no means an expert on canning, so once I came up with the recipe, I needed to do a Google search to find out just how long to process them. In doing so, I found THIS wonderful blog from a woman in Wisconsin who lives on a 10-acre farm and grows her own cucumbers – that she pickles. Her post on making pickles is fantastic, so if you have questions about the process or want super detailed instructions, be sure to check it out.

When I think of bread & butter pickles, I picture the crinkle-cut slices like those in the jar above. Hey, I have a crinkle cutter, so I dug it out and began using it on the cucumbers. It wasn’t quite sharp enough (it’s old and dull!) so I ended up cutting about half of the slices with the crinkle cutter and the other half with a chef’s knife.

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Dave does not like cold soup. Something about it just seems wrong to him. Seriously?!  I mean, it’s gazpacho, what’s not to like?!

1. First off, it’s soup, for goodness sake. Soup = Love!
2. It’s full of tomatoes. Tomatoes = Yum!
3. It’s over 100 degrees outside: Cold Refreshing Soup = Smart!
4. It’s called gazpacho = a Fantastic word to say, especially if you say it in your sexiest Antonio Banderas voice!

Obviously, I love gazpacho!

I made it for the last class of my series and brought home a container of leftovers.  At dinner the next night, I made a bowl for myself and said to Dave, “I’m having gazpacho, would you like a bowl?”

“No, thanks”, he replied.  I went about putting together our plates and as I was doing so, he suddenly noticed that there was shrimp topping my soup. “Oh, I’ve changed my mind, I’ll have a bowl”, he said.

Really? All it takes is a couple of little shrimp for you to change your bad attitude over cold soup?  He ate the entire bowlful. Whatever men are exasperating!

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After our luxurious and relaxing day at the Willow Spring Spa at the Scottsdale Princess Resort on Friday, the very first thing I wanted to do when I got back home was to make a huge pitcher of spa water. You know what I’m talking about – the glorious fruit and herb-infused waters they always have available to you at a luxury spa.

My absolute favorite flavor is one that I call “Summer’s Splendor”.  To make it –  find as huge a pitcher or dispenser as will fit in your refrigerator. Throw in several handfuls of fresh basil leaves, peel and then thinly slice one English cucumber and add it to the basil. Then take 1 or 2 lemons, wash really well, thinly slice, and add to the mix. Fill the picture with cold water and refrigerate.

I like to make this just before I go to bed and then enjoy it for the next day or two. Be sure to give it a good 12 to 18 hours to macerate and let the flavors blend.

Below you’ll find another 12 flavor blends to give you a nice baker’s dozen.

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I’m wondering how long this new feeling I’m experiencing will last? “What feeling?” you ask – Guilt, that’s what! It’s 11:15 PM and although I’ve worked diligently on the blog off and on all day (setting up links and learning new things- thanks, as always, to Cyndi)

I have yet to post anything for the day. I don’t bother much with the emotion of guilt, I don’t find it to be very productive, so this is a new feeling for me! Honestly, I really am having a great time and am so excited about my 9-day-old blog in fact my horoscope – I’m a Scorpio – has been crazy dead on. Today’s for example:

“You’re feeling wonderful. Exhilarated, excited and anxious for all new things to happen. Well here’s a newsflash: just thinking about change – the way you are – means it’s already started. Everything begins as a thought – as an idea – right? So now your only job is to get the show on the road with some action. Map out a battle plan on paper and get it started.”

WOW! Anyhow besides slaving away on the “inner workings” of this site, I was also messing with my cable/TiVo connection for a larger part of the morning… sometimes all this techno stuff just really ticks me off. After doing back-bends, restarts, consulting TiVo.com, and finally having to call them twice, it all came down to unplugging it all (TV, TiVo box, cable box, and VCR) waiting 10 seconds, and plugging it all back in so it could all reboot and be happy again. That’s all it took! And honestly, that is what I usually think of first, WTH?!

The day wasn’t a total loss though, because I enjoyed a wonderful “end of the summer ladies-who-lunch” date at Lon’s with Barbara Fenzl and Kim Howard, my “Cooking Partners in Crime.”  So hurray for that! Anyhow, since we only had leftover salmon, peppers, and pesto available for dinner, I will just have to put up a cocktail recipe for today!

My BFFs, Peggy and Anne, and I discovered this great drink at Ocean Prime Restaurant back in the late summer of ’08, on a girl’s night out. I served it at a Christmas party in mid-December and then in January, I shared it with my other BFFs, Jen and Jeff – who live in Illinois. We hadn’t had it again until this month, twice now! First with Peggy and Anne a couple of weeks ago and then again last night with the Froggatt’s at our Basil & Bay dinner. I know it sounds like a strange combo, but after serving it to more than about 3 dozen different people, I haven’t found one person who does not absolutely love it- so don’t knock it till you try it!

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