A walk around my house to savor what I love...

Savoring is the capacity to notice and appreciate the little joys, the small pleasures, and the enjoyable moments in our everyday lives. Walk around your home and savor what you love. It could be a painting someone gave you, a lamp you found at a flea market, or the smell of something cooking in your oven. Then write about it...

It’s August. And so I’m savoring the food in my kitchen. The ripe red tomatoes. The crisp green beans. The cucumbers I just brought in from my own little raised garden bed. They’ve been climbing up the branches I stuck in the dirt, shooting out little cukes that stretch into large ones almost quicker than we can eat them. But not quite. We can eat a lot of cucumbers around here. We like them best with the light flavor of rice vinegar and chunks of sea salt.

August is my favorite month. It’s the yummiest month. Everything is ripening and everything tastes amazing. It’s not like in January when food just falls flat. No, in August food is bursting with the sun, with fresh air, with flavor. I love it best when I pick it, drop it in my kitchen and eat it.

I’m salivating now at the thought of tonight’s tomato sandwiches. Simple ingredients that make one amazing meal. Toasted bread. Melted butter. Sliced tomatoes. Sea salt. Simple pleasures.

I do my best to can up these amazing flavors of summer so that I can enjoy them in the dead of winter, so that my meals then contain some of the freshness. I am always amazed at how much better my stewed tomatoes are than anything I can buy.

Right now, my counter is brimming with 27 pints of green beans. My daughter can eat 2 pints of green beans herself in a single sitting, so I need to can a lot of green beans this year. Good thing they’re so easy. Pick them, wash them, snap them in two, pack them in jars. Add boiling water and a bit of salt. Pop into the canner, boil for 20 minutes, and let cool. Easy-peasy.

My kitchen boasts yellow walls, walls that remind me of summer’s warmth. I used to want a black and white checkered kitchen, but then I fell for yellow and I’ll never look back.