The Heat is On

 It's getting closer with KILLER HOOKS.  I have the proof pages to go over and we have working on the cover.  As soon as we have the cover, I'll update my website.  I think the book will come out in September.

Meanwhile, the heat is on.  After a very long cool, cloudy spell, the sun is out and the sky is blue.  I like to sit outside in the morning and have my coffee.  It's usually cool then, but this morning it was already eighty and the little bit of sun that touched my skin felt scorching.  I finished the cup inside.  Despite what the news people say (have you noticed how they portray everything as being terrible), it is really just summer weather in the San Fernando Valley.  Last year it was worse because we had constant monsoon moisture which made it more uncomfortable.

I really think all the talk about how hot it is, makes people feel more uncomfortable.   It's a good time for lighter food.  One thing I really like about all the online stuff is that I read about things I never thought of.  There is something called Pocket that puts up stories from various sources.  Some you can't read without a subscription, or they'll let you read a few before trying to get you to pay.  It was not the case with some stories about sandwiches which were free to read.  Two of the stories interested me.  One was about tomato sandwiches which apparently is a southern thing.  I was inspired enough to buy a bunch of tomatoes yesterday at Costco.  My plant outside has been producing delicious ones for salads, but they are too small for a sandwich.  The article talked about beefsteak tomatoes where the slice would take up the whole piece of bread.  My Costco ones are not that big, so I'll have to improvise.  The article called for soft white bread, but I'm going to use brioche bread.  I will slather it in mayonnaise and let the tomato slices sit with seasoning for a few minutes before I put together the sandwich.

The other sandwich that intrigued me was a Japanese fruit sandwich.  I'm definitely going to try it with a few changes.  The brioche bread will stand in for the milk bread the recipe called for.  It called for whipped cream, but I'm thinking of trying it with cream cheese.  The fruit is strawberries arranged.  The whipped cream probably makes it more of a dessert sandwich.

It's a different world than when I was a kid and the idea of making a sandwich with strawberries would have been just too weird.  In my head at least, there were rules about what mixed with what and something sweet didn't belong in savory things.  I chuckle at how I add strawberries to salad now.  I helped my mother make dinner by making the salad.  It was iceberg lettuce, grated carrots and maybe some tomatoes and cucumber.  Nothing like what I make now.  I use all kinds of baby lettuce and spinach, green onions, olives, little peppers, tomatoes, avocado and whatever else I can find like strawberries, feta cheese and mushrooms.

And the olives.  There were two kinds when I was a kid.  The green ones with the pimento pieces, which I didn't like and the black ones that had been processed to death.   I sort of liked the black ones, though it wasn't something we had often. Now I love olives of all kinds except for the one I picked off a tree.  They have to get something done to them to be edible.  It makes me wonder how somebody figured that out.  And thanks to the Internet I can probably find out.