L'chaim! Yep, I get dinner out with my minxes tonight, woo hoo! We're hitting up Bar Lurcat this time, for gazpacho, mini-burgers, and those irresistible, cursed frites. I even have straight hair (for now) since I got my hair cut today - a blow out in this weather is only worth it if someone else does it. Since that happens, oh, about every 8 weeks, it's feeling a bit rare and swingy. Whee! Hey, what can I say, I measure my days in dewpoint, always have. It's a frizz thing, not a curl thing (I can handle curl, curl is cute; frizz is, uh, I'll let you fill in the alliterative blank).

Anyhow. Just quick meals lately, last night nothing more than good ol' spaghetti with meat sauce for Wild Wednesday, although I did grill thin slices of zucchini to go alongside. Way easy - brush both sides of slices with olive oil, sprinkle with a bit of salt, let sit a few minutes to soften, then grill away. Eat hot off the grill, as is or showered with fresh herbs, maybe even a grate of Parm. Mmmm...

Oh, speaking of zucchini, I can't forget to pick up my La Finca CSA veggies on my way to pick up the girls (Thursday is pick-up day, just a few blocks down). Maybe some tomatoes this week! I received two huge, juicy beauties as a little gift this week, OMG, so good. Nathan and I had BLTs for breakfast today, loving every juicy-crispy-salty-smoky bite. We agreed that whoever made up that blessed sandwich was a genius. So simple - which means the ingredients have to be top notch. Nueske's bacon, a garden-ripe tomato, crisp lettuce, good toasted bread, and real mayo. Oh man, pretty hard to beat.

Moderate it: BLTs don't have to be unhealthy - on whole-grain bread, easy on the mayo, two slices of well-drained bacon, heavy on garden-ripe tomato. Fabulous.

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!

Geez (OMG, John just said the word 'geez' right while I typed that - perhaps coincidence, or as he cracked, because we're 'yoked', ha), I really need to pull out my damn cam when we socialize. Argh! Last night we had dinner at Morton's, with Mack's and Zimmern's, to celebrate Aaron's birthday. No pic, unless Aaron scans and sends me the picture the maitre d' took (hint). Lovely salads, steaks, scallops, crab cakes, broccoli, and hash browns floated by and disappeared with nary a record of their greatness, other than the shadow of flavor on our palates, swallow. Or perhaps a bit of creamed spinach in our teeth. Shame, really, I'm all about the pic. All I can say is good times, as always, good times.

Tonight, we hosted Sheri and Darin Lynch for dinner - man did we luck out not only with cool guests but with the cool breeze that blew through around 5:00 pm, whoooo, effectively removing all humidity from the sultry air and thus creating a damn-near perfect July's eve. NICE. We noshed pre-dinner on grilled bread, grilled tomatoes and red onions, and paper-thin slices of Molinari dry salami. For din - al fresco, baby, due to that fabulous breeze - a beef tenderloin roast, smeared with garlic and herbs, then seared on the grill, served alongside crushed new potatoes topped with creme fraiche, mushrooms sauteed with garlic and lemon, and sugar snap peas sauteed in a bit of butter. With warm fruit crisp (peach, plum, blueberry) for dessert, we polished off a pretty sweet evening of summer chat, if I do say so myself - again, good times, good times. (And again, no pic, argh! However, recipe for fruit crisp posted in comments, below.)

Tomorrow, a little baseball, a splash of swimming, dinner a la Chinois, and Batman, baby. Bat. Man. Yep, once again - good times, good times. Happy Summer!

Moderate it: as I mentioned below, I knew I was making steak for din tonight, so I passed on the steak at Morton's on Thursday. Grilled scallops wrapped in bacon fit the bill nicely. The broccoli with Bearnaise was delicious. But I did not get away before the hash browns - or even tastier, and just as rich, the potatoes Lyonnaise - arrived. Ah well.

If you were waiting for me to post recipes for gazpacho or shrimp saltimbocca, both recipes are up now. My apologies for the lame (let's face it, lazy) delay!

