TammyM wrote:

> Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Gazpacho. Panzanella. Ice cold roasted pepper soup
> with splashes of Spanish EVOO and sherry vinegar, and maybe a dollop of
> yogurt or sour cream stirred in. ANY cold soup, I adore them, especially
> boiled dirt chunk soup (beet for the un-rfc-initiated). The ever popular
> caprese salad made with fresh buffalo mozz, and tomats/basil from the
> garden.

I made a big pitcher of borscht about a week and a half ago; I've been
consuming it bit by bitever since. (I made it without the dairy component,
which I add separately just before serving. So far I've tried buttermilk,
yogurt, and sour cream. I think the buttermilk variation is my favorite.) I
also made a cold carrot soup two nights ago, but that's almost all gone. I
made Deborah Madison's cold tomato soup just over a week ago, and it was
fantastic.

Tammy, would you please post your recipe for roasted pepper soup?

This is the best time of year for salads. Here are a few I've had recently:

Thinly slice part of a red onion and put it into the salad bowl along
with some red-wine vinegar. Peel, seed, and dice half a cantaloupe and a
cucumber and add them to the bowl. Seed a red bell pepper, cut it into
quarter-inch squares, and add it. Sprinkle on sea salt, a little bit of
cayenne pepper, and a light grinding of black pepper. Drizzle on some
extra-virgin olive oil, toss everything around, and it's ready to serve.

Thinly slice a couple fennel bulbs crosswise and soak in water with a bit of
lime juice. Cut half a pineapple into thin chunks and put them into a salad
bowl. Peel and seed a cucumber, then cut it into chunks about the same size
as the pineapple chunks; add to the salad bowl. Finely mince a serrano chile
and add it to the salad bowl. Shake the water out of the fennel shreds and
add to the salad bowl. Sprinkle with salt and freshly-ground black pepper.
Pour rice vinegar over the salad, toss well, and allow to sit, tossing
occasionally, for at least half an hour (so that it becomes a bit pickled).

Lin made last night's salad, which contained mesclun, cucumbers,
blackberries, blueberries, and pine nuts. I made the dressing, which was
just yogurt, mirin, salt, and pepper.

Summer is also the time of year for summer rolls and tostadas. A local
taqueria makes a tostada with seviche and octopus that is sublime.

But when it comes to the quintessential summer food, I have to agree with
those who mentioned BLTs. A BLT on multi-grain toast with homemade mayo,
vine-ripened tomato, artisan bacon, and just-picked lettuce is an
unparalleled summer experience.

Bob