Growin' up greens

There are so many things that I love about summer: the warm weather, the days off (it is good to be a teacher), iced tea, grilling on the patio, and fresh produce. Not the pale, plastic-y imitations of produce that you find in the winter, but the off the vine/plant, fragrant, flavorful summer variety. This is when I am happy I live in a big city. Huh? What? Fresh grown veggies in the city? How does that work? Easy! There are over a dozen farmers' markets that I can frequent every week. This past Sunday I checked out two markets close to my apartment. The first was small. Super small. I did pick up some lovely greens. While a pain to prep them for cooking, they were worth it. After cooking they still had body, didn't turn to mush. I sauteed the stems with olive oil, kosher salt, and fresh cracked pepper. After 5-10 minutes I tossed in the leaves, garlic, and some frozen cooked shrimp. At the very end I added a splash of balsamic and it was done. So good.

Yes, the city is a fabulous place during the summer. My favorite culinary experience of late, though, has occurred out in the burbs. A year or so ago my parents transplanted some raspberry clippings from my aunt's garden. For the first time they have berries. Sun warmed, ripe, juicy berries. I love standing in the garden in bare feet picking berries. Eat them alone, with cream, or atop a Van's GF waffle. So lovely. My taste buds rejoice at the explosion of summer flavor. Now I just have to figure out how to convince me parents to let me pick all of the ripe berries on Sunday to take on the road to Atlanta. Mmmm...