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Posted By FreshTartSteph on Jul 29, 2008 at 4:41PM
Hoooey it's a hot one, wowzers. Did we swim today? Hell no, we ran errands - hot errands - like crazy people, but what can you do? Let's just say that I'm very grateful for light-colored car seats. I told Nathan that my dad used to drive - waaaay back in the day, circa early-1970-something - a kelly green, two-door Ford Torino (yep, a precursor to the Starsky & Hutch car; pic is an approximation), with black vinyl seats and no AC. That was the hottest, stickiest car I've ever ridden in, ouch.

The sunshine is nice, though, right? It really feels like summer, now that it's almost August, yeah. We had post-baseball-tourney Boy Soup on Saturday, loud and fun. Nathan's Famous hot dogs on the grill and a giant bowl of potato chips - that's about as easy as entertaining gets!

Hopefully the heat gets my tomatoes going 'cuz they are behind, way behind. I'm ready for fresh tomatoes! Mom and I are heading to the Farmer's Market on Saturday, maybe we'll score some beauties there. I'm getting ready for good sweet corn too. No East Hampton version for me this year, sniff - I'll be missing the Annual Levy Sweet Corn Spectacle. The all-white varieties (Silver Queen-esque, but apparently not really Silver Queen) grown in the Hamptons are insanely delicious and different than what we enjoy here in Minnesota. We might enjoy our yellower, chewier versions with ribs and burgers instead of crabs and lobsters, but it's all good, all good.

Moderate it: although my son keeps trying to insist otherwise, I consider corn a grain (starch, carbohydrate), not a vegetable, so enjoy, you know, in moderation. Unless you're a Levy, then hells bells, go for it!
Tagged with: hot dogs, sweet corn, annual levy sweet corn spectacle
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Posted By FreshTartSteph on Aug 26, 2007 at 5:57PM
Ahhh, home sweet home, baby. As lovely as it is to be away, especially in a place as insanely gorgeous and idyllic as the Hamptons, it is great to be settled at home, too. Here I am, unpacked (yes, I am unpacked, I who loathes major-buzzkill-downer-vacation-is-over-unpacking, I just bit the bullet and did the dirty deed and now I am sooo chill, yeah), sipping an ice-cold Pilsner Urquell, snacking on afreshly-picked tomato (from my pots on the deck, sliced, with a sprinkle of salt), downloading photos, and catching up on my email and (obv) blogging. I'm about to whip up a little pastasomethin-somethin, I think angel hair and (more) tomatoes and perhaps a touch of cream. Arugulasalad with shaved Parm because the arugula looks shockingly decent after a week in the cooler. Basically, total comfort food, quite restorative at the end of a long day of travel. And even though it's only from the east coast, a long day it is - Hampton Jitney to Flushing Queens to cab to LaGuardia to long hang at the airport to flight to MSP to waiting for luggage to no-AC-cab to our house... That's eight-plus hours of travel-time, ack, and I'm ready for a little (healthy) comfort food. Yeah! Vacation is nice, but home is good too.

So, the last couple of days of our trip, the sun (sort of) shone. Great beach day on Friday, with huge waves, actually kind of scary-huge. And very wet - just when we thought we had skated past high tide, oh no, we got totally soaked, as did all of our belongings...books, umbrellas, towels, chairs, butts-in-chairs. Irritating but minor. John, his bro Tom, and their friend Jamie Frankfurt did some swimming (there was no way I was going into waves that big, Kiawah this was not, ha) and Nathan did some wading while I lazed (and dried my butt) on the beach finishing A Thousand Splendid Suns, which I loved, loved, loved.

Yesterday (Saturday) afternoon a thick fog rolled in (see above, I happened to catch the back yard just as it oozed over the pool), so after a lovely lunch at Atlantic Golf Club, and while Tom and Valerie graciously took the kids to the beach, John and I roamed downtown EH, browsing Book Hampton, Citarella, and watching Danny Glover parade by in an anti-Iraq-War protest.

When everyone returned home, and showered off their sand, we launched into preparations for our last dinner - beef tenderloin on the grill and more sweet corn. Let me pause here for a moment to explain the Annual Levy Sweet Corn Spectacle. Let's see, there were nine of us for dinner last night - John, Nathan, & moi; John's parents Dot & John; John's bro Tom, his wife Valerie, & their two kids. I think we shucked and boiled 28 ears of corn and all - yes, all - were consumed. No, we didn't each eat three ears of corn, nothing that rational or simple. Valerie and I were in for one each. The kids maybe had two each, max. Dot, two, perhaps three, certainly no more. That leaves, if my math is correct, more than five ears each for the three Levy men. Yep. Buttered and salted and inhaled, type-writer style - ding! - in an unusual sweet-corn-consuming ritual, it really has to be witnessed to be believed. The Levy men are famous for it, deservedly so.

And then, just like that, it was all over. After a dark chat on the front porch, it was time to pack, and sleep in our cozy (gorgeous, thank you, Dot) beds, and make our long way home. Summer 2007 is drawing to a close, my friends, I know you all feel it too. Sigh. It's been a great one, hasn't it?
Tagged with: vacation, east hampton, sweet corn, annual levy sweet corn spectacle
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Fresh. Tart. Fresh Tart!

stephanie meyer fresh tart

 

I’m Stephanie Meyer. If you're looking for fresh, delicious food to share with those you love - welcome! In addition to the recipes you'll find here, I post Tuesday recipes at TC Taste/Minnesota Monthly magazine with a focus on local, seasonal ingredients. I also cook and take photos for Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures/Food & Wine magazine, post gluten-free recipes at Stuffed Pepper, cook with food photographer Susan Powers for Shooting the Kitchen, and organize the Minnesota Food Bloggers. Let’s eat!

 

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