Another new veggie in my La Finca CSA veggie share, to me, were these beautiful, curly garlic scapes. I figured out what they were by looking at and tasting them - the new tops of garlic, mild, crunchy, but still garlicky. Basically, in flavor, what the chive or scallion top is to an onion. I immediately chopped a couple and threw them into a salad, a perfect addition. I also sauteed a few in a bit of olive oil before breaking an egg into the pan. As with the salad, the mild garlic taste was a delicious enhancement for the over-easy egg. Mmmm... If you see them at the farmer's market, snag a big bunch, I read a suggestion for making them into a pesto that sounds delish.

BIG salad for lunch, just John and me while Nathan's at church. I have to say, I am in fruit and veggie heaven in the summer, it's pretty damn easy to be a moderate epicurean with all of this plant-based bounty. No problem eating plants for breakfast, lunch, dinner, AND snacks. Damn. Wish it were so easy in the winter...but nothing is easy in the winter, sigh. Except eating stewed meat with buttery polenta, baking cookies, drinking lusty red wines, and sitting in front of a fireplace, ha. Baaaaaad for the ass (but good for the cleavage, hmmm...), cozy but overall baaaaaad, I would say. Anyhow, back to summer...used above garlic scapes and tomatoes from my pots, greens, scallions, avocado, crumble of Spanish Cabrales blue cheese. John added leftover salmon to his, I added my beets/beet greens to mine and we were both quite happy. Amen.

I know I sound like a broken record here, but again, it is sunny and gorgeous outside, I shit you not, so I'm makin' like a baby and heading out...to the pool (after a KBs workout to get really sweaty and earn my dip in the pool...). With my book. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you've heard it before, shut it, Stephanie. So I will. (Other than to say, my skin is bumming hugely at the amount of sun I'm getting - yes, I'm getting tan, me, the queen of sunblock and self-tanner. I've managed to keep my face tan-free, except for Clarins Instant Bronze, but my arms, hands, legs - all brown. Not moderate, not healthy...in fact, quite decadent, because it feels sooo good out there. Sigh. At least I'm not as tan/bleached as in this '88 shot of me in Aspen with my uncle Del - what on earth was I thinking???)