Last night I whipped out my new Weber Poultry Roaster again, man I love that thing. Absolutely no mess or fuss - I opened the grill to baste the bird (chicken) a few times, but that's about it - et voila, a browned, crunchy little lovely, with some nice drippings at the base to turn into a bit of sauce. With sauteed broccoli and sugar snap peas alongside (I've got a thing for snap peas this summer, briefly sauteed in a bit of olive oil or butter until just heated through, so sweet and crunchy), it made a tasty din for the Wild Wednesday crowd.

Tonight, as I mentioned, dinner at Morton's with Zim's and Mack's to celebrate Aaron's birthday. Happy Birthday Aaron! My plan is to bow out early and head over to catch the end of Nathan's baseball game - he's had a little post-season tourney pop up. See you there, I'll be the one in a dress gnawing a side of beef in the stands. Rarrr...

Moderate it: oh Lord, Morton's is the most immoderate place on the planet. I man, I eat meat, grunt. It's all delicious, but even the potatoes are gargantuan - where do they find those things? I don't know what I'm ordering, probably a fishy appetizer of sorts - I'm making beef tenderloin on the grill tomorrow night, so no steak, sniff. I do love their steamed veggies, with just a teeny bit of Bearnaise (The Kill). Hopefully right about when those naughty hash browned potatoes appear, I'll be driving to Nathan's game...

Over this past Date Weekend, great biking (a correctly tuned bike! I'm so into it!) with John and a couple of lovely meals out to boot. As I mentioned below, we kicked off a long weekend together last Thursday, in the uber-romantic bar at Cafe Lurcat (twinkly chandeliers everywhere, pic from their website). No frites this trip - moderation, natch - but when I head back next Thursday, with my minxes, we're all over the frites, oh yeah. Can't wait!

Then Sunday night, pre-Neil Diamond (we were invited by John's client Frank and his wife Christine, total blast, thank you), we had a fabulous dinner at Heartland - yes, the Heartland of our Bizarre Foods Minnesota adventure - in St. Paul. I love everything about Heartland, from Chef Lenny Russo to the Mission-style dining room to the genius wine list to the beautiful, fresh, locally-sourced food. I had two appetizers - the house-smoked bacon-pinto bean soup with tomato concassee and fresh summer herbs, followed by the fried zucchini blossoms with fava bean mousse filling, kohlrabi-dill slaw, and cucumber-walnut vinaigrette. I just...lurved them both, especially the squash blossoms, so crispy and salty, perfectly set off by the tangy slaw and vinaigrette. I kept saying, this is my kind of dish, oh yeah, I love this food, it's all about the contrast, this is so me...blah, blah, blah. John was too polite to not listen, but I realize (um, in retrospect) that I was perhaps a bit monotonous. What can I say? I completely enjoyed every bite, and yes, it was my kind of dish. (No pic, damn it, forgot my camera. Needless to say, pretty, pretty.)

This week I'm mining the riches of my LaFinca veggie share - salad greens, broccoli (to be stir-fried with sugar snap peas tomorrow night), kohlrabi (great sliced thin for dipping in yummy things like olive tapenade), strawberries (which I finished, en pint, after a long bike ride last Friday, OMG good), and kale, which I'll saute for lunch tomorrow for myself and my sis, Stacey. I'm pretty much obsessed with kale sauteed with garlic and finished with lots of salt and lemon or balsamic. Crave-worthy, even in the summer.

This Thursday night, a beefy din at Morton's with the Mack's and Zimmern's, coming right up (pedal, pedal, pedal). Friday, dinner here with the Lynch's (more pedaling or walking or something, Lord help my butt). Not sure how we're fitting in a little post-season baseball tourney as well, but you know, somehow it all works. Nathan's playing tennis, golf, basketball, and now baseball again for a few days, but it's summer in Minnesota, baby, we'll take whatever comes our way. How pretty has this weather been? Ah, these are the days to remember in the depths of winter, as rockin' as those fried squash blossoms filled with fava puree... Just beautiful (the pic is of lovely Maud arranging flowers in Sag Harbor, summer in a pic, as it were). Splash!

