Joys of Summer (?)

Yesterday was the delivery of #2 son to Bristol RI for his senior year at Roger Williams. After unloading the borrowed car and trailer, and lugging his stuff to the second-floor apartment, we went out to grab something to eat (allegedly lunch at almost 3 pm). Driving up and back, along Route 136, we passed a couple of farm stands.

My summer has been so very hectic, that we had not purchased any fresh corn on the cob. So we did. Jill and I brought the dozen (bakers dozen) home and had that (with a couple of leftovers) for dinner. Again tonight we had corn. There is something about the really fresh corn which makes it taste so much better than what you get in the grocery store. The only problem? Being so anxious to eat the corn, that the first couple of bites burn the roof of your mouth....especially that sensitive part just behind the two front teeth. It is, however, worth the slight pain!

I remember as a kid, timing our visit to my father's favorite farm stand so that we would arrive at almost the same time as the truck from the field. He would purchase a dozen (or two) ears, and we would rush home to eat it within the hour. That is how corn should be eaten. Of course, he also told stories about the summer before I was born, when he was covering New England as a sales rep, and my mother was staying on Nantucket. He would take the ferry back to Woods Hole, and then stop and buy a dozen ears of corn. He would cook the whole dozen and eat it (the whole dozen) for dinner. Now what I remember is that he would eat whatever was left, but with eight kids (ten people at the dinner table), even two dozen ears of corn did not go very far!


The other joy of summer -- home-made ice cream. While I was in Chicago last week, Jill and the kids made ice cream using fresh strawberries from our garden. Mmmmm, good! There is just something about home-made ice cream. Maybe it is the extra fat content, or the fact that it has less air than commercial ice cream (and is therefore more dense), but it tastes a whole lot better.