I was thinking back to summers of my childhood, when all of us kids wreaked havoc at home and my mom, Neeners, was at her wits end, often looking heavenward and muttering ‘Give me Strength’. When Neeners was at this point, I got shipped off to spend the night with my grandparents and Aunt Margie, and it was always a huge treat. If I was there on a Saturday night, it meant popcorn and watching Portland wrestling. If I was an overnight guest on a Monday night, that meant that I could horn in when Margie and grandma’s friend Gladys would come for lunch on Tuesdays. Gladys worked downtown (two blocks from Margie’s house) at the hardware store. I was not a fan of Gladys. She seemed pretty snooty and never smiled. Also, she was not a fan of children and I could not understand why since I was undoubtedly charming and most likely a brilliant conversationalist at six years of age. However, Glady’s arrival meant we got to have grandma’s Salmon Salad for lunch. This was high living, and as a kid we never had such things at our own house. Looking back, I think it was just canned salmon, shredded iceberg lettuce and a whole lot of Miracle Whip all stirred together and served on nice dishes.
I have such fond memories of those visits (without Gladys) and wanted to recreate Salmon Salad in my own style. This salad is hearty enough for supper and takes advantage of all that is Summer. We’ll start with fresh salmon, and you can either grill or bake it to suit your mood. Then comes the garden bounty. I went a little bit nuts here since I am currently in major panic mode due to our garden churning out more food than we can give away, so take what you like and leave the rest, for another time. The salmon sits on a bed of rainbow chard, and is topped with fresh yellow and red beets, colorful sweet peppers, watermelon radish, purple carrots, scallions, grilled corn, fresh blackberries and steamed green beans. Add some grilled bread with garlic butter and a not-too-tart vinaigrette made with blackberry jelly. I’d like to think Margie and grandma would have enjoyed it, but even if they didn’t, they’d tell me they loved it, because that’s what aunts and grandmas do.
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I have fond childhood memories of hot summer days, awaiting the neighborhood ice cream truck. I don’t remember the driver’s name, but I thought he was ancient (but since I was 8, he could have been 25), wore a white jacket and hat, and drove a little red convertible around the neighborhood, blaring out some musical tune that could be heard for blocks, drove our parents crazy, and hypnotized all of us into running toward it at full speed. He arrived with a cooler that was fully loaded with as many ice cream treats a kid could imagine, which made it hard to decide what to choose. I’m sure many an ice cream bar was melted with all us hanging over the side of his car, staring into the cooler, and mired in indecision. One year, I was fully entrenched in my Drumstick phase, but when I discovered the Creamsicle the following summer, everything else fell away. I still can’t resist that combination of creamy vanilla ice cream and orange sherbet, so dreamt up this super easy cremesicle pie. It can stay happy as a clam in your freezer for a couple of weeks or more, waiting for you to get the urge for a treat, and is nice to have for drop-in company. The crust is crumbled waffle cones, held together with melted butter and a little sugar. Then all that’s left to do is grab a couple of containers of ice cream and start layering. The crust is not baked in advance, so the whole thing comes together in a few minutes. I swear I can hear that little ice cream truck tune every time I grab a slice.
