Summertime Treats

[theinevitable]

Listening to Summertime Clothes (oh god, this video is like something LFM would imagine existing...) and making my mom's salsa, as mentioned in the other thread. I love to eat it with fresh tortillas and pork and shredded cheese. On the side, some lemonade with lots of ice.

Lately I am also really into Mudslides. To the point that I accidentally drank one in the car because I forgot it had booze in it. Mudslide mix was on half-off sale, but now it is all gone.

What are your favorite refreshing summer dishes/drinks?

[jay-ell]

I just made up a couple of gallons of sweet sun tea, which is fabulous. This is also the time of year when I start to crave my mom's weird recipe pasta salad, which goes like this:

Pasta Salad

1 lb provolone cheese, cut into 1" cubes
1 lb hard salami, cut into 1" cubes
1 lb tricolor rotini, cooked
1 recipe Good Seasons Italian Dressing (the kind that comes in a packet and you add your own oil, vinegar and water)

Serves: a small army

Mix it all together in a gigantic bowl and stick it in the fridge overnight to let the flavors blend. Mom also adds canned, drained black olives sometimes, but I don't care for them so I serve them on the side. It's wonderful, and since the dressing isn't dairy-based, it's great for picnics where you can't rely on the things in the cooler to stay as cold as you'd like.

I always make some for the 4th of July, as did my mother before me. The 4th is a huge holiday for me. I love fireworks and I never ever missed a year seeing them with my mother (who also loves them) until after I had been married several years.

We go out early (about 5ish) and park near the fairgrounds where we can see the fireworks from our parking spot. Then we spread out a blanket and set up some lawn chairs and tailgate out of the back of our minivan. We eat fried chicken or pulled pork and pasta salad, usually we have fresh fruit and potato chips and a cooler full of soda and sweet tea. We walk over to the fairgrounds and enjoy the carnival they have each year, Boyface loves the Taiko drumming demos and Girlface usually does one of the kid's crafts. Then we come back to our car and do sparklers, play games on the picnic blanket, listen to music, and generally run around outside and have a great time.

By the time the fireworks start, we've been there 4 hours, and the light show is just the icing on the cake.

Some contingent of my in-laws usually join us; my parents are usually in Ohio but this year they'll be here. The first year we did this, about 3 years ago, my parents-in-law thought I was nuts for wanting to go so early; now they've been a few times and they look forward to it and have adopted it as their own tradition, too.

[theinevitable]

oh shit! this sounds similar to my old roomie's pasta salad. Actually, not exactly.

His was mozzarella, rotini, balsamic vinegar, basil. You throw the mozz in when the pasta is still hot from cooking, so it melts in and makes it all goopy.

Yeah, it is awesome and made my stomach extremely mad at me every single time. I was always interested to see his mom's version, because the way he did it it definitely seemed like a college man food. All scooping up clusters of oily pasta stuck together by the melted cheese.

[jay-ell]

Dude, where is the meat? The salami is essential.

My aunt and cousin microwave their pasta salad so the cheese melts, but that is anathema to me.

[greenkoolayd]

i have had that pasta salad, but with sliced pepperoni, instead of salami.  i like the flavor, but i think diced pepperoni would be better.  i prefer it without the black* olives, as well.

*

[wombat]

You can't knock a salad that doesn't have a single vegetable in it.

[side_show]

I love real potato salad, especially with eggs and uber-mayo - that's a food I associate with summer.  It's rare for me to eat it other times of the year.

Also I am really serious about bison burgers hot from the BBQ, on a nice thin bun with lettuce and a ripe garden tomato slice.  That is basically the perfect summer food.  I like bison burgers so much more than beef.

Combine the two, and it's a summer-gasm meal.

[wombat]

I couldn't think of anything that didn't sound boring and possibly pretentious - I mean, who really wants to hear about my quest for the perfect peach every summer - but Smells reminds me of potato salad. Which is something I make at most once a summer (and I think last year I missed it) because to be honest I have a hard time making an excuse for potatoes with mayo all over them at a time of year when I could be eating so many good seasonal fruits and vegetables - and then in the dead of winter when vegetables are hopeless, if you want a potato, you want it in some kind of hot dish.

But once a summer it is a special occasion:, red or gold potatoes with mayo and some olive oil and a bit of mustard, but then what really makes it worthwhile - tons of fresh dill, and a big dill pickle cut up into tiny pieces.

[AugustWest]

Very fresh, very local ----->>>>

CORN. ON. THE. COB.

[jay-ell]

Ugh, I am off corn on the cob because the last time I got some local-grown stuff it was full of green inchworms. That'll be the last time I buy it from the small street-corner farmer's market; I'll go to the official state-run one for it next time, but it'll be awhile.

I was pissed, because normally that'd be on my list, too. But pulling back the husk and having green wigglers fall into my lap (and I checked several ears, they were all infested) was so unsettling that it makes my stomach turn to think about it. I'm not usually skittish about bugs, either. That just put me off, big time.

[Nabubrush]

Can't hang when that happens. That's why I never eat halibut, ever.

I love potato salad.

[greenkoolayd]

if someone makes a ron white joke, im going piss my ##### out of spite.

[Nabubrush]

if someone makes a ron white joke, im going piss my ##### out of spite.

I'm not a fan of the blue-collar comedy tour or whatever it is, but I think I heard that Ron White's ok? Or kind of ok? Or better than Larry, anyway?

[Choop]

ron white was the funniest of the blue-collar comics. but he toured on old material, instead of doing it the hard way (aka the right way) and scrapping what he'd filmed for a new show. seeing him live was a real disappointment.

-----

my missus's dilled chicken salad is the best thing in the summer, especially with a nice tall gin & tonic for dessert:

some chicken breasts or thighs, all large diced
some mayo or miracle whip if you are a weirdo
some diced onion and celery
salt&pepa
basically all the dill you can get your mitts on

you will want to make a large batch and share it, it is that good. basically like a quarter of a small onion and like two stalks of celery and oh half cup of mayo per two chicken breasts (three thighs). add salt&pepa to taste; play "push it" while you stir. it scales nicely and can be easily adjusted for flavor and consistency.

i maintain that the bestest treat of all summer is a fresh tomato with a salt cellar nearby. you heathens that disagree? meh, more 'maters for me.

[theinevitable]

making that salsa confirmed my hatred of nasty ol' tomatoes. The salsa tasted awesome, though. I was the only person who brought food, so I got a lot of praise.

How do you prepare a chicken breast to be turned into chicken salad? A recent experience has made me want to avoid chicken salad from a can.