Moderate it: it's worth filling out restaurant meals with vegetables. Certainly no guarantee for low calories - restaurants use fat liberally to make veggies tasty, even the steamed, roasted, and grilled versions - but better than starch dishes (like, oh, frites, mashed potatoes, risotto, pasta, bread stuffings), which were practically invented to absorb an insane amount of oil and cream.

Ooh, I have a cool new grill tool to rave about - the Weber Poultry Roaster! A sort of Chicko for the grill, or as Weber bills it, "beer-can chicken without the beer can." It has a little depression to fill with liquid - I innovated and poured in a bit of white wine with several cloves of smashed garlic - and the same phallic shape as the Chicko for spearing the chicken upright, always fun. The results? Completely delicious - crisp skin (salty, well, cuz I oiled and salted it), tender meat, even some nice pan juices (skimmed of oil, probably only a couple of tablespoons afterward, but very concentrated and tasty). All in all a success, especially with potatoes grilled in foil (with dill and scallions), finished with a dab of creme fraiche (scraped them from the foil into a bowl, stirred in a dab of creme fraiche), and LaFinca peapods sauteed quickly in a bit of butter. Uber-Frenchy, uber-yum, especially on the deck with a little tune-age, yeah.

What else? A dee-licious and romantic din at Cafe Lurcat last night, just John et moi, in the pretty bar. We shared the mini-burgers (to die), shrimp fritters, roasted cauliflower, apple salad, and gazpacho with anchovy crouton (again, to die).

Today, I worked off the excess by hauling my bike into Erik's Bike Shop (on an upside-down bike rack, no less, how embarrassing). I ride my bike every week or so, every time miserably uncomfortable and pretty much hating it. I finally brought it in to address the fact that my hands are painfully numbish after just an hour ride, plus I always feel like I'm sliding off the front of my seat. Well, hallelujah Erik's, my seat was too low, my handle bars were WAY too low, my seat was too big and tilted too far forward, and my tires were seriously under-inflated. The guy wryly said, well, we are making this quite a tall bike, but then again, you are not a short woman. Ha! No one else in the fam will be able to ride the thing (at least not if they want to touch the ground) - it even looks tall to me - but I got on that bad boy afterward and biked for an hour and a half today, happy as a clam. Do not underestimate the importance of a properly fitted bike - sheesh, what a difference.

Moderate it: it's tough at a spot like Cafe Lurcat, with arguably the best frites in the city. In the end, John and I chose between the burger and frites, and were happy with our choice (we were needing some protein in our order). We fleshed out the rest of our meal with veggies - gazpacho, cauliflower, and salad. Does a Bloody Mary count as veg? Who cares...damn goooood.

Wild Wednesday coming up! That means a visit from my nephew, Cooper Cuteness, yay! Cooper brightens our week, bigtime, especially since he says "n" for "l" at the beginning of words - that means he nuvs (loves) his new dog Nevi (Levi). Beyond cute. (Of course I haven't talked to him for a week, which means he could by now be saying "l" perfectly well. That's how it goes with a two-year old; one day you're Aunt Settie, the next you're a perfectly pronounced Ste-pha-nie, just nike that.)

Simple is the name of the food game on Wednesdays. Tonight the plan is steaks on the grill with a stir-fry of bokchoy, broccoli, and scallions (that's what remains of my veggie share; reload tomorrow) with a good amount of garlic, Thai curry paste, and chopped fresh basil for some interest and heat. (I'm all about the heat lately, outside and in my food. My aunt Mary got me addicted to the most unlikely-named spicy pickle this past weekend - Norwegian Dills, one of the Gedney State Fair versions. If you, like I, crave salty heat at about, oh, 4 pm, these are your pickle, crazy good.)

