An Encore of Summer Sweets
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Nancy’s “Summer Ends” Galette
Strawberry-lovage, plum-cardamom, peach-rose, and watermelon-anise. Strawberry, raspberry, and ginger-peach. A flight, a fancy, a distillation of summer’s bounty, lined up in jewel-toned bottles. “We will begin with strawberry, then move to raspberry with the season,” said Nancy.
“Yes!” I cried, delighted, pressing basil into the food processor. Some leaves bore small black spots from recent morning chill.
Small glasses of shrubs, the cause for our gathering, stood in a line between us on the table. We sniffed and tasted, calling out fruit and herbal notes initially or at the finish. We laughed hard, as if we’d drunk so many glasses of wine.
“How did you prepare this tempeh again?” Nancy asked, dipping a crisp strip in truffle aioli.
“Welllll …” I said. “It’s simple, really. You bring the ghee to its smoke point with your back turned in conversation. Then after you cool it and add olive oil, you forget it again til you smell it burning. Then back off the heat, sizzle the tempeh, and add salt.” We know it’s not a good idea to smoke oil … but not much seemed to matter surrounded by all that beauty.
Our pesto got tossed with pasta and heirloom tomatoes. I set 3 jars aside for the freezer and one for Nancy. At the picnic table, we swapped canoe stories, hiking dreams, and chronicles of our kids’ adventures.
Nancy pushed aside our glasses, making room. “This is the ‘Summer Ends’ galette,”she said, her eyes smiling. “Here are the last figs, and the second is made with the last pears.” The buttery crust flaked crisply at the first bite.
My table cloth was unfolded and refolded within 2 hours. Then we saw one another off swapping jars and bottles of summer, and Nancy’s gift of the galette.
Neither of us had “time” to get together last night, yet this is the trick of summer. When the sun goes down, it’s gone. If we do not harvest, we do not receive. Out of our imaginations, inspired by the gifts of Mother Earth, Nancy and I made time. We gathered abundance, we found each other, we found ourselves.
What are you making time for as you say goodbye to summer’s harvest? How do you connect with the Earth and other beings, with all of your senses, as we shift from one season to another?