The staff at AAR so enjoyed sharing our Christmas sweets that we decided to do it again, but in celebration of the yummy summer months. Who knew there was more to summer than Salad and 72 Variations? We started with Amy’s Fried Green Tomatoes on Tuesday, and now every Thursday we’ll be publishing a new summer recipe from one of our staff. Enjoy! – Jean AAR
I should say right up front that this is not a recipe I created. Years ago I was out for lunch with a friend in Chicago and she ordered gazpacho. Curious, I decided to order a cup of it myself and was instantly in love. Chock full of veggies, refreshing, cool (it was a hot day), with a bit of spice, it hit the spot. When I commented that I would love to be able to make it at home she shared the recipe she’d been using for years.
Since that time, gazpacho has become one of my go-to recipes in the summer. I tend to make it the most in July and August when local tomatoes are available in abundant quantities at the market. But with “tomatoes on the vine” available at other times, I will often give in to my craving and make it at other times.
I continue to try gazpacho at local restaurants, but have been less than satisfied in recent years. Everyone seems to be adding “extras” that I find unnecessary. One local restaurant has made a “southwestern” version adding in black beans, corn, avocado, and tortilla chips. While I like all those ingredients I find them less than satisfying in gazpacho. Another local seafood restaurant adds large shrimp and crab pieces to the gazpacho. Now I love both of those as well, but find they completely overwhelm the gazpacho.
So for now I’m sticking with my friend’s recipe listed below. Read the rest of this entry »
Fried green tomatoes have been a favorite summer treat of mine since I was small. I learned how to make them from my grandmother and like pretty much everyone I know, I have my own particular way of making them. Some folks bread theirs only with flour, others mix in cornmeal and still others use breadcrumbs or panko. And then there are the spice mixtures and dipping sauces!
I can hardly believe it but I’ve now owned my latest laptop — a Dell Inspiron — for nearly three years. When first purchased, it was all sparkly and new and fast and well, just about everything I wanted. It’s still pretty darn fast and the hard drive has gobs of space on it, but it’s starting to show its age with periodic crashes and freezes. And most annoying, the wifi routinely requires tinkering. And the stupid thing weighs a ton (well, not really, but it feels that way when stuffed in a bag or pack along with everything else I need to carry).
My favorite late-spring flowers are magnolias. We don’t have any in the garden ourselves, but there are some in a nearby park, and I love going there or just cycling past the park and seeing the pale pink blooms. With spring being so late here in Germany this year, it’s only very recently that they’ve been blooming. 
Do you chew gum? For the last 40-some years I would have answered “no way” I was reared to think that chewing gum was unladylike, bad manners, bad for your teeth, and just an ugly habit (think cows chewing cud). It never seemed like I was missing anything, because in my experience, gum came in just a few flavors, mint of some kind, fruit of some kind, and pink. And I remember the days when gum only came in foil packs and the sticks would fall out and come unwrapped in your purse, get sticky all over everything and collect lint and dirt. And used gum disposal is gross. But a new medication makes my mouth dry sometimes and recently I’ve been exploring what’s new in the world of gum. 