Hopefully I'll score some leftovers for lunch tomorrow. Monday's fried walleye became yesterday's fish taco - a little chopped cabbage and red onion, slice of avocado, in a small French Meadow sprouted grain tortilla. Delicious. Leftover steak makes a damn good taco as well, and is always good stir-fried with a few peppers, onions, and mushrooms, eaten warm over salad.

On an unrelated note, check out (and chuckle about) this article describing the calorie-shock New Yorkers are experiencing as chain restaurants implement a new law requiring they post menu item calorie counts right next to the prices. Ouch. Maybe it's because I'm a woman who gains weight by merely glancing at unhealthy foods (therefore this blog!), and probably more likely because I cook and therefore know what really goes into making items like muffins, scones, and platter-sized pieces of nut-encrusted fried meats (although I also maintain it doesn't take thinking very hard about it to realize they're loaded with calories), but none of the counts in the article particularly shocked me. I know how I feel after eating food like that (ill). See what you think - do Minnesotans need calorie counts on their menus? I have a sneaking suspicion that it's not the calorie counts alone that freak people out - it's being seen eating the burger that everyone can plainly see is more than 1,200 calories. If shame encourages people to make healthier choices - or skip the chain restaurants altogether and cook their own food - then it works for me? Hmmm...

Moderate it: a small piece of protein (beef, chicken, fish, pork, tofu, lamb, etc.) + lots of fresh veggies (salad, stir-fry, roasted, grilled, etc.) + small amount of grain (whole-grain bread, couscous, rice, corn, pasta, etc.) = healthy dinner in 30 minutes. Of course my kids eat small amounts of fresh veggies + lots of grain, despite my best efforts to encourage otherwise; I try to think about it as a palate-training process, not completed until adulthood... A vegolescence, as it were... Right.)

When we do beach in Minnesota, it's at a lake, of course. Or even better, it's on a lake, in a boat, with a cooler full of snacks & supplies, good tunes, and enough engine oomph to pull the water ski- and intertube-inclined of the group. Ahhh, warm sun, cool breeze, cold beer, beautiful views. That's summer, baby, and I'll take it.

Or more accurately, I took it, yesterday, at Green Lake with my aunt Mary & uncle Bruce. Nathan and I drove out to their lovely farm, near Kerkhoven, Saturday evening. I'm not usually one for the drive, but we took a new route (to avoid - big surprise - road construction) and given the recent rains and the angle of the late-afternoon sun, the scene was breathtaking. The effect was lush rolling hills covered with silver-y green fields literally sparkling in the breeze, I'm not kidding. I've never seen anything like it (and I've done a lot of driving west of Minneapolis). Less than 30 minutes into our drive I felt completely away and relaxed, ahhhh.

We arrived at The Farm in time for dinner, with my aunt Marge and uncle Jim joining us as well. I had picked up a few cheeses, acacia honey, dried fruit, and crostini at France 44 before we left, so we enjoyed that on the porch before our dinner: salad with peaches, greens, and almonds, followed by grilled steaks, farmer's market new potatoes, and grilled corn on the cob brushed with hoisin-orange butter (yum, recipe is here). Basically, the perfect summer dinner, followed by the perfect summer dessert surprise...DQ Dilly Bars! Man, I hadn't had a Dilly Bar in so long, it tasted great, just like when I was a kid. Nathan was thrilled; Marge and I scored free Dilly Bars (message on the stick, natch, under the ice cream; for the Willmar DQ, however, so I left mine with Mary!).

Yesterday morning we were up - lazily - for coffee, pancakes, berries, and sausage on the deck, over-looking the countryside, so beautiful. Mary made delicious sandwiches on fresh bread, Bruce loaded up the boat trailer, and we took off for Spicer, the put-in for Green Lake. After a quick stop to check out my cousin Michael and his wife Amanda's beautiful new home, by 1:30 pm we were cruising, eating sandwiches, and stopping to chat with my cousin Kim (she lives on Green Lake and came down to the dock to say hi). After a bit Nathan jumped in the lake and tried to get up on skis, then moved on to wake-riding on the tube. By 5:00 pm we were heading back to shore to grab dinner at Melvyn's - fried walleye for me, of course, most certainly not caught in Green Lake but completely of the lake anyhow (my Grandpa Meyer fished Green Lake almost exclusively).

