But corn, corn, corn. The reason summer exists. Corn on the cob is a ritual in my family, and we have very set ideas about how it should be cooked. Big pot, five minutes once the water returns to boiling - don't overcook. None of the barbecue grilled with lime or spice or whatever else magazines are advertising this summer. Just butter and salt.
We also don't serve corn on the cob with meat or anything else (my mother's concession to my brother-in-law involves sliced ham, but the rest of us all look on disapprovingly). We have corn on the cob, pickled beets, new carrots (raw), vinegared cucumbers, sliced tomatoes, and sometimes baby potatoes or string beans. This is always my birthday dinner - often the first corn of the season.
Tonight we replaced the pickled beets with beet greens, and we didn't have any tomatoes; we also added mustard beans (another favourite I only discovered after moving to Nova Scotia). But the carrots, cucumbers, corn and bread stayed true to tradition. Ria must remember corn on the cob from last year because she was begging the whole time I was cooking (and actually took a bit or two raw); she also likes the beet green stems as long as we call them 'noodles'!
Our fridge is jam-packed - Tuesdays in the summer are always busy evenings. Tonight we stewed rhubarb, boiled beets for Ria's lunches, and for a late-evening snack we'll have the raspberries and blueberries that didn't fit in the fridge. Life is good.
-Kathy
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