Strawberries Sing Of Summer

I always have grand plans for making fabulous things with quantities of fresh plump juicy strawberries, but we usually just end up eating them over the sink. Well, that's what we do at first anyway. After the initial berry-binge, we want to put them in everything we make. Here are some ideas that look awfully good...

• Strawberry Vanilla Aqua Fresca from Serious Eats
• Strawberry & Balsamic Basil Soda from On The Lamb via Surfas in L.A.
• Strawberries In Brûléed Marshmallow Crème at Furey & The Feast
• Ponchatoula Strawberry Cupcakes from the book Screen Doors & Sweet Tea via Serious Eats
• Thai Shredded Chicken and Strawberry Salad at myrecipes.com (and on page 108, Sunset Magazine, June 2010 issue

Sweet/Tart

This tart was almost too tart, but then again... if you love lemon, it was just right. A fantastic dessert that seems light and rich at the same time. I'll have to make another one though, as we ate it all before I had a chance to photograph it! Mine was nowhere near as smooth and gorgeous as the one in the Gourmet photo, but I'm pretty sure it tasted just as good!

• Lemon Curd Tart with Olive Oil from Gourmet.com

My Notes: Made this tart with... Meyer lemons (of course). The recipe called for a "fruity olive oil (preferably French)". I used a Clementine Olive Oil from Sonoma County instead (pretty sure that's not what they meant by "fruity", but I think it worked out really well). The crust dough was very unusual, unlike any I've used before: really soft as you spread it in the pan, but light and almost sandy once baked. It was a perfect foil for the rich lemony curd. All in all, it was quite quick and easy. Be sure to chill it for at least 4 hours before serving.

Meyer Van Marmalade

Marmalade. Just say it slowly a few times: mar-ma-lade. Slightly exotic sounding, it's name reveals a somewhat more complex nature than its sisters, Jam and Jelly. They're both sweet girls of course, everybody likes them, but marmalade has seen a little of the world, lived life, and has come home to tell you about it.* Both the dark and the light of it; the bitter with the sweet.

Traditional orange marmalade was essentially born from someone making the most out of what they had: in this case, a boatload of inedible bitter oranges. In a country that is not exactly known for its sunshine and citrus, they were probably happy to get whatever of those exotic fruits that they could.

My favorite store-bought marmalade was from Scotland and came packaged in white glass jars. It was an occasional special treat when our budget allowed. I would keep the jar in the fridge and only use it on weekends, when I wasn't in a hurry and could appreciate it more. It has virtually nothing in common with the domestic brands available, and is a world away from the little plastic single-serving packets found in diners and chain eateries in this country. Good orange marmalade is like dark sunshine in a jar. And it is at its best when smeared thickly on top of crispy hot sourdough toast that's been slicked with butter... and accompanied by a big mug of strong hot tea.

Vegetable Tarts, Egg Pies and a Savory Bread Pudding

Any of these would be great for brunch, lunch, or even a light dinner when served with a salad. Made ahead of time, they would be perfect for warm summer evenings when I don't feel like cooking...

• Individual Three-Cheese Frittatas from Sweet Paul
• Ina Garten's Country French Omelet at ABCnews.com
• Mushroom Tart with Herb Salad at Serious Eats
• How to make a Panade From Leftovers at The Kitchn
• Five delicious sounding make-ahead quiches from The Kitchn
• Tortilla With Peas Mint and Yogurt at Serious Eats

When Life Hands You Fallen Cupcakes...

I am... not a very good cupcake baker.
I have... two cupcake cookbooks filled with photos of unattainable cupcake perfection.
I can... never seem to fill the cupcake pan neatly or evenly.
I have... had nothing but disastrous results when making cupcakes.
I will... be glad if some day perfectly baked cupcakes were ever to come out of my oven.
I do... so hate cleaning the cupcake pan afterward.
I am... supremely happy that there is, a mile or so from my house, a cupcake bakery. So if my planned dessert doesn't work out, the Hubs can always run over and pick up a few high-priced but gorgeous and tasty professionally made cupcakes.

I'm practicing making positive affirmation-type statements... how am I doing? Like the cupcakes I just made, these statements start out o.k. enough, but then something goes wrong. And don't even get me started on frosting! Ugh. Same story. As with most things, I probably just need more practice. Clearly there is some sort of mental-block to overcome.