Hints of summer date night

I love the change of seasons. All of them. Something so exciting about a fresh start, the newness of what is to come, and the letting go of the old. Around here, we have firmly ushered in summer. The afternoons are hot, the thundershowers are frequent, and the cool mornings of spring are pretty much gone.

At my regular farmers' market, I found the first cucumbers of the season on Saturday. Also this week, another farmers' market opened for the season, and we went to check it out. Green tomatoes! What a treat, and definitely a taste of summer. And Publix has the last of the Florida corn still on sale 4/$1, so I had some of that in the fridge, too.

So, the menu for date night was set. We'd have fried green tomatoes to start, followed by kofta kebabs (um, fancy hamburgers--LOL) on pita with tzatziki sauce, and grilled corn on the cob.

Pretty cucumbers that inspired the whole menu

Two years ago, I made basil blueberry vinegar (straight from my fabulous Ball Blue book). Despite my vinegar winning NO ribbons at the fair, we loved the flavor. So, I knew that they would work well together in other applications, too. I have beautiful basil growing right by my front door right now.

And beautiful blueberries from the farmers' market.

Which became fabulous basil blueberry sparkling lemonade. A HUGE hit, and one that will definitely be repeated. A taste of summer in a glass.

We ended the night with a viewing of the Law and Order season finale (dude, we are so exciting!) A little good-bye to spring and the network TV schedule.

As well as a taste of Blue Bell's new summer flavor.

Change is good.