And then we headed home...Mary & Bruce back to The Farm, Nathan and I back to the city. In a little more than 24 hours, back in our own beds.

So here we are. A little browner, a lot more rested, ready for the week. Thank you Green Lake! And of course, thank you Mary & Bruce! (I'm thinking more fried walleye for dinner, I'm needing more than one piece this summer; plus, as I like to do post-trip, I can stretch out the idyll for just a bit longer... With a crisp white, and a big veggie share salad, I should welcome myself - and John, who was in NYC for the weekend - home quite nicely.)

Moderate it: let's face it, walleye fans - with its light and flaky texture, walleye must be fried to achieve greatness. I prefer mine dredged in a bit of flour and fried in butter, the way my Grandma Meyer made it. The key to keeping the meal moderate is to serve fried walleye alongside something a bit tart and crisp - as in, a simple salad of greens, radishes, scallions, dressed lightly in a lemon/olive oil vinaigrette. Enjoy.)

Man, when it rains, it pours...literally and figuratively. Certainly with yesterday's storms, there was plenty of the literal wet stuff - much needed and quite welcome, actually. But the figurative type, not so much, at least not in the form of the fallen tree that crushed part of our fence (thankfully nowhere near the house) and a couple of plant beds. With hail damage from a few weeks ago (to both house and John's car), not to mention my own car breaking down, and a new, fun discovery today - chipmunks in our garage, trying to get into our trash and raising all sorts of chipmunk hell - I'm so ready for the storm to be o-ver. (So is our insurance adjuster!)

Luckily I had Michelle here last night to cheer me up. Michwheat! I love it when business brings friends and family to town - Bartley, Niko, Tom, Matthew, and now Michelle, yes! Nice to have an excuse to make dinner, open some wine, and have a good, long chat. The grilled salmon with couscous and grilled tomatoes/red onion worked quite nicely, especially with peach-blackberry pie - from Turtle Bread - for dessert. For an appetizer I sauteed wild mushrooms and finished them with lemon, fresh herbs, and creme fraiche. On top of slices of grilled bread, washed down with sips of prosecco, pretty damn tasty.

For the weekend, very low key. My LaFinca veggie share included bok choy, kale (yay!), scallions, lettuces, broccoli. And oh, how could I forget, perfect strawberries! So pretty, I'll save them for later this afternoon when I'm hungry for something sweet. Gosh, real strawberries, what a treat.

Moderate it: buying just a few slices of dessert is a nice way to enjoy a treat without leaving tempting leftovers lying around the house. No pie calling my name, just grilled salmon and whole-grain couscous - no problemo!

So, I mentioned below that on the 4th, Stu The Wine Genius made the most delicious shrimp appetizer - a saltimbocca of sorts, shrimps and fresh sage wrapped in pancetta and grilled. We devoured them. Enter a craving... When my car died on Monday, it cut out a grocery run that would have included a stop by Whole Foods for some wild-caught Key West shrimp. No! Luckily, John was able to stop on his way home, although I forgot to specify what size shrimp to pick up... Turns out he grabbed the smaller version, too small to individually wrap and grill, so I innovated last night and sauteed the pancetta and sage until crisp, sauteed the shrimp with lots of garlic and fresh lemon juice, and served the shrimp topped with the crispy pancetta and sage. Damn tasty if I do say so myself. (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

As I also mentioned below, My Minxes and their girls came over on Tuesday to swim with Nathan and me. Man did we luck out with a stunning day, perhaps the best so far this summer. We had a super-simple lunch - grilled hot dogs, chips, and strawberries - but I also made a batch of gazpacho for us ladies. I adore cold, crunchy, spicy, salty gazpacho, it really hit the spot on a hot, sunny day. I dare say that Kim & Suz agreed. Thanks for a perfect day, girlfriends! (Recipe posted in comments, below.)

Tonight, my friend Michelle (she of Cancun in March and UW-Madison in 1987) will be here in the Minneapple on business from the Big Apple. Yay! I'm thinking grilled salmon over couscous with dill vinaigrette and pine nuts, inspired by the to-die-for version (pictured here) at The Post Ranch in Big Sur which I ordered for lunch two days in a row. (As I write this, I send up a little prayer for the town of Big Sur to escape the fires raging at its door, sigh.)

Moderate it: gazpacho is a delicious way to eat your veggies, and it's quick to make too (no cooking, just some chopping). Make it crunchy, or puree and sip from cups - either way (or a combo of both, that's how I make it), it's a delicious way to use up the abundance of tomatoes and cukes that are about to hit us at a garden, farmstand, or CSA veggie share near you. Can't wait!

Humid. Humid air makes humid armpits and humid hair (evil, frizz) and for me, a dangerously humid mood. I know, I know, I blather about the weather (and its effect on my mood, hair) almost more than I blather about food. What can I say? Perhaps it's the farmer in my blood, even if three generations removed...but my mood mos def bends with the breeze. (The pic is from John's parents' home in EH, which since it's beachy can generate humidity...almost like Minnesota. And so I ask - without ocean, why on God's humid earth does is get so friggin' humid here? Man, talk about pain with no gain, damn.)

Humid moods are not helped by car trouble. I was just plain lucky to make it home today as my car completely freaked out on my way back from a (humid, sweaty) walk - tomorrow morning it's being towed to the shop, sniff.

Oh look, it's now raining, just as I'm about to step onto the deck to grill a couple of trout fillets. The ones John had to pick up on his way home because...I don't have a car. Despite it's obvious wetness, I won't really complain about rain since we quite need it.

Back to the trout...I'll serve it alongside (drum roll), more new potato-green bean salad. Can you tell that I made quite a bit of it? Hey, waste not want not, even if the fam (and frankly, I) is (am/are) a bit tired of new potatoes + green beans. Tonight I'll dice the pieces a bit smaller and saute them in a small amount of olive oil until just-browned. Already seasoned with onion and fresh basil, they should make a tasty accompaniment to simply grilled fish. Nice? Yes. No complaints about trout, potatoes, and green beans for dinner, but of course.

OK, time to take my humid self to bed. Tomorrow, The Maven and Metal Mommy, aka My Minxes, with their mini-me daughters in tow, are coming to swim. It was either tomorrow or a day in August - the only two days this entire summer that worked for us all to get together! Luckily we were also able to sneak away for din last night, to Luci Ancora in St. Paul, just the three (er, maxi-me's) of us. With lovely food (polenta, pastas), and lots of time to chat, pool time tomorrow is just icing on a fabulous cake.

Even if I don't have a car (grumble). Sleep tight!

Moderate it: you know, I've tried every anti-humidity, straightening hair product on the market... None of them work completely, although a few help - Phytodefrisant, Kiehl's Heat-Protective, Silk-Straightening Cream, Graham Webb Stick Straight Gel. Apply one, two, or even all three (yep, I've done it) before grilling trout in the rain. Good luck.

Bonus! Not only is new potato-green bean salad tasty when you first serve it (which I just did for the 4th), but it makes a killer salad Nicoise the next day - toss fresh greens with a bit of vinaigrette, top with potatoes and green beans, add hard-cooked egg, olive-oil packed canned tuna, black olives (like Nicoise!), et voila. Good stuff.

And oh, speaking of delicious leftovers, I treated myself to chilaquiles for breakfast yesterday morning, made from the chips and creamy-spicy salsa Stace brought from Taco Morelos. I dipped about five chips in salsa so they were completely coated, laid them side-by-side to cover a small plate, then microwaved them until they were warmed through and softened. Topped with an over-easy egg to finish - oh Lord, deadly good stuff. (I get on these Mexican food kicks and have to wean myself, otherwise all I want to eat is guacamole and chilaquiles - this latest craving started with dinner at La Cucaracha with Chris Follett this past Thursday night...; pic is from Too Many Chefs.)

