COOLER TIMES

 I'm thinking back to cooler times, for I have NOT been cooking much lately.    Somewhere in the photo archives were these lunch pictures from about four years ago.   I'm not at all gifted at "Tablescapes" but sometimes my Pastel Phase of Life gets the better of me.

A cool, cool Spring salad with Lime Vinaigrette:

Chris' wonderful ham-just-off-the-grill, with the unaccustomed fancifying of score marks and a Praline Rub:

Steamed Asparagus with boiled eggs, lemon, and that great 1-2-3-Blender Hollandaise. 

Devilled eggs , Corn Confetti Salad and a dish of plums, oranges, grapes and strawberries---in background are Sweet Potato Casserole and Broccoli/ Cauliflower Salad.    That tee-ninecy glimpse up in the top right corner is a black skillet of baked field corn, cut and put in the freezer the previous Summer, and just baked to a crusty, creamy perfection. 

Chris' plate---he's very fond of that lemony Hollandaise:

Coconut Cake with jar-dyed pink coconut;   the huge sweet candied shreds are from an Asian Market and had the texture of gummi-worms.   (It's  how you LOOK that counts????)   

Strawberry Bombe, with vanilla ice cream center and the attentions of an almost-empty Redi-Whip can---like a lot of us, almost exhausted, but still game to try. 

That was then, this is now---if that lunch were today, there would have been no egg-boiling, no asparagus-steaming, no cake-or-casserole baking, none of that scrumptious baked corn.   We'd have had a nice salad plate with greens, Confetti Corn, and the ham off the grill.   Sounds good to me.

Hope you're all keeping cool as you can!!