Best Season for Food?

[mamster]

Definitely winter. I always look forward to the January issues of the food magazines, because they will have covers with things like braised short ribs and greens and all the other wintry things I like but usually can't get away with making in the summer.

[Brit]

Sadist! How I long to hear the intonations of the automated "Mind the gap" once again .... and then chow down on some frosty morning on a typical British breakfast? Oh for the bangers and baked beans and eggs and grilled "tomahtoes",  thick oatmeal toast with a bit of marmalade and a cuppa hot, steaming English Breakfast tea!

Gifted Gourmet, I wish that I could ship it all out to you. I know how much i would miss it. I guess you will just have to come home for a visit and to pile on a few pounds!

[markf424]

A side question - what about for cocktails? I can still agree that autumn and winter are my favorites for drinking hearty wines with hearty meals, but for a cocktail, the question becomes tougher. I think it comes down to the refreshment factor - when is it most refreshing? It's hard to beat a fresh margarita on the rocks with a basket of tortilla chips and fresh spicy salsa in the heat of the summer.

-Mark

[slbunge]

There is nothing like a really good gin gimlet (my preference is Bombay Saphire) on the first hot day of the late spring or early summer. Simple and refreshing.

[Gifted Gourmet]

Gifted Gourmet, I wish that I could ship it all out to you. I know how much i would miss it. I guess you will just have to come home for a visit and to pile on a few pounds[

Pounds as in money or weight? Let's say the former...Okay! Tickets and boarding pass for Virgin Air just ordered!

Ah, the chill in Waterloo Station on a crisp fall day ... I miss all of London! even the terrific high tea at Fortnum & Mason .... What a super city that is .... best lentil soup? actually found in the crypt at St Martin in the Fields ... and veg, without my missing bangers ... more's the pity!

[tanabutler]

Hands down favorite: summer. While soup is one of my favorite things to make (hooray for autumn and winter), there is nothing that beats grilling in the summertime. It's also more communal cooking for me. Since I pretty much cook seven nights a week here, a barbeque is my chance to foist off work on someone else for a change. Grilled corn turned into soup with green chile/lime cream....caprese salad with fresh buffalo mozzarella and heirloom tomatoes from our garden...zucchini fritters with feta...baby carrots tossed with tarragon...potato salad.....mmmmmmmmm.

Even just one perfect salad can make me feel holy sometimes, offsetting the guilt of bingeing on rich foods. (I'm not Catholic or Jewish...where did I get all this guilt?)

The most refreshing cocktail is the mojito, but please don't do what they did last night at Gordon Biersch. They used Bacardi Limon as the rum, and it tasted like Lemon Pledge. UGH! Limes, folks. Real limes and lots of fresh mint, and lime soda water if you can. It's like jumping into a swimming pool when you're hot.

Tonight's football spread is going to be vast, as our freezer died and we've got twenty steaks and a dozen hamburgers that have to get cooked. Where's the beef? HERE.

Edited September 4, 2003 by tanabutler (log)

[markf424]

I'll be right over.

[tanabutler]

Come on down! It's the new "Price Is Right"! (Only in this case, with a malfunctioning "free" refrigerator, the phrase, "Whadda ya want for nothin'? Your money back?" doesn't apply. I want our frozen steaks back.)

Off topic but nonetheless important: Everyone here does know that you mustn't transport a refrigerator on its side or back, right? Our friends delivered a refrigerator to us, gratis, but it was on its back in the truck. Bad idea. It works like a swamp cooler now. Remedy, which might or might not work: unplug it for 24 hours to see if the liquids don't co-mingle. Meanwhile, I've moved the entire contents twice, and had to clean them both.

[Sweet Willie]

as w/most in this thread, the Fall for me as well and again for most of the reasons stated already.

but I like to cook/eat all year long

[snowangel]

Come to think of it, I don't do much "cooking" in the summer. So much of what appears mid to late summer stands so well on it's own (corn, tomatoes, green beans, etc.) that it's a shame to fuss with it. And, since the kids are home with me, it seems a shame to spend hours in the house, especially when it's hot, slaving over the stove or turning on the oven.

Diana and I cook a lot togehter in late spring/early summer, before summer bounty is available.

Come fall, the kids go back to school. Since Diana starts almost 2 hours after the other two leave, we plan a meal, and she helps with a lot of the prep. And, I'm home alone to really get things going.

I think I enjoy winter cooking most of all. Days are short, and when it's really cold out, I'm loathe to leave the house. The windows are closed, I don't keep the furnace set to high, so time to turn on the oven and bake, braise, etc.

[hillvalley]

I guess I am in the minority. I love summer for food. Not for cooking, but for food. Berries, tomatos, corn, melon. I miss these terribly during the winter.