Today, the goal is moderating back to moderation. Yeah. Good thing my fridge is bustin' with tasty LaFinca veggies to make the transition pretty sweet - salad greens, bok choy, icicle radishes, scallions. With herbs from my pots outside, I'd say a big salad is in order for lunch. (Although I admit, I'm still thinking about those damn chilaquiles...)

Moderate it: hey, the party's over, but that's OK. Keep the good stuff (like new potato-green bean salad), toss the less good stuff (those tortilla chips are now GONE), and make something healthy AND delicious to get back on track.

Another blast of a 4th of July for the books. You know, I'm kinda deciding that the 4th is my favorite holiday - first of all it's a Shubert holiday, guaranteed fun. Plus the sunshine, hanging by the pool, grilled food, cold beer, and fireworks... I don't know, I think it's pulling neck-n-neck with Thanksgiving, previously my fave. Ooh, burgers vs. turkey, who will win?!

Sullivan Shubert, age 7, is definitely our 4th of July star with his fabulous quips. A few years back he had us all in stitches when upon seeing one of the super-sparkly fireworks he said, "Those would make Vivian (his sister) feel fancy!" Then tonight, he had us rolling again when he told Cooper (Stacey), who was seeing his first fireworks tonight, "They start big but end fast, like a good sneeze." Fabulous.

Cooper was his usual Superstar self as well. As I mentioned, he saw his first fireworks tonight and thanks to a pair of genius headphones to protect his little ears, was completely mesmerized. He just kept softly saying, "Cool."

Which is pretty much what I was saying too. I was positively beaming as we walked out onto the golf course, loaded up with bug spray, sweatshirts, chairs, blankets, snacks, and flashlights. With Debbie, Stu, Michelle, Suz, Coreman, Viv, Sully, John, Harry, Stace, and Coopster in tow, I had one of those great, peaceful moments of joy and gratitude. (You know, right before mock-artillery shells started exploding overhead. Right on!)

Make that grateful and full. Man did we feast, sheesh. We opened with tortilla chips and the most delicious, creamy salsa from Taco Morelos (Stace), alongside homemade guahhcamole (Debbie), as well as the veggies & dip (blanched asparagus & snap peas, raw endive leaves & icicle radishes) that I put together. And then...the most incredible appetizer, made by Stu - shrimps with sage leaves wrapped in pancetta and passed over the grill. Damn, we made obscenely short work of those babies snip, snap, gone. Then on to burgers, pork ribs, new potato & green bean salad, green salad with peppers, mint, cilantro, and almonds (Harry), and lovely wine (Stu). For dessert, chocolate cookie cake with fresh berries (Suz) and fireworks. Just...uff...perfect.

And now, my usual post-party conclusion - yep, it's time for bed! I'm full and wiped, craving cool sheets and a good night's sleep. Once again, my friends, Happy 4th.

Happy 4th of July! Ready for some fun in the sun? Or a quiet, relaxing day? I have to say, one of the best 4ths I've ever had was a few years back when John and I went on a long bike ride followed by a picnic of fried chicken, fresh cherries, cheeses, and white wine. The. Kill.

But of course I like a good party too (who me?), so today we're on for our Annual Super Duper Shubert Coopster 4th of July Celebration, having Shuberts and Stace & Coop (obv!), as well as Harry Cunliffe, Debbie & Stu The Wine Genius Williams, and Debbie's sister Michelle over to swim, dine a la potluck, and see fireworks. I'm grilling burgers & ribs, and making new potato & green bean salad and some simple veggies & dip. With tasty appetizers, salad, and dessert contributed by the group...KA-BLAM we're going to have a meal! Yeah, baby!

Moderate it: I'll personally make a lameass attempt to fill up on salads and veggies and enjoy the whole burger-rib-beer-chip-dessert thing in moderation. Hope you fare better in your moderation efforts than I'm about to! Enjoy your holiday!