Summer Staple

For me, a summer staple is an avocado sandwich. The bread I prefer to get is from Trader Joe's. They stock two varieties I really like - Organic Multi-Grain Bread and Organic Multi-Grain Oat Bread. Hmmm, not sure about the second kind. Anyway, both of them sit in the bread section. Another kind I like to get is the Multi-Grain variety from Harry's Farmers Market, Marietta. I am not a big fan of the bread that Publix stocks. I have tried different varieties (7-grain, 9-grain, whole wheat, etc.) but they lack the heft of what I get from Trader Joe's and Harry's. They taste too squishy to me. Which means that I always have to plan my grocery route to include Trader Joe's or Harry's, both of which are a good 15-minute drive away. Well, the price we pay for taste... :)

Avocados are heavenly. I get them from anywhere and everywhere. Recently, I tried the giant green skinned one (not sure what it's called). Both P and I found that it lacked the richness of both taste and texture that the regular Hass ones possess. The mozzarella you see here probably came from Harry's too. What I love is that they clearly mark the cheese as 'VEGETARIAN'. No animal rennet in there, yay!

Ok, let's talk about tomatoes. Most of the tomatoes we buy from grocery stores are huge, pale red, and lack any juice or flavor. I like the heirloom kind but they're fairly expensive. Lucky for me, I have been getting tomatoes from Dekalb Farmers Market since a few weeks now. They come from North Carolina and I think that has a lot to do with the taste! Juicy, plump and loaded with flavor, I have been adding them to almost everything I cook! Well, the fact that it's summer (the right season to harvest tomatoes) also has much to do with the gorgeous taste, I guess.

Throw on some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper and you have a heavenly snack.

Here are a couple of pictures from a while back.