Summer Bounty

It must seem a little peculiar to our Northern Hemisphere readers that just as we pack away the Christmas decorations for another year and enjoy a break from work with family and friends we are also fully into the heat of summer, basking in the sun by the beach, at the batch or beside the lake. I am secretly a little envious of a festive season blessed with thick woolens to layer over swollen tummies, but nothing to me will ever feel more like home than the scent of a (twinkling, tarted up) pine tree in a gusty Canterbury Norwester. It is too hot to do much more than lounge in the shade, lazily discussing the highlights of the year just past and setting lofty goals for the New Year ahead. After all the excesses of Christmas, New Year’s resolutions invariably take a slant towards good health – I will eat less, exercise more, work less… for the next week at least!

Right now nature is kind to us and summer’s bounty is full for all to enjoy – sweet juicy stone fruit, ripe berries, plentiful vege (we are positively drowning in courgettes at our place) – and with all that virtuous fruit and vege waiting, there is nothing wrong with indulging in a little apéritif when entertaining at this very relaxed time of the year!

From all the Our Kitchen team, have a very Happy New Year!