I've been on a vacation of sorts - my daughter spent a lazy week exploring the New Mexican side roads with me and her brothers, then I flew to Chicago to speak at the BlogHer conference on the Art of Storytelling. Now I'm home, and my boys beg for more summer fun, more adventure.
"There's only three weeks left before school," they moan, "can't we do something fun?"
Yeah, fun. I want fun, too, want a summer romance, two weeks on the beach with a ripped and oiled cabana boy to grant my every whim. But life is expensive and my desk is stuccoed with a million sticky notes. Write me! Write me! The notes don't grant me rest, don't promise a million dollars, don't even promise to meet the bills most days. Even so, I'll figure out one amazing August adventure, one day, perhaps two, when we make time stop. Maybe a wild road trip to Chaco Canyon, or an overnight campout at the tip of Hermit's Peak.
When the days get hot, spoiled, when the kids want something you can't hand 'em, a cooling recipe can feel so damn good. Here in my New Mexican mountains, we grow lemon cucumbers. The cool summer nights and show growing season produce yellow-green orbs that look nothing like the cucumbers most folks recognize. My tiny garden churns out pounds of lemon cukes. You can hold them in your hand and bite into the tender skin like an apple, or cut the vegetable into bite-sized pieces for salads and side dishes. The flesh is drier than a regular cucumber and a bit on the sweet side.
Here's my favorite lemon cucumber recipe:
New Mexican Lemon Cucumber Salsa
1 cup lemon cucumber, peeled and diced
1 cup fresh (uncooked) corn kernals
1/4 cup red onion
3/4 cup Roma tomatoes, diced
2 Tbsp. green Hatch chile, minced
1/4 cup red wine vinegar
1 Tbsp. fresh mint, chopped
Juice of half a lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Mix all ingredients in a bowl and let chill. Serve with tortilla chips, mmmmmmm!
I've uploaded photos of both the cucumbers and yesterday's salsa along with this article.
August Themes for the Thursday Writing Essential:
Thursday, August 9
Food!
Have a story about a recipe? A banquet you once attended? The wedding cake you shoved in your betrothed's mouth? Tell me a tale of sugar and spice, of chile and chocolate.
Thursday, August 16
Disaster
Some days just don't go the way you want... in fact, they go South, to Hades. Post a story about the time things got so damn bad that all you could do is laugh, hold on, pray.
Thursday, August 23
Wild Card!
Post your best story, poem, or article on writing! A prize (Yes! A real-life prize that I will ship to you!) will be awarded to the piece that I enjoy the most!
Thursday, August 30
Birth
Labor stories (ouch!) for Labor Day! Childbirth, the beginning of a new business, the way you compose a new story - tell me how something Big began.
Want to join in the Thursday Writing Essential party but don't know how? Simply click on over to the Gather: Writing Essential and join the group! Post your stories, poems, and articles on writing to the group each Thursday. I read every piece posted on Thursdays, and look forward to featuring YOUR work!
Birdie Jaworski writes about life in New Mexico and wishes summer could last forever...
rate
email
print
link to this page
Comments: 27
oh, love those lemon cukes (and roly poly squash that look a lot like them) - been growing them for years and always seek out new recipes. thanks, sweetness.
Judi, I sure have been busy - but now summer is winding down to a close - I have no more visitors (thank goddess, ha ha!), and no more trips to take (other than perhaps an overnighter with the boys). Just me and the boys and the pets and the computer (LOL) from here until school begins.
Mona, post a recipe if you have one! I have squash, cukes, chile, jalapenos, and tomatoes in my wee little garden. And the local rabbits have eaten way more than us, alas...
Beryl, it was great talking to you on the phone this morning! I miss you!!!!! And yes, do try with regular cukes, it would be awesome!
Hugs all the way around, folks!!!
I lived in Albuquerque in 65, basehousing up on the mesa. The volcanoes were amazing, and the Sandia's ice fold streams where we cooled our feet...
Needless to say, I have not done any writing, reading, or commenting on Gather since I got here. Give me another week and I shall return. I did post an article and some photos before I drove up here to Idaho.
That's my story and I'm sticking with it.
Jane, check your connection requests. : ) Sometimes Gather gets a little funky - I didn't get your request, but sent one to you.
we too are stretching the days of summer - bc we love swimming so much, and will miss it when the lake gets too cold. sigh.
Summer's raw, vine-ripe food is delish.