Hello all and welcome back to The Stone Soup Cook!
Summer has hit northern California like a ton of hot bricks! We are in the middle of an unprecedented heat event–a 10-day stretch of 100+ degree weather. Friends–we are NOT used to this kind of heat. Our average temperature in the Bay Area hovers in the 80’s during the summer and in the 50’s during the winter. Most folks around here still don’t even have air conditioning!
All that aside, it is July now, and the height of the summer, so a little heat is not unexpected–and I’m excited to embrace the sweet heat of summertime and pivot to one of my all-time favorite herbs: sweet basil! Sweet basil embodies summertime for me. In summer months, I go to the farmer’s market and scoop up 3-4 bundles of it each week. On the drive home, its pungent-sweet, herbaceous, peppery and spicy fragrance fills my car with the enticing anticipation of the recipes in which I’ll use it throughout the week.
This week, I’ll be featuring some great recipes, starting with a cocktail, and ending with a really special dessert–so hang on, because this is going to be fun!!
But first, an explanation of my two-week absence, and my personal note of thanks to Lady Covid:
Mr. Stone Soup and I have been laying low the last two weeks, while Lady Covid has had her way with our household. Best I can tell, I caught it at a concert a couple of weeks ago. I’d like to personally thank the very “juicy” woman who sat behind me honking, sneezing and blowing her way through the performance. I tested positive for the virus three days later, and Mr. Stone Soup contracted it three days after that. So–here’s to you Lady Covid! I hoist a dose cup of NyQuil and thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for sharing your bounty with us!
Fortunately, although I was solidly positive for about a week, we didn’t experience much more than a bad cold, followed by fatigue. We have spent the last couple of weeks reading murder mysteries and sleeping. Things could have been much worse!
I’ll start this week with a teaser–a sweet basil cocktail–that’s right! A cocktail! I call it a “Sweet Basil Sling:”
The Sweet Basil Sling is refreshing and delicious and, as Scotty would say, “it’s green!” I hope you try it out this week!
Tune in tomorrow for a bit of a primer on basil and more fun recipes!
Until then,
Peace, love and good food,
Keri
