Guava!

If you live in a part of the world that has delicious pear-like (but not as sweet!) guavas easily available, count yourself lucky. I usually only get a bite of the green jems when I visit India while guavas are in season. So while I was wandering around Chinatown on a quest for lychees (sadly I didn't find any that looked very good - I guess lychee season is pretty much over), I was thrilled to come across guavas too! Although these were nowhere near the deliciousness that is an Indian guava, hey, close enough.

And when you get a guava, you gotta eat it Indian style - sprinkled with sea salt and chili powder.

 

Peach Tea Muffins

You know, sometimes the unthinkable happens, and you end up with a surplus of peaches.

I know, sacrilege! How did this happen?!

Perhaps it was the fact that it's finally fig season!

Perhaps it was the fact that I got distracted by custard apples found in Chinatown...

Perhaps it was the fact that a pluot found its way into my cart...

Perhaps it was the fact that sometimes grapes taste like cotton candy...

No, seriously - they taste EXACTLY like cotton candy. So much so that you can't eat more than five at a time.
My cotton candy snarfing days are behind me I guess.

Whatever it was, I ended up with extra peaches on hand that were in imminent danger of becoming inedibly overripe. That, friends, would obviously be unacceptable. And when one is faced with a cloudy lazy end-of-summer Sunday, there is only one thing to set about: baking.

Sugar Kiss Melon Salad

Inspired by TheKitchn's post on adding melons to salad (and having, conveniently, a yummy half of a sugar kiss melon on hand) I thought I'd try out a melon salad myself. I was going to just pick up some spicy arugula to go with it, but at the grocery store I saw some bouncy mint and basil, and thought I'd like a little extra zing to the simple salad.

Fizzy!

Ouf today was hot, sticky, and quite muggy! The good thing about a day like this? It's just perfect for a Strawberry Mint Fizz! 

An Impromptu Cream Tea

In preparation for afternoon tea tomorrow, JLee decided to come over and help me figure out my first ever batch of scones. Whew I'm glad she was there to give extremely important input on what "coarse meal" is supposed to look like and whether freezing butter is a good idea (it is! for scones that is). Later in the afternoon while we were making honey butter to go with the scones, Y came over and we ended up having a mini afternoon tea of our own :-) 

Birthday Baking - Peach Pie

Birthday week!

My dad’s birthday is the day before mine, so mid-July is generally “birthday week” for us! This one was a lovely birthday – got a pedicure, D took me out for a delicious dinner, and then he surprised me with Sleep No More! Fantastic! And over the weekend, my parents are coming over to spend the day.

As always, any celebration must occur around food, so lunch is on the books. But it’s birthday week, after all, so I thought maybe something extra was called for. And look at these delicious peaches and plumogranates (have you ever heard of them?) that FreshDirect* had on offer!! 

Yum. Combine that with pie week on TheKitchn, and you’ve got a craving for a delicious peach pie right there. Of course what started with peach pie could only grow bigger, so right now I’m planning an “afternoon tea” with peach pie, blueberry scones, and cucumber-mint-cream cheese tea sandwiches. All rounded out with a pot of good ol’ black tea and maybe some pomegranate tea if we’re feeling fancy (aka if we want to do more dishes).