Fun Summer Food

 Where have I been? Helping our daughter get ready for her wedding on July 16.  I'm in charge of table decorations. Have I been busy? I will be so glad for many reasons to have this wedding over and done with. We are having family visit too. It'll be fun to be with all our friends and family and celebrate this happy occasion. I've been decorating Ball blue jars--not the ones you can buy in the stores now, or just in the past, but, the ones made between 1920 and 1930. These blue jars are a result of some special silica found new a lake. Once used up, no more blue jars. They are an aqua blue and we're putting red canning lids on them with the frog insert. They will be the table centerpiece and will contain some red roses and baby's breath. Inside the jar are submersible firefly lights. Quite special. I'll be sure to post pictures from the actual event once we're all done.

Meanwhile, I'm entertaining relatives and wanted to make some fun foods for our BBQ the day after the wedding. What I love almost more than salsa is Pico de Gallo. It's fresh taste and the lime excites my taste buds. Cilantro is a given, lots of cilantro. Raid the garden and don't spare the cilantro.

 Pico de Gallo

 Ingredients:

6 tomatoes

2 onions

2 green peppers

1-2 jalepenos

2 tsp salt

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tbsp sugar

2 tbsp lime juice

1 bunch cilantro

Chop all ingredients and combine in one large bowl. Let it chill in the fridge for a few hours allowing the flavors to blend. You can vary some flavors: purple onions instead of the summer sweet onions, or both, more jalapenos, red jalapenos, plum tomatoes are my preference-meatier and more flavorful. And, it occurred to me that my husband's family never got to eat his grandmother's raspberry pie. She was visiting us when we first moved to the Seattle area. I had just picked a flat of raspberries. She watched me prepare them for the freezer and sheepishly asked if I could spare some for a pie.
Gramma V hadn't had a raspberry pie since leaving upper state New York and she was 17 at that time. Living in California, she found the berries too expensive, not fresh and having some weird color. Looking at my berries, her mouth was watering. I mentioned to her I couldn't make a good berry pie as it was always runny. Asking if I had some Minute Tapioca, she said she could fix that problem. I had some in the cupboard, so we made a raspberry pie with tapioca. Her advice: fresh berries only needed 2 tablespoons, frozen berries because they let go more juice, you used 3-4 tablespoons.
The look on Gramma V's face was priceless when she took her first bite. I'll never forget it. I'm going to make sure that the remaining family members while visiting us and using our Northwest fresh berries, will have Gramma V's raspberry pie. It's an awesome dessert worth making.