I feel guilty talking about summer while it has rained back East
for most of this iconic holiday weekend. I know it’s been a cool and rainy spring after a
famously brutal winter on the East Coast, and while I am sorry for that, it’s
worked out well for me to be staying longer than usual in Tucson again this
year, this time to teach an ethics module to the evening and exec MBAs. Brilliantly sunny, hot, and dry here, of
course, but also the fruit is rolling in—apricots, sweet cherries, and
beautiful Yuma
strawberries. I still can’t get over some of the things they manage to
entice out of the desert.
Part of what makes me happy to see the strawberries is that
they remind me that it won’t be long ‘til I’m back in the place for which that
gorgeous word “summer” must have been created and the standard against which
all other summers are measured, New England. I will be back in LC on July 1,
which means, of course, a return to this now-mostly-seasonal blog. I look forward to that, along with everything
else precious that summer brings for me—the ocean and the local food, of
course, but most of all, seeing my family and my friends. Happy Memorial Day
weekend; let summer begin, and be beautiful and bountiful. Surely the hardy
people of New England have earned that much. See you soon.
Yuma Express
For some reason I always want to pair strawberries with
Campari when it’s hot, as I did with this
cocktail a few years ago soon after arriving in LC. Here’s another one,
served with a spoon. Serves 1.
1 oz Gran Marnier (or ½ brandy, ½ orange liquer)
½ oz freshly squeezed lemon juice
3-4 perfect strawberries, cored and sliced
1 oz Campari
1 oz Plymouth Gin
Macerate the strawberries in the lemon juice and Gran Marnier
for 15-20 minutes. Strain the liquid into a cocktail shaker and place the
strawberries into a martini glass or coupe.
Add the Campari and gin to the shaker, and shake with
crushed ice until very cold. Strain into the glass and serve with a silver
spoon.
