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Showing posts with label summertime. Show all posts
Showing posts with label summertime. Show all posts

Monday, July 2, 2018

Politics of Summer



Summertime.
Garden-district cottage.
Cats on the porch.
Ancient oaks. Peaceful.
Shady.

Tomatoes -- blood red --
and mayonnaise,
salted, peppered,
waiting
on the table.

Last week a feather
in the kitchen.
Yesterday a wing in the hall.

A cardinal batters
the bedroom window,
knocking to come in.
A wren batters from within.
How do I get out?
How did you get in?

Last night, a fight. Barking
In the den.  Flick the light
and then, a raccoon
dashes for the door.

Soon half a squirrel,
intestines twirled
on the front steps. Cats
draped on benches,
lick themselves.

Sweet scent of summer
Smells like death.

~ Elodie Pritchartt
07/02/2018

Wednesday, August 24, 2016

Summertime Eats

                                   (Photo by Elodie Pritchartt)

This is one of the easiest, most delicious recipes I have, and perfect for a summertime dish.





Tomatoes & Brie with Linguine

Okay. I admit it. I'm lazy. But I've also got very snobby tastebuds. Pleeeease give me recipes that will indulge my inertia!



tomatoes, lots of 'em.

If you grow them yourself, even better. I use a variety of organic yellow, orange and red cherry-sized, teardrop and plum tomatoes. But chopped beefsteak is fine, too. Also I once used these little teeny, tiny tomatoes I discovered at Von's Grocery that are the sweetest I've ever tasted, and no bigger than a large blueberry. They're called Mini Charms and come from Victory Garden in Livermore, California.

1 lb. of Brie cheese, rind removed, torn into irregular pieces.

(The lazy soul that I am, I also discovered Alouette brand, rindless Brie cheese. It's delicious and soft and comes in one of those little triangular packages. Find it with those potted Alouette cheese spreads.  Let it come to room temperature so it's liquid. That way, you can skip cutting the rind off perfectly good cheese)




1 cup cleaned fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely minced

1 cup best-quality olive oil

one-half teaspoon salt

(I prefer coarse, Kosher salt. Just tastes better)

one-half teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

One-and-a-half pounds linguini

(I like the fresh linguini, but am too lazy to make it myself, so I buy it at the market)

Freshly grated, imported Parmesan cheese (optional. I don't use it.)

1. Combine tomatoes, Brie, basil, garlic, oil, salt and pepper in a large serving bowl. Prepare at least two hours before serving and set aside, covered, at room temperature.

2. Cook the linguini.

3. Spoon linguini into small serving bowl and spoon sauce onto the pasta and EAT!

Friday, July 22, 2016

Immersion by Elodie Pritchartt



Like teabags poised
 1
over the roiling water,
 2
we dangled, by turns,
 3
from a rope.
 4
Pushed off the roof
 5
of the boat,
 6
swung out and dropped
 7
into the muddy mug
 8
of the Mississippi
 9
only to emerge
 10
laughing
 11
surprised
 12
at having survived
 13
the fall.
 14
Little mud mustaches
 15
etched the sepia
 16
memories of
 17
that river
 18
that day
 19
that summer
 20
that childhood
 21
into our skin.
 22
Now the sandbars
 23
whose soft embrace
 24
showed us the way
 25
rarely surface --
 26
the channel and our veins
 27
silted
 28
with the detritus
 29
of forty years.
 30
We have reunions,
 31
make note
 32
of those not there.
 33
Search name tags
 34
for faces
 35
we no longer
 36
recognize.
 37
We bury
 38
parents
 39
friends
 40
and fears
 41
of the undertow
 42
as the bank sloughs
 43
each spring
 44
rechannels
 45
our expectations
 46
and we emerge
 47
laughing
 48
surprised
 49
at having survived
 50
at all.
 51