6 September Tuesday

Nothing. Not only do we not want to cook, we hardly want to eat. I ventured out this morning around 10:30 and it was already pushing 90F. I managed to get what I needed done and went home. Any fantasy I was nursing about going shopping and preparing food evaporated in the noonday heat. Well, that doesn´t mean I don´t stop thinking about food or the great dishes we can make without heat.

First, if you can´t do what you want you must do the thing you can. I rearranged my cookbooks for the fourth time this year. This time, generally according to height. It is the most efficient, given my one-hundred-ten-year-old-built-in-bookcases. A curiosity: the right side of the shelves is an inch higher than the left, so the books must be arranged accordingly. It is fascinating. Any organizing by author, cuisine, or jacket color is purely coincidental.

Whilst moving books around, a small pamphlet sized one hit the floor.

It is a sign from the cosmos that if I am going to do any cooking today, it had better be in the most advised attire. I assume that there must be no-cook recipes in this here little book. Let´s check it out!

OK, a little disappointed. Every recipe seemed to involve rapidly boiling water, piping hot cream sauces, and other things that seem hazardous for an undressed person. Maybe some other time.

One of my favorite cookbooks, one that I think of every time it gets really hot is Summer Cooking by Elizabeth David. It´s an oldie, from 1955, and is filled with classics for hot weather. I love her idea that one should never use more than two herbs in a fresh salad or similar dish lest the palate become confused. I mean, come on, we´re already hot! Tomato salads with herbs, an oily ratatouille that is perfect on top of a dry baguette, sprinkled with fresh olive oil, clipped basil, and a few grains of course salt. Cold, sliced green beans with lemon and oil, piled high with grilled shrimp. Dark green creamy pesto, velvety smooth gazpacho, grilled chicken with marrow vegetables, light fish soups. It´s all there, baby.

Emergency flex alert- reduce power usage between 4-9 pm to avoid rolling black-outs. New book idea- nifty, no cook recipes for rolling black-out get togethers. They´ll be all